MetaFilter posts tagged with invention and history

I. WAS. PROMISED. FLYING. CARS!

zarq — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:35:08 -0800

PopSci: Archive Gallery: From Chicago to Shanghai, 138 Visionary Years of World's Fairs Direct links to the articles: * Electricity Lights Up the World's Columbian Exposition: October 1893 * Rocket Cars at the Chicago World's Fair: September 1932 * PopSci's Mechanical Wonderland: August 1933 * Giant Volt Generator Electrifies Paris: November 1936 * New York Welcomes the World of Tomorrow: March 1938 * Flushing Meadows Enters the Future: March 1939 * General Motors Presents Futurama: July 1939 * A Permanent Fair in Florida?: April 1955 * Seattle Surveys the Year 2000: April 1962 * IBM's "Information Machine": July 1964 * The Geodesic Biosphere: March 1967 * Discovering Seville: May 1992

"...we had no idea…"

zarq — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:27:07 -0800

The contraption was "created from a mishmash of lenses and computer parts and an old Super 8 movie camera." It was the size of a toaster, ran off "sixteen nickel cadmium batteries, a highly temperamental new type of CCD imaging area array, an a/d converter implementation stolen from a digital voltmeter" and took 23 seconds to record an image to cassette tape. But when Steve Sasson and his team of Kodak technicians presented the world's first digital camera to the public in 1975, they were asked: 'Why would anyone ever want to view his or her pictures on a TV?' Steve Sasson (wikipedia)

Britain Can Make It!

Miko — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:53:28 -0800

Making the Modern World presents a set of twisty little passages through the history of science and invention, from the eighteenth century to the contemporary era, brought to you by the UK's Science Museum.

She's not a brick house

klangklangston — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:06:24 -0800

Thomas Edison's Concrete Houses From 1902 to roughly 1917, Edison was in the concrete business, and concrete houses would be one of his biggest failures. Shown here and here as models, Edison promised that they would be the salvation of the slum-dweller, priced at $1000 each (a third the cost of a new home at the time). He even made concrete furniture. Many of the houses still stand on Ingersoll Terrace," Union, NJ.

Microwave Cookery

Chinese Jet Pilot — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:15:00 -0800

The cavity magnetron is the secret weapon that saved Britain in World War II. In 1946, Dr. Percy Spencer stood too close to a magneton and invented the microwave oven.

Forget hybrid cars. Spring for a hybrid house.

pithy comment — Thu, 17 May 2007 11:03:57 -0800

Enertia is producing "innovative new homes of remarkable strength, economy, and beauty, brought to life by an elegant new architecture and the discovery of a new source of pollution-free energy." The design took first prize in the Modern Marvels/Invent Now competition (previously). In an interview, the inventor, Michael Sykes, says "he was inspired by the way the earth’s own atmosphere keeps the planet at a relatively constant comfortable temperature despite the frigidity of space." He also notes that his wife calls herself a "homemaker," natch.

Stories about the lives we've made

tcp — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 02:24:42 -0800

Making the Modern World brings you powerful stories about science and invention from the eighteenth century to today. It explains the development and the global spread of modern industrial society and its effects on all our lives. The site expands upon the permanent landmark gallery at the Science Museum, using the Web and dynamic multimedia techniques to go far beyond what a static exhibition can do. Terrific wrapping, excellent content.