Achievements – Rafael Reynoso

Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby are both co-inventors of the integrated circuit. Noyce and Kilby had been working with the integrated circuit in their own companies. In 1959, they both applied for a patent around the same time and after a ten year dispute, their companies agreed to license each other and other companies to make integrated circuits. They are considered independent co-inventors because, they never worked together, but they discovered it around the same time.

The integrated circuit (microchip or also known as a “chip”) is a miniaturized circuit that replaced the vacuum tube. This is important because, vacuum tubes would often heat up and burn out; while integrated chips hardly ever go bad. The integrated circuit had two main advantages over the vacuum tube, cost and performance. It is found in almost every kind of electronic devices, including cell phones, watches, and computers.

Even though it revolutionized the world beginning in the 1950s, it is still being researched to solve all kinds of problems. Since the 1980s, engineers have been trying to develop a way of inserting a computer chip into the human brain to repair different types of brain damage, blindness, and even memory loss. It might be somebody sitting in our classroom that makes that achievement in the future.

Achievement Stephen I

1908

First solar collector William J. Bailley of the Carnegie Steel Company invents a solar collector with copper coils and an insulated box.

            The timeline includes many great historical achievements that the inventors should be proud of but the greatest achievement was the invention by William J. Bailley with his solar collector.  His simple device included copper coils in an insulated box.  Yes this does seem basic but his revolutionary idea lead to the solar panels that are in use today.  Without his invention we would not be where we are today with solar technology.

            The sun emits solar energy which we convert into heat or electricity.  This resource is extremely abundant because the sun’s nuclear fusion capability.  Solar panels can be used for the length of the sun’s life, which means we have plenty of time trying to get every watt out of the solar panels in use.

            Some places in the world not only need solar power but depends on it.  Running thousands of miles of power line to a small village is not cost affective when solar panels will do the job required.  Solar panels are not only used to power houses anymore but now cars are equipped with this technology.

Engineering Achievement – Jhonny E.

Deciding the most important engineering achievement in the past two centuries is not that simple as 1-2-3. But from reading the website and thinking about it I have come up with one of many important achievements. The first solar collector invented by William J Bailley, who took copper and an insulated box to make something great, I felt is really important.  I chose this mostly due to the fact of how early it was invented and because of that, later engineers would be able to improve and modify it.

Solar collector, I would say is really important because solar energy is the most abundant source of energy that we have, mainly because the sun will we there hundred and thousands of years more. These solar collectors today have many benefits over other forms of energy, they are clean, easy to use and collecting sun light is free. They have a lot of potential for the future and I would like to thank William J. Bailley for a job well done.

Engineering Achievements- Laurence B

        Although I could not find a specific year on when the first dam was put into action, I would have to say that the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam in 1942 was an extremely important engineering achievement of the 20th century. Hats off to the ancient Greek engineers who thought of using flowing water as a means for transferring kinetic energy from one form to another. The completion of the Grand Coulee Dam not only gave power to eleven states, but was fundamental in the irrigation of over 500,000 acres of farmland. With  24 turbines turning out thousands of kilowatt hours per month, and miles of irrigation systems, the north western united states could begin its exponential growth.

         The engineering achievements that are most beneficial are those that produce no waste. Which is why I also find the implementation of the 233 mile long aqueduct in 1913 very important along with the 1920’s windmill implementation important because of their energy efficiency.   

           I also found the 1961 connection of England and France’s power grids very interesting. I like to think of this as engineers uniting countries. Science is one of those things that promote a much deeper connection to things than you see on the outside. I think that the future of electricity and power management is a bright one open to new ideas. Hopefully we can continue this growth and direct the future of power to a cleaner and safer place.

          One last thing that i found extremely interesting was the current experiments on using mirrors and the sun to heat oils up to 750*F  which in turn creates steam and turns turbines. This technique is called solar thermal and could be a huge benefit to more remote areas and less fortunate countries.

Engineering Achievements Alexander S

First Solar Collector

William J. Bailley of the Carnegie Steel Company invents a solar collector with copper coils and an insulated box.

I read over the time line of great engineering achievements multiple times, and choosing what I thought was the greatest of all the achievements was a hard decision.  In the end, this achievement was the greatest to me because it created a fundamental concept that branched of into further positive creations.  Solar energy is an incredibly efficient way to power many devices and instruments we have used for many years.  The use of solar energy to power such devices has also made many things far less expensive and thus more accessible.

Solar energy is a renewable resource, because as long as the sun is producing energy we can harvest it indefinitely.  This makes solar energy something we can research further about in projects to eliminate the use of limited resources.  Also, solar energy is key in powering many remote locations in the world.  In many places throughout the world, there are no other ways to power anything.  The use of solar energy can produce light, hot water, and many other things for these places.

Today solar energy is still living as strong as ever, and will continue to be used more and more as we need more renewable energy sources.  Things such as cars, flying devices, cooking devices, and many other devices are being produced with the ability to be solar powered.  Without the creation for William Bailley we would be hard pressed to complete many of the tasks we can so easily complete today.  With all the many uses, and efficients methods of powering, the solar energy collector is in my mind the greatest engineering accomplishment.

Achievements Jonathan A

            In 1913, Southern California Edison put into service a 150,000-volt line to bring electricity to Los Angeles. According to greatachievements.org, hydroelectric power was generated along the 233-mile-long aqueduct that brought water from Owens Valley in the Eastern Sierra. In my opinion, this had to be one of the most important and significant achievements of the 19th and 20th centuries. When looking upon society today, electricity is such a big factor in everyday life. Many people, especially living in the United States, use electricity to eat, work, and even as recreation. Without electricity most of us would not be able to function properly. For somebody to figure out how to take energy from water, and use it in the form of electricity, to me seems amazing. I guess that is also another reason I am in school, so that I could learn how to do things like this myself.

            Going along the same lines as Southern California Edison’s achievement, I chose the first long-distance high voltage transmission line in 1917 as my next greatest achievement. This line was established by American Gas & Electric (AG&E) and originated from the first major steam plant to be built at the mouth of the coalmine, virtually eliminating fuel transportation costs. There are a couple reasons why this was my next choice. First, it was extremely resourceful to build the plant right next to the source of energy, therefore reducing costs. Even this day and age, shipping costs may become quite pricey, and if there is any way to cut down this price, even by a very small amount, why not do it? AG&E did not just cut down by a lot; they virtually eliminated fuel transportation costs. Second, achieving such a big task such as making the first long-distance high voltage transmission line would not only profit the people during that time period, but help pave the way for the future. Things that transmit high voltage over long distances that we take for granted such as cable, Internet, and telephone signals were all made possible because of the groundwork of amazing achievements such as this one.  

            The last achievement I chose was the windmills used to drive generators in the 1920s. I find it fascinating that people can produce electricity from energy such as water and wind power. At first, the windmills were used to power fairly simple things, such as: electric lights and power to charge batteries for crystal radio sets. To see the improvements that the United States had made in such a short period of time on these windmills is incredible. They went from powering small things, such as lights, to supplying energy for motor driven washing machines, refrigerators, freezers, and power tools. These generators, just like the long-distance high voltage transmission lines, set the foundation for other more complicated generators that we rely on so much now. I chose this achievement not only because I find it amazing how people can produce energy from something so simple as wind, but also because I think it is extremely important to see how far we have come, and how much can get accomplished in only a decade.

Engineering Achievements- Keya Z.

1913-Southern California Edison brings electricity to Los Angeles. Southern California Edison puts into service a 150,000-volt line to bring electricity to Los Angeles.  Hydroelectric Power is generated along the 233-mile-long aqueduct that brings water from Owens Valley in the eastern Sierra.

I believe that this is one of the most important engineering achievements in the 19th and 20th century because it brought light into one of the biggest cities in America. Los Angeles is a very popular spot that attracts many celebrities and high class people with alot of money. Not to mention the fact that movie stars live there. A 150,000 volt line is a very powerful surge, allowing the electricity to flow throughout many building in L.A.

As this achievement occurred in the early 19th century, the engineering structure behind the design only got stronger as time went on. Today L.A. is one of the brightest cities in the world, often compared to Las Vegas and New York City.

The 233-long aqueduct is essential for generating the hydroelectric power. It brings tons of water to the city and helps generate the electricity as well. No matter how you look at it, without electricity today, our world would not be able to function. We rely too much on electrical devices that we would collapse without it. People use it at home and work. Everywhere we go you see it. Electricity is not something we want. It is something we need to survive.

 

Engineering Achievements Christopher C

1903 “Steam Turbine Generator” and before someone asks, not because it’s on the top of the list.

This nifty device nets first place for top engineering achievements for the creativity and flexibility of the device. Sure it generates power off of coal, which we still use today, but the fact that general design can be modified to accommodate any situation where enough heat is present to convert water to steam makes this a very versatile device. While many plants use these by burning coal, that’s only because of cost effectiveness. Coal is cheap, alternatives, such as geothermal power, are out there and this device can harness that.

Edit (extension): That wonderful website only goes as far as to say that the first turbines used to coal to heat water to the point of becoming steam which pushed a turbine.  Rotation of the turbine spins a magnet/wire and through physics I really don’t want to think about this close to summer vacation generates electricity.  Since then we’ve enhance the system moving from a process which allowed the water vapor (steam) to condense back into it’s previous state by reheating the steam to a point of pushing the turbine.  The importance of this is that it saves energy by keeping the water in a single state of matter.  Chemistry was not my strength, but if I remember right steam is a higher energy state of water.  To change between the two states requires some amount of energy to be gained or lost, usually in the form of heat.  If plants were constantly forced to water they’d have to burn more coal to transfer the energy needed to force the water into steam and then even more energy would be needed to get the steam to push the turbine.  By reheating steam they can bypass the first part and burn less fuel to generate the same amount of energy.  Alternatives to this process follow the same base concepts.  Natural heat sources under the crust could be used to transform the water to steam or even just a current of heated water could be used (convection current similar to steam, cold water drops into crust forcing hot water to surface in a pipe system.)  Another method tested in the middle east was a massive water tower with mirrors reflecting the sun’s light into it to heat the water.  The steam turbine only needs to be connected to some water line and adapted to the situation to work.  The actual turbine or wiring will need almost no work.

1931 The Empire State Building (Thank you wikipedia, I had no idea when it was built).

What I do know and would like to mention is that this one building has been one of the greatest sources of inspiration for engineers, architects, and five year old kids with oversized lollipops. As with all things American, bigger is better and it held the record for tallest skyscraper for over forty years. It holds an epic flair equivalent to that of the tower of Babel with all of the existing part. Finally, if the sheer scope of the project doesn’t make you feel better about this choice and you think I’m off topic from the class, consider there were elevators on this building all the way up to the deck for the flying things I am not going to attempt spelling even with spell check. It might not seem special considering how common elevators are, but this building had a full electrical system in the 1930’s. While this is in New York city which makes the power transmission problem a little less respectable the great fact to notice is that in less than thirty years we went from mainstream steam generators to using electricity in our daily lives.

1920’s “Windmills used to drive generators.”

This might not seem much, but it earns my third place on the achievements list for just being innovative. Windmills are nothing new. Windmills making Mr. Coffee work is. Today it is still a moderately unreliable and costly procedure that will probably do nothing but make environmentalists get off your lawn, but it’s still nice to know we can do it. A very nice thought is that we can even make them cheaply ourselves for personal use (http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2007/01/how_to_build_an_4.html I bought the magazine for that article alone, never did make it though ) Perhaps someday we’ll find a way to make windmills a more viable power source, but for now it’s nice to know I don’t have to go to a farm to find one.

Introduction: Matthew H

Engineering to me is something that i have always been interested in and wanted to pursue sense i was a Freshman in High school. I worked for a contractor and was always interested in how certain build objects where designed and created. Also Engineering for me helps people live easier and better lives through technology. The field that i am interested in is Civil Engineering and would love to major in this field because it ties the building aspect of my life and ease for other peoples use.

Engineering Achievements: Matthew H.

1917

First long-distance high-voltage transmission line I found this to be the most important in helping build America in the early 1900’s. Without long distance high voltage transmission lines America in the South / South West would have taken longer to control and make habitable for the pioneers moving out South. Also this would eliminate fuel transportation cost which would help save money for the fuel industry. Also this would open up new technologies for Western America. Also this technology is still today and is in use for our main source of electrical energy. Although Dam’s are still you used for creating high voltage energy and can be spread through out America, with out long distance high voltage, Cities located in the Mid West would not be able to run as efficiently as they do today. Also without the use of these high voltage long distance transmission lines every City or Suburb would have to create their own source of energy. By Having these long distance transmission lines we are creating a more efficient  and clean America