I consider electricity the most important of engineering achievements of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Elecricity changed our very way of life. It dates back to the 19^th century when Edison first invented electric light bulb. Before then, most people used gas as their fuel. Gas fuel is very dangerous and is difficult to replace once it is used up. Naturally, elecricity was found to be the answer to what could be used to replace natural fuels like oil.

There is much debate about the oil crisis right now. There is an increasing demand for oil due to the boost in the auto industry, but there is not enough gas. This need for oil is causing prices at the gas stations to rise which, in effect, is causing the prices for food and other goods to rise as well. Cars that use electricity instead of fuel can resolve these problems. Electricity is also used to make electronic devices such as computers, cell phones, and an artificial body organelle such as an artificial heart.

I also consider the airplane an important engineering achievement of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. After the Wright brothers’ famous trials at Kitty Hawk, people changed their beliefs about flight. In modern times, the airplane is a very important form of transportation. Airplanes are useful in shortening the time to travel long distances. Airplanes are also used in war and for observation, collecting valuable information.

In recent history there have been many important achievements.  Of all of the innovations and achievements that occurred during the period of electrification, I consider the REA and the use of steam turbines to be the most important.

In 1935 FDR established the REA, the Rural Electrification Administration, in order to bring reliable electricity to the rural areas of the US.  FDR appointed Morris Llewellyn Cooke as the first administrator to the REA.  Mr. Cooke applied scientific management to the problem of bringing electricity to a large number of spread out farms.  Within two years the REA helped bring electricity to about 1.5 millon farms.

The steam turbine was developed in the early 20th century.  Its developement greatly enhanced the efficinacy of power plants, sometimes decreasing the ratio of pounds of coal to kilowatt hours, from 1:5 to 1:1.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, minds blossomed.  The field of engineering was at a peak, with inventions emerging to modernize and better the lifestyles of people worldwide. Dunn and Wind made it possible for farmers to receive electrical power, using windmills to generate power for farms in U.S plain and rural regions.  The windmills were also used to generate power for lights, radios, refrigerators, freezers, washing machines and more.  These items are still used in today’s generation. Lewis Latimer, one may refer to him as a modern Thomas Edison, improved filaments in light bulbs. Marjorie Stewart Joyner, a beautician made it possible to curl African American women’s hair at one time. Her invention lowered the time she spent on each individual head and increased the number of customer in her salon. The 19th and 20th centuries made hard laborious task less time consuming and more accessible to all.

In the early beginnings of the 19th century, major cities had easy access to new labor-saving devices powered by electricity.  Private electrical power companies provided electricity to only major populated cities, leaving citizens such as farms in rural areas without access.  Dunn and Wind thought of ways to achieve electrical power to the outcastes. Dunn and Wind used 1 to 3 kilowatts  to drive power onto rural lands in the U.S. This made it possible for farmers to have easy access to new-labor saving devices. Farmers were able to make more products faster

Thomas Edison and Lewis Latimer invented the light bulb, however, Lewis Latimer by improved the filaments inside the bulbs. Lewis Latimer was Africna -American and a runaway fugitive. He became a draftsmen of incandecentlight bulbs and the founder of an electrical company in New York.  His work ws not only beneficial but hisotrically rewarding and an empowerment for other African -Americans. During this era, it seemed unheard of, for a black person to perform such intellectual and complex task. Lewis Latimer was one of the many African-Americans to prove socitey wrong.  Like many other black inventors, Latimer improved the light bulb as well as the racial mindsets of American society.

Marjorie Stewart Joyner, an african-american woman and a professional beautician. Later on, down her career path she was able to add another achievement onto her resume, as an inventor. Her invention, the set-curl, was remarkable to many black woman. “The iron’s larger curl relaxed tightly curled hair. But only one fire-heated iron could be used at a time. Joyner disliked the slow and uncomfortable process.”  Black woman who spent up to 6 hours on their hair were able to cut that time in half, even in a salon. Three hours on doing hair is still a long time but less tedious. Joyner used a 16 pencil- shaped pot roast rods and a hairdryer hood.  Her invention made it so that woman could roll their hair and just sit under a blowdryer with a hood. Black woman to use this technique today. This made it easier to curl the whole head without using a curling iron.

The first large power grid is created in 1953 when seven states connect to form one grid. By connecting a large amount of power generating points together, it helps to prevent blackouts. If one of the power plants needed to go offline to be serviced or unexpectedly shuts down, then the other power plants on the grid would be able to up their power output and make up for the lost power plant. One of the other major benefits of having a grid is that all the power plants are able to work at full capacity and the power is sent where it needs to be.

France and England decided to connect both of their power grids to form one large system in 1961. This allows the two major countries to share power and help to support the others grid. The United states forms into 3 main grids during the 1990s. Forming a power grid helps to ensure that there is a constant or close to constant supply of power that is transported in an efficient way.  Without this it would be harder for people to develop new electronics, or use things like a desktop computer.  It might not be the biggest or the most notable thing to happen in the last century, but it has helped to create some of the greater inventions.

During the 19^th and 20^th centuries there have been many inventions that lead to great advancements in technology and welfare of people. Some of the great achievements include the widespread use of electricity, the use of automobiles, advancements in health care, global communication and trade, transportation systems, and the list goes on. However, the greatest and most important engineering achievement was the ability of the human kind to get off the home planet they are native to and explore the outer space.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite that orbited the earth. This started the era called the Space Race between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. A year after the launch of Sputnik the US started a program called the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Huge leaps in the advancement of technology came from both sides of the space race. At first, the first animals were sent to space and they returned home safely, after which humans were sent to space as well. Eventually humans landed on the moon. There were spacecraft sent out to explore our whole solar system and land on foreign planets. There were also uses for space other than competition and research. Geosynchronous satellites brought on technologies like satellite communication (satellite cellphones), television, navigation, and radio, among others. Other technologies that have been invented or improved by the space race include: water and pool purification systems, sports shoes, solar energy, smoke detectors, flat panel televisions, sewage treatment, and the list goes on and on.

If humans did not start exploring the outer space as they have been for the last 50 years then we would not be enjoying many every day things that seem essential to us. The greatest and most important engineering achievement was humans reaching the outer space.

1910s              Vacuum light bulbs
Irving Langmuir of General Electric experiments with gas-filled lamps, using nitrogen to reduce evaporation of the tungsten filament, thus raising the temperature of the filament and producing more light. To reduce conduction of heat by the gas, he makes the filament smaller by coiling the tungsten.

1920s              High-pressure steam power plants
Boston Edison’s Edgar Station becomes a model for high-pressure steam power plants worldwide by producing electricity at the rate of 1 kilowatt-hour per pound of coal at a time when generators commonly use 5 to 10 pounds of coal to produce 1 kilowatt-hour.  The key was operating a boiler and turbine unit at 1,200 pounds of steam pressure, a unique design developed under the supervision of Irving Moultrop.

The invention and advancements of light bulbs and high pressure steam turbines could both be considered some of the most important achievements in the 19th and 20th centuries. Before there were light bulbs, the only available light came from either the sun or oil burning lamps. These lamps had the disadvantage of being dim, smokey, and involved fire. With light bulbs, much more light could be generated, and in a safer manner. Langmuir’s advancements helped improve the light bulb, designing a light that was brighter and burned longer.

Advancements in steam turbines were also incredibly important in 20th century. Steam turbines were the major means of power generation, and thus were vital to the electrification of the US and the world. More efficient turbines meant that more power could be generated with less coal, or that the same amount of coal could generate significantly more power. In 1903, only 5,000 kilowatts could be generated from the largest steam turbine; by the 1960s, steam turbines could generate one million kilowatts.

Both achievements greatly helped the advancement of electrification in the US and the world, from light bulbs emitting more light, to steam turbines using far less fuel for the same power output.

Some of the most important engineering achievements of the 19^th and 20^th centuries are the invention of the light bulb and simply opening the world to the better knowledge of electricity as is today. With the help of Edison, and a few other scientists, we live in a nation where most of our daily needs require electricity. Electricity has simplified life as is for us. Before the invention of a coffeemaker, we had to boil with water and add the coffee powder in after for it to heat and all that, but now, all we do is pour the water and coffee into the machine and BAM! Coffee is ready in a mug. Our lives are surrounded by things that run on electricity which has become a necessity in our life. We use the computer, cell phones and iPods as if it was a part of our life and we would not know what to do without it. I believe right now electricity might almost be equal to oxygen.

Another invention that is great is the invention of plastics. I know right now it is deemed hazardous to the environment, but it is in almost everything we use!  Our mechanical pencils, water bottles, toothbrush, are all made of plastics. Plastic is the new glassware. It lasts longer, doesn’t break, and well it’s cheap. It is in most car parts, and its use is very flexible. Inventors and innovators find new ways to improve the use of plastics. They have improved its use around the house especially in the refrigerator department, the office and school. Now even they have even improved to environmentally friendly plastics, which I actually don’t believe in. But nonetheless, one has to agree the plastic is as regular in our life as is electricity.

1961 France and England connect electrical grids

France and England connect their electrical grids with a cable submerged in the English Channel. It carries up to 160 megawatts of DC current, allowing the two countries to share power or support each other’s systems

1935 Rural Electrification Administration bring electricity to many farmers. President Roosevelt issues an executive order to create the Rural Electrifican administration (REA) which forms cooperatives that bring electricity to millions of rural Americans.

The reason I chose these two as my great engineering achievements was basically because of the direction that I think could eventually be taken from them. The idea of connecting two electrical grids seems so beneficial to me. I believe that eventually more countries will be able to connect their grids with one another to form that relationship that France and England have; that if one faces some electrical problem or power outage the other one can aid them. It might be far out there but that idea just seemed ideal to me.

The same idea goes with this one also. I like the direction that this achievement could eventually take in the future. I believe that following the same theories they used to get electricity to the rural areas that they would one day be able to supply those other countries that still have to go without it. Again, I’m probably just being very idealistic but if France and England can connect their grids on the English Channel I would like to believe anyone else could do it too

The first long range electrical line was strung by the American Gas and Electric company in 1917.  This allowed the company to bring electricity to its customers. It was built near a coal mine so that the transportation from the mine to the plant was nearly eliminated.  I feel this was one of the most significant inventions for a few reasons. It allowed us to use electricity without being really close to a power plant, and it helped to shape life today as we know it.

Without the ability to transfer energy over long distances we would not have computers, televisions, and definitely no Internet. Without this stuff we would not be able to communicate to the ability we are now. This also allowed us to get power to the rural area’s of America. Transmitting at volts starting around 220, however low compared to today’s 765,000 volts, allowed the power to travel further and therefor reach more people and make this way of life available.

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.