Thanks to the toptentopten web-site for this one. The greatest engineering achievments of the 20th Century were:
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Electrification |
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Automobile |
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Aeroplane |
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Water supply and Distribution |
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Electronics |
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Radio and Television |
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Agricultural Mechanization |
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Computers |
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Telephone |
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Air Conditioning and Refrigeration |
Look, the same author also has a list of the top ten cartoon dogs:
http://www.toptentopten.com/topten/cartoon+dogs
I would assume that comparable scientific scrutiny was involved in the creation process of both lists.
OK Anonymous, maybe you have your lighter moments, and maybe they don't detract from the validity of your scientific scrutiny.
"Water supply and Distribution"
I seem to recall the Romans got this sussed. It was taking away the waste well that we had to wait for 19th century Britain to introduce.
And of course electrification, agricultural mechanisation and the telephone were well underway during Queen Vic's reign :-)
Well Yes and No, Mike, the Romans got their cities supplied with water but did they supply every hovel? And did they supply villages? I don't think so. As to electrification the first street lighting was in Godalming in 1881 - 20 years before Queen Vicky died - but when was electrification universal? Again, there were 150,000 phones in use in the US in 1886 but how long before phones became universal in the US? Let alone the rest of the world. As for agricultural mechanisation then I suppose you could say it started with the first steam traction engines in the mid-19th century, but it wasn't until the turn of the century that the internal combustion engine was applied to tractors - and that was when agricultural mechanisation became widespread. So it all depends on the definition of 'well underway'.
Well even in the UK, water distribution is no where near universal now with whole villages around here using springs or suchlike. And I believe universal electrification is still to be achieved.
Good Grief, Mike, do the UN relief agencies know how bad things are up there?
well if you'd bothered to turn up for the North West Technology do we could have shown you :-)
The amazing thing about the Internet is who you meet on it. I accidently found the person who as a young apprentice helped bring electricity to our village in the 1960s.
The 1960s? Gosh. Was that before or after you stopped using woad?
What no satellites, moon landing, x-rays, MRI scanners and nuclear?
Well, Geoff-s, I think the ones you mention could be regarded more as scientific achievements than engineering achievements.