Category Archives: Technology

up in the air

A duck, a sheep, and a rooster take off in a hot air balloon. … Already heard this one? … No? Well, actually, according to the Château de Versailles, this isn’t a joke. In 1782 the Montgolfier brothers, Joseph and … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

under the influence

150 years ago a newspaper doubted the truth of what it called a “verdict of Science” regarding earth’s next-door neighbor. From Harper’s Weekly May 22, 1869: THE MOON’S INFLUENCE WHATEVER be the influence exercised upon the earth by the varying … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago, Technology | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

prize fliers

World War I was disruptive, and while it was a boon to aviation, it caused the postponement of an aerial competition. In 1913 the Daily Mail offered a prize of £10,000 to “the aviator who shall first cross the Atlantic … Continue reading

Posted in 100 Years Ago, Technology, World War I | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

more trans in transportation

Our society seems to like historical anniversaries , so I wondered if May 1919 headlines in The New York Times would mention the 50th anniversary of the completion of the United States’ First Transcontinental Railroad. I searched in vain. Certainly … Continue reading

Posted in 100 Years Ago, Technology, World War I | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

At the junction …

… Promontory junction North and South America had been a big impediment to free-flowing and relatively quick world trade. Even though way back in 1513 an expedition led by Vasco Núñez de Balboa discovered how near the Atlantic and Pacific … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Society, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

conservative counterpoise

In an editorial on December 25, 1868 The New-York Times stressed that Christmas was a traditional, family time in a world of great technological change, especially the transportation revolution caused by steam power. The technological innovation led to social change: … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Technology, Veterans, War Consequences | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

the velocipede revolution

The times they are a-modernizin’. Back in April 1868 an American periodical urged better preservation of historically important places. 150 years ago this month the same paper enthusiastically described a new device – a traveling machine. It wasn’t just the … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago, 150 Years Ago This Month, Postbellum Society, Technology | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

circular logic

Apparently in 1492 most educated Europeans knew that the earth was spherical. The Atlantic Ocean was beginning to be explored; the technology of the mariner’s compass made it easier to figure out which way you were going, and “a certain … Continue reading

Posted in American History, Technology, World History | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

crusaders?

In early December 1917 the New York Tribune was eagerly anticipating the British capture of Jerusalem: As explained by Francis A. March and Richard J. Beamish in their 1919 History of the World War (at Project Gutenberg, pages 506-512) British … Continue reading

Posted in 100 Years Ago, Technology, World War I | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

clean energy

From The New-York Times October 27, 1867: Petroleum for Fuel. There have been many objections urged to the use of petroleum as fuel on sea-going vessels, most of which, we believe, will be successfully set aside. But none of them … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Technology | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment