THE 1910s: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: OVERVIEW

The Best and Worst of Times

The automobile assembly line, new atomic theories, Einstein's general theory of relativity, advances in radio technology, and continuing developments in the social sciences are among the many scientific and technological advances of the 1910s. Modern science was in full bloom. New inventions made life less arduous and more comfortable for millions of urban and rural Americans. Many new products found their way into homes, factories, farms, and hospitals. The decade, however, also bore witness to the devastation of World War I. From 1914 to 1918 the Great War showed that technological advancements, so wondrous in peace-time, could have horrible consequences in war. The first extensive use of submarines in sea battle, the invention of the tank, and the gruesome toll of the machine gun each played its part in the maiming and killing of millions. World War I showed that the achievements of the scientist and engineer could cause immeasurable pain and suffering, a dark lesson that humanity would be taught again at the dawn of the atomic age.

Scientific Internationalism

An essential feature of science and technology in the second decade of the twentieth century was its international character. The story of science and technology in the United States in the 1910s would be incomplete without reference to achievements elsewhere. In the decade that saw the first transatlantic radiotelephone communication, European and American scientists could share ideas and results rapidly. The international exchange of theories and inventions via journals, papers, missives, and conferences makes the story of scientific and technological advancement truly cosmopolitan, but the United States was beginning to assert itself. In 1910 the United States was seen as a worthy partner of the great scientific powers of England, France, and Germany. By the end of the decade the United States was poised to take the lead in many fields.

Research and Development

The growth of industrial laboratories for research and development (R and D) was an important facet of American science and technology. Development of institutionalized engineering in the United States can be traced back into the nineteenth century, when universities opened the first engineering schools and professional engineering associations were formed. The American Society of Civil Engineers was founded in 1852, the American Institute of Mining Engineers in 1871, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1880, and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1884. In 1901 General Electric was the first corporation in the United States formally to found a research laboratory—though Thomas Alva Edison's laboratories had set the bench-mark for R and D in the closing years of the nineteenth century. Following Edison and General Electric, scores of R and D facilities, often with staffs numbering no more than a dozen, cropped up across the nation. In the century's second decade their numbers grew apace. By 1917 there were more than 350 industrial research labs in the United States. By 1918 General Electric's R and D facility, begun so modestly at the beginning of the century, had grown to employ more than three hundred researchers and staff. The independent inventor or tinkerer was increasingly being replaced by engineers and scientists on corporate, university, and sometimes government payrolls.

Technological Innovation

The variety of technological achievements in the 1910s was impressive. Hoover vacuum cleaners, an electric-mechanical calculator called the "Millionaire," electrically powered washing machines, the world's first portable facsimile (fax) machine (invented by Edouard Belin of France in 1913), and the tank (initially produced in England) were all introduced or developed during the decade. Bakelite, a hard durable plastic, was invented and put to use in electrical circuits as an insulator as well as in parts for automobiles and airplanes. Rotogravure was used in newspapers for the first time in printing the 1912 Christmas issue of The New York Times. In 1913 the Woolworth Building, the tallest office building in its day at 792 feet, was completed in New York City. In 1914 a combination plow and harrow was developed; the plow tilled the soil while the harrow was drawn behind to cover the seed and break up the plowed earth. By 1916 the miles of railroad track crisscrossing the nation reached approximately 253,000 miles (thereafter mileage was reduced by consolidations of rail company lines). In these and many more ways, technology touched every facet of American life and every American.