Mark TWAIN once said: “there is No such thing as a new idea. It is impossible”. We just take a bunch of old ideas and put them into a kind of mental kaleidoscope. And as in so much else, TWAIN was absolutely right. Many “modern technologies” in reality, only updated versions of old creatures, washed and polished fresh paint.
For example…
Video games
It is widely believed that the history of video games began with Pong. But actually these games were long before the release of Pong in 1972. In 1958 Dr. William Higinbotham worked at the Brookhaven national laboratory, while calculating the trajectories of missiles and Bouncing balls. During his studies, he suddenly realized that the results can be used for entertainment.
Higinbotham call his new game Tennis for Two (“Tennis for two”) and “tennis ball” (points of light) jumping across the field with the net in the middle. The screen was a 12.7-centimeter oscilloscope, and game control was carried out using a large box with a rotating handle. “Tennis for two” never appeared in stores, because it was very similar to the project that Higinbotham used in Federal laboratories and, therefore, the US government has in advance received the rights to the game, if he tried to sell it.
However, even before this game was a missile simulator Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device. Patented in 1948, it was massive, mounted in a Cabinet cathode-ray computer. Grip exhibited the speed and trajectory of an artillery shell, which the player had to get to a predefined point on the screen.
These points were superimposed transparent image planes. That is, the image plane was located on top of the screen. (In the end, it was the 40-ies, and the level of graphical detail needed to display the game, just was unattainable). If the player managed to hit the target, the projectile eroded, simulating an explosion.
Mobile phones
Mobile phones there are a lot longer than you might imagine. First “real” call by mobile phone was made in 1946. Long before the advent of the iPhone, the team at Bell Labs has created a wireless telephone service, available in 100 cities.
Of course, it was expensive, with a monthly fee of $ 15. It is about 150 dollars by today’s standards, plus 30-40 cents per call. And because the equipment weighed 36 pounds, “mobile” feature was limited to cars. In addition to price and weight, there was also a group line, which supported three calls simultaneously on one city. Price and technology limitations did not allow this service to become popular.
And yet, in 1922, was a more viable option. Although this device was called a “wireless phone”, it could hardly be called similar to a modern mobile phone. However, it allowed family members to communicate at great distances and for 1920-ies were, in General, is a good example.
This device was a kind of unilateral crystal radio, which was used to listen to your messages. It was huge and required an umbrella that acted as antenna. However, an energy source he was not required since the energy provided by the antenna. Old advertising of this phone have focused on women who wanted to hear their men where they are at this point. However, it was necessary to lug around a bulky radio and constantly listening to the ether waiting for a call. It is not surprising that this device never became popular.
Bras
The first modern bra was patented in 1914. Mary Phelps Jacob created a bra as a way to support without the need for the corset, which, according to her, the feelings was like the armour of whalebone. Its invention was essentially two handkerchiefs sewn together and tied around the neck. Not very convenient, but compared with the corsets is much easier and more freely.
However, in time Jacob corsets were in fashion, so women wore bras only at home. But after the First world war there was a need in the metal that was used to create corsets, which led to the popularity of the known bras.
However, it was recently made a discovery that drove the invention of the bra in the 1400’s. a Group of archaeologists have unearthed a repository of ancient garments in the castle of Lengberg, located in Tyrol, Austria. In the store was 2700 pieces of tissue. Amongst shoes, shirts and rags had four medieval bra. Perhaps they were even better version of Jacob 1914, as their cups were cut.
Each bra also looked different. One was like a long bra of the 50’s, with an extra part that fell below the rib cage. This particular bra was trimmed with lace. The other was elaborately decorated with needle lace, patchwork and eyelets. Perhaps in addition to the first invention of bras, it’s also the first example of lingerie.
3D movies
From “House of wax” to “Avatar”, 3D movies began to emerge in cinemas and gradually became an integral part of cinema. They are always advertised as something more, before they finally got tired of all because of the limitations of the technology. However, films in 3D, the story is much more than many think.
The first 3D boom happened in the 1950-ies, which many called the Golden age of 3D movies. Post-war economy was up and people were ready for new technologies. 3D glasses have already been popular among children, reading 3D comics, but people wanted more. In principle, it was easy to take the familiar technology. The new format quickly became popular, especially in the horror genre. Even Alfred Hitchcock experimented with 3D.
However, before the 1950s, 3D movies were already familiar in the United States. In 1936 3D film “Audioscopics” received the Academy award for best short film. This movie used the red/blue color scheme with which many of us are familiar. These colors are preferable since it leave less blurry images than others. But even 1936 can not be called the first time the audience watched the film in 3D.
Released the first commercial 3D film was “The Power of Love”. The film hit the cinemas in 1922 and was the first film, which had to be used, along with anaglyph glasses red/blue color scheme. Although the original film of the film so badly faded that it is hardly possible to see something that worked on its restoration, and what turned out, were very real.
Vaporizer
Perhaps the PVS of all shades are incredibly popular nowadays among the population, however, this practice is several thousand years old. The history of Herodotus, the book of the fifth century BC mentions the ancient Scythians, who threw cannabis seeds on red-hot stones to evaporate. Modern smokers are the PVS not use this old method, but the first real vaporizer was invented in 1500-ies. To us he is known as “hookah”.
It is believed that the hookah was invented in India, on the border with Pakistan, or perhaps in Persia. British physicist and historian of medicine Kirill Elgood claims that the hookah was created by Indian physician in the entourage of Sheikh Irfan, but many dispute this version. Regardless of the origin, the first hookahs were simple and modern, generally, they were made out of a coconut using a bamboo tube.
Modern PVS were invented in 2003 by Chinese pharmacist whose father died of lung cancer. However, this device, in turn, based on the design of electronic cigarettes 60 years. Those, in turn, based on even older nicotine PVS, patented in 1927. Unfortunately, this particular device did not attract special attention. (In the end, Smoking the and was then popular, but its health risks knew little). And yet it can be called the first modern vaporizer.
3D printing
In recent years, 3D printing has opened a lot of opportunities in a variety of industries, from medicine to space exploration. But despite its popularity, many people don’t know that 3D printing has existed for over 30 years. In 1981, the Japanese research Institute published a report on the first functional prototype of a 3D printer. This system used a layer-by-layer photopolymers to create a solid printed models.
Three years later Charles hull invented lithography, a process that allows designers to use digital data to create 3D models. The invention of hull has used the same liquid photopolymers as the original prototype. Irradiating them with a laser, the system has been producing solid pieces of plastic. Although this system could create a three-dimensional model, its full potential is not sufficiently assessed, using only to save time when creating design prototypes.
In 1992, the first “selective laser sintering machine” has improved this technology, using powder instead of liquid. This allowed you to print any form, as the process did not require a base coat like photopolymer techniques.
Although 3D printers have been working for a long time, they have become popular recently. Older models were not as reliable as new, but the main obstacle to the spread of 3D printers was that the most convenient way to do 3D printers has been a process developed and patented by Stratasys. The company, based in Minnesota, selling the technology only in the professional market. Once the term of the original patent their method has expired, the available 3D printers were open to all.
Electric cars
Electric vehicles are considered a modern invention, but actually them for 200 years. In the early 1800s, a number of inventors around the world created more raw small electric cars. The first practical electric cars were created in the mid 19th century in France and England, and the first successful electric car appeared in the United States by the 1890s. It was a six-seater car that could move at a speed of approximately 23 kilometers per hour.
During the decade electric cars were sold ten times more than petrol cars. They were better petrol transport, which was harder to manage, because we had to shift gears. Come on and get the manual crank.
Electric cars also had disadvantages. Because the electrical source was limited to the cities, the cars were also attached to them. With the development of the infrastructure of the USA, was getting worse. People suddenly need to travel somewhere on their cars. And then we found crude oil in Texas, and gasoline became cheap and available.
The final death blow to the electric car struck the Assembly line of Henry Ford, which made gasoline cars half the price electric. Further innovations have replaced the bulky handle electric starter, and by 1935 electric vehicles become a legend. who returned today.
Cordless phones
Phone, the greatest invention by Alexander Graham bell. But for Bella, his greatest invention was the photophone. What is the difference between these two studies? Bell’s photophone did not use electricity to transmit sound. He used light.
Bell and his colleague, the inventor Charles Sumner Tainter, made the first telephone call on the basis of light in 1880. Device to focus the sun’s light through the transmitter at a mirror that vibrated when someone spoke into a microphone on its backside. It resembled parabolic satellite antenna. Fluctuations of light caught the device, and then converted them to sound on the telephone.
When the experiment was a success, bell was ecstatic. He enthusiastically wrote a letter to his father in which he said: “I have heard articulate speech produced by sunlight”. His excitement reached such a peak that he wanted to name his newborn daughter after his invention. Fortunately for the baby, the mother insisted on the name Maybelle.
Alas, the bell project was unsuccessful. Light is easily blocked or scattered, making the device unreliable form of communication. Nevertheless, he paved the way for the invention of optical fiber.
Plastic surgery
The first known surgery to change the nose took place in the ancient Kingdom of Egypt 3000 years ago. After the death of Ramses II, he endured a rough form of plastic surgery. Nose stuck a small bone and a few seeds to Pharaoh recognized in the afterlife. Ancient Egyptian plastic surgery was limited, in General, is dead, and only much later reconstructive plastic surgery is applied in humans.
In the sixth century BC the ancient Indians had restored the damaged ears and noses and transplanting skin from the cheeks or forehead and attaching it on the damaged areas. The skin stretched over the sheet, and then fastened them over the wound. The secret of this surgery kept for centuries, and the procedure, which was used to restore noses and ears, was lost in the heat of war and persecution. Nowadays modern forms of this procedure are still used for different kinds of plastic surgery.
The ancient Romans also had many cosmetic surgeries. The scars on his back were often asked to remove, because they said that the man fled from the battlefield or was beaten like a slave. Women trimming the ears, as they were delayed heavy earrings. Was performed primitive surgery on the nose that confirms the following: even thousands of years ago people were so passionate about their looks that risked life and limb going under the knife.
Social media
In 1970-ies at Berkeley a group of friends who are interested in computers, decided to create a public Bulletin Board. They decided to use computers, which are interconnected throughout the community, thus creating an “information flea market”.
It was slow, used a 110-claret modems that worked at a speed of 10 characters per minute, but people can use it to exchange information as well as in modern social media. The user can leave a marker in the form of keywords to find other, and the members of the “boards” can exchange messages about where are the Grateful Dead and where to buy the best bagels. Reading messages was free, and placed them for a quarter.
In the same decade have logged in using the BBS — bulletin board system, electronic Bulletin boards. People go online to discuss their Hobbies and interests. Given the time and environment, the main topic was computers. Technology was limited to local areas. However, such restrictions led to the fact that real people staged rallies in real life — many of us remember similar meetings in the early 2000s.
In 1980 among scientists has become a popular Usenet. It was conceived as a forum where scientists and computer scientists can support group discussions. Very quickly this forum has gone beyond academic circles.