Innovations One of the Most Dramatic Inventions

Innovations One of the most dramatic inventions of the second half of the 20th century would have to be the microchip. It was during this period of time that computers shifted from being huge machines that filled large rooms to desktop, and then laptop, computers, and then even small computers that could fit in your hand -- PDA's and cell phones. If we watch episodes from the original Star Trek television series, things that look like PDA's and cell phones are presented as something we may see 300 years from now.

They are used in many places in addition to computerized gadgets, including automobiles, televisions, and computerized portable game players such as "Game Boy." They even appear in animals. Adopt a pet from the Humane Society and they will insert an identifying microchip under the animal's skin. If your cat or dog gets lost, the Humane Society can read the chip and let you know they have your pet. Some people believe that the development of air conditioning is one of the major developments of the 20th century.

Singapore is located just about on the equator (Maney, 1999), and one writer noted that Singapore could not have risen to be a major factor in world economics without air conditioning. Without air conditioning, high-rise buildings in the tropics would be inhabitable. This thinking also extends to cities in the south of the United States (Maney, 1999) such as Atlanta for the same reason. Improvements in communication is related to the development of the computer chip. We could not have hundreds of communications satellites circling the globe without miniaturization of electronics (Gillmor, 1999).

These satellites have also allowed the development of global positiioning. This is being used right now to remap the areas of the planet where the actual geography changed because of the earthquake and Tsunami that recently hit the Asia Ocean. Global positioning has also been used in warfare to bomb with more precision than ever before. Knowledge about atomic energy grew tremendously in the second half of the 20th century. The H. bomb, far worse than the original A bomb, was developed.

While at first all the major countries worked as hard as they could and as fast as they could to develop rockets so they could use A bombs if necessary to destroy their enemies, the knowledge that countries could do that to each other may have prevented World War III (Gillmor, 1999).

It could be argued that the growing realization that would could wipe out the human race with the push of a few buttons forced the major powers of the world, especially the United States and Russia, to reconsider whether they ever wanted to go to war again. Since the development of easily used nuclear warheads, we have continued to se wars, but the haven't become world wars.