Modern (18th-20th Century)

This is a relatively new association with a growing membership. The Association's site has a list of the members of the organization and a back list of newsletters, most of them reprinted online. A form allows prospective members to join. Most significant for non-members and researchers in the history of mining is a fairly exhaustive 1998 bibliography of Australian mining history. There are general references as well as more specific references for the different regions of Australia.

This quirky museum, located in Southport, Lancashire, houses hundreds of lawnmowers from the past century. Their site is fairly sparse, with almost no text on the history of lawnmowers. However, there are 15 large photographs of some of their most prized specimens from early horse-drawn mowers to automated models. The museum also provides details of some of their collection, which includes lawnmowers of the rich and famous (e.g., Prince Charles).

This site has been established by the National Association of Atomic Veterans to provide an online archive of personal accounts of American veterans who served in divisions that were exposed to the effects of atomic weaponry. There are over 400 personal accounts from those who were there at Hiroshima, Nagasaki and military tests of atomic bombs from 1946 to 1962. There are also over 500 photographs from these servicemen and from declassified military archives. These images include the devastation of the Japanese cities in the immediate aftermath of the bombs and the activities of American servicemen in the testing and clean-up of atmospheric (above-ground) weapons testing. The site is also used to gather information about the subsequent medical effects of exposure to high-level radiation during these military exercises.

Alan Turning (1912-1954) was a pioneering mathematician and philosopher of the mind who most famously worked on breaking Nazi codes and presaged developments in artificial intelligence and computer technology. This site conveys Turning's biography, providing a timeline and short prospectus of Turning's life. There is also a scrapbook that includes many photographs of Turning, diagrams of his mathematics and logic, and a large glossary of related historical terms and context. In the scrapbook, you will find a discussion of the code-breaking effort in England in the second World War and the techniques used by Turing and others in detail. Photographs of the locations and machines involved are also included, as are links to other sites with related historical and contemporary material.

This University of Virginia site uses flow charts to show Alexander Graham Bell's invention process for the telephone in the 1860s and 70s. The flow charts show which breakthroughs occurred when, and which innovations led to subsequent technological advances. Beyond showing Bell's invention process diagrammatically (and showing earlier Bell creations which helped him develop the telephone) the site contains a long essay on the historic invention of the telephone, with notes and references to offline works. The author has annotated the flow charts (in plain language) to help the reader understand what Bell was doing in each of his experiments. In addition, Bell's patent applications from the 1870s are reproduced on the site.

Uppsala University, in Sweden, is the oldest university in Scandanavia and a pioneering university in astronomy. This small site provides an overview of the history of the university from the fifteenth century to the present (in both English and Swedish). Included on the site are about 10 images (paintings, photographs and drawings) of the university observatories, listings of university publications from the early to middle twentieth century, a timeline of university professors in astronomy, since its origin, and a manuscript page of lecture notes from the 1480s. There are also links to related materials on astronomy and the scientists involved with the university and its discoveries.

The Archives of Women in Science and Engineering is a collection in the library of Iowa State University. This site lists the contents of the collection, and includes brief biographies of the women whose papers are in the archive, however, does not present the collection online. There is an online exhibit on the impact of women nutritionists that contains longer biographies and photographs of 10 important female scientists involved in nutrition research. In addition, the site has an overview of the oral history project associated with the Archives of Women in Science and Engineering, which hopes to interview approximately 50 women to add to the collection.

This site from NASA contains a brief biography and photograph of the physicist and "father of modern rocket propulsion," Robert Hutchings Goddard. Among the many firsts by Goddard listed, is the first liquid fuel rocket (1926), which led to the development of military missiles and the possibility of space exploration. A link on the liquid fueled rocket leads to several photographs and engineering sketches and an account of its inaugural flight. Statistics (size, employees, locations, funding, milestones) about the NASA center which is named after Goddard are also available.

This University of Virginia site contains one of Alexander Graham Bell's notebooks (1875-1876) from a critical phase in the invention of the telephone. The site primarily consists of about 100 quality images of diagrams from Bell's notebook. There are also data entries and brief notes (transcribed by the editor) available. Most of the experiments listed deal with electricity, magnetism and related metallurgic tests. Various circuits and electrical switches are explored in different configurations. While the site does not contain biographical material, it provides an interesting glimpse into the work of one of America's great inventors.

This small museum in Bozeman, Montana contains artifacts from and exhibits on the history of computing and the mathematics that have made this technology possible. The online exhibit is relatively small, located to photographs; the site contains about 20 photographs of their exhibits and a series of photographs of computer innovators who have received a "Hall of Fame" award from the museum and its associated institutions. Visitors to the Compuseum's Web site are encouraged to visit the actual museum.