Engineering

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.

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 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 site is an online catalogue for one of the most famous science museums in Europe, located in Florence. Its collections are mostly from the early modern period (roughly 1500-1800), with a particular emphasis on Galileo, his inventions and related materials from his lifetime. A room-by-room map of the museum allows visitors to view dozens of drawings, paintings and photographs of early astronomical, medical, mathematical, chemical and engineering instruments. There is also a virtual video tour of the Galileo room and accompanying photographs of his telescopes and other memorabilia. The site is written in non-technical bilingual form (English and Italian). Short biographies of important early modern Italian scientists and a multitude of links to other history of science and technology sites in many languages are included.

An online version of Vannever Bush's article "As We May Think" in The Atlantic Monthly, July 1945. The article, all text with a few links added, discusses the recent past and future of science and technology at the end of World War II. It is written for a general audience. Aghast at the horror of what science wrought in the war, Bush looks to a more peaceful and productive day when advanced technologies will offer a better life for all human beings. He envisions a machine akin to the modern fax machine as well as other beneficial consumer and industrial technologies.

This site, produced by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, looks at the history of cans and bottles used for soft drinks and other beverages. In particular, it looks at the rise of the plastic container, and includes a biography of DuPont inventor, Nathaniel Wyeth, who first developed a usable polymer bottle. A timeline covers the history of beverage containers and innovations in the field from the late nineteenth century to the present, noting major milestones. The POP site also looks to expand this history, recording the memories and views of those who have worked in beverage container research and development. Discussions cover a variety of topics, including reasons why beer bottlers have remained resistant to plastic containers.

This site, produced by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, displays a timeline of events relating to the development and use of cardiac replacement therapy (CRT), beginning in the 1960s with the early efforts of the Artificial Heart Program by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and concluding with the latest artificial heart implants. The site is especially interested in gathering the recollections of the mechanical engineers, surgeons and others who have been involved in CRT research and applications. Forms are available to add comments and stories to the existing timeline of events.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has established this site to record the history of digital methods of sound recording and playing, the technology behind compact discs and digital audio tape. A brief historical essay prefaces the site, and a timeline beginning in the late 1950s and running up to the present day details the milestones in the technology. An extensive bibliography of digital recording accompanies the essay and timeline, as does an international list of educational institutions involved with the original (and continuing) research in the field. In addition, there are links on the site to other histories of the compact disc, CD-ROM and recording technology in general. The distinguishing feature of this site is its interest in collecting (via input forms) the personal recollections of those who worked on the research and development of digital audio recording and its associated technologies. Visiting engineers are asked to submit photographs, audio clips and other memorabilia to the site for its historical archive.

The Iconographic Archives are a project of the University of Bologna's International Centre for the History of Universities and Science (CIS). The Archives are an online repository for images of people, artifacts, and places with corresponding descriptions and location information. The University, founded in 1088, has a long history as a center for scientific scholarship, and these images reflect this relationship. Though the CIS site is available in English, the archival information is in Italian, requiring some knowledge of the language to utilize the search functions. Searches can be made by year to circumvent this. Unfortunately, there also is no way to browse the images without using the search tool.

The massive Alaskan oil pipeline, conceived in the 1960s and constructed in the 1970s, runs across the state of Alaska and down toward the mainland United States. This site produced by the American Society of Civil Engineers, intends to collect historical information about the pipeline. Forums have not been established yet, but the ASCE hopes that the site will attract those who participated in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline project as civil engineers, oil executives, government planners, environmental organizations and contruction workers, enabling them to record their remembrances and viewpoints of the project on line.