Consumer Technology

This site documents the history of women in science by providing a long list of biographies including female scientists from a range of disciplines. The site design is old and the navigation is basic, but a large amount of information on certain individuals is available throught this site and its links. The site offers a short introduction, the biographies, a few images, and a bibliography. Visitors can select whether to browse the biographies alphabetically, by date of birth, or by field. The site boasts more than 100 records, but many are one-sentence descriptions which are not useful. Some of the entries give summaries of the women's lives, their significant, and provide links to further online resources devoted that scientist. Other features of the site include an interactive quiz, crossword puzzle, and a long list of links to related sites.

This site is the online guide to the Niels Bohr Archive. The archive houses thousands of records concerning the famous physicist and the development of quantum physics. Most of the textual primary documents are not available without arranging a visit to the archive; however, a few previously unpublished letters between Bohr and German physicist Heisenberg are available in facsimile, transcribed, and translated. The site's most extensive materials are many pages containing a huge number of images of Bohr, his friends, family, and colleagues. The images are searchable and organized into smaller categories to assist browsing. The site also provides essential information on preparations required before visiting the archive. These procedures seem very particular and restrictive, so the site could be a crucial tool for avoiding delays when planning a research trip. Thus, the site is a valuable resource for any researcher looking for images or working on the history of quantum mechanics, atomic energy, and the life and career of Niels Bohr.

This site is an on-going project to publish online all of the records of the Griffith Institute Archive concerning Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. The site holds a truly incredible number of items, from 5000-plus images and transcriptions of the original cards that indexed the finds, to diaries, maps, and eyewitness accounts of the discovery. The artifacts and note cards can be browsed, or there is a search tool available. The original photographs from the excavation are also online and searchable. Additional features include short bios of Tutankhamun and Howard Carter and a list of publications related to the find that are available through the Griffith Institute. This site would definitely be useful to an anthropologist or an historian of ancient Egypt, but the maps, diaries and accounts could also lend themselves to a very interesting study of the practice and philosophy of archeology, and the history of Carter and other early-Twentieth-Century scientists like him.

Making the Modern World is a vast online exhibit from the Science Museum of London that covers science and society in the modern era, from traditional research and inventions and engineering, to social sciences and everyday life. There are many ways to explore the hundreds of images, audio files, and texts of the exhibit that begins with “Enlightenments and Measurement” in 1750 and concludes with the “Age of Ambivalence” in 2000. The largest section of the site is the Stories and Timelines, which is in narrative and chronological form. There are guided tours along the themes of “Technology as Passport,” “Women Making the Modern World,” and “Conflict in the Modern World.” The Daily Life Section has six categories that include personal, leisure, work, health, and control, and the stories of nine contemporary people's interactions with technology, some inventors, others learning how to handle a screwdriver and "DIY- Do It Yourself." The Icons of Invention includes more than 100 objects from science, technology, and medicine, while the Learning Modules cover biology, English, chemistry, geography, history, mathematics, and psychology. Throughout the site are subsections called "rich media scenes" with moving images and sound that provide interaction with catalogued images and quizzes within a particular story. Finally, there are basic and advanced search options to navigate quickly to a particular item or term.

The Science and Society Picture Library of the British National Museum of Science and Industry combines collections of the Science Museum, National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, and the National Railway Museum all on one website. It allows for searching or browsing of over 35,000 images, each of which can be sent as e-cards, or saved into a "wishlist" for second viewing or ordering reproductions. The images are of decent size to be viewed online, display a caption, and are completely categorized by keywords and fully seachable. This is an amazing resource for anyone interested in images of science and society up to the present day.

A Thin Blue Line: The History of the Pregnancy Test Kit, an online exhibit at the National Institutes of Health, explores the history of the pregnancy test kit from the laboratory to the digital age and invites women to share their personal stories through an online survey. In addition to the scientific background on the research that led to the development of the test, it also includes an historical timeline of pregnancy testing, as well as early advertisements for the test and portrayals of the test in television. There are excerpts from oral histories and interviews with Judith Vaitukaitis, M.D. and Glenn Braunstein, M.D., who in the early 1970’s collaborated on the experiments that led to the sensitive assay for hCG, the “pregnancy hormone.” The site is an interesting introduction to a modern technology that is so widespread and easily accessible as to be taken for granted.