The VL is the oldest catalog of the web, started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of html and the web itself. Unlike commercial catalogs, it is run by a loose confederation of volunteers, who compile pages of key links for particular areas in which they are expert; even though it isn't the biggest index of the web, the VL pages are widely recognised as being amongst the highest-quality guides to particular sections of the web.
For the Millennium Challenge, ASCE canvassed its members in late 1999 to determine the 10 civil engineering achievements that had the greatest positive impact on life in the 20th century. Rather than individual projects, they chose to recognize broad categories of achievements.
ASCE's members ranked the 10 greatest civil engineering achievements as:
Airport Design And Development
Dams
The Interstate Highway System
Long-Span Bridges
Rail Transportation
Sanitary Landfills/Solid Waste Disposal
Skyscrapers
Wastewater Treatment
Water Supply and Distribution
Water Transportation
The American Society of Civil Engineers polled its membership to rank the ten civil engineering achievements that had the “greatest positive impact on life in the 20th century.” Those achievements are featured in the Monuments of the Millennium exhibit, and include Airport Design And Development, Dams, The Interstate Highway System, Long-Span Bridges, Rail Transportation, Sanitary Landfills/Solid Waste Disposal, Skyscrapers, Wastewater Treatment, Water Supply and Distribution, and Water Transportation. There is an introduction for each section, accompanied by a highlighted national or international project with images and links for more information. The site is small, but has a good overview the types of projects ASCHO members believe to be the most significant public works of the past century.
Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) represents more than 123,000 members of the civil engineering profession worldwide, and is America's oldest national engineering society. ASCE's vision is to position engineers as global leaders building a better quality of life.
Our heritage enables us to benefit from the experience of those who have preceded us. This is the value of history in any field of endeavor. Our heritage also enables us to enjoy the receive inspiration from the accomplishments of the past, great and small, and gives us a stronger tie with the people who created them.
History and Heritage of Civil Engineering on the website of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) showcases the work of American civil engineering in the past two centuries. The site is attractive and a good resource for an introduction to this field that encompasses many different types of work. There are eleven Landmark Projects in the broad categories of transportation by air, land, and sea, water supply and control, power generation, and structures such as buildings, bridges, and dams. An overview of each type of project is accompanied by an interactive timeline from 3000 BC to 2000 AD that includes major world events. Examples of major projects within each category include images and links to more information. Brief biographies of more than 40 notable engineers are included, again with images and links. A searchable image library has high quality pictures available for download, although there is no way to browse the holdings of this small collection. Finally, in the Resources section there are links to libraries and information available online, as well as a bibliography of print resources.
Research Aids for the Nineteenth Century
Welcome to my website, the Bell System Memorial. For those of us who were old enough to remember the days of "Ma Bell" you should find plenty of memories on this website of the "good old days" - and perhaps some not-so-good old days - under the Bell System monopoly.
A Switchboard to the History of the Telephone: The Bell System Memorial Website
In the golden days of the Bell telephone monopoly, telephones did not beep, chirp or yodel. Telephones made only one sound: they rang. In those golden days, there was no confusing variety of telephone providers, vying with each other to offer better long distance deals. There was one provider for local and long-distance calls, and this was Bell.
Ma Bell, the company of companies, was much more than a telephone provider: it was a symbol of American enterprise, of innovation and progress. Bell was not a company in the strict sense, but was an aggregate term for AT&T encompassing 24 Bell operating companies that provided local phone services. Under the umbrella was also the AT&T long distance service, an equipment manufacturing arm known as Western Electric, and the research and development division "Bell Laboratories." At the time of its break-up after de-regulation in 1984, Bell was the largest employer in the United States. Bell had not only provided a telephone for the majority of American households, but also a regular income for over a million workers.
The Bell System Memorial website is dedicated to an era of the telephone that was lost with de-regulation. It is a memorial to the technology of the telephone, and a memorial to the workers who made the phones ring. The website is a labor of love by David Massey, a private telephone enthusiast who was not associated with any of the former Bell companies.
The design of the website is clear and intelligent, resembling the functionality of a telephone switchboard: The main index site provides four options for different groups to enter the site: for students and teachers, for former employees, for historians and researchers, and for hobbyists and collectors. By providing these different entrance points, David Massey manages to address a wide audience, and at the same time tailors more specific information to a variety of groups.
When entering through the former employee button, visitors can access a fascinating collection of stories by former AT&T, Western Electric, Bell Labs, and Bell Operating Company employees. In this section, former employees recall "the wonders of working at Ma-Bell." They write about the stages of their careers at Bell, their most extraordinary work experiences, and the comradery among Bell employees. Not all stories reflect a harmonious relationship between the employer and the employees: Peter W. Koch, a former Western Electric installer, tells of a long strike in 1952 to raise the per diem rate for traveling installers by one dollar. In 1958, due to a recession, "about a third of the installers were laid off." Among them was Peter W. Koch, who "was never recalled." This section also gives a sense of the skills that were lost in the course of technological progress. Mary Clemence, who worked as a switchboard operator in Michigan in the mid 1960s, recalls her skills in handling a switchboard from the 1920s. "I've realized for some time that I had an incredibly unique experience using that kind of equipment, at a time when most of the country had direct dialing for local and long distance calls."
In addition to these stories, visitors can access a wealth of material through a navigation bar on the left hand side: a short history of the Bell logo, recordings of Jane Barbe's voice, Yellow Pages for telephone collectors and much more. A search engine helps to find pathways through Bell's A-Z. A What's New page keeps regular visitors up-to-date about additions to the site.
For historians of technology, for students and teachers, for anyone who has phone-nostalgia and wants to have a good time, the Bell System Memorial is the place to go. This website rings.
Katja Hering
Center for History and New Media
April 22, 2004
Before we continue describing the evolution of ways to mark the passage of time, perhaps we should broadly define what constitutes a clock. All clocks must have two basic components:
a regular, constant or repetitive process or action to mark off equal increments of time. Early examples of such processes included the movement of the sun across the sky, candles marked in increments, oil lamps with marked reservoirs, sand glasses (hourglasses), and in the Orient, knotted cords and small stone or metal mazes filled with incense that would burn at a certain pace. Modern clocks use a balance wheel, pendulum, vibrating crystal, or electromagnetic waves associated with the internal workings of atoms as their regulators.
a means of keeping track of the increments of time and displaying the result. Our ways of keeping track of the passage of time include the position of clock hands and digital time displays.
The history of timekeeping is the story of the search for ever more consistent actions or processes to regulate the rate of a clock.
The history of engineering can be roughly divided into four overlapping phases, each marked by a revolution:
Pre-scientific revolution: The prehistory of modern engineering features ancient master builders and Renaissance engineers such as Leonardo da Vinci.
Industrial revolution: From the eighteenth through early nineteenth century, civil and mechanical engineers changed from practical artists to scientific professionals.
Second industrial revolution: In the century before World War II, chemical, electrical, and other science-based engineering branches developed electricity, telecommunications, cars, airplanes, and mass production.
Information revolution: As engineering science matured after the war, microelectronics, computers, and telecommunications jointly produced information technology.
This web site is an online gateway to the extraordinary library resources of Harvard University and serves as an important research tool for Harvard's current students, faculty, staff, and researchers who hold Harvard IDs and PINs. The site also provides practical information on each of the more than 90 libraries that form the Harvard system. Visitors and guests should consult the Library's Frequently Asked Questions before navigating the sit
On July 16, 1945 the world changed with the explosion of the first atomic bomb. The explosion took place at Trinity Site which is on what is now White Sands Missile Range. Trinity is a national historic landmark which is open to the public twice a year. The following links will provide you with information on the history of the site, how to get there and some of the historic images.
