Jan. 2, 2000

Reluctant Columnist Picks Wheelbarrow All-Time Event

There are some things a columnist has to do – regardless of pertinency – and millennium introspection is one of them.

I was going to try and sneak by that obligation today inasmuch as the present millennium doesn’t end until Jan. 1, 2001. However, as bogus Y2K rhetoric grew more torrid, I became fearful that certain, signal events and personalities earlier in Y1K are being overlooked.

Hence, a dissenting compilation. A poor thing, perhaps, but mine own – divided into six categories with best choice in bold type.

ENERGY

The greatest event of all time was invention of the wheelbarrow by the Chinese – so far back in time it cannot be dated. I mention this because all else is descendant. Each great leap forward in human evolution occurs with tapping into new, energy multipliers. This frees people to think, learn, invent and explore.

Within the bob-tailed millennium at hand, there was:

* Steam engine -- spawned the industrial revolution (weaving machine, locomotive and earth shovel) exemplified by James Watt in 1764. Honorable mention, James Hargreaves.

* Electricity -- powers every thing (lights, motors, stoves, radios, computers, television) exemplified by Michael Faraday who invented the electric motor in 1821 and the electric generator in 1831. Honorable mention, Edison and Tesla.

* Internal combustion motor -- drives all things portable (cars, trucks, airplanes, ships and tractors) exemplified by Henry Ford who invented the assembly line in 1913 making personal travel and door-to-door shipping practical.

* Nuclear power – ushered in by the atom bomb made possible by splitting atoms (provides electricity, makes world wars obsolete, but poses environmental problems) exemplified by Einstein and Fermi in 1945. Honorable mention, Oppenheimer. Perhaps a precursor to clean, nuclear fusion in next millennium.

EXPLORATION

* European discovery of America – opened a “new world” (extended civilization and source of natural resources) exemplified by Columbus in 1492. Honorable mention, Pizzaro, Cortez, Ponce DeLeon and DeSoto.

* Moon landing – opened the Space Frontier (satellite navigation, communication, first step to peopling the universe) exemplified by NASA and John F. Kennedy. Honorable mention, Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins.

COMMUNICATION

*Mass printing – opened knowledge to ordinary people (popular bible, printing press, books, newspapers, magazines) exemplified by Johannes Gutenberg in 1455.

* Telephone – long-distance voice communication (business, industry, social and emergency) exemplified by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. Honorable mention Edison.

* Transistor – first semi-conductor device permitting miniaturizing of low-power electrical circuits (telephone switches, cell phones, computers, television) exemplified by Bell Telephone Laboratory team of Shockley, Brattain and Bardeen in 1947.

KNOWLEDGE

* Heliocentricity – deduction that the Sun was a center around which the Earth and other planets revolve (opened cosmology to conception of a universe and conjecture about human purpose in it) exemplified by Copernicus in 1540.

* Spy glass – invention of the telescope, and subsequently the microscope (extent of the universe, examination of microbes invisible to the naked eye) exemplified by Galileo in 1609.

* Theory of Relativity – the relationship of space, time, and gravity (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared, curvature of space, compression of time) exemplified by Albert Einstein in 1914.

* Discovery of DNA – a technique of detecting and altering specific chromosomes in living creatures (correcting inherited defects, cloning, creating more nutritious foods, forensic identification) exemplified by Francis Crick in 1961. Honorable mention, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins.

MEDICAL

* X-ray – viewing the interior of bodies (detecting broken bones and diseased organs) exemplified by William Roentgen in 1895. Precursor of magnetic resonance imaging MRI.

* Anesthetics – inducing insensibility in living creatures (during all types of surgery) exemplified by Henry Bigelow in 1846. Honorable mention, Crawford Long.

* Vaccine – induced immunity to various diseases (small pox, scarlet fever, typhoid, polio) exemplified by Louis and Marie Pasteur in 1885. Honorable mention, Jonas Salk.

* Penicillin – first of a family of anti-biotics (destruction of disease bacteria in living tissue, (wounds, diseases not prevented by vaccines) exemplified by Alexander Flemming in 1939.

* Heart transplants – replacement of diseased hearts as exemplified by Christiaan Barnard in 1967.

SOCIO-POLITICAL

* Renaissance – a rebirth of art, literature and science in Europe (concept of individual worth ending the medieval “dark age” and laying groundwork for modern humanism) exemplified by Dante in 14th century and Michelangelo in 16th century. Honorable mention, Petarch.

*U.S. Constitution – a pact between government and citizens guaranteeing enumerated rights through freely-elected representatives following a War for Independence (Bill of Rights, final authority of Supreme Court, federal spending initiated only by more numerous House of Congress) exemplified by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 1785. Honorable mention, John Hancock and all signers of the Declaration of Independence.

* Freeing slaves – a Civil War between the American states (preserved the union of States while abolishing slavery of Africans and restricting sovereignty of individual states) exemplified by Abraham Lincoln in 1861-64. Honorable mention, Gen. U.S. Grant.

Lindsey Williams is a Sun-Herald columnist and can be reached at linwms@lindseywilliams.org