Friday 2 April 2004

GERMANY AND INVENTIONS

Germany – a country with rich history.

This article is a tribute to the Germans who against all logic and trends emerged from dust at the dawn of year 1944 (end of Second World War) to one of the prosperous nations today.

I would like to bring to your notice some of the contributions made by Germans to the society as a whole. I am sure you will be amazed by the time this article gets over that most of the inventions (in the period before 1940) made in the field of science and medicine were by Germans. They had the scientific temper and superior technological knowledge to achieve greater heights. The massive defeat in the Second World War, which eventually destroyed the scientific fabric of this nation – has been, according to me the biggest loss to the world.

As Winston Churchill would have said – Never have so many owed so much to so few. Well – we will see why!

To substantiate – let us look at this brief list of major inventions made by the German Scientists.

1)      Solar system, universe and Planetary motion laws by Johannes Kepler: The Kepler Laws accurately describe the revolutions of the planets around the sun.
2)      Continental drift theory by Wegener, Alfred Lothar: According to Wegener, the present continents on earth were originally one large landmass he called Pangaea that gradually separated and drifted apart. He argued that the continents were still in the process of change and are still altering.
3)      Airship by Zeppelin Ferdinand, Graf von: An aircraft that consists of a cigar-shaped gas bag, or envelope, filled with a lighter-than-air gas to provide lift, a propulsion system, a steering mechanism, and a gondola accommodating passengers, crew, and cargo.
4)      Nuclear fission by Otto Hahn: The development of the atomic bomb was based on this work.
5)      Radioactivity by Wilhelm K. Roentgen: The man who defined X-Rays!
6)      Aspirin by Dr. Felix Hoffman.
7)      Automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler: The first automobile powered by an internal-combustion engine. Benz's company became Daimler-Benz AG, the manufacturer of the Mercedes-Benz automobile.
8)      Engine, internal combustion by Rudolf Diesel: The man who invented Diesel.
9)      Helicopter by Heinrich Focke.
10)  Radio by Heinrich Hertz: Radio set using spark coil, generator of electromagnetic waves for reception.
11)  Thermometer by Galileo Galilei: First ever Thermometer to measure Temperature.
12)  Printing by Gutenberg, Johann: Method of printing from movable type.
13)  Motorcycle by Gottlieb Daimler: Improvements in the internal-combustion engine, made in the 1880s, contributed largely to the development of the automobile industry
14)  Cholera bacterium, Tuberculosis bacterium by Robert Koch: Established the bacterial cause of many infectious diseases and discovered the microorganisms causing anthrax (1876), wound infections (1878), tuberculosis (1882), conjunctivitis (1883), cholera (1884), and other diseases
15)  DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) by Friedrich Meischer.
16)  Quantum theory by Planck, Max: The hypothesis that oscillating atoms absorb and emit energy only in discrete bundles (called quanta) instead of continuously, as assumed in classical physics. The success of his work and subsequent developments by Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, and others established the revolutionary quantum theory.
17)  Ohm's law by Georg S. Ohm: His study of electric current led to his formulation of the law now known as Ohm's law
18)  Uncertainty principle by Werner Heisenberg: he defined that position and velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly, at the same time.

And the biggest Gift of Germany to this world has been Albert Einstein. Einstein published his special theory of relativity. This resulted in the shocking conclusion that time is not constant. Neither is weight or mass. When moving at high speeds, all of these things get compressed; only the speed of light remains the same. That happens because, said Einstein, energy is equal to mass times the speed of light squared, or E = mc2!!

That is an amazing list of achievement for one single country!

It is interesting to note here that all the inventions listed above have come about in the period between 1800 and 1940 AD! It shows very clearly that Germans were way ahead of the other countries in the field of science, aviation and medicine. But for the Second World War - things would have been different. Well who knows?

Air of superiority leads to arrogance – they say. Superiority leads to the pernicious doctrine of superior and inferior nations and races. That Germany succumbed to this trap of superiority complex – lead to its fall from glory. The result was the shifting of focal point of scientific activity from Germany to other Axis Western powers. Only time will tell – whether the world’s scientific community would have gained, had Germany held on to its scientific brilliance.

I, with your permission dear readers would like to take this opportunity to salute these great men with great adventurous vision, who once belonged to this great country – GERMANY.

As Germans would say – HAIL GERMANY!

Its Montoo..