II. TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of the telephone
Since Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in
1876, it has become a cornerstone of modern life by
offering nearly instantaneous connections around the
world. The first two-way voice conversation was
transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean in 1926, and
commercial telephone service (using radio) began
between New York and London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service in 1935. Transoceanic
phone service was began to be handled by submarine
cables in 1956, and since 1962, by communications
satellites. Today’s chemical engineers have brought us
from copper wire to fiber optics, from switchboards to
satellites, and from party lines to the Internet.
Switchboard
Wireless communications
Cellular phones and pagers depend on printed and
integrated circuits, advanced materials, and miniaturization
techniques enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs developed
mobile car telephones in the 1940s, but they were
unpopular due to a lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when wireless
communications were divided into a series of cells that
automatically switched callers as they moved so that each
cell could be reused. Cellular phones quickly became
popular. Chemistry has also played a role in the
development of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for
cellular phones.
Facsimile technology and xerography
Although the German inventor Arthur Korn transmitted the first
pictures electronically in 1902, the first functioning fax machine
debuted in 1924. It adapted telephone circuits for picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into electrical signals that indicated
the shades of the image. This data was transmitted by
telephone onto a receiving sheet of photographic negative film
and then developed in a darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced that allowed an exact replica of an image
to be made. Chemical innovations in facsimile technology,
including new toners and inks, advanced paper technology, and
organic photoreceptor technology, were introduced in the 1970s.
Telephotography
Laser and fiber optics
The pure glass fibers that now provide the
infrastructure to carry information via laser-produced
light is a revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in 1970.
Fiber optics were soon fabricated and installed as
integrated components. The first lightwave system to
provide voice, data, and video service over a network
was installed in 1977. Today, a single fiber-optic cable
can transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.
II. TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Chemical engineering has fueled the computing revolution and
continues to make computers faster, more powerful, and more
affordable. In 1939, the first electronic computer is invented at
Iowa State University. Programmable calculators with binary
numbers and Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In
1946, ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, went into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuted in 1962. In
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4-bit
microprocessor for consumer use and the personal computer
market exploded. Today, innovation continues in transistors,
silicon chips, integrated components, data storage devices,
and advanced materials.
John von
Neumann and
the ENIAC
ENIAC
A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)
An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)
Semiconductor technology
Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s computers,
appliances, and communication devices. Semiconductors, as
opposed to metals, are a class of materials that increase their
conductivity at elevated temperatures. These semiconductors
are further treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made from
semiconducting materials. Semiconductors enable electronic
components to be smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient.
Chemists in the semiconductor industry provide quality control
of components, optimization processes, troubleshooting, and
innovations in microelectronic devices.
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William Shockley, and
Walter Brattain demonstrated that the flow of electricity
through silicon could be selectively controlled. The
subsequent creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors make possible today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist of
transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory chips built in
layers on silicon wafers, then exposed to a multi-step
chemical process. In 1967, the first hand-held calculator is
built using an integrated circuit, a small electronic device
which contains many transistors and other electronic
components. In the 1980s, integrated circuits are applied to
computers.
II. TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
II.3. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies
Dramatic improvements have been made in computer display
technology in recent years. High-resolution color graphics screens
are mainly based on the television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen displays for laptop and
notebook computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD) based on
organic chemicals were invented in 1969.
Subsequent
developments include thin-film transistors liquid crystal displays in
which each picture elements is driven by its own individual
transistors. Chemists have developed liquid crystal materials, color
filters, polymer alignment layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Information storage
Information must be recorded so that it can be retrieved at a later
time if it is to be used and manipulated fully. Chemical innovations
ensure that recording media is high-quality, easy-to-use, and
inexpensive. Breakthroughs in recording capabilities (higher
resolution, faster speed, and color), photographic films, magnetic
audio recordings, and digital imaging have also brought advances
in recording devices. In 1955, Reynold Johnson, an American
inventor and computer pioneer, developed the first disk drive to
store computerized data. Many subsequent advances have been
made, especially with computer disks, magnetic tapes, and CDROMs (1984).
GPS satellites
on orbit
Manufacturing of GPS
satellites
Communications satellites
Until the 1960s, voice communications between
North America and other continents were very
expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the world’s first active
communications satellite, was sent into orbit.
Chemistry provided the structural materials (metal
alloys, plastic, and other advanced materials),
computer and electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these satellites.
Communications satellites played a major role in
expanding both international and domestic long
distance calling and television transmission until
the 1990s. Today, communications satellites play
an increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite dishes
with digital television.
II. TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
II. 4. Entertainment Developments
Movies
In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first feature-length movie
with synchronized singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s, the
firm Technicolor had refined its processes and the first color
features became a big draw. The chemistry of film required a
series of breakthroughs involving basic materials, chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
The Nipkow disc and its
inventor Paul Nipkow in the
year of patenting
Television
In 1926, the Scotsman John Logie Baird displayed television
publicly for the first time using a mechanical television system,
the Nipkow disc, patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth had transmitted the first television image using a
cathode ray tube (invented in 1897). The next twenty years
was the era of the vacuum tube in electronics, and chemistry
contributed the unique materials for electrodes and control
elements within the tube. By the 1950s, many innovations
were made, including the integrated circuit (1958). The
following decades brought solid-state imaging devices,
miniaturization, and various electronic improvements.
Photography
Photography and film technology enable us to record the most
important experiences and people in our lives. Chemistry
developed the film for all types of cameras with breakthroughs
involving basic materials, different chemical solutions, and
exposure to light. Battery improvements have also contributed to
the popularity of the camera, including the 1950s alkaline
manganese batteries for small cameras with built-in flash unit.
Being able to manipulate film, electronics, and batteries led to the
1963 introduction of Eastman Kodak’s popular Instamatic camera
with film cartridge, which sold over 50 million by 1970.
II. TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
II. 5. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Electronic materials and microelectronic devices are the heart of
countless modern products, such as CD players, televisions,
computers, digital cameras and wireless devices. From vacuum
tubes to transistors to integrated circuits, chemical engineers
have made electronics smaller, more powerful, energy-efficient,
and cheaper. New materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building semiconductors
have resulted in components, such as transistors and integrated
circuits, which can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities for a wide range of electronic
devices.
Advanced synthetic materials
Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and personal
computers rely on tough, durable, non-conducting plastics to
protect sensitive electronic components. Plastics are
essential in electronic applications because of their insulating
properties; the flow of electrons that make up electrical
currents cannot readily penetrate plastics’ molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of molecules and
creating new ones, chemists and engineers produce new
materials that are both strong and flexible. These advances
have improved impact resistance, reduced the total weight of
equipment, and reduced the cost of consumer goods.
The inventors of
transistor
Transistors
It was the tiny, reliable electronic component called a
transistor that enabled the marriage of computers and
communication more than any other single development.
In 1947, John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William
Shockley invented the transistor, and it gradually
replaced the bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had been
used to amplify and switch signals. The transistor and the
subsequent integrated circuits (that contain millions of
transistors) served as the foundation for the development
of modern electronics. By 1954, the wildly popular
transistor radio was introduced, and by 1958, an
American electrical engineer, Seymour Cray, had
developed a transistorized computer.