A Historical Look at Depression and Its Effects on Innovation

Why have there been so many apocalyptic blog posts lately?

For many leading blogs, it seems like the new fad revolves around forecasting disaster for the U.S. economy. Throw in terms like, “depression,” “crisis,” “innovation stall,” and you’ve got a popular post. Or, at least one that mirrors many others.

Bloggers have become more depressing than the depression.

There’s a colossal amount of opportunity out there. More than ever, actually. There’s money to be made while people are fearful. The market is less saturated, which means less swollen with fat, and miscalculated optimism. Yet more importantly, innovation comes alive in times of unease.

Out of furious curiosity, I conducted some research today (conducted via Google and Wikipedia). My goal was to uncover the most earth-changing innovations of the 20th century. Accomplishments that are not necessarily exciting, but ones that will forever change the way we view the world. Here’s the twist: my focus was only on the period 1929 through the end of the great depression, which is sometimes vague; most assign the end around U.S. entry into WW2: 1941.

So, 1929-1941

I focused on the following areas: Technology, Astronomy, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology, Physics, Earth Sciences and Medicine:

1929:

Edwin Hubble discovers Hubble’s Law, introducing the concept of expanding the universe.

Philip Drinker, Louis Shaw, and Alexis Carrel invent an artificial respirator (the iron lung).

Edwin Armstrong invents frequency modulation (FM), a method of transmitting radio waves without static; perfected in 1933.

1930:

Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto based on analysis of the perturbations in the orbits of the outer planets caused by an unknown body.

Thomas Midgley Jr., discovers freon, the refrigerant.

Vannevar Bush invents a machine capable of solving differential equations.

Nils Edlefsen and Ernest Lawrence invent the cyclotron, an instrument used to produce directed beams of charged particles that transforms research into fine nuclear structure.

Charles Beebe’s first bathysphere reaches a depth of 417 meters, allowing the first direct access to the ocean depths.

1931:

Harold Urey discovers deuterium, heavy hydrogen.

Wallace Carothers invents nylon [Note: The best invention of them all ]

1932:

Karl Jansky detects radio waves from space, founding radio astronomy.

Robert Millikan and Carl Anderson discover the positron, the first antiparticle.

Edwin Land invents a synthetic substance that will polarize light, leading to the first synthetic light-polarizing film.

1934:

Enrico Fermi achieves the first nuclear fission reaction.

John and Mary Gibbon invent a heart-lung machine.

1935:

Wendell Stanley crystallizes the tobacco mosaic virus, demonstrating that crystallization is not a dividing line between life and non-life.

Charles Richter invents the Richter scale for measuring the magnitude of earthquakes.

1936:

Igor Sikorsky and Heinrich Foch independently invent a successful helicopter.

1937:

Emilio Segre and Carlo Perrier prepare technetium, a.n. 43, the first artificial element.

Hans Krebs discovers the Krebs Cycle of citric acids and its role in metabolism.

Grote Reber invents the radio telescope.

1938:

Roy Plunkett invents Teflon.

The Biro brothers invent the first workable ballpoint pen.

1939:

Karl Landsteiner, Philip Levine, and Alexander Weiner discover the connection between the RH factor and pathology in newborns.

1940:

George Stibitz invents the Complex Number Calculator, the first machine to service more than one terminal and to be used via a remote location.

Martin Kamen discovers carbon-14, the most useful of all the radioactive tracers.

1941:

Andre Cournand, Werner Forssmann, and Dickinson Richards introduce cardiac catheterization.

There’s no better time to be living:

Can you think of any earlier moment in history in which you would prefer to live your life?

You may be tempted to answer yes. The thought of living in the Renaissance or an art-inspired place in France may at first seem seductive. Yet, in whatever era you choose, your station in life will center around chance. The distribution of well-being leading up to the 21st century was frightening. If you answered yes, chances are you would find yourself in a menial job, poor, with no hope of climbing the success ladder, and most-likely dying a most-painful death at an early age.

Want to rethink the question a bit more?

The bottom line is we are all lucky to be where we are today. The toils of critical thought, innovation and achievement engendered the knowledge, technology and freedom we enjoy today. True, human beings are in many ways a lowly entity, prone to every manner of error and arrogance. Naturally our race has filled time with wrong turns, tragedies, backsliding and crime. Yet, the march forward is much more powerful and memorable. On every dimension, and in every sector, the last half-dozen centuries have created a permanent improvement to our world.

Moving forward in 2009, don’t let small-minded blogs or television shows seize your hope. Enjoy the journey, cherish what’s important and renew your appreciation of nylon.