The Big Machines that Changed the World in a Big Way

Major Machines

There was a time once, in the distant past, when people did a lot of the things that machines do now. They dug up the earth to build roads, they were the ones in factories screwing the caps onto our toothpaste, they added large sums to complete complicated equations and get human beings into outer space, they drove wagons and captained schooners to get people from place to place. While people are still involved in these processes, the processes themselves have been forever altered by the introduction of machines. The processes that we now take for granted changed the entire world when machines became part of the equation. Think for a second about your life would be like without the computer or phone that you’re reading this on, the bus or car that takes you to work each day, the spacecraft that allow us to find out what is beyond our world, the big slot machines that we play for fun in casinos or the planes that can carry us across an entire planet.

With the industrial revolution came the woes of being replaced by a machine, it’s true, but machines have also brought so much happiness and done so much good for humanity. Let’s take a look at big machines that have changed the world in big ways.

The Curiosity Rover

Hello Mars! Without machines like Curiosity, which took the place of the Spirit and the Opportunity, we wouldn’t have any of the insights into Martian conditions that we have today. Isn’t it incredible to think that we humans can actually witness a day of life on another planet? Curiosity is the most advanced machine in the history of mankind to roll along the surface of a foreign planet: it takes samples, conducts experiments, and lets us know what’s happening on the red planet.

Image by Pixabay via Pexels

The Refracting Telescope

Galileo is famous for many things, the refracting telescope among them. While few would call this a big machine, the changes that it brought to our world were so significant that we could not leave it off the list. While Galileo isn’t the first person to build a telescope, he was the first to use one to explore the night sky. He used that very telescope to discover the Galilean moons! In 1673, Johannes Kepler would improve on Galileo’s design with a 150-foot machine called the Keplerian Telescope. The telescopes that we know today- whether celestial or terrestrial- are some of the biggest machines around.

Ford Model T

In 1908, Henry Ford released the first completed Model T car. He certainly wasn’t the first man to make a car, but he is credited with completely revolutionizing the automobile industry in America. When he saw how effective the meatpacking plants’ assembly lines were, Ford implemented the same process in his factory. By 1914, he had this system down to an art and in 1914 he expanded to Detroit. This brought his manufacturing costs down so much that many more Americans were able to purchase cars. As a result, by 1923, about half of the cars on American roads were Model T’s. The car itself was an automotive game-changer; it was the quintessential utility vehicle and featured four cylinders and 20 horsepower.

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The ENIAC

Today, we are fortunate enough to have computer technology that fits into the palm of our hand, but it wasn’t always this way. In 1946, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer was built- and this computer was the size of a large room. The ENIAC was built to solve equations that appeared too long or complicated for humans and is one of the world’s very first official computers. The hub where the ENIAC was used is also considered as one of the very first data centers. Weighing 80 tons and taking up a space of 1,800 square feet, the ENIAC is definitely a big machine.

The Large Hadron Collider

This machine, like many others, has sparked endless debate, was completed in 2008. The Hadron Collider is made up of 27 kilometres of super colliding ring magnets. Here, subatomic particles butt heads as close to the speed of light. This machine has brought incredible discoveries to the modern world, such as discovering new particles, confirming the existence of others, and even taking steps towards creating black holes into who knows where. The machine kept at CERN in Switzerland is just beginning to unlock its potential and the secrets so well kept in our universe. It has brought to light the existence of the God Particle, causing much distress among religious groups. The LHC’s news revelation might go so far as to expose and confirm the existence of other dimensions.

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CT Scanner

It’s surprising how much of the technology we now rely on is actually a fairly recent development. Until 1971, no human being had ever had a CT scan, and the first was the machine’s inventor, Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield. That day, he lay down in his creation and had the inside of his head digitally scanned and made into a topographic computer image. CT scans have revolutionized the medical sciences and allowed physicians a look into the human brain without having to make a single cut. Hounsfield would go on to win a Nobel prize for his creation.

Wrap Up

These are just a few of the vast number of machines that have forever altered humanity and the world; the list is almost endless! Here’s to a new year or more great inventions.

 

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