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The industrial revolution in the Great Britain. All technological development in the The US and UK prior to WWI. One other thing I might add, is that your las

by JackFr 13y ago

The industrial revolution in the Great Britain. All technological development in the The US and UK prior to WWI. One other thing I might add, is that your last statement would be better phrased "It was the military that built the Roman road network, the military that split the atom, and the military that sent man to the moon."

rayiner 13y ago
> All technological development in the The US and UK prior to WWI. Like the transcontinental railroad? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Railroad_Acts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Railroad_Acts.
- nickff 13y ago
  Building a railroad is different from developing steam engines, designing locomotives, and devising railroad-related technologies.
- glenra 13y ago
  America had a privately built and privately funded transcontinental railroad. Without the option of government land grants there presumably would have been others, though their timing would have been different (they would have been built more slowly with more economically sustainable routes). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Railway_(U.S.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Railway_(U.S.)
Retric 13y ago
Hardy, for a specific counter example: Longitude Act 1714 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_Act Ed: "In total, Harrison received £23,065 for his work on chronometers. He received £4,315 in increments from the Board of Longitude for his work, £10,000 as an interim payment for H4 in 1765 and £8,750 from Parliament in 1773." which works out to around 4 million USD inflation adjusted. Also, NASA is not part of the military, the air-force has it's own space program that was sending a lot of unmaned missions during that time period. But, the moon shot had no military applications.
- mikeyouse 13y ago
  But, the moon shot had no military applications. The engine for the Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo missions was designed by a German rocket scientist, brought to the US after WWII, Werhner von Braun. In the US, von Braun worked for the Army, where he devoted his time to devising a better ICBM. The Saturn V program was managed by Arthur Rudolph, another ex-Nazi scientist who worked for the 'Ordinance Guided Missile Center' for his first 10 years in the US. Both von Braun and Rudolph (along with many others in NASA) developed their rocketry skills in the German military while designing the V2 among other implements of war.
  - Retric 13y ago
    The pencils they used had plenty of military applications but that did not make the Saturn V a useful military vehicle. Because ICBM's don't need 5 Rocketdyne J-2's and spy satellites are not that heavy. This is 260,000 pounds to LEO that's 10 Hubble space telescopes or two Tsar Bomba which was considered to large for military use. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba For comparison an actual 1969 ICBM has about 1/33's that payload to LEO. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-25C_Titan_II http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-25C_Titan_II making a single J-2 overkill.
    - mikeyouse 13y ago
      The original comment wasn't implying that the Apollo missions were designed for military use, but that they would not have happened without years of groundwork paid for and performed by the military. Because ICBM's don't need 5 Rocketdyne J-2's The J-2's were on the 2nd stage, the first stage used F-1's. The F-1 engines were originally built for the US Air Force. Read up on the Silverstein Committee to see the full picture of DOD and NASA relations during the Apollo era; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverstein_Committee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverstein_Committee All of the early research was performed by the military (US or German), all of the early rockets were commissioned by the military, and all of the scientists were trained by the military. I'm honestly having a hard time believing you think the moon launch happened in a vacuum of higher purpose and not as a direct result of decades of DOD work on ICBMs.

by JackFr 13y ago

rayiner 13y ago

> All technological development in the The US and UK prior to WWI. Like the transcontinental railroad? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Railroad_Acts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Railroad_Acts.

nickff 13y ago
Building a railroad is different from developing steam engines, designing locomotives, and devising railroad-related technologies.
glenra 13y ago
America had a privately built and privately funded transcontinental railroad. Without the option of government land grants there presumably would have been others, though their timing would have been different (they would have been built more slowly with more economically sustainable routes). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Railway_(U.S.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Railway_(U.S.)

Retric 13y ago

Hardy, for a specific counter example: Longitude Act 1714 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_Act Ed: "In total, Harrison received £23,065 for his work on chronometers. He received £4,315 in increments from the Board of Longitude for his work, £10,000 as an interim payment for H4 in 1765 and £8,750 from Parliament in 1773." which works out to around 4 million USD inflation adjusted. Also, NASA is not part of the military, the air-force has it's own space program that was sending a lot of unmaned missions during that time period. But, the moon shot had no military applications.

mikeyouse 13y ago
But, the moon shot had no military applications. The engine for the Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo missions was designed by a German rocket scientist, brought to the US after WWII, Werhner von Braun. In the US, von Braun worked for the Army, where he devoted his time to devising a better ICBM. The Saturn V program was managed by Arthur Rudolph, another ex-Nazi scientist who worked for the 'Ordinance Guided Missile Center' for his first 10 years in the US. Both von Braun and Rudolph (along with many others in NASA) developed their rocketry skills in the German military while designing the V2 among other implements of war.
- Retric 13y ago
  The pencils they used had plenty of military applications but that did not make the Saturn V a useful military vehicle. Because ICBM's don't need 5 Rocketdyne J-2's and spy satellites are not that heavy. This is 260,000 pounds to LEO that's 10 Hubble space telescopes or two Tsar Bomba which was considered to large for military use. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba For comparison an actual 1969 ICBM has about 1/33's that payload to LEO. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-25C_Titan_II http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-25C_Titan_II making a single J-2 overkill.
  - mikeyouse 13y ago
    The original comment wasn't implying that the Apollo missions were designed for military use, but that they would not have happened without years of groundwork paid for and performed by the military. Because ICBM's don't need 5 Rocketdyne J-2's The J-2's were on the 2nd stage, the first stage used F-1's. The F-1 engines were originally built for the US Air Force. Read up on the Silverstein Committee to see the full picture of DOD and NASA relations during the Apollo era; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverstein_Committee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverstein_Committee All of the early research was performed by the military (US or German), all of the early rockets were commissioned by the military, and all of the scientists were trained by the military. I'm honestly having a hard time believing you think the moon launch happened in a vacuum of higher purpose and not as a direct result of decades of DOD work on ICBMs.