You are here: https://tjmisa.com/L2i/7/7_questions.html(updated
Nov.
2021) How was the timing and character of World War II
(1939-45) shaped by technical innovation?
Which innovations did the Germans achieve? Which ...
the Americans (and allies)? There are three accounts of why two atom bombs
were dropped on Japan in August 1945: EVALUATE
Truman's, PMS Blackett's, and Misa's. (What
evidence supports each account?) How did the U.S. civilian nuclear energy program
reflect -- in technical details, organizational
structure, and culture -- its origin in military uses
for atomic energy? Identify "legacies" of the
atomic age? Why did Bell Labs fund work on the
transistor? Why did the military fund
work on the transistor? How did Cold War
military projects influence transistor development at
Bell (and elsewhere)? How did military priorities and civilian priorities
steer the development of electronics?
ASSESS the influence of
military funding in solid-state electronics and
computing technology. What differences did
military support make in pace of development and/or
types of technologies chosen?
READING
QUESTIONS
Leonardo to the Internet:
Technology and Culture from the Renaissance to the
Present
Thomas J. Misa
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022; 3rd edition
WWW
sites:
Chapter
7. Means of Destruction (1936-90)
silicon
transistors
high-frequency
transistors
integrated circuits
Explain the impact of the massive Whirlwind-SAGE
project on MIT, IBM, and computing.
How were high-tech industries in Boston, Minnesota,
and Silicon Valley connected to military patronage?
Discuss the influence of the Defense Department's ARPA-IPTO
on computer science.
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