{"id":82491,"date":"2023-08-15T10:39:57","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T14:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencesensei.com\/?p=82491"},"modified":"2024-03-08T11:28:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T16:28:04","slug":"vintage-photographs-that-show-science-has-always-been-mind-blowing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.sciencesensei.com\/vintage-photographs-that-show-science-has-always-been-mind-blowing\/","title":{"rendered":"Vintage Photographs That Show Science Has Always Been Mind-Blowing"},"content":{"rendered":"
There have been several amazing things that photographs captured. It is incredible that the photographic camera itself dates back all the way to the mid-to-late 1770s. Of course, the very first permanent photograph was not taken until 1826. The photo was captured by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce using a sliding wooden box camera, which had been made by Charles & Vincent Chevalier in Paris, France. Since then, we’ve tried to take photographs of everything possible. We developed better lenses, managed to get color, and even made our images move with sound attached! All of this allowed us to capture vintage science photographs people can still see today.<\/p>\n Orville and Wilbur Wright had managed to invent the first airplane that managed to stay in the air after taking off. It took them quite a while to make it happen, as these two men were not aviation specialists in the slightest. They mostly knew the world of bikes, as that was their career before this. Yet in December of 1903<\/strong><\/a>, they took flight and made history with their Kitty Hawk Flyer, creating the first powered flight. In 1908, they were contacted by the U.S. Army to develop a two-seater plane for them. The Army saw the potential of airplanes and knew that they could be a huge asset in wartime. They did not know how right they would be. This image captures a test flight for the new plane. The Wright Brothers were paid $25,000 for the job. Taking inflation into account, that equates to roughly $600,000 in today’s money.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first animal in space was a Russian dog named Laika. She managed to reach space and fly around a bit, but she tragically died only hours into the flight. Enos, a chimpanzee, was the first animal to make it into space and survive to orbit the Earth. He might have been the second chimp in space but he came back alive and did more than any animal before him. What’s so interesting is that he was the third hominid to orbit the Earth, only after the infamous cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov. NASA did not know what to expect when they launched him into space in 1961. However, Enos made history<\/strong><\/a>. A photographer managed to get one of the best vintage science photographs when they captured Enos with his trainer before he was launched into space. Initially black and white, color was added later on to bring the whole image to life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sir Alexander Fleming<\/strong><\/a> was a Scottish physician and microbiologist. By 1928, Fleming was already well-known for his work as an incredible researcher. However, his greatest discovery was about to happen. On September 3, 1928, he returned to his laboratory after spending a holiday with his family. Before he left though, he had put inoculated staphylococci on culture plates and left them on a bench in the corner of his lab. The culture was contaminated with a fungus and all of the staphylococci around the fungus were dead. The mold from this fungus was from the Penicillium genus, which Fleming was able to eventually develop into the first antibiotic we know today as penicillin. This discovery was built onto for the next several decades, giving us ways to battle infections far better than we could beforehand.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you’re using anything that does not require a wire to work, such as things like wireless internet or even Bluetooth, you have actress, Hedy Lamarr,<\/strong><\/a> to thank. She initially came up with her frequency hopping concept when she was working in a call center for a studio. Hedy was part of a team of people that would patch through callers to those they wanted to speak to. She actually shared her technique with the United States Navy, but they largely ignored her work for several years. Due to being a woman, she had to co-develop and patent her concept. However, years later her innovative work made it possible to use numerous wireless communications technology. From Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to GPS! This image captures a film legend that was also a genius that managed to change the world forever.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When we think of the name “Carnegie,” we think of places like Carnegie Hall or even Carnegie Mellon University. Before his incredible philanthropic work, Andrew Carnegie<\/strong><\/a> was a noted industrialist. The Scottish immigrant made a huge impact on the United States and the rest of the world, as he led the major steel boom in the late 1800s. This led to major railroads being made using steel as well as bridges that connected cities. While he was one of the richest people in America, at one point, he was “the” richest man. This happened when he sold his Carnegie Steel Company to JP Morgan. During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away $350 million which in today’s money would be over $5 billion. That led to a university as well as scientific and teaching institutions and much more. His impact on science is incalculable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen<\/strong><\/a> is a huge figure in science for multiple reasons. The German engineer and physicist won the inaugural Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. Yet what makes him truly stand out in science is that he was the first person to capture an X-ray image. Wilhelm was messing around with a Crookes tube and a sheet of paper painted with barium platinocyanide. To his surprise, there was an illumination of the paper. Then in November 1895, he took the picture above of his wife’s hand, with her ring on. She reportedly said “I have seen my death”<\/em> when he showed her the image. He would go on to x-ray a set of weights and a piece of metal. However, it is this defining image above that still stands out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Amelia Earhart<\/strong><\/a> will always be known most for her disappearance somewhere near the infamous Bermuda Triangle. However, Earhart’s impact on the world of aviation is immense. She was massive in the push for female rights, along with her friend Elenor Roosevelt. She is most famous for being the first woman to complete a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Of course, she won several awards for her accomplishments including the United States Distinguished Flying Flag. She would later be inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Yet her work on equal rights for women, as well as being instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines (female pilot organization) led to her induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. The image above was taken just a year before her disappearance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Buzz Aldrin has become more well-known in the last few decades, mostly due to being in the public eye a lot more. Before this, he was known as the “second” man to set foot on the Moon<\/strong><\/a>. Neil Armstrong was first, but that does not make Buzz’s accomplishment any less impressive. When on the Moon, the U.S. wanted to have an image taken to show the flag waving and someone saluting. However, the flag could not wave because there is no wind on the Moon. Thus, NASA had to literally assemble a stationary flag<\/strong><\/a> to look as if it is waving when it wasn’t. As it wouldn’t be that cool to see a flag down when it was saluted. Buzz was the one who was pictured saluting the flag, which you can see in the image above. Sadly, the lack of knowledge regarding the flag setup started many conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Steve McCurry<\/strong><\/a> is perhaps the best war photographer that has ever lived. The man has taken so many amazing images outside of this, but his images from wars taking place from the 1970s through the 1990s are incredible. The image above was taken in 1991 during the Gulf War in Kuwait. The image shows camels near a burning oil field there, which had been lit on fire due to the war. Reflecting on his images taken in Kuwait, McCurry claimed: “The darkness caused by the burning oil wells was like a moonless night. The photographs show a scorched, infernal place, but they don’t convey the fine mist of oil that hung in the air and coated my cameras or the deafening roar of the burning wells.”<\/em> What McCurry gave us in his images was an almost end-of-the-world scenario, telling us the impact of war and the horrors it can cause.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As odd as it is to see so many historic people in one photo, this actually happened. Known as the “Vagabonds,” the group of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs would regularly take trips together<\/strong><\/a>. You could say they invented the idea of what would become the RV trip. It seems kind of odd looking back that Burroughs would be such good friends with men who were interrupting the natural world. John was a major naturalist who regularly wrote about this and was well-known for his stance. Edison & Ford were best friends and Firestone was a friend of Ford’s but Edison was his mentor. While they ended up giving us several vintage science photographs along the way, it is this connection that fascinates so many. The group went on trips every year from the mid-1910s through the 1930s.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of the most historic vintage science photographs was taken in 1882 by Edward Muybridge. Officially, these were known as cabinet cards that would each show a sequential series of six to even twelve automatic electro-photographs. In this case, it would depict the movement of a horse<\/strong><\/a>. While Muybridge shot the photos in June of 1878, additional cards were printed, giving us the single image of the horse seemingly trotting at a high speed. This was the first series of pictures that showed a sense of chronophotography, which was a type of photography that showed phases of movement or “time passed.” Of course, this was traditionally used for scientific study but it would eventually be essential to another area of media…motion pictures. Without “The Horse in Motion,” who knows if movies ever get made?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This ranks as one of the coolest vintage science photographs due to the two men and especially what they are holding. Steve Wozniak (left) and Steve Jobs (right) are the founders of the Apple corporation. They are holding the circuit board Woz made, which was used in one of the original Apple computers. We often give Steve Jobs a lot of credit for Apple’s success, but a lot should go to Woz too. Jobs had ideas but Woz was the technical genius who had to make stuff work. Especially early on, Woz was critical to the development of most items. Jobs was a businessman who had a great, creative mind. However, he lacked the technical side that Woz could fill. That made a great partnership…but it sadly did not last. Woz technically left Apple in 1985 but Jobs remained and helped Apple come up with its biggest products<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thomas Jennings<\/strong><\/a> was an African-American abolitionist, inventor, & entrepreneur. He lived from 1791 to 1856, allowing him to be alive during some pretty difficult times in the United States. While he was a black man, New York allowed black men to own property and businesses in the early 1800s. The first Jennings opened was a tailoring business but his clothing business on Church Street became one of the largest clothing stores in the city. Yet many customers complained about their clothes being ruined by stains. Jennings decided to experiment with different chemicals that could protect fabric but remove stains. In doing this, the man literally invented dry cleaning! The image above is sadly one of the few surviving images of Jennings, so we had to add it to our vintage science photographs list.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Big Bang had already been proposed, but nothing had been entirely proven. Albert Einstein’s equations along with Georges Lemaître’s work had proven the possibility. However, we needed more. Then a slight accident happened in 1963 when Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias seemed to discover Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. If they did, it would show noise left over from the creation of the universe. They managed to capture an image showing radiation<\/strong><\/a> from 380,000 years after the Big Bang. In the image above, both men were wanting to confirm their findings. While their first image was great, they wanted to first make sure the odd static they detected wasn’t caused by something random. Leading to this image of the two men and a giant telescope, which is one of the most interesting vintage science photographs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stephen Hawking was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author. While he did major work as he aged, he began to do incredible work dating back to his college days at Oxford University & the University of Cambridge. In fact, to achieve his doctoral degree, he wrote his thesis on a concept inspired by Roger Penrose’s theorem of a spacetime singularity in the center of black holes. Hawking applied this same line of thinking to the entire universe. Of course, Hawking was instrumental in the field of black holes<\/strong><\/a>. He’s best known for his discovery that found black holes emit radiation. We call that Hawking radiation today. His work made studying black holes possible. Above we see one of the vintage science photographs of a young Hawking who likely did not realize how critical he’d become to science.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jane Goodall is a noted primatologist who has been one of the massive pioneers<\/strong><\/a> in the study of both apes and chimpanzees. However, the bulk of her work has been with chimps. Above, we see one of the most important vintage science photographs ever taken. Hugo van Lawick took the photo for National Geographic for a photo series called “New Discoveries Among Africa’s Chimpanzees.” Above we see Jane greeting a baby chimp named Flint. Goodall was brave to attempt to even touch this chimp, as their protective mother was out of frame but very close. Jane discovered quite a lot in her 60-year career. She is best known for being the first person to observe chimps creating & using tools. She also observed chimps mourning, comforting each other, and even mother chimps adopting orphaned chimps.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While the movie Hidden Figures<\/em> was able to shed light on this, it could not reveal everything. The movie’s design was to inform us that women were critical to the success of NASA and the eventual trip to the Moon. This began in the very early stages too. Known as “human computers<\/strong><\/a>,” both black and white women were asked to essentially make calculations that would one day make space travel possible. While men were often given credit for their work here, the human computers were women so they were not given credit initially. NASA used so many, that most of the women are still unknown to history. This is why there is currently an ongoing mission to find them all, as NASA did not give them the credit they deserved. Some women have since been recognized for their work, but the other women still remain unknown.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In spite of the fact that the Hindenburg Airship went down in flames back in 1937, decades later we still talk about it. The German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship was the lead ship in the notable “Hindenburg class.” This was the longest class of the flying machine, and it was certainly the largest airship by envelope volume at the time. Zeppelin Company made and even operated it. In the 1930s, airships were thought to be the new form of luxury travel similar to passenger ships in the 1910s. It is interesting that both concepts were abandoned after notable disasters. The Titanic with luxury ships and the Hindenburg for luxury airships. Today, we know the photos of the Hindenburg disaster very well along with Herbert Morrison’s recorded radio eyewitness report<\/strong><\/a> from the landing field. Sadly, 35 people died in this disaster.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone invention is obviously one of the biggest contributions that the world still uses in some form today. Yet early on, Bell was not exactly trying to make what would become the telephone. He was actually trying to make an instrument that could allow deaf people or those hard of hearing to essentially hear the world around them better. The harmonics and vibrational concepts seem to work for what would become the telephone. Bell then patented the first practical telephone device<\/strong><\/a> in 1876. Bell is, of course, the co-founder of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, otherwise known as AT&T. Interestingly, a person as smart enough to capture Bell on the telephone back in his time, giving us one of the coolest vintage science photographs we can view today.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nWright Brothers Airplane Test<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Enos The Space Chimp<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Alexander Fleming Studying Specimens In His Laboratory<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Hedy Lamarr’s Incredible Contribution To Science<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Andrew Carnegie Working At His Desk<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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The First X-Ray Image Ever Taken<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Amelia Earhart Sitting On A Plane<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Buzz Aldrin Salute<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Camels In An Oil Field<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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The Four Vagabonds<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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The Horse In Motion<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Steve Wozniak & Steve Jobs<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Historic Black Inventor Thomas Jennings<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Telescope That Confirmed Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Stephen Hawking Begins His Journey<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Jane Goodall Greets A Baby Chimp<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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The Human Computers Of NASA<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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The Hindenburg Disaster<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Alexander Graham Bell On The Telephone<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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