Seven Elements That Have Changed the World
Page 36
logic gates, 179-80
London, 36, 48, 164, 220
Longsdon, Frederick, 214
Los Alamos, 130-1
Louis XIV, King, 165
Louisiana, 45
Luanda, 62
Lydia, 94-5, 99, 111
Macaulay, Lord, 97-8
McNamara, Robert, 147
Macondo oil well, 50
magnesium, 156
Malone, Bob, 7-8
Malthus, Thomas, 35, 74, 228
Manaccan valley, 149
Manchester, 35
Manhattan Project, 128, 130, 132-4, 198, 226, 236, 238
Manning, Patrick, 65-6
Mao Zedong, 24, 37, 216
Marcellus, General, 172
Marshall, James W., 91-3, 99, 229
Martinuzzi, Napoleone, 163
Masaccio, 117
Masjid-i-Suleiman oilfields, 33, 136
Matisse, Henri, 90
Mattei, Enrico, 56
Matto Grosso, 89
Meitner, Lise, 128-9
Mellon, Andrew, 15
Mendeleev, Dmitri, x, 210
Mercure Galant, 166
Merkel, Angela, 142
methane, 65, 219
microprocessors, 183
Midas, King, 95
Miller, Jonathan, 169
mining, 109-10, 232
see also coal mining
mirrors, 164-6, 169-74, 245
mita system, 232
Mitchell, George, 71, 73, 199
Mobil, 58, 222-3
mobile phones, 188
Mold gold cape, 91, 229
Monkhouse, Thomas, 243
Monnet, Jean, 212
Moore, Gordon, 181, 183-5, 189-90, 200
Moore, Henry, 90
Moore’s law, 183-4, 189, 252
Morgan, J, P., 15-16
Mount Wilson, 172
Mugabe, Robert, 225
Muisca, 85-8, 102, 108
Mukluk, 44-5
Murano, 163, 165
Music Lesson, The, 169
MV BBC China, 144
MV Blue Marlin, 8
Na’aman River, 161
Nagasaki, 137, 139, 237, 249
nails, steel, 214
Napoleon Bonaparte, 31
Napoleon III, Emperor, 9
Narcissus, 170
NASA, 182, 188
National Maritime Museum, 7
national oil companies (NOCs), 59
natural gas vehicles, 81
Nature, 129
Needham, Joseph, 24, 34-5, 218
neutrons, 128
New York, 18-23, 48, 57, 112, 121
New York Times, 18, 176, 179
New York Tribune, 18, 21
Newcomen, Thomas, 219
Newton, Isaac, 98-9, 157-8, 171, 231, 243, 248
Niépce, Nicéphore, 234
Nike, goddess of victory, 111
9/11 attacks, 22
nitroglycerine, 47, 222
Nixon, Richard M., 57, 73, 101, 152, 226
North German Confederation, 5
North Korea, 144, 146
Novoselov, Konstantin, 191-2
Noyce, Robert, 182-4, 190, 200, 251
nuclear energy, xv, 69, 72, 82, 135-43, 146, 240
nuclear fission, 128-9
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, 144-6
nuclear physics, 127-8
nuclear weapons, xiv-xv, 79, 126, 129, 134, 138, 143-8, 198-9
Dead Hand system, 147, 241
mutually assured destruction, 147-8
see also atomic bombs
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 130-2, 238
Oil Creek, 43, 51
oil, xii, xiv, 32-3, 41-65, 136, 188
accidents, 49-50
compared with gas, 71-2, 225
cost of extraction, 221
crises, 57
and developing nations, 62-3
exploration, 43-7, 64
and fifty-fifty principle, 55-6
and gas disposal, 69
industry development, 55-6
industry mergers, 58
prices, 47-8, 57-9, 66
reserves, 74
see also ‘peak oil’
Oily Rocks, 45-6
OPEC, 48, 56-8, 62, 223
Operation Smiling Buddha, 145
Oppenheimer, Robert, 131, 198
optical fibres, 185, 190
Ore Mountains, 108
Ott, Viktor, 53
Otto the Rich, Margrave, 109-10
Oviedo, Fernández de, 85
Owls of Athens, 110-11, 233
Pactolus, River, 94
Pakistan, 144-6
Palomar Mountain, 172
Panama Canal, 8
Paniccia, Mario, 189-90
paper
electronic, 193
invention of, 34
Paris, 5, 127, 164-5
Paris Exposition, 168
Parker, William Harwar, 2
Paxton, Joseph, 168, 246
PDVSA, 59, 61, 223
‘peak oil’, 48, 74
Pearl Harbor, 130
Pearson, Gerald, 174-5, 249-50
Peloponnesian War, 233
Pérez, Carlos Andrés, 59-60, 223-4
Persian Empire, 95
Persian Gulf, 120
Peru, 106-8
PetroChina, 38
petroleum (the word), 220
Petronas Towers, 23
Pew Research Center, 141-2
philanthropy, 16-17, 27-8, 52-3, 197-8
photography, xiii, 105, 112-19, 159, 167, 199, 234
photolithography, 251
photosynthesis, 135
photovoltaic cells, 159-60, 162, 174-6, 244
photovoltaic effect, 174-5
Picasso, Pablo, 90
Pierce, John, 250
pig iron, 9-10, 24
Pilkington, Alastair, 169
Piper Alpha disaster, 49-50
Pippard, Brian, 246
pitchblende, 109, 126-7
Pittsburgh, 13-14, 17
Pizarro, Francisco, 88
Pizarro, Gonzalo, 88-9, 106, 229, 232
Plato, 170
plutonium, 138, 145, 154
Polk, James, 92
polonium, 127
poporos, 90
Popper, Karl, 76, 227
Popular Science magazine, 149
population growth, 32, 35, 43, 74
Portugal, 62
Potanin, Vladimir, 53-4, 222-3
Potomac, River, 1
Powers, Gary, 150
Price Revolution, 229
printing press, invention of, 34
Prudhoe Bay, 57, 177
Prussia, 4-5
Puerto Rico, 67
Putin, Vladimir, 70
Qaddafi, Colonel Muammar, 61, 120, 144
Qatar, 68
Quebec Iron and Titanium (QIT), viii, 156-7
Quimbaya civilisation, 87, 90
Quito, 88-9
radiation, 127, 134-5, 139-40, 143, 239-40
radios, 180, 187
radium, 127
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 89
Raphael, 164
Ravenscroft, George, 245
regulation, 195-6
religious ritual, origins of, xii
remote sensing, 44-5
renewable energy, 69, 80, 83, 132, 143, 176-7
Rhineland, remilitarisation of, 5, 212
Ricardo, David, 60
Rio Earth Summit, 75
robber barons, 52, 55, 197
Roberts, Colonel Edward, 47, 71
Rock, Arthur, 181, 184
Rockefeller, John D., 16-17, 22, 51-3, 55, 62, 197, 222
Romans, 172
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 130, 236
Rosneft, 54
Royal Company of Glass and Mirrors, 165-6
Royal Dutch Shell, 55
Royal Society, 12, 172
Ruhr, the, xiv, 3-6, 212
Russia, 33, 69, 78, 187, 196
‘loans for shares�
�� scheme, 222
oil business, 53-5
see also Soviet Union
Russian oligarchs, 53-5, 222
Rutherford, Ernest, 127-8
rutile, 149
Rwandan genocide, xiii, 116, 118
Saint-Victor, Niépce de, 234
Sal, Angelo, 234
Sala, River, 109
Salgado, Sebastião, 102, 118
salt, 68, 174
Santo Tomas, 232
Sardis, xiii, 94-5
Sarir oilfield, 119-20
satellites, 150, 175
Saudi Arabia, 57
Savery, Thomas, 219
Saxony, 5, 108
Schulze, Johann, 113-14
Schuman, Robert, 6
Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 77
Schwerer Gustav cannon, 212
Scott, Thomas A., 13
Scythia, 229
Second World War, xiii, 3, 5, 7, 101, 117, 126, 130, 143, 160, 237
self-improvement, 17, 53
semiconductors, 159-60, 175, 179-81, 249-51
Sen, Amartya, 27
Serra Pelada, 102, 231
Sevastopol, siege of, 212
Seven Sisters cartel, 55-6, 223
Shakespeare, William, vii, 188
shale gas, 47, 71-3, 196, 199, 249
shale oil (tight oil), 47, 73, 221
Shanghai, 23, 40
Shard, the, 247
shareholder value, 27
Sheffield, 13
Sherman Antitrust Act, 52
Shockley, William, 178-9, 181, 185, 200, 249-50
Shockley Semiconductor, 181
Shultz, George, 126, 199, 237
Shuman, Frank, 173, 248
Sichuan, 68
Sidanco, 53-4
Sidi Bouzid, 187
silicon, atomic structure, 249
silicon dioxide, 182-3
silicon photonics, 190, 252
Silicon Valley, 181, 183, 186
silver
conductivity, 192
as investment, 120-3
prices, 121-2
value relative to gold, 98-9, 111-12, 120-1, 233
see also coins, silver
silver nitrate, 112-13
‘Silver Thursday’, 122
SIM cards, 91
Singapore, 115
skyscraper (the word), 215
skyscrapers, 18-23, 37-8, 155
smartphones, 186
Smith, Jerome, 120, 236
Socolow, Robert, 140
Socrates, 170
SoHo, 19
solar energy, 80, 159, 173-6, 199
see also photovoltaic cells
solar wind, 2
South Africa, 103, 110
Soviet Union, 133-4, 187
and arms race, 138, 146-7
collapse of, 53
submarines, 153-4, 242
space programmes, 153, 175, 182
Spartans, 111, 233
Spence, Mike, 184
spy planes, 150-3
Stalin, Josef, 118
Standard Oil Company, 15, 17, 22, 51-2, 55, 58, 156, 196, 222
Statue of Liberty, 19
steel industry, 13-15
Indian, 24-7
steel production, 5-6, 9-12
Stieglitz, Alfred, 21
Strassmann, Fritz, 128
Strauss, Levi, 93
submarines, 153-4, 242
Sudomekh shipyard, 154
Suez Canal, 8, 152
Sugimoto, Hiroshi, 169
Sunjiawan mine, 38
sunlight, 158
Sutter’s Mill, 91-3
Sviatov, Georgi, 153
Syracuse, 172
Syria, 56
Szilárd, Leo, 129, 238
Taj Mahal Hotel, 25
tar sands, 47
Tarbell, Ida, 52, 197
Tata, Dorabji and Ratanji, 25-8
Tata, Jamsetji, 24-5, 27-8
Tata family, 24-8, 216-17
Tau Tona gold mine, 103-4, 110
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich, 18
telescopes, 170-2, 247
Terman, Frederick, 181
Texas, 45
Texas City refinery, 50
Thatcher, Margaret, 154
Thomson, Edgar, 13
Thomson, William (Lord Kelvin), 225
Thucydides, 111
Thunder Horse field, 7, 46, 178, 249
Thunder Horse platform, 7-9
ThyssenKrupp, 6
tin, 108
Titan computer, 178
titanium
compared with steel, 155-6
contemporary uses, 154-6
cutlery, 160, 244
discovery of, 149
extraction process, 155, 243
price, 155
reactivity and impurities, 151-2, 241-3
strength-to-weight ratio, 153, 241
titanium dioxide, xiii, 149, 153, 156-60
Titanium Metals Corporation, 151
Titian, 29
TNK, 54
Tocqueville, Alexis, 36
Tohoku earthquake, 138, 141
Tokyo 139-40, 239
Tokyo Electric Power Company, 141
Toledo, Francisco de, 106
Tortelier, Paul, 18
touch screens, 192-3, 253
town gas, 37, 69, 219
trade, east/west, 96
Trafalgar, Battle of, 7
Trans-Alaska Pipeline, 33, 57
transistors, 160, 162, 178-83, 191, 200, 250-1
Treaty of Frankfurt, 5
Treaty of Rome, 212
Três Barras, 101-2
Trinidad and Tobago, 43, 65-7, 72, 225-6
Trinity bomb test site, 131
Truman, Harry S., 237
Tunisia, 187
Tutankhamun, 94, 231
Tuthill, William Burnett, 18
Twitter, 187
Ukraine, 140, 240
Ulm, 173
United States of America
and arms race, 138, 146-7
and climate change, 76, 78-9, 81, 199
Gini coefficient, 215
and gold standard, 99-101
Universe
and Big Bang, ix
Copernican model, 171
Upcott, Sir Frederick, 25
uranium
chain reactions, 129-30
discovery of, 149
and discovery of radiation, 127
enriched, 129-33, 137, 238
and nuclear fission, 128-9, 135
processing costs, 143
US Holocaust Memorial Museum, 126
US Steel, 15, 22
USS Cumberland, 1
USS Merrimack, 1
USS Monitor, 1-3, 174
vacuum tubes, 167, 179, 182, 249-50
Venezuela, 45, 47, 55, 59-62, 64, 66
Venice, 29-32, 108, 117, 170
coinage, 96-7, 99, 102
Council of Ten, 165-6
Feast of the Ascension, 163, 165
Festa del Redentore, 29-31
glass industry, 161-6
Rialto bridge, 188-9
St Mark’s Square, 91, 96
Zecca, 97
Vermeer, Johannes, 169
Versailles, Hall of Mirrors, 165-6
Victoria, Queen, 167
Vietnam War, xiii, 101, 116-18, 152
viscosity, 244
Vogel, Hermann Wilhelm, 159
Warren, Sir David, 141
Washington, DC, 1, 126
water, bottled, 48-9
Watt, James, 12
Wedgwood, Josiah, 112
Wedgwood, Thomas, 112-14
Wen Jiabao, 40, 70, 220
Westminster Abbey, 117
Wimbledon, 156
wind power, 80
window tax, 166
wood, structure of, 217
Wordsworth, William, 243
World Trade Center, 22-3
World Wide Web, 185
Wright brothers, 12
wrought iron, 10
/> Xenophon, 111
x-ray crystallography, x, 210
Xue, 87
Yamani, Sheikh, 48
Yamashina, Tomomi, 237
Yemen, 187
Yergin, Daniel, 73
Yom Kippur War, 56-7, 152-3
Yuzaki, Governor Hidehiko, 143, 148, 199
Zagros Mountains, 43
Zeche Zollverein mine, 212-13
Zhou Shengxian, 39
Zimbabwe, 225
zinc, viii, 155, 173
Zurich, 121
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Copyright © 2014 John Browne
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