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Ham Radio and Gender Politics
Ham radio, for which FCC-licensed individuals are granted a portion of the airwaves to operate amateur, non-commercial radio, exploded in popularity in the mid-twentieth century. During its heyday in...
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Burning Kelp for War
At the outbreak of World War I, Germany largely controlled the world’s supply of mineral potash, an organic compound vital to the making of fertilizer, soap, glass, matches, and dyes. Potash was also...
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A Brief History of Snowmobiling
For decades, snowmobiles have been as much a part of the North American winter landscape as skis and snowmen. Technology scholar Leonard S. Reich explains how driving a motorized vehicle along snowy...
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Algae: The Food of the Future of the Past
Maybe you’ve heard that in a future in which climate change makes it harder to grow crops, we’ll all be dining on sustainable foods formulated from tiny algae or their giant cousin, kelp. Today, we...
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The Boomin’ Systems: The Evolution of Car Audio
With millions of songs at our disposal for streaming through the speakers on a morning commute, car audio has never been more convenient. It has come a long way, absorbing and broadcasting evolving...
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A Tale of Two Times: Edo Japan Encounters the European Clock
When the Jesuit Luís Fróis visited the Japanese lord Oda Nobunaga in 1569, he presented his host with a clock. Mechanical clocks were new to Japan, and this was a particularly exquisite example. Yet...
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Dressmaking Liberated American Women—Then Came the Men
How well do your clothes fit? In the nineteenth century and earlier, the creation of well-fitting clothes relied on expert women dressmakers. Now, many of us can make our own clothing thanks to the...
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Victorians Mourned with Vulcanized Rubber Jewelry
In the Victorian era, mourning was more than an emotional experience; it was a commercial powerhouse. “The nineteenth century saw the emergence of a new economic activity, the ‘funeral industry,’”...
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An Uncertain Energy Transition a Century Ago
If the future of transportation involves leaving gas-powered vehicles in the past, does that mean a one-to-one transition to electric gas and trucks? Greater reliance on public transit? New automated...
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Hold the Line
The phrase “women and telephones” typically conjures sexist images. Search on Google and you’ll learn that women, it seems, love to gab; heads atilt, hair in rollers, mouths agape mid-sentence....
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