Supported through University Research
That Have Improved Our Lives
Scale
Vaccine
Supported through University Research
That Have Improved Our Lives
SUNY (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 1972
Raymond Damadian
Use Today
MRI scanners are widely used to detect injuries, diseases and other health issues.
Development
Damadian published a 1971 paper claiming doctors could diagnose cancer by using nuclear magnetic reso- nance (NMR). Because tumors contain more water than healthy tissue, they can be identified in NMR images.
Impact
MRIs are useful in identifying tumors and other maladies. They also show soft tissues, such as the brain and other organs, much better than X-rays.
Fun Fact
In 1937, Columbia University professor Isidor I. Rabi discovered NMR, which led to the invention of the MRI machine and helped earn him a Nobel Prize.
Supported through University Research
That Have Improved Our Lives
California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, Calif.) 1935
Charles Francis Richter, Beno Gutenberg
Use Today
The Richter scale was the pre- cursor to current systems used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes.
Development
Inspired by the apparent magnitude system, which measures the brightness of stars, Richter designed the scale and originally intended it to only be used in a particular study in California. Gutenberg later modified the scale to measure earthquakes at great distances, thus creating the moment magnitude scale used today.
Impact
While the original Richter scale has been updated several times since its inception, it has changed the way earthquakes are measured worldwide.
Fun Fact
While most people today still refer to earthquake magnitude measurements as being on the Richter scale, earthquakes are now technically measured on the moment magnitude scale.
Supported through University Research
That Have Improved Our Lives
California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, Calif.) 1935
Charles Francis Richter, Beno Gutenberg
Use Today
The Richter scale was the pre- cursor to current systems used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes.
Development
Inspired by the apparent magnitude system, which measures the brightness of stars, Richter designed the scale and originally intended it to only be used in a particular study in California. Gutenberg later modified the scale to measure earthquakes at great distances, thus creating the moment magnitude scale used today.
Impact
While the original Richter scale has been updated several times since its inception, it has changed the way earthquakes are measured worldwide.
Fun Fact
While most people today still refer to earthquake magnitude measurements as being on the Richter scale, earthquakes are now technically measured on the moment magnitude scale.
Supported through University Research
That Have Improved Our Lives
Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.) 1959
William Guier, George Weiffenbach
Use Today
GPS is most commonly used in cars as a navigation tool, but it is also used by hikers, sailors, and the military.
Development
Following the launch of Sputnik, physicists Guier and Weiffenbach discovered they could identify and track the satellite’s exact location. They then developed a way to pinpoint a specific location on Earth via a satellite. This project, later called Transit, was used by the U.S. Navy to track submarines and was the precursor to current-day GPS.
Impact
GPS is common in most cars and cell phones. The military uses GPS for search and rescue, reconnaissance, tracking, and missile guidance.
Fun Fact
As of May 2013, 64 GPS satellites have been launched. The oldest GPS satellite still in operation was launched in November 1990.
Supported through University Research
That Have Improved Our Lives
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Penn.) 1946
John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert
Use Today
Computers are used in nearly every facet of our lives and have revolutionized communication, technology, and medicine.
Development
The development of the first computer, called ENIAC, was originally designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the U.S. Army’s Ballistic Research Laboratory. The machine was called the “Giant Brain” in the press and could be reprogrammed to solve a host of computing problems.
Impact
The creation of ENIAC led to continued development in computer science and engineering. More than 95 million computers were sold in the U.S. in 2011, leading to $85.5 billion in revenue.
Fun Fact
Designing and building ENIAC cost $500,000 in 1946, which would be about $5.9 million today.
Supported through University Research
That Have Improved Our Lives
MIT (Cambridge, Mass.) 1965
Lawrence G. Roberts
Use Today
The Internet connects computers and users worldwide and has changed the way we communicate and how information is spread.
Development
Building off of a fellow MIT colleague’s research on packet switching theory, Roberts established the first computer connection between computers in Massachusetts and California with a dial-up telephone line. The Department of Defense then funded the development of ARPANET, a network of computers at research universities and laboratories across the nation, which was an early iteration of the modern Internet.
Impact
Over 30 percent of the world’s population uses the Internet.
Nearly 72 percent of U.S. households have Internet access.
Fun Fact
The first four locations in the ARPANET network were UCLA, Stanford University, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah.
