Tag Archives: World War II
Washington Nationals Home Opener Game Results
Today is the home opener for the Washington Nationals. After a long winter, and a deeply disturbing political season, I’m ready to get back to something a bit more uplifting. The Nationals are well positioned to win the National League … Continue reading
Women Computers at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory
With the attention Hidden Figures has received in the media of late, the story of African American women computers working for NASA during the Moon race is finally starting to be told. While the film takes many liberties with the … Continue reading
Five Legacies of Space Access Since the 1950s
While a large number of issues could be explored in the now more than fifty years of space access, here are five central legacies, number three will blow your mind. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist). The limitations of chemical rocket technology … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Book Review: “Warfare State: World War II Americans and the Age of Big Government”
Warfare State: World War II Americans and the Age of Big Government. By James T. Sparrow. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. This book has a simple, but elegant, thesis: The author challenges the longstanding belief that FDR’s New Deal, … Continue reading
The Federal Government and the Development of Aerospace Technology
Since 1903, the United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars developing aerospace technology, on the management of the infrastructure necessary to support its operations, and on the military and other practical applications that it affords. Accordingly, through a … Continue reading
Recalling the Great NACA Fact-Finding Trip to Germany in 1936, and its Results
Eighty years ago a great adventure took place. In the first part of 1936 John J. Ide, the NACA’s European representative since 1921, fired off an alarming report on the state of aeronautical science on that continent. Ide, the sometime … Continue reading
A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 – by Isao Hashimoto
Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a truly fascinating–as well as undeniably scary–time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project’s “Trinity” test near Los Alamos in 1945 and concluding … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Books Review: “The National Labs”
The National Labs: Science in an American System, 1947-1974. By Peter J. Westwick. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003, xii, 403 pp. $49.95, ISBN 0-674-00948-7..06 To help win the cold war the United States created a set of research institutions throughout … Continue reading
Video of Arsenal of Democracy World War II Victory Flyover, May 8, 2015
Recently video premiered at the annual International Council of Airshows convention that captured last May 8th’s Arsenal of Democracy World War II Victory Flyover. This took place in Washington, D.C., and the assembled aircraft are stunning. Here is the video. … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Book Review: “Selling War in a Media Age”
Selling War in a Media Age: The Presidency and Public Opinion in the American Century. Edited by Kenneth Osgood and Andrew K. Frank. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2010. Collected works are always problematic. There is always the challenge of … Continue reading
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