Innovations in Science and Technology

Vintage photographs capturing significant moments in science, from communications technology to space exploration, highlighting influential figures and developments.

Scientist holding slide sitting at microscope
Scientist holding slide sitting at microscope
156 assets in this story
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Vintage Photograph. Surveyor looks through theodolite.
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The Old And New In PhonographsMr. Thomas A. Edison, famous inventor, and Gov. Harry Moore of New Jersey, looking over Mr. Edison's first Phonograph, invented fifty years ago, and the newest of his efforts. Befitting ceremonies were held at the Edison plant in New Jersey commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the first Phonograph. December 8, 1927. (Photo by International Newsreel Photo).
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Misc - Anatomy. September 09, 1947.;Misc - Anatomy.
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Ministry of Supply Radar Research and Development exhibition (RRDE). A repeater and trigger unit mounted in a test unit. The repeater allows the speed of the rocket to be measured at great distances.
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This huge crayfish, hooked at Sorrento Beach, Victoria, was so big fisherman Keith Mcinnerney could hardly fit it on his scales. Weighing 9 lb, and measuring 21 in from mouth is tail with a 17½ in girth, Melbourne Museum Curator L. Glauert said the cray was only 1½ in shorter than the largest specimen ever caught. February 04, 1952.
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Vintage Photograph. Woman in white lab coat sitting with microscope writing notes
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When Plans Were LaidProfessor Sir John Cockcroft explains a pencil sketch made in 1933 during discussions with Prof. Van De Graaff. Then only in its Embryonic stage, it was the Van de Graaff Generator Capable of Producing 5,000,000 Volts to be used in the Development of Atomic Energy. Professor Sir John Cockcroft. C.B.E., F.R.S.On July 17, 1948, the Cloak of Secrecy was lifted from the activities of Britain's atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, near Didcot, in Berkshire. November 04, 1949. (Photo by British Official Photograph)
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Women Adequately Filling Posts In NACA Laboratory: Nearly 200 women are employed at the Langley Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in a limited capacity as mechanicsÕ helpers and minor laboratory aids on the jobs formerly handled by men, according to E.H. Derring, of the Aerodynamics Division. Many phases of the operations of various wind tunnels at the laboratory are now handled by women with experienced male supervision. Mr. Derring said, pointing out that the reading of the data indicated on wind tunnel instruments during a test is done in a large measure by women. In addition to reading the instruments and computing and integrating engineering test data obtained from tunnel investigations, the minor laboratory aides assist in the preparation of aircraft models preliminary to testing. Women employees who will serve in the Aerodynamics Division of the Laboratory attend an orientation class for two weeks, during which they receive instruction on phases
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Scotland Yard -- Scotland Yard blood expert determining 'type' and characteristics of blood sample. He uses standard medical tests, but here they will tell, for example if a bit of dried blood found on a suspect's handkerchief is the same as that of a victim. May 14, 1955. (Photo by Eugene Kammerman, Camera Press).
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This is Europe (Franz Anderson, Ben Smith, Lou Van Burg). Photographs of Marshall Plan Programs, Exhibits, and Personnel
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The Electrolux laboratory. Baby-Unit. A full refrigerator with fruit and drink. In the picture there is a female demonstrator.
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The perfect fit (OV2019_279)
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Ames Aeronautica Laboratory Dedication ceremonies; Dr. Lewis and Smity DeFrance, Director, Ames Research Center standing in front of shock-wave picture.
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Gordon Burt's Tru-Colour process black-and-white negatives, gelatin silver negatives
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This image from March 2, 1959 shows engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory checking NASA's Pioneer 4 spacecraft, the gold-and-black-colored cone sitting atop the white fourth-stage motor of the Juno II launch vehicle in Florida. Launched on March 3, 1959, NASA's Pioneer 4 was the first American mission to escape Earth orbit and the second of two early attempts by the United States to send a spacecraft to the Moon. The spacecraft achieved its primary objective to put itself on a trajectory from Earth to the Moon. While it flew farther away from the Moon than expected and didn't take the images of the Moon as intended, Pioneer 4 did provide extensive and valuable data on Earth's radiation belt and the tracking of space objects. After 82 hours of transmissions from Pioneer 4's tiny radio and 655,000 miles (1.05 million kilometers) of travel the farthest tracking distance for a human-made object at the time contact is lost on March 6, 1959. Pioneer 4 is still in orbit around
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Elsevier photo collection. N.V. KEMA. "Fever" recording vacuum cleaner. 1938. Arnhem
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Greenhouses, Coldframes - All States. Photographs Relating to National Forests, Resource Management Practices, Personnel, and Cultural and Economic History
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Chemist Thomas Gleeson. October 20, 1949.
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British Models The World Will See Made by Museum's Back-room Boys -- Back-room boy, Mr. Ernest H. Holden, who has made some hundreds of models for the museum, is seen with an 1872 airship, the original of which flew at five miles per hour. Before the first world war a handful of Royal Engineers were busy cutting and scraping pieces of wood into realistic models of science marvels. They sent their models to the Science Museum in Kensington, London. The authorities liked them so much that the sol
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Vintage Photograph. A surveyor inspecting the land. Frame 2.
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09/14/1959. Press conference held at the Moscow Academy of Sciences, on the occasion of the launch of the second Russian space rocket that reached the Moon. Professor V. Kukarkin Shows Photos of the Rocket's Sodium Trail, Taken by Russian Scientists in Alma-Ata.
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Institut Pasteur, US Researchers. Photographs of Marshall Plan Programs, Exhibits, and Personnel
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Jet-Propelled - But It Didn't Get Away -- Scientific assistant Edgar French, of Twickenham, has his own private exhibit aboard the Royal Research Ship 'Discovery II' now berthed at London Dock for inspection by delegates to the Commonwealth Oceanographic Conference being held at Wormley, Surrey.The creature is a squid which he caught with a red and line off the Azores in September. It is believed to be the fastest animal in the sea as it 'jet-propels' itself by sucking in water and squirting it out through a hole in its head. October 16, 1954. (Photo by Reuterphoto).
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Charles Greeley Abbot, astrophysicist and Secretary of the Smithsonian, with his device: a silver-disc pyrheliometer which measures direct beam solar irradiance ca. 1913-1917.
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Vintage Photograph. Arctic Eskimo man drilling ivory
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Seeing the light (OV2019_492)
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S69-17615 (25 Jan. 1969) --- Astronaut Russell L. Schweickart, lunar module pilot of the Apollo 9 prime crew, participates in a press conference at the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. Grumman is the contractor to NASA for the Lunar Module. Schweickart is holding a model of a docked Lunar Module/Command and Service Modules. The Apollo 9 mission will evaluate spacecraft lunar module systems performance during manned Earth-orbital flight.
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A group of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) officials and local dignitaries were on hand on May 8, 1942, to witness the Initiation of Research at the NACA's new Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio. The group in this photograph was in the control room of the laboratory's first test facility, the Engine Propeller Research Building. The NACA press release that day noted, First actual research activities in what is to be the largest aircraft engine research laboratory in the world was begun today at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics laboratory at the Cleveland Municipal Airport. The ceremony, however, was largely symbolic since most of the laboratory was still under construction. Dr. George W. Lewis, the NACA's Director of Aeronautical Research, and John F. Victory, NACA Secretary, are at the controls in this photograph. Airport Manager John Berry, former City Manager William Hopkins, NACA Assistant Secretary Ed Chamberlain, Langley Engin
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Mechanized currency counter, the 'Tichometer' accurately counts dollar bills at the rate of 1000 per minute. The mechanism was so sensitive that it once detected a counterfeit bill in the middle of a big run of currency, Oct. 22, 1949.
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Goddard with Double Acting Engine Rocket
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Skiopticon image from the Department of Photography at the Royal Institute of Technology. Use by Professor Helmer Bäckström as lecture material.
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Dino Samaia (1871-1913) showing the foreign press his invention, the automatic exchange system for railway lines, photograph by Scarpettini, from L'Illustrazione Italiana, Year XXXV, No 4, January 26, 1908.
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Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1940University of Minnesota Professor Alfred Nier holding the glass mass spectrometer tube that he used to isolate uranium-235, which was used to demonstrate that it could undergo fission.
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Dan Sokolowski worked as an engineering coop student at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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Putting on Diving Suit to Enter Wind Tunnel
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New Belgian Stratosphere Balloon -- Prof. Piccard can be seen at the Porthole of the gondola.Professor Auguste Piccard yesterday inspected the new stratosphere balloon in which Dr. Cosyns and a companion hope to a second into the stratosphere shortly. The balloon is being prepared at the Brussels University.As he looked out the gondola porthole of his balloon Professor Piccard said he was going up "twice as high as Everest". That's what he did. March 14, 1934. (Photo by Keystone).
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Anefo photo collection. Ered doctorate for Ir. Vincent W. van Gogh, prof. Dr. Valkhoff. January 10, 1966
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Scientists with a model of the molecular structure of cortisone. Senator Joseph O'Mahoney (center), with National Institute of Health scientists' Dr. Floyd S. Daft, and Dr. Joseph J. Bunim. 1956 July 17, 1956.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Pictured at his console in the firing room of the Launch Control Center, Complex 39, Hugh Harris, head of the Public Information Branch, Office of Public Affairs, provides the mission commentary for space shuttle launches.
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Investigation of respiration during exercise. Subject breathes into mask and exhalations are measured in gas meter, then fed to apparatus for analysis. From 'The Science of Life' (London, 1929-1930). Halftone.
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Geologist looking at a rock through a magnifying glass
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Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb participated in the non-NASA, privately-funded Lovelace Foundation's short-lived Woman in Space Program, successfully completing a grueling series of physical and psychological test to assess the fitness of women for space travel, Albuquerque, NM, February, 1960. (Photo by United States Information Agency/GG Vintage Images)
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Tracking Pilot Balloon with Theodolite
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Wireless Telegraphist, 1937.Artist: WA & AC Churchman
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Photography from "An account of manufacturing at the State Railway's prosthetic workshop in Nässjö", 1932. Visces the arm prosthesis's mobility and usability.
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Cartoon - Ain't Science Wonderful !. John Collins (1917-2007)
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William David Coolidge (October 23, 1873 - February 3, 1975) was an American physicist and engineer, who made major contributions to X-ray machines. He was the director of the General Electric Research Laboratory and a vice-president of the corporation. He was also famous for the development of "ductile tungsten", which is important for the incandescent light bulb.
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At Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Stephen Michalak, a Pole, approaches a landed UFO and receives a grid-pattern of burns on his chest Date: 20 May 1967
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Munich University sent Dr. W.D. Heinz (left) and Dr. F.B.Schmeilder to Stromlo to do research work. Germans Dr. F. B. Schmeidler & Dr. W.D. Heintz (left) from the observation of the university of Munich 30. Reynolds reflector dome in background. November 11, 1954.
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Close-up of a teenage boy holding a model rocket
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Frog Breathing. December 3, 1953. (Photo by Look Magazine).
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Dr. von Braun is presented with the front page of the Huntsville Times arnouncing the launch of Explorer I, the first U.S. Earth satellite, which was boosted by the Jupiter-C launch vehicle developed by Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) under the direction of Dr. von Braun. The occasion was the fifth Anniversary of the Explorer I launch in January 1958.
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Vintage Photograph. Uranium prospector recording findings with help of a Geiger Counter to locate radioactive material by picking up the radiation electronically.
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Mr. Sterner and Mr. Gettens examining exposed paint samples , Paints & varnishes, Research, Processes & techniques, Chemists, Gettens, Rutherford J. Rutherford John. The Massachusetts WPA Federal Art Project Photograph Collection
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Dr. Hans Hass.Bearded Dr. Hass thinks sharks are beautiful but regards them as nuisances which intrude upon his undersea studies. January 01, 1953.