From biplane to B-52
In the second part of our special feature, Graham Goodlad examines the changes in design and technology that underpinned the 20th-century transformation of US airpower.
technology
Oldest bow drill
A joint British-Austrian team has identified Egypt’s oldest known rotary tool. The small metal drill was found at Badari more than 100 years ago, and had attracted little attention until now. The tool, measuring 63mm (2.5in) in length and weighing…
Hilary Wilson on… Axes
Hilary Wilson looks at the development of axes, from Palaeolithic flint to ceremonial gold in the Eighteenth Dynasty.
A sticky subject: Exploring ancient adhesives in museum collections
Recent research has shed invaluable light on the use of adhesives on ancient metalwork, and how these substances can be identified and analysed in curated artefacts. Carly Hilts spoke to Tabea Koch, Sophia Adams, and Rebecca Stacey to learn more.
Churchill and the scientists: Winning the ‘Wizard War’
In the second part of our series to mark Winston Churchill's 150th birthday, Taylor Downing explores his relationship with the difficult but brilliant scientist who restarted Britain’s controversial World War II bombing campaign.
Back to the drawing board: The de Havilland Sea Vixen
David Porter on Military History's doomed inventions.
Rare Second World War bomber unveiled after decade of conservation
An exceptionally rare bomber from the Second World War is back on public display after undergoing more than ten years of conservation work. The Vickers Wellington bomber, one of only two remaining in existence, is the centrepiece of the Bomber…
Beer: a global journey through the past and present
Review by Max Nelson Arthur presents a global history of beer inspired by his two-year stay with the Gamo people of Ethiopia. He begins with a brief introduction examining beer in terms of technology (as fermented malted cereal processed with…
Pharaoh’s chariot wheel: the power behind the throne
Kim Masters traces the development of the chariot wheel from its humble origin as a tree log under a stone block.
This week: Churchill’s US arsenal
He is, without doubt, the most quoted prime minister in British history. But even by his own standards, the speech that Winston Churchill made on 5 March 1946 stands out. Addressing an audience in Fulton, Missouri, he warned that an…
Churchill’s American arsenal: the special relationship that won World War II
In a new book, Larrie D Ferreiro explains how a special relationship between British and US combat scientists and engineers produced the innovations that won the Second World War.
Researchers decipher ancient Chinese recipe for bronze production
The recipe in question is recorded in an ancient Chinese text known as the Kaogong ji, which is believed to be the world’s first encyclopaedia of technology, probably dating to c.300 BC.
Museum review: Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum
Reviewing the best military history exhibitions with Christopher Warner.
Pompeii’s robot archaeologist
'Spot' is equipped to carry out routine inspections and monitor the safety of the site.
Ancient Greeks: Science and Wisdom
For Ancient Greeks, the natural world was a source of wonder and inspiration. Philosophers pondered sundry subjects, seeking the secrets of the night sky or what makes for a satisfying tune. Such questing curiosity inspired technological advances that we are only fully appreciating today, as Jane Desborough and Matthew Howles told Matthew Symonds.
Finds ‘of national significance’ on Scotland’s earliest railway
The 1722 Waggonway Project has discovered three phases of early wooden railway in East Lothian
Jet Man: the making and breaking of Frank Whittle, genius of the jet revolution
This is a fine, deeply researched book, with Frank Whittle’s story beginning with a lad of humble origin who, aged just 16, entered the RAF as an apprentice fitter, already with strong views about the viability of gas-turbine aero engines…
Dating techniques identify possible earliest evidence for cave occupation
Wonderwerk Cave was first excavated in the 1940s. Its archaeological stratigraphy comprises evidence of human activity spanning from the Early Stone Age in South Africa to the present day.
New £50 note featuring Alan Turing revealed
During the Second World War, Turing worked at the British Government’s Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire.
The Social Context of Technology: non-ferrous metalworking in later prehistoric Britain and Ireland
Although a little heavy on detail, this is a thorough study of the subject which presents, in a chronological fashion, the archaeological evidence for (mostly copper and bronze) metalworking from sites across the British Isles. The evidence is examined critically,…
Digging Deeper: how archaeology works
How do archaeologists know where to dig? How do they find out how old things are? And who gets to keep the objects they find? It is questions like these, often asked by curious members of the public, that Eric…
Conflict Scientists: John Philip Holland
Patrick Boniface considers the influence of science on warfare.
Olympic link on Antikythera Mechanism
In CWA 30 we reported on recent research to understand the 2,000 year old scientific instrument salvaged from a Roman ship that sank off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera in the 1st century BC. Since then, Mike…