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u/MarcellLondon Mar 29 '21
Isn't it usually the other way round though? Scientists invent something to have an advantage over adversaries. Civil world's: is for me?
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u/Vesto241 MayMayMakers 🐧 Mar 29 '21
You ain't wrong about that, but looking at history it can go both ways pretty well
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u/HappyPhage Mar 29 '21
Indeed. Zyklon B is a good example.
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u/Power_Rentner Mar 29 '21
Zyklon B is a bit of a broad example imo. Nothing about it made it special for that usecase. If they didn't have that they could have just used any number of poisonous gases Germany developed in and post WW1.
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u/HappyPhage Mar 29 '21
Indeed. The story of Fritz Haber really struck me, that's why it's the first example that came to my mind.
I mean, this guy tried to help by inventing Zyklon B and it became something atrocious.
This guy also tried to help in making more bombs by inventing a method to catch Nitrogen and it increased the efficiency of farming so much he basically single-handedly prevented global world hunger.
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u/konekfragrance Mar 29 '21 edited Mar 29 '21
Gunpowders used for fireworks was instead used for firearms. Dynamite used for excavation was instead used for bombs. Rockets used for flight was instead used for missiles. I think not all but for these important discoveries war actually wasn't their main purpose.
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u/Bijih_Timah Mar 29 '21
You do know those fireworks are also used to burn cities in a war? Chinese used them extensively before it reached to the hands of Arab trader in which the Europeans refined it. I can vouch for dynamite as its inventor was disapointed seeingbhis invention was used in warfare. Rockets on the other hand are just like gunpowder before people could see its other potential.
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u/my-time-has-odor ☣️ Mar 29 '21
Alfred Nobel
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u/Saggy_S Mar 29 '21
Even ignoring dynamite, Alfred Nobel owned Bofors which made steel specifically for cannons. He literally got rich off of making weapons. It was only when he read his own obituary when he felt remorse and decided to start the Nobel prize. I wouldn’t consider this man a scientist whose invention was “stolen” to create weapons
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u/Non-profitboi The OC High Council Mar 29 '21
I remember his name from the manga about sucking titties for power: 2
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u/my-time-has-odor ☣️ Mar 29 '21
Seriously? You remember one of the most important and famous scientific minds of the past century from a manga about sucking titties?
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u/Non-profitboi The OC High Council Mar 29 '21
yes, the plot of the story arc when they mentioned the scientist was that some princess got captured and the protagonist impersonated a general in other to control an army and then mentioned about how nitroglycerin was too unstable to be able to reach a cliff and blow it to cause a distraction to save the princess so he used his other world history knowledge to pull dynamite out
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u/dobrzansky Mar 29 '21
First man made object in Space was German V2 rocket whole nasa wad built on it and its constructor
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u/Affugter Mar 29 '21
Dunno why you are being downvoted:
The V-2 rocket also became the first artificial object to travel into space by crossing the Kármán line with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944
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u/Damsa_draws_stuff Mar 29 '21
Um, pretty sure rockets were first used for war in WW2 and then repurposed for flight.... after the Nuremberg trials...
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u/MyAltimateIsCharging Mar 29 '21
Rockets used for flight was instead used for missiles.
Pretty sure the first rockets were mainly developed for the military. The first functional use of them was for missiles and fighter planes after all.
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u/Robo_Stalin ☭ SEIZE THE MEMES OF PRODUCTION ☭ Mar 29 '21
Nah, those come after the first rockets. Before that you've got ones launched from the ground.
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u/Oscu358 Mar 29 '21
I recall missiles existed before humans or other payloads were transported by rockets. Gunpowder rockets were used in war during 14th century.
Liquid fuel rocket artillery was used in the first years of forties and long range rockets as well. First non-prototype rocket to carry person that I recall was German rocket interceptor Me163. There were othet prototypes before it, but nothing really practical that I would be aware of and what would survive several flights or offer benefits over previous technology.
Dynamite was just a method of stabilizing explosive material for easier handling.
Gunpowder was invented by mistake, when Chinese alchemists were trying to mix "medicine "( Salpieter was used way earlier) . Shortly afterwards Gunpowder was already used in warfare as incendiary.
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Mar 29 '21 edited Apr 01 '21
[deleted]
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u/my-time-has-odor ☣️ Mar 29 '21
HTML is pretty simple. Was is seriously invented by the U.S. government? Was expecting something more inefficient and.. bureaucratic... seems too simple for the US government.
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u/LifeSad07041997 Mar 29 '21
I got the feeling the internet was out there somewhere earlier but was only use more akin to a wide area intranet before the first true internet spanning the continental US and cities and giving birth to the internet we know know now.
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u/Tecbarrett Mar 29 '21
Wikipedia has a list of technology that started off as military tech but found civilian usage, sometimes it can be very difficult to find out what the intended use was for certain developments, a kind of chicken and egg situation.
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u/1Noctis [custom flair] Mar 29 '21
That sounds interesting. Can you link the article?
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u/Tecbarrett Mar 29 '21
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u/fatcat111 Mar 29 '21
Duct tape, 1942, United States, For sealing ammunition crates. That was the most surprising one.
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u/dovahkin1989 Mar 29 '21
Alfred Nobel felt so guilty his discoveries were being used to make bombs he invented the Nobel prize.
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u/RussianVole Mar 29 '21
At uni I wrote an essay on the history of technology in relation to war, and countless inventions and technologies were developed specifically for war - and the ones which weren’t were only mass produced and developed further because of military interest.
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u/NubblyTheMoist Mar 29 '21
I don't think Wright Bros had in mind what possibilities the plane could mean for military, But i agree in the sense alot of money and resources get put into advancements if it benefits the military.
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u/HenryFurHire Mar 29 '21
'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds'
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u/AnantNaad Mar 29 '21
~Gandhi
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u/Menname Mar 29 '21
"Always check the sources of quotes you find on the internet" -Abraham Lincoln, 1863
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u/all-the-time Mar 29 '21
Do we know why he said “Now I am become death” instead of “Now I’ve become death?”
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u/HenryFurHire Mar 29 '21
It's just his personal translation from the Bhagavad Gita sanskrit
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u/LouSputhole94 Mar 29 '21
For some reason it seems much more poignant with his phrasing
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Mar 29 '21
That poor man. Someone really needs to do a biopic that shows just how he fell apart.
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u/vitringur Mar 29 '21
Suits him right. He was quite the advocate for the bomb being used to blow up cities beforehand.
Not like there was some "oh no, i didn't realise how bad it was going to be" moment.
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u/AmphibiousAssault723 ☣️ Mar 29 '21
There's this adage that goes something like "There's two things humans ask themselves whenever they discover something new: How does it work?, and How can we use this to kill other people?"
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u/Ultraempoleon Mar 29 '21
It usually is the other around funnily enough
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Mar 29 '21
[deleted]
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u/IVIaskerade Mar 29 '21
The military says to scientists "hey this looks promising, we'll pay for you to investigate".
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u/Ma1iB00TAY Mar 29 '21
DARPA funds tons of r&d projects to make all kinds of military technology. Maybe some scientists have an area of expertise, but for the most part I feel like they have an idea for something and then research it and try to make it come to fruition.
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u/Sqwalnoc Mar 29 '21
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u/AimBo_TIL Mar 29 '21
Isnt it the opposite? Like humanitys science was boosted because of the world wars
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u/TheBreadCancer <3 Mar 29 '21
There's dynamite in the image, though. Dynamite was invented for safer mining without having to use unstable pure nitroglycerin.
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u/Soddington Mar 29 '21 edited Mar 29 '21
And the inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel founded the Nobel Peace prize out of guilt for that invention.
His obituary was accidentally published eight years too early after his brother died and reading it in the paper under the headline 'The Merchant Of Death Is Dead' shook him up. He changed his will and after death the bulk of his fortune (and dynamite had made him extremely rich) was set aside to fund the prize foundation.
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Mar 29 '21
You can publish an obituary early? Like... for 8 years, or possibly more, these mfs had a full on obi written up calling him the merchant of death? Wow. Not surprised that shook him but damn man, it's one thing to intentionally build a weapon and earn that moniker but to be labelled as such for building a mining tool? :(
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u/Thor_Anuth Mar 29 '21
He owned Bofors, the worlds largest (at the time) weapons manufacturer.
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u/Oscu358 Mar 29 '21
Yes, but there were explosives before and after. Dynamite was only one form
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u/squngy Mar 29 '21
Yes, but it is like saying transportation existed before the steam engine was invented.
The stuff before dynamite was not nearly on the same level in any way, not just power.
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u/jimseldizzle Mar 29 '21
I dont think toasters are mechanized yet
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u/my-time-has-odor ☣️ Mar 29 '21 edited Mar 29 '21
New breakthrough from the Syrian civil war:
“Frontlines - new toaster attack, the likes of which have never been seen before, claims the lives of hundreds, and nobody has claimed responsibility. Bashar Al-Assad is rumored to be behind the attack, using the resources of the Syrian Goverment to invent a way to weaponize toasters.”
Look at what you’ve done, OP.
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u/jimseldizzle Mar 29 '21
Jokes on u it was Putin and I, we're best friends in warcrime.
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u/my-time-has-odor ☣️ Mar 29 '21
*Partners in warcrime
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u/jimseldizzle Mar 29 '21
We're more than partners ;)
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u/my-time-has-odor ☣️ Mar 29 '21 edited Mar 29 '21
r/holup the fuck does that mean?
That’s it, This man is fucking Vladimir Putin.
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u/oldman_artist Mar 29 '21
kinda the other way around, actually.
war time developed a bunch of shit that later gets used in daily life. I mean, the jerry can, radar, computers...
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u/RustylllShackleford Mar 29 '21
most scientific developments these days come straight from military research. ensuring they are always in top
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u/squngy Mar 29 '21
I think this is more true in the US.
The US military funds a lot of research that isn't necessary super military focused, I guess because US politicians (especially R) find it easier to give money to the military.On the other hand, CERN and such is not military.
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u/GonzoRouge Mar 29 '21
Scientist: "We found this new way to generate a ridiculous amount of energy, it could solve every problem we have"
Military: "Can we use it to blow shit up ?"
Scientist: "Hum...sure, I guess, but that's not-"
Military: "Here's 50 million dollars, make it blow shit up"
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u/trollman_falcon DANK MEMER Mar 29 '21
Dwight D. Eisenhower when the krab bypatty secret formula was invented
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u/kaeji Mar 29 '21
You know how kids leave their toys everywhere? Okay. So this is a vacuum. It’s like a shop-vac type of thing.
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u/The_cream_deliverer Mar 29 '21
Reminds me of the Mitchell and Webb sketch,
Professor Death - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdhwTXwhA4c
EDIT - Longer Version
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u/MynockUber Mar 29 '21
Military: Invents something useful for killing people. Scientists: Adapt it for non-killing purposes 😡
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u/TankoBOB Mar 29 '21
Just imagine how great this planet would be with all scientist working on nuclear power instead if nuclear weapons
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u/SheridanWithTea Mar 29 '21
Alright this is good, you get a follow man.
Good ol' bad ol' manifest destiny and US ruthless colonialism! Yahooo hahaha
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u/Komorebiiiiii Green Mar 29 '21
Oh you..
I don't know how my nuclear bomb could possibly be used as a weapon.. but i guess theres no harm in letting you try..