2. The development of nuclear energy (mid-1900's)

The new insights in physics of the early 1900's led to the development of nuclear weapons, whose potential for unprecedented destruction shaped the political life of our planet throughout the last half of the 1900's. The advances in physics also led to the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, such as electric power production. Thus, nuclear energy presented both the grave danger of possible radioactive pollution and, at the same time, the bright promise of a potential source of almost unlimited amounts of nonpolluting energy.

 

Ivan Soll is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His Top 10 list also focuses on large-scale, far-reaching developments. He sounds a note of caution based on rapid world population growth and technological development, referring to our "tendency to pollute, or otherwise destroy without using, the very resources we so desperately need."

1.

Advances in physical theory (early 1900's)

2. The development of nuclear energy (mid-1900's)
3. The rise of the Information Age (middle to late 1900's)
4.

The worldwide revolution in transportation (throughout the 1900's)

5. The development of antibiotics and other medical therapies (mid-1900's)
6. The development of genetics and molecular biology (mid-1900's)
7. The rise and fall of Communism in Europe (1917-1990's)
8. The explosion and concentration of the world's population (throughout the 1900's)
9. The depletion and pollution of the world's resources (middle to late 1900's)
10. The impact of globalization (middle to late 1900's)