8. Discovery of the transistor and the rise of electronics (middle to late 1900's)

The discovery of the transistor and other electronic devices led to the development of charge-coupled devices and other electromagnetic-radiation-sensitive chips. These discoveries enabled astronomers to observe objects in much greater quantities and at much more sensitive levels than had previously been possible.

With 80 percent efficiency instead of the 1 percent efficiency of photographic plates, a spectrum of a distant galaxy that took 10 hours to see early in the century can now be observed in a few minutes. Coupled with the multiplexing effect of fiber optics, in which hundreds of spectra can be taken simultaneously, we are now able to map the sky in three dimensions on a large scale.

 

Jay M. Pasachoff is the Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Hopkins Observatory at Williams College. His Top 10 list largely relates major world events to a number of important developments in astronomy. He points to the establishment of the Nobel Prizes as an event that helped spark public interest in science.

1.

The development of radio astronomy (late 1900's)
2. The collapse of the Soviet Union (1991)
3. Dropping the atomic bomb in World War II (1945)
4.

The launch of Sputnik I by the Soviet Union (1957)
5. Introduction of the Nobel Prizes (1901)
6. Albert Einstein's theories of relativity (early 1900's)
7. Hitler's persecution of the Jews (1930's and 1940"s)
8. Discovery of the transistor and the rise of electronics (middle to late 1900's)
9. The development of computers (middle to late 1900's))
10. The invention of the airplane (1903)