Archives: History

“Science is about knowing; engineering is about doing.”           Henry Petroski While Sir William Robert Grove’s invention of the ‘gas voltaic cell’ lay dormant for many years, steam engines were making progress. Then, suddenly, the new-fangled internal combustion engine (ICE) was in the news. It could be observed at many exhibitions and at World Fairs, and • Read More »

“Whatever one man is capable of conceiving, other men will be able to achieve” – Jules Verne After talking ‘organic horsepower’ in the previous article, let’s get back to mechanical horsepower and onto the long path of the history of hydrogen and fuel cells. As you may know, one-third of all automobiles were battery-powered electric • Read More »

“True greatness is when your name is like ampere, watt, and diesel — when it’s spelled with a lower case letter.”    Richard Hamming It is also great that new automakers use old pioneers’ names, such as Tesla, Nicola, Faraday — and who next? It takes many great minds and many years to make a • Read More »

May the New Year 2017 bring you good health, happiness and success. May autonomous vehicles keep us safe. May hydrogen be our gas in the future. May fuel cell cars be in your dreams and driveway.   “Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.” Arthur Conan Doyle In retrospect, • Read More »

A one-time diversion from the tedious, tiresome (NOT) history — includes fuel cells, though!! A Christmas story in three parts for the young and the young at heart – to read during the holidays ‘Twas the night before Christmas, and Santa was sad. He had wished for a small sportscar – an Audi TT at • Read More »

“Three great actions; Explore, Experiment, Evolve.”                    Laila Gifty Akita The French Patent Number 731 gave Rivaz title to the use of combustible gasses, instead of steam, in a piston-type engine.  The combustion pushed a heavy piston upward in a cylinder.  Atop the piston is a toothed rod that engages with a gear wheel on • Read More »

“Our duty is to preserve what the past has had to say for itself, and to say for ourselves what shall be true for the future.”         John Ruskin That awesome and humbling duty befalls historians. That said, this writer has experienced how much information is lost from as little as one-hundred, even fifty years ago, • Read More »

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”       Winston Churchill Uncertainty about the future exists everywhere; change creates hesitation. Should the government go ‘right’, should it lean ‘left’, should it turn ‘green’?  Which energy policy should be promoted?  Nature itself seems uncertain of where to go.  • Read More »