Skip to main content

MD

Pit Silo
Society: ASABE Main Category: Agricultural & Biological Sub Category: Storage Era: 1870-1879 DateCreated: 1876 Oakland Manor Columbia State: MD Zip: 21044 Country: USA Website: https://www.asabe.org/awards-landmarks/asabe-historic-landmarks/pit-silo-6.aspx Creator: Morris, Francis

Designated a Historic Landmark of Agricultural Engineering at Oakland Manor In 1876 Francis Morris Built Brick Silos in His Barn and Introduced the Practice of Making Corn Silage in the United States. His Further Experiments Developed the Use of Earthen Trenches and Thereby Significantly Contributed to the Development of American Agriculture Dedicated by Amercan Society of Agricultural Engineers 1976

YearAdded:
1976
Image Credit: Image Caption: A pit silo in Araguacema, circa 1964. This style of silage was originally conceived by Francis Morris in the 19th century. Era_date_from:
Pilot at College Park
Society: AIAA Main Category: Sub Category: Era: 1900s DateCreated: 1909 College Park Airport College Park State: MD Zip: Country: USA Website: https://vtol.org/files/dmfile/AIAAHistoricSite-CollegePark2.pdf Creator: U.S. Army Signal Corps

College Park Airport was founded in 1909 when the Wright Brothers came here to train the first military officers to fly in the givernment's first airplane. The airport is the oldest continuously operated airport in the world, and has come to be known as "The Field of Firsts" due to it being the location of a great number of groundbreaking achievements, such as:

 

 

1909: First woman passenger to fly in the United States

YearAdded:
2003
Image Credit: Image Caption: An early pilot flying a Curtiss aircraft at College Park, 1912 Era_date_from:
NIST building
Society: ACS Main Category: Chemical Sub Category: Cradles of Chemistry Era: 1900s DateCreated: 1901 National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg State: MD Zip: Country: USA Website: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/nist.html Creator:

The federal government’s first physical science research laboratory was chartered by Congress on March 3, 1901, as the National Bureau of Standards, which became the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 1988. Recognizing the critical importance of chemical measures and standards, NIST established the Chemistry Division as one of its first programs.

YearAdded:
2001
Image Credit: Image Caption: NIST Advanced Measurement Laboratory (AML) building Gaitherburg, MD. The NIST Advanced Measurement Laboratory building was designed by HDR Architecture Inc., and built by Clark/Gilford, Joint Venture. Construction began on the building on June 9, 2000 and it was completed by June 2004. Era_date_from:
river blindness
Society: ACS Main Category: Chemical Sub Category: Medical Era: DateCreated: 1987 Merck & Co., Inc. Rockville State: MD Zip: Country: USA Website: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/ivermectin-mectizan.html Creator: Merck Research Labs

The story is so improbable it defies belief: a soil sample from Japan stops suffering in Africa. It starts when a scientist discovers a lowly bacterium near a golf course outside Tokyo. A team of scientists in the United States finds that the bacterium produces compounds that impede the activity of nematode worms. It is developed into a drug that wards off parasites in countless pets and farm animals, averting billions of dollars in losses worldwide.

YearAdded:
2016
Image Credit: Courtesy Wikicommons/현태웅 (CC BY-SA 4.0) Image Caption: A young man affected by onchocerciasis - river blindness Era_date_from:
Bollman Truss Bridge
Society: ASCE Main Category: Civil Sub Category: Bridges, Transportation Era: 1860-1869 DateCreated: 1869 Little Patuxent River Savage State: MD Zip: Country: USA Website: http://www.asce.org/Project/Bollman-Truss-Bridge/ Creator: Bollman, Wendel

The design of the Bollman Truss Bridge-patented in 1852 and one of the first to use iron exclusively in all essential structural elements-was critical in the rapid expansion of American railroads in the 19th century. Replacing wooden bridges, which  were cumbersome to build and vulnerable to decay, the Bollman Truss Bridge could be built relatively quickly and inexpensively, while providing the long-lasting qualities associated with metal. This allowed new rail lines to be built over long distances in a short period of time.

YearAdded:
1966
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Andrew Bossi (CC BY-SA 2.0) Image Caption: Bollman Truss Bridge as it looks today, after the repairs done in 1934-84. Era_date_from: 1869
Thomas Viaduct Railroad Bridge
Society: ASCE Main Category: Civil Sub Category: Roads & Rails Era: 1830-1839 DateCreated: 1835 Patapsco River Arbutus State: MD Zip: 21227 Country: USA Website: http://www.asce.org/Project/Thomas-Viaduct-Railroad-Bridge/ Creator: Latrobe II, Benjamin Henry, McCartney, John

Opened in 1835, the Thomas Viaduct was the first multiple-arch, stone railroad viaduct in the United States. The viaduct is composed of eight arches each with a clear span of about 58 feet. The viaduct has an overall length of 614 feet and a height of about 60 feet above the Patapsco River. Construction of the viaduct began in August of 1833, and a ceremony marking its completion was conducted on July 4, 1835. The viaduct was constructed for the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad and is named in honor Philip E. Thomas, who served from 1827 to 1836 as the first president of the B&O.

YearAdded:
1964
Image Credit: Public Domain (National Park Service) Image Caption: Thomas Viaduct Railroad Bridge Era_date_from: 1835
NS Savannah
Society: ASME Main Category: Mechanical Sub Category: Water Transportation Era: 1960-1969 DateCreated: 1962 4601 Newgate Ave Baltimore State: MD Zip: 21224 Country: USA Website: https://www.asme.org/about-asme/who-we-are/engineering-history/landmarks/87-ns-savannah Creator: New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Babcock & Wilcox Company

The N.S. Savannah was the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey. The 74 maximum-power thermal megawatt pressurized-water reactor was supplied by the Babcock & Wilcox Company. Nearly 600 feet long with 22,000-tons displacement, the ship at top speed surged along at 24 knots, with more than 22,300 shaft horsepower to a single propeller. A joint venture by the U.S. Maritime Administration and the Atomic Energy Commission to the design of George G. Sharp Inc.

YearAdded:
1983
Image Credit: Public Domain (U.S. Government) Image Caption: NS Savannah Era_date_from: 1962
Society: ASME Main Category: Mechanical Sub Category: Minerals Extraction & Refining Era: 1800-1829 DateCreated: 1828 Furnace Town Living Heritage Museum Snow Hill State: MD Zip: 21863 Country: USA Website: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/history/landmarks/topics-m-z/minerals-extraction-and-refining/-159-nassawango-iron-furnace-%281828%29 Creator: Maryland Iron Company
This furnace was the focal point of a pre-Industrial Revolution industry town, one of hundreds of furnaces that thrived and failed in the 19th century. The Maryland Iron Company (incorporated 1828) built this furnace along the Nassawango Creek roughly four miles northwest of the Pocomoke River to produce pig iron by the cold-blast process. In 1836-37 the furnace changed ownership several times, until Thomas Spence of Worcester County purchased it and began producing pig iron at a rate of 700 tons a year. Spence is credited with the installation of the hot-blast stove.
YearAdded:
1991
Image Credit: Public Domain (National Park Service) Image Caption: Nassawango Iron Furnace Era_date_from: 1828
Deciphering the Genetic Code
Society: ACS Main Category: Chemical Sub Category: Frontiers of Knowledge Era: 1960-1969 DateCreated: 1961 NIH Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Ctr Bethesda State: MD Zip: 20892 Country: USA Website: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/geneticcode.html Creator: Nirenberg, Marshall

In 1961, in the National Institutes of Health Headquarters (Bethesda, MD), Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei discovered the key to breaking the genetic code when they conducted an experiment using a synthetic RNA chain of multiple units of uracil to instruct a chain of amino acids to add phenylalanine. The uracil (poly-U) served as a messenger directing protein synthesis. This experiment demonstrated that messenger RNA transcribes genetic information from DNA, regulating the assembly of amino acids into complex proteins.

YearAdded:
1997
Image Credit: Courtesy Wikipedia/Infocan (CC BY-SA 3.0) Image Caption: Deciphering the Genetic Code Era_date_from: 1961
Druid Lake Dam
Society: ASCE Main Category: Civil Sub Category: Dams Era: 1870-1879 DateCreated: 1871 Druid Hill Park Baltimore State: MD Zip: Country: USA Website: http://www.asce.org/Project/Druid-Lake-Dam/ Creator: Martin, Robert

Like other American cities in the late 19th century, Baltimore had grown so quickly its supply system was unable to provide city residents with a dependable supply of water. Two reservoirs built outside the city helped increase capacity, but heavy rainfalls in the largely agricultural area tended to foul this additional water supply. City officials elected to construct a holding reservoir within the city - contained by an earthen dam - where silty water would be allowed to settle. No such project had ever been undertaken in the United States.

YearAdded:
1971
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Jeff Covey (CC BY-SA 2.0) Image Caption: Druid Lake Dam Era_date_from: 1871
Subscribe to MD

Innovations

Discovery of Camptothecin and Taxol

Monroe Wall, Mansukh Wani and colleagues at the Natural Products Laboratory of the Research Triangle Institute discovered and elucidated the structure Taxol®and camptothecin, two life-saving compounds for the treatment of cancer. These natural products kill cancer cells via unique mechanisms of…

Read More
Aberdeen Range, Aberdeen Proving Ground

During the 1930's, research into advanced ballistic measurement techniques began at Aberdeen Proving Ground—the world's first large-scale, fully-instrumented ballistic range producing data on the aerodynamic characteristics of missiles in free flight.

Although this research had begun…

Read More
Cabin John Aqueduct

Cabin John Aqueduct, designed by Montgomery C. Meigs, conveys drinking water from Great Falls, Maryland to Washington, D.C. It was the longest stone masonry arch in the world for nearly 40 years. The segmental arch of the bridge has a span of 220 feet and a rise of only 57 feet. The main arch…

Read More
Carrollton Viaduct

The Carrollton Viaduct over Gwynn's Falls was the first masonry railroad viaduct constructed in the United States. This structure proved the feasibility of using a viaduct to transport railway vehicles across wide and deep valleys.

The concept for the viaduct came from international…

Read More
Although bottled carbonated beverages were popular by the 1880s, sealing the bottle was a constant problem. Most "stoppers" were of metal and intended for reuse. None sealed adequately, and contact with the cap often contaminated the drink. In 1892 (Feb 2), William Painter (1838-1906) patented a… Read More
The David Taylor Model Basin is among the largest facilities of its kind in the world, containing a shallow water basin, a deep water basin and a high-speed basin. Using its sophisticated combination of towing carriages, wave makers, and measuring equipment, engineers are able to determine the sea-… Read More
Druid Lake Dam

Like other American cities in the late 19th century, Baltimore had grown so quickly its supply system was unable to provide city residents with a dependable supply of water. Two reservoirs built outside the city helped increase capacity, but heavy rainfalls in the largely agricultural area…

Read More
Deciphering the Genetic Code

In 1961, in the National Institutes of Health Headquarters (Bethesda, MD), Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei discovered the key to breaking the genetic code when they conducted an experiment using a synthetic RNA chain of multiple units of uracil to instruct a chain of amino acids to add…

Read More
This furnace was the focal point of a pre-Industrial Revolution industry town, one of hundreds of furnaces that thrived and failed in the 19th century. The Maryland Iron Company (incorporated 1828) built this furnace along the Nassawango Creek roughly four miles northwest of the Pocomoke River to… Read More
NS Savannah

The N.S. Savannah was the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey. The 74 maximum-power thermal megawatt pressurized-water reactor was supplied by the Babcock & Wilcox Company. Nearly 600 feet long with 22,000-tons…

Read More
Thomas Viaduct Railroad Bridge

Opened in 1835, the Thomas Viaduct was the first multiple-arch, stone railroad viaduct in the United States. The viaduct is composed of eight arches each with a clear span of about 58 feet. The viaduct has an overall length of 614 feet and a height of about 60 feet above the Patapsco River.…

Read More
Bollman Truss Bridge

The design of the Bollman Truss Bridge-patented in 1852 and one of the first to use iron exclusively in all essential structural elements-was critical in the rapid expansion of American railroads in the 19th century. Replacing wooden bridges, which  were cumbersome to build and vulnerable to…

Read More
river blindness

The story is so improbable it defies belief: a soil sample from Japan stops suffering in Africa. It starts when a scientist discovers a lowly bacterium near a golf course outside Tokyo. A team of scientists in the United States finds that the bacterium produces compounds that impede the activity…

Read More
NIST building

The federal government’s first physical science research laboratory was chartered by Congress on March 3, 1901, as the National Bureau of Standards, which became the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 1988. Recognizing the critical importance of chemical measures and standards,…

Read More
Pilot at College Park

College Park Airport was founded in 1909 when the Wright Brothers came here to train the first military officers to fly in the givernment's first airplane. The airport is the oldest continuously operated airport in the world, and has come to be known as "The Field of Firsts" due to it being the…

Read More
Pit Silo

Designated a Historic Landmark of Agricultural Engineering at Oakland Manor In 1876 Francis Morris Built Brick Silos in His Barn and Introduced the Practice of Making Corn Silage in the United States. His Further Experiments Developed the Use of Earthen Trenches and Thereby Significantly…

Read More

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.