Today in Technology History
An event that occurred on this date in the history of technology.
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June 16
The Ford Motor Company turns 100 years old today.
Henry Ford was a virtual nobody: an obscure car designer who had gained a small reputation in the new sport of auto racing. He was verging on forty years old, with no great accomplishments in his life -- in fact, he had had a string of flops, including a failed car company. But a century ago, he succeeded in convincing a dozen investors to underwrite his dreams, and on June 16, 1903, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated.
Ford, of course, revolutionized the way cars were built, and his mass production techniques made it possible for almost anybody to afford a car. It would be an exaggeration to give Ford and his company sole credit for the modern culture of the automobile, but much of today's world was at least shaped by the accomplishments of the man and his company: our driveways and streets and highways, our parking lots and garages, the design of (and pollution of) our cities, the patterns of our lives.
So hat's off to Henry and the Ford Motor Company on this hundredth anniversary.
* One final note, on another subject. Last month, we told the story of the first airplane trip across the Atlantic, and we promised to describe later the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic. That flight was reported in the world's newspapers exactly 84 years ago, on June 16, 1919, having been completed the day before by Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Brown, both of the Royal Air Force. The harrowing story of their flight is well worth reading, and we invite you to do so at the sites listed below.
Related links:
Click here to visit the Web site the Ford company set up to commemorate its centenary.
Click here, here and here to read more about Alcock and Brown, and the gripping tale of their nonstop transatlantic flight.
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