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T O P I C R E V I E WjedinitI am wondering if anyone can give me a source for the fact that the Landing on the Moon was the greatest acheivement of the 20th century? I know I heard it a couple of places but cannot track down specifics. Thanks. mjanovecRanking greatest achievements is a matter of opinion and perspective. While someone may use facts to support their opinion...in the end, it will just be opinion.This site lists "electrification" as the greatest achievement of the 20th Century: http://www.greatachievements.org/ This page puts spaceflight at the top of the list, based (funnily enough) on a public survey: http://people-press.org/reports/print.php3?PageID=282 It comes down to whether you want to rank a single achievement in the term of an event or rank an achievement as something that has had a longterm change/benefit for society as a whole. The moon landing is probably the single greatest acheivement of the century in event-based terms. Electrification is probably the greatest achievement towards changing the way we live.Then there are a whole bunch in intangibles that cannot be measured...for instance, the Apollo program allow humans to finally see the Earth as it truly is...one tiny sphere in the vast ocean of space. It's one thing to know that...and another thing to be able to actually see it in a photograph. (I'd be curious is anyone ever envisioned what an Earthrise would look like before Borman, Anders, and Lovell saw it for themselves.)It's a much more romantic achievement than say, every home in technological societies now has electricity and can therefore toast their bread in 2 minutes while they check their e-mail.FFrench quote:Originally posted by mjanovec:I'd be curious is anyone ever envisioned what an Earthrise would look like before Borman, Anders, and Lovell saw it for themselves.A widely-distributed image of Earthrise over the moon was made by an automated probe in 1966: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~ipswich/Miscellaneous/Intro_to_Solar_System/Solar_System.htm and: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/orbiter/orbiter-images.html and while it generated a good deal of attention at the time, it did not have the power of the clearer Apollo 8 image, nor of course did it come with the accompanying words of people who could describe the view.FFjedinitI meant to say that I was looking for a survey that was supposedly done with 2000 historians that ranked the moon landings within the top 5 of the last milleniums achievments. Sorry for the confusion.BlackarrowI suggest that if the human race survives another 10,000 years, only two events of the 20th century will be remembered: the first visit to another world, and the unleashing of the power of the atom. The second of these achievements is a major reason why we might not survive another 10,000 years. The first is the reason why we can escape the consequences of the second.
This site lists "electrification" as the greatest achievement of the 20th Century: http://www.greatachievements.org/
This page puts spaceflight at the top of the list, based (funnily enough) on a public survey: http://people-press.org/reports/print.php3?PageID=282
It comes down to whether you want to rank a single achievement in the term of an event or rank an achievement as something that has had a longterm change/benefit for society as a whole. The moon landing is probably the single greatest acheivement of the century in event-based terms. Electrification is probably the greatest achievement towards changing the way we live.
Then there are a whole bunch in intangibles that cannot be measured...for instance, the Apollo program allow humans to finally see the Earth as it truly is...one tiny sphere in the vast ocean of space. It's one thing to know that...and another thing to be able to actually see it in a photograph. (I'd be curious is anyone ever envisioned what an Earthrise would look like before Borman, Anders, and Lovell saw it for themselves.)It's a much more romantic achievement than say, every home in technological societies now has electricity and can therefore toast their bread in 2 minutes while they check their e-mail.
quote:Originally posted by mjanovec:I'd be curious is anyone ever envisioned what an Earthrise would look like before Borman, Anders, and Lovell saw it for themselves.
A widely-distributed image of Earthrise over the moon was made by an automated probe in 1966: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~ipswich/Miscellaneous/Intro_to_Solar_System/Solar_System.htm
and: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/orbiter/orbiter-images.html
and while it generated a good deal of attention at the time, it did not have the power of the clearer Apollo 8 image, nor of course did it come with the accompanying words of people who could describe the view.
FF
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