A panel of local science professionals as part of the Chicago “Science in the City” program have selected the most significant scientific discoveries and inventions made in Chicago. Here’s the list.
•Demonstration of the first controlled nuclear reaction
•Invention of the first portable cell phone
•Development of hormone treatment of prostate and breast cancer
•Invention of magnetic recording
•Development of treatment for malaria
•Development of the skyscraper
•Discovery of the top quark
•Discovery of chromosome abnormalities in cancer
•Development of carbon-14 dating
•Discovery of the human body’s process for making insulin
I’m pretty certain that at least some of those were actually discovered in the Chicago suburbs which would seem to interfere a bit with the “science in the city” theme but whatever.
It occurred to me that a list of Chicago’s top ten political achievements would be pretty interesting. Maybe I’ll post that later in the day. I’d welcome suggestions in the comments.
You overlooked the development of the eternally-hopeless baseball team, the design of the Chicago hot dog, and the formulation of the “I shoveled the snow and stuck a folding chair there so it’s my parking space,” theory.
Hi Dave,
My friend Von was a fairly significant member of the top quark team – it was at Fermilab though some of the analysis may have been done in multiple universities. I think he said some 300 researchers were involved overall.