By Jerry Riley

War has spawned both inventions of new products and quicker refinements of existing products.

We all know about things like radio communications, but, do you know that RADAR became more effective with the use of microwave lengths and the melting of a candy bar in the pocket of a technician working with microwaves led to the discovery that microwaves could heat things. That led to the microwave oven!

Our super highway system came from the pattern in Germany. Our leaders saw how useful highways could be for the efficient deployment of armed forces. Highways were built with at least five mile straight stretches in case pilots needed war time landing areas.

Early, rudimentary computers got their humble beginnings because of war. They were massive. What we can hold in our hand once filled a room. An idea for rapid communication of ideas, designs and formulas led to what we know of as the Internet.

The first recorded American ambulance service was in the Civil War. [Queen Isabella of Spain used the first field ambulance in 1487 at Malaga.] A method was needed to get the injured off the battlefield. More people perished from not being able to get medical help, than died in combat. Early ambulance wagons also had basic types of medial supplies aboard. After the war, doctors and hospitals adopted the idea.

Rockets! A weapon of war has led to the exploration of outer space. Sure many of these inventions might have come along anyway. Without war though, many inventions might have never arrived - and, yes, what a revoltin’ development that is!

Now, the ultimate weapon, the atomic bomb, is also leading to the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Uranium, per ton, produces more than 300,000 times the amount of energy that coal does. Why are we not developing it?

Jerry Riley comments for the News Bulletin. He is a retired telecommunications supervisor.