Portal:Technology And Applied Sciences
The Technology Portal
Technology is the application of conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word technology can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible tools such as utensils or machines, and intangible ones such as software. Technology plays a critical role in science, engineering, and everyday life.
Technological advancements have led to significant changes in society. The earliest known technology is the stone tool, used during prehistoric times, followed by the control of fire, which contributed to the growth of the human brain and the development of language during the Ice Age. The invention of the wheel in the Bronze Age allowed greater travel and the creation of more complex machines. More recent technological inventions, including the printing press, telephone, and the Internet, have lowered barriers to communication and ushered in the knowledge economy. (Full article...)
Recognized articles -
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
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New York State Route 359 (NY 359) is a state highway located entirely within the town of Skaneateles in Onondaga County, New York in the United States. At 1.71 miles (2.75 km) in length, it is one of the shortest signed state highways in all of New York. The route begins at NY 38A a half-mile (0.8 km) north of the Onondaga-Cayuga County county line and ends at NY 41A in the hamlet of Mandana. It lies between Skaneateles Lake and Owasco Lake. Excluding its termini, there are only two junctions with other roadways along the entire route. NY 359 was assigned in the early 1940s and was part of the original NY 26 from 1924 to 1930. (Full article...) -
Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Limited (Chinese: 港龍航空公司), also known as Cathay Dragon (國泰港龍航空) and until 2016, Dragonair, was a Hong Kong-based international regional airline, with its corporate headquarters and main hub at Hong Kong International Airport. In the final year before it ceased flying, the airline operated a scheduled passenger network to around 50 destinations in 14 countries and territories across Asia. Additionally, the airline had three codeshares on routes served by partner airlines. It had an all-Airbus fleet of 35 aircraft, consisting of A320s, A321s, and A330s.
Cathay Dragon is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong's flag carrier, Cathay Pacific, and was an affiliate member of the Oneworld airline alliance. The airline was founded on 24 May 1985, by Chao Kuang Piu, who was most recently the airline's honorary chairman. Its maiden flight departed Hong Kong for Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, after being granted an air operator's certificate (AOC) by the Hong Kong Government in July 1985. In 2010, Dragonair, together with its parent, Cathay Pacific, operated over 138,000 flights, carried nearly 27 million passengers and over 1.80 billion kg (4.0 billion pounds) of cargo and mail. (Full article...) -
SS Lac La Belle was a wooden-hulled American package freighter in service between 1864 and 1872. She was built in 1864 in Cleveland, Ohio, by Ira Lafrinier for Hanna & Garretson, also of Cleveland. She had an identical sister ship named Ironsides. Lac La Belle operated between Cleveland and Lake Superior for a number of years, and was sold several times. In 1869, she was sold to Nathan Englemann of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and operated between Milwaukee and Grand Haven, Michigan. In 1871, she became part of the Englemann Transportation Company. Throughout her career, Lac La Belle was involved in several accidents.
On the night of October 13, 1872, Lac La Belle left Milwaukee for Grand Haven under the command of Captain W. H. Thompson, with about 19,000 bushels of barley, 1,200 barrels of flour, 50 barrels of pork, 25 barrels of whiskey, 20 tons of animal feed, sundries and 53 passengers and crew on board. There was a gale blowing across Lake Michigan. As she was travelling about 25 miles (40.2 km) off Racine, Wisconsin, she began leaking. At around midnight, the rising water in Lac La Belle's engine room extinguished the fire in her boilers. All attempts to save her failed. Next morning, the passengers and crew began abandoning Lac La Belle. She sank about 20 miles (32.2 km) off Racine. One of the lifeboats capsized, resulting in the deaths of eight people. (Full article...)
U.S. Route 195 (US 195) is a north–south United States Highway, of which all but 0.65 miles of its 94.02 miles (1.05 of 151.95 km) are within the state of Washington. The highway starts in rural Idaho north of the city of Lewiston as a state highway in an interchange with US 95. As the road crosses into Washington it becomes a state highway that connects communities in the Palouse region of Eastern Washington. US 195 travels north, serving the cities of Pullman, Colfax and Rosalia in Whitman County before continuing into Spokane County to its terminus in the city of Spokane at an interchange with Interstate 90 (I-90).
The first section of US 195 designated as part of Washington's state highway system was codified in 1913 from Colfax to Spokane as the Inland Empire Highway and from the Idaho state line to Pullman as the Second Division of the Eastern Route of the Inland Empire Highway. The two highways were included as part of State Road 3 in 1923 and US 195 during the creation of the US Highway System on November 11, 1926. Originally, the northern terminus of the highway was at US 95 in Sandpoint, but was truncated to Spokane after US 2 was extended west from Bonners Ferry in 1946. (Full article...)
The first section of US 195 designated as part of Washington's state highway system was codified in 1913 from Colfax to Spokane as the Inland Empire Highway and from the Idaho state line to Pullman as the Second Division of the Eastern Route of the Inland Empire Highway. The two highways were included as part of State Road 3 in 1923 and US 195 during the creation of the US Highway System on November 11, 1926. Originally, the northern terminus of the highway was at US 95 in Sandpoint, but was truncated to Spokane after US 2 was extended west from Bonners Ferry in 1946. (Full article...)
State Highway 112 (SH 112) is a 27.802-mile-long (44.743 km) state highway in southern Colorado. Built in 1916 and formally defined in 1922, the route begins at its western end in Del Norte at a junction with U.S. Highway 160 (US 160). From there the road travels east crossing US 285 two miles (3.2 km) west of Center before reaching its eastern terminus at Hooper where it meets SH 17. (Full article...)
Route 101 is a short highway in southern Missouri. The route starts at Arkansas Highway 101 at the Arkansas–Missouri state line, and travels northeastward. It travels through the city of Bakersfield, intersecting Route 142. The road then continues north to its northern terminus at U.S. Route 160 (US 160) in Caulfield. The route was designated in 1941, after a supplementary route was renumbered. (Full article...)
Aubin Grove railway station is a suburban railway station serving Atwell, Aubin Grove, Hammond Park and Success, which are suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. It is on the Mandurah line, which is part of the Transperth network, and is located immediately north of Russell Road in the median of the Kwinana Freeway. It has two platform faces on a singular island platform, which is linked to either side of the freeway by a pedestrian overpass. Services run every 10 minutes during peak and every 15 minutes between peak. The journey to Perth station is 23.8 kilometres (14.8 mi) and takes 21 minutes. The station has a bus interchange with four bus stands and seven regular bus routes.
Construction of the station was promised by both major political parties ahead of the 2013 Western Australian state election. A tender was released for the station's construction in July 2014, with a projected cost of A$80 million for the whole project, including the purchase of two Transperth B-series trains. The design contract was awarded in February 2015 to a joint venture between Coniglio Ainsworth Architects and M. P. S. Architects. The scope of the project was broadened in April 2015 to include the widening of the Russell Road bridge over the freeway, which increased the project budget to $105 million. Construction on the station began in March 2016, and it was opened on 23 April 2017, with the final cost being $125 million. (Full article...)
Selected picture
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Photograph: Christoph BraunA 'K6' model red telephone box outside of St Paul's Cathedral in London. These kiosks for a public telephone were designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and painted "currant red" for easy visibility. Although such telephone boxes ceased production when the KX series was introduced in 1985, they remain a common sight in Britain and some of its colonies, and are considered a British cultural icon. -
A transit map of the New York City Subway, one of the oldest and most extensive public transportation systems in the world. Operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York, it has 468 stations in operation on 209 mi (337 km) of routes, with 842 miles (1,355 km) of track. It is the busiest rapid transit rail system by annual ridership in the Western Hemisphere, and fifth busiest in the world. Its stations are located throughout the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. Staten Island has its own rail line which is not part of the system, but is included in the map as well. -
Credit: Mike McGregorThe OLPC XO-1 is an inexpensive subnotebook laptop computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries. -
An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy along large distances. It consists of one or more conductors suspended by towers or utility poles.
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Photograph credit: Unknown; restored by Adam CuerdenGeorge Washington Carver (1860s–1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor. Born into slavery in Diamond, Missouri, he was raised by his master Moses Carver after being emancipated, having been separated from his parents as an infant during a kidnapping incident. After college, Carver became a professor at Tuskegee Institute, where he developed techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated plantings of cotton. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes, as a source of their own food and to improve their quality of life. Carver spent years developing and promoting products made from peanuts, although none became commercially successful. Apart from his work to improve the lives of farmers, he was also a leader in promoting environmentalism. Carver received numerous honors for his work, including the NAACP's Spingarn Medal. In an era of very high racial polarization, his fame reached beyond the black community; he was widely recognized and praised in the white community for his many achievements and talents. In 1941, Time magazine dubbed Carver a "black Leonardo".
This picture of Carver was taken around 1910 and is in the collection of the Tuskegee University archives. -
Diagram: Jeff Dahl -
Photo credit: Alfred T. Palmer"Big Pete" Ramagos, rigger at work on Douglas Dam, Tennessee, June 1942. A rigger is a person or company which specializes in the lifting and/or moving of extremely large and/or heavy objects. Riggers use equipment expressly designed for moving and lifting objects where ordinary material handling equipment cannot go. -
Credit: Berthold WernerA telephone, or phone, is a telecommunications device that converts sound, typically the human voice, into electronic signals suitable for transmission via cables or other transmission media over long distances through satellite. -
Image credit: Lewis HineA structural worker bolts beams on the framework during the construction of the Empire State Building in New York City. The 1,250-foot (380 m) building opened on May 1, 1931, at the time the tallest building in the world, overtaking the Chrysler Building (seen to the right), which had just been completed the year before. The addition of a pinnacle and antennas later increased its overall height to 1,472 feet (449 m). -
Photograph: LucasboschA micrometer is a device incorporating a calibrated screw, widely used for precise measurement of components in mechanical engineering and machining. Micrometers are usually, but not always, in the form of calipers (opposing ends joined by a frame). The spindle is a very accurately machined screw and the object to be measured is placed between the spindle and the anvil. The spindle is moved by turning the ratchet knob or thimble until the object to be measured is lightly touched by both the spindle and the anvil. -
Photograph credit: Diego DelsoThe Walchensee Hydroelectric Power Station is a storage power station in Bavaria, Germany. The turbines, seen here, are fed by water from the Walchensee which is then released into the Kochelsee. The power station uses the hydraulic head of about 200 metres (660 ft) between the two natural lakes, and water from the Rißbach river is also used to augment the supply. The installed capacity is 124 MW with an annual production of 300 GWh; this is one of the largest of such power plants in Germany. -
Photograph: UberprutserA windmill is a mill that converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Traditional windmills were often used to mill grain, pump water, or both. Most modern windmills take the form of wind turbines used to generate electricity, or windpumps used to pump water, either for land drainage or to extract groundwater.
Here, the smock mill Goliath is viewed in front of the wind farm Growind in Eemshaven in the Netherlands. -
Photograph credit: Petar MiloševićA thermoplastic-sheathed cable consists of a toughened outer thermoplastic sheath of polyvinyl chloride, covering one or more individual annealed copper conductors. Each of the current-carrying conductors in the "core" is insulated by an individual thermoplastic sheath, coloured to indicate the purpose of the conductor concerned. The protective earth conductor may also be covered with insulation, although, in some countries, this conductor may be left as bare copper. The type of thermoplastic, the dimensions of the conductors and the colour of their individual insulation are specified by the regulatory bodies in the various countries concerned. -
The GameCube is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo beginning in 2001. Meant as a successor to the Nintendo 64, the GameCube sold approximately 22 million units worldwide. It was the third most-successful console of its generation, behind Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox. The GameCube was succeeded by the Wii in 2006. -
Photo: Sergey KrivchikovThe Sukhoi Su-30 is a twin-engine, two-seat supermanoeuverable fighter aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation. It is a multirole fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions. Its primary users are Russia, India, China, Venezuela, and Malaysia. -
A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axial bearing. The wheel is one of the main components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines.
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Photo credit: UpstateNYerMS Majesty of the Seas is a Sovereign class cruise ship owned and operated by Royal Caribbean International, a cruise line based in Miami, Florida. Her sister ship MS Sovereign of the Seas was the largest cruise ship in the world at the time of its completion in 1988. -
Photo credit: Eric PierceThe pin tumbler lock is a lock mechanism that utilizes a group of pins of varying lengths to prevent opening the lock without the correct key. Pin tumblers are most commonly employed in cylinder locks, but may also be found in tubular or radial locks.
When the correct key is inserted, the gaps between the key pins (red) and driver pins (blue) align with the edge of the plug (yellow). -
Photograph: David IliffAn interior view of Stockwell Garage, a large bus garage in Stockwell, London, designed by Adie, Button and Partners and opened in 1952. The 393-foot-long (120 m) roof structure, seen here, is supported by ten very shallow "two-hinged" arched ribs, between which are cantilevered barrel vaults topped by large skylights. The garage, which could originally hold 200 buses, has been a Grade II* Listed Building since 1988. -
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General images -
The following are images from various technology-related articles on Wikipedia.
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Pont du Gard in France, a Roman aqueduct (from History of technology) -
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A late Bronze Age sword or dagger blade (from History of technology) -
Design for a flying machine (c.1488) by da Vinci (from History of technology) -
A variety of stone tools (from History of technology) -
Clock from Salisbury Cathedral, ca. 1386 (from History of technology) -
Walls at Sacsayhuaman (from History of technology) -
Top 30 AI patent applicants in 2016 (from Emerging technologies) -
Alessandro Volta with the first electrical battery. Volta is recognized as an influential inventor. (from Invention) -
'BUILD YOUR OWN TELEVISION RECEIVER.' Science and Invention magazine cover, November 1928 (from Invention) -
Eric M. C. Tigerstedt (1887–1925) was known as a pioneer of sound-on-film technology. Tigerstedt in 1915. (from Invention) -
Agriculture preceded writing in the history of technology. (from History of technology) -
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The preserved Rocket (from History of technology) -
Self-replicating 3D printer (from Emerging technologies) -
The wheel, invented sometime before the 4th millennium BC, is one of the most ubiquitous and important technologies. This detail of the "Standard of Ur", c. 2500 BCE., displays a Sumerian chariot. (from History of technology) -
3D printer (from Emerging technologies) -
A rare 1884 photo showing the experimental recording of voice patterns by a photographic process at the Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Many of their experimental designs panned out in failure. (from Invention) -
Ford assembly line, 1913. The magneto assembly line was the first. (from History of technology) -
A water-powered mine hoist used for raising ore, ca. 1556 (from History of technology) -
Johannes Gutenberg's printing press was voted the most important invention of the second millennium. (from Invention) -
The compartmented water wheel, here its overshot version (from History of technology) -
Edison electric light bulbs 1879–80 (from History of technology) -
Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed by Levin Corbin Handy in Washington, April 1878 (from History of technology) -
Newcomen steam engine for pumping mines (from History of technology) -
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Dome of Florence Cathedral (from History of technology)
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Henry E. Sigerist felt "depressed" after reading A History of Science, Technology, and Philosophy in the 16th and 17th Centuries?
- ... that several science fiction critics praised "Rock Diver", the first short story by American writer Harry Harrison, for its compelling take on technology for passing through matter?
- ... that Guy Parmelin, now President of Switzerland, opened the study program of cyber security of the Lucerne School of Information Technology in 2018?
- ... that racing driver James Sofronas worked as a salesman for a technology company to buy the Nissan NX 2000 required for his first competitive race?
- ... that Suresh Jadhav led the development of the COVID-19 vaccine marketed as Covishield?
- ... that it was Caltech experimental physicist Rana X. Adhikari's idea to build a gravitational-wave observatory in India?
- ... that Pamela McCorduck, who chronicled the evolution of artificial intelligence, regretted not recognizing the technology's potential for misuse?
- ... that Małgorzata Kalinowska-Iszkowska was awarded a Polish Gold Cross of Merit for her work in information technology?
Top 10 WikiProject Technology popular articles of the month
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YouTube is an American online video sharing platform owned by Google. Accessible worldwide, YouTube was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States, it is the second-most visited website in the world, after Google Search. As of January 2024, YouTube has more than 2.7 billion monthly users, who collectively watch more than one billion hours of videos every day. , videos were being uploaded to the platform at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute, and as of 2021, there were approximately 14 billion videos in total. (Full article...)
Elon Reeve Musk FRS (/ˈiːlɒn/; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman and investor known for his key roles in space company SpaceX and automotive company Tesla, Inc. Other involvements include ownership of X Corp., the company that operates the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), and his role in the founding of The Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink and OpenAI. He is one of the wealthiest people in the world; , Forbes estimates his net worth to be US$241 billion. (Full article...)
ChatGPT is a chatbot and virtual assistant developed by OpenAI and launched on November 30, 2022. Based on large language models (LLMs), it enables users to refine and steer a conversation towards a desired length, format, style, level of detail, and language. Successive user prompts and replies are considered at each conversation stage as context. (Full article...)
WhatsApp (officially WhatsApp Messenger) is an instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by technology conglomerate Meta. It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content. WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices, and can be accessed from computers. The service requires a cellular mobile telephone number to sign up. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app called WhatsApp Business which can communicate with the standard WhatsApp client. (Full article...)
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by American technology conglomerate Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, its name derives from the face book directories often given to American university students. Membership was initially limited to Harvard students, gradually expanding to other North American universities. Since 2006, Facebook allows everyone to register from 13 years old, except in the case of a handful of nations, where the age limit is 14 years. , Facebook claimed almost 3 billion monthly active users. As of October 2023, Facebook ranked as the third-most-visited website in the world, with 22.56% of its traffic coming from the United States. It was the most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s. (Full article...)
Google LLC (/ˈɡuːɡəl/ GOO-ghəl) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial intelligence (AI). It has been referred to as "the most powerful company in the world" and is one of the world's most valuable brands due to its market dominance, data collection, and technological advantages in the field of AI. Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., is one of the five Big Tech companies, alongside Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft. (Full article...)
X, formerly known as Twitter, is a social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media websites and one of the most visited websites in the world. Users can share short text messages, images, and videos in posts (formerly "tweets") and like or repost/retweet other users' content. X also includes direct messaging, video and audio calling, bookmarks, lists and communities, and Spaces, a social audio feature. Users can vote on context added by approved users using the Community Notes feature. (Full article...)
Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon (/ˈæməzɒn/, AM-ə-zon; UK also /ˈæməzən/, AM-ə-zən), is an American multinational technology company, engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It is considered one of the Big Five American technology companies; the other four are Alphabet (parent company of Google), Apple, Meta (parent company of Facebook), and Microsoft. (Full article...)
