Nuclear Fission
The discovery of the nuclear chain reaction enabled the construction of atomic bombs and nuclear power plants—something never intended by the scientists.
The discovery of the nuclear chain reaction enabled the construction of atomic bombs and nuclear power plants—something never intended by the scientists.
The atmosphere can hold up to 1,500 billion tons of carbon dioxide and still keep global warming under 2°C; the consequences become uncontrollable once this limit is breached.
In the year 2000, Bill Clinton introduced a preview of the Human Genome Project and promised rapid progress for the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease.
During the 19th century engineers identified and developed precise solutions for problems in the production of commodities—like the Bessemer process, the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an exceptional example of marine pollution, was discovered by Charles J. Moore in 1997 after returning from a sailing race.
The large-scale testing of the atomic bomb in 1950 has left radioactive elements that could send strong, traceable chemical signals into our atmosphere for millennia.
The volume of air traffic increased drastically over the past 50 years as a result of globalization and mass tourism and has a significant impact on climate change.
On November 11, 1886, Heinrich Hertz, the pioneer of high-frequency and radio technology, for the first time observed the propagation of an electromagnetic wave with this setup.
This is a chapter of the virtual exhibition “Welcome to the Anthropocene: The Earth in Our Hands”—written and curated by historian Nina Möllers.
This is a chapter of the virtual exhibition “Welcome to the Anthropocene: The Earth in Our Hands”—written and curated by historian Nina Möllers.