Two wheels good: Why Britain has fallen in love with the bicycle By Cahal Milmo 06 May 2005 http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/story.jsp?story=635984
"Professor Heinz Wolff, emeritus professor of bio-engineering at Brunel University, in west London, who was responsible for nominating the bicycle, defended his choice." He said: "The provision of affordable personal transport which then became the motorbike, the motor car and the aeroplane ... changed humanity by allowing us to do something which was otherwise difficult or restricted to people who ... could afford a coach." --- Bicycle chosen as best invention The humble bicycle has won a UK national survey of people's favourite inventions. 5 May, 2005 http://www.energybulletin.net/5952.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4513929.stm Listeners to BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme were invited to vote in an online poll looking at the most significant innovations since 1800. It was an easy victory for the bicycle which won more than half of the vote. The transistor came second with 8% of the vote, and the electro-magnetic induction ring - the means to harness electricity - came third. Interplanetary travel Despite their ubiquity, computers gained just 6% of the vote and the internet trailed behind with only 4% of all votes cast. There were more than 4,500 votes cast in total. People chose the bicycle for its simplicity of design, universal use, and because it is an ecologically sound means of transport. The survey also asked participants which innovation they would most like to disinvent. GM foods came top of this poll with 26% of the vote, followed by nuclear power with 19%. By contrast, the technology most would like to see invented was an Aids vaccine. Alas, plans to ship long-suffering commuters to distant planets may need to be put on hold with only 15% voting for an interplanetary commuting transport system. Half voted water treatment and supply systems as the technology to bring most benefit to society. Another 23% thought that vaccinations deserved the honour. Each of the technologies were nominated by a different expert, including writer Sir Arthur C Clarke, cloning expert Professor Ian Wilmut, and Professor Heinz Wolff. Prof Wolff's praise of the bicycle held the most sway with voters which will come as a disappointment to Lord Alec Broers, this year's Reith lecturer. His series of lectures - Triumph of Technology - prompted the vote. In the first of his talks, he expressed surprise at the results of a similar survey. It too ranked the bicycle above scientific breakthroughs such as electricity generation, the jet engine, the discovery of DNA and the invention of vaccinations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Editorial Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most of our technology is dependent on cheap energy, at the very least in its manufacturing. Compared to 'nature' there is almost nothing we can hold up favourably in comparison in terms of energy efficiency. The bicycle is the exception. It allows a human to travel with more energy efficiency than any other land animal. Of course one must consider the embodied energy of the bicycle and road maintenance. Nevertheless, from an energy perspective the bicycle may yet prove to be the high point of human technological achievement! -AF --- The Triumph of Technology BBC Radio 4 You and Yours http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/technology_launch.shtml To coincide with this year's Reith Lectures, entitled the Triumph of Technology, You and Yours asked what has been the most significant technological innovation since 1800. From the hundreds of listeners' nominations and together with our five experts, voting was opened on a final 10. Here are the results... 59.4% - Bicycle 7.8% - Transistor 7.8% - Electro-magnetic induction ring 6.3% - Computer 4.6% - Germ theory of infection 4.5% - Radio 4.0% - Internet 3.4% - Internal Combustion Engine 1.1% - Nuclear Power 1.1% - Communications satellite Survey results [more] _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
