Age of Democracy & Progress

Main Idea: Key inventions, new theories in physics and biology, and medical advances transform daily life for many people. New technologies and growing democratic institutions create a mass culture in the US.

 

IV.           19th Century Progress

A.   Inventions

1.    Power

a      Coal & Steam—drove machines of industry

b      Gasoline—internal combustion engine

c       Electricity—power machines & daily life

i          Edison: Menlo Park, NJ research laboratory—light bulb, phonograph

2.    Communication revolutionized

a      Bell: telephone

b      Marconi: radio using Morse code

3.    Transportation

a      Ford: assembly line

b      Wright Brothers: aircraft

i          improved communication: air mail services

B.   Mass Culture: appeal of art, writing, music, & other forms of entertainment to large audience

1.    Greater leisure time and new technologies

2.    music halls and vaudeville provide popular entertainment

3.    movie camera launches new industry

4.    spectator sports attract mass audiences

a      Olympic Games: 1896

C.   Medicine & Science

1.    Germ theory of disease: Louis Pasteur, conquer many infectious diseases

2.    Joseph Lister: standards of cleanliness in hospitals

3.    City cleaning—plumbing & sewer systems

4.    Theory of Evolution: Charles Darwin—life is constantly evolving; Origin of Species

5.    Genetics: Gregor Mendel

6.    Physical universe: chemistry & physics

a      Atoms: John Dalton

b      Periodic Table: Dmitri Mendeleev

c       Radioactivity: Marie & Pierre Curie

d      Electrons: Ernest Rutherford

D.  Social Sciences

1.    global cultural interactions stimulate creation of new sciences

2.    psychology: study of human mind and behavior

a      Ivan Pavlov: conditioning

Sigmund Freud: psychoanalysis