The Story of Technology: How We Got Here and What the Future Holds

by Daniel M. Gerstein

The top-left quadrant comes at the intersection of a high quest for fundamental understanding and a low consideration of use. Stokes refers to this part of the matrix as the “Bohr quadrant,” named after Niels Bohr, a physicist who received the Nobel Prize for his work on the structure of the atom. Bohr’s studies tended toward being more theoretical in nature and, in addition to his work on atomic structure, included such subjects as surface tension caused by oscillating jets, fundamental inquiries into radioactive phenomena, absorption of alpha rays, and quantum theory. While his work was considered highly theoretical in its day, it formed the intellectual underpinnings and foundations for a wide range of scientific principles, technologies, and inventions that have become integral to humankind, such as the structure of the atom, quantum physics, and quantum computing. Stokes identifies this quadrant as the realm of pure basic research.9 The lower-left quadrant comes at the intersection of a low quest for fundamental understanding and a high consideration of use. Stokes labels this part of the matrix the “Edison quadrant,” named after Thomas Edison, who was largely recognized as an American inventor. Edison is credited with holding 1093 patents; establishing the first industrial research laboratory; and creating a host of specific inventions and innovations related to the telegraph as well as early batteries, the telephone, the microphone, incandescent lamps, and a motion ...