What a Difference a Century Makes

by Shelly Blake-Plock

Published July 12, 2009 @ 08:59AM PT

The year 1909 started on a Friday.

And on that day -- January 1st, 1909 -- drilling began in a California oil field on what would come to be known as Lakeview Gusher Number One. Lakeview would go down in history as the largest American oil gusher ever discovered; and over the course of eighteen months, it would pour forth nine million barrels.

On January 1st, 2009, the Czech Republic -- a country that had not even been formed a hundred years prior -- took the presidency of the Council of the European Union -- a governmental entity that had not existed a hundred years earlier.

What a difference a century makes.

The following month of the year 1909 saw the birth of the NAACP (on the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth) as well as the issuance of the first Futurist manifesto. Those Futurists were different than most of the folks who use the title in self-description today; as any art history student could tell you, they were far more interested in fast cars and mechanized weaponry than they were in the altruism of the Network. Many of ‘em died in the trenches a few years later.

The future is a funny thing. It's the only thing we know is going to happen. Yet it remains unknown. It sometimes bears out new realizations and breaks down old barriers. Yet, just as often, it confirms our worst fears and suspicions.

On February 1st,  2009, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the new Prime Minister of Iceland, became the world's first openly lesbian head of government; the world saw something new. But on February 10th, Russian and US space satellites collided over Siberia; and the world was reminded of something old.

The auto industry has had its fair share of mergers of new and old as of late. But that's not in and of itself something new. After all: on February 24th, 1909, a new Detroit auto company was formed: the Hudson Motor Car Company. Despite producing some classic vehicles infused with loads of American style, the company was not destined to outlive the birth of rock-and-roll. It was bought out in 1954.

On March 4th, 1909, Taft took the reigns of the American Presidency and Teddy Roosevelt headed out on an African safari. One hundred years later, a man with African blood coursing through his veins is president of the United States.

On March 18th, 1909, Einar Dessau sends out information via short-wave and in effect invents the radio broadcasting industry. Interestingly, it was Marconi and Braun who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics that year for their work on radio.

Tesla was nowhere to be found.

On March 7th, 2009, just three days past the 100th anniversary of the first short-wave radio broadcast, NASA launches a space photometer on a mission to seek out extra-solar planets.

The future reminds us of our past. It's the ultimate in metonymy.

On March 31st, 1909, work begins on a new oceanliner: the RMS Titanic. Meanwhile, in our future, plans are in the works for a December 2009 maiden voyage of the largest capacity ocean liner in history.

On April 19th, 1909, the petroleum company that would later be renamed BP was incorporated. One hundred years later US politicians would be calling for an end to dependence on foreign oil.

On April, 22nd 1909, the the first Choctaw/English dictionary was published by the Bureau of American Ethnology. One hundred years later, UNESCO launches the World Digital Library.

On May 7th, 1909, the University of Zurich offers a new chair -- in theoretical physics -- to Albert Einstein. One hundred years later, North Korea announces its second successful nuclear test.

On June 9th, 1909, Vassar College grad Alice Huyler Ramsey breaks the stereotype of what young woman are supposed to do with themselves by becoming the first woman to drive across the United States. One hundred years later, a viral video of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, an Iranian university student becomes a symbol of the protests and further challenges the stereotypes of what young women should spend their time doing.

On July 26th, 1909, the first anti-aicraft gun is built. A week later, the US Army signs a contract with the Wright Brothers' company purchasing the first military aircraft.

You can't make this stuff up.

On August 12th, 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens for racing. It is still the largest and highest-capacity sporting facility in the world. In September 2009, the Burj Dubai will open; over 300 meters taller than the Sears Tower, it will be the largest building structure on Earth. Seems we still haven't gotten over 'bigger is better' despite all the indications represented by iPod sales.

On September 7th, 1909, Eugène Lefebvre became the first pilot to die in a plane crash. In the first ten years of the 21st century, about one-thousand people die in airline-related deaths every year.

On September 11th, 1909, astronomer Max Wolf confirms the return of Halley’s Comet. In September of 2009, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft will make a flyby of the planet Mercury.

On October 5th, 1909, Henry Ford nearly sold his auto company to General Motors. The deal fell through. Two days later would be the last ever ride by an American president in a stagecoach. One hundred years later, GM goes bankrupt; Ford holds on.

On November 11th, the United States Navy founds a base at Pearl Harbor and on New Year’s Eve, 1909, the Manhattan Bridge opens. In December of 2009, NASA plans to deliver the dome to the International Space Station.

What a difference a century makes.

A mere hundred years. An insignificant speck of time to a geologist. Ten simple decades lined up to be knocked down one at a time.

And yet, this is the stuff of life. This is our history. This is how we understand the world.

Could Marconi and the Wright Brothers and Henry Ford ever have imagined how their ideas would have changed the world? Could they have ever imagined that, in the end, their products would help make their own lifetimes seem so antique?

We're gonna be antiques some day as well, you know.

What we do here now, what we make and what we teach now in the 21st century will forever define us and freeze us in the obsolescence of time.

But such is life.

The best we, as teachers, can hope for is that the students we teach today go on and suffer the same fate tomorrow. It's the fate of innovation and change. And it's cruel. But necessary.

And as this cruel but necessary human experiment continues, let's hope that children always manage to laugh at the simple innovations and stubborn fears of their parents.

We're all worth a chuckle.

I would like to thank Clay Burell for giving me the opportunity to share my blogging with you this last week. I foolishly, perhaps, still believe in the power of words and I stubbornly cling to the idea that conversation is important.

Especially now as we are experiencing a time of great change, unlike any we can claim to imagine.

Think about it: we have already produced babies who will see the calendar flip from the 21st to the 22nd century.

It’s time we raise them.

And as we do, let's raise them to understand what a difference a century makes.

Photo from the public domain.