SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS IN WORLD WAR II

MEDICINE

• Penicillin's potential was realized and became mass marketed.
• M+B was the first effective sulfonamide produced and used for a variety of infections.
• Russians worked on 'biogenic agents' that encouraged healing /re-growth of a damaged area.
• The the blood transfusion service grew.
• Work with tetanus was developed and refined.

MEDICAL EXPERMENTATIONS

• German physicians conducted experiments on concentration camp prisoners.
• Aimed at aiding Axis military, testing pharmaceuticals, and advancing Nazi racial tenets.
• Used low-pressure chambers to determine the max altitude a person could parachute to safety at.
• Used phosgene and mustard gas in order to test possible antidotes to diseases.
• Experiments were conducted to see how different "races" withstood various diseases.

PESTICIDES

• Known as the golden age of chemical pesticides.
• DDT was used to kill insects.
• In 1944, the first herbicide was developed.
• Diseases like typhus and malaria killed more than anything else.

SONAR

• Sonar makes use of sound waves to detect distant objects.
• Extensive research on underwater acoustics was conducted.
• initial underwater research focused on antisubmarine warfare.
• Later efforts went to improving the capability of American submarines.

RADAR

• Developed by British and American scientists.
• Used to "see" for hundreds of miles, even at night.
• Worked by sending out a radio wave and analyzing the reflected wave.
• A British engineer named Robert Watson tried to creat a "Death Ray" that would destroy enemy air rafts using radio waves. This later contributed to radar technology in the war.

WEAPONS

• Military weapons technology experienced rapid advances.
• Ships, vehicles, aircraft, artillery, rocketry, and small arms all underwent developments.
• The V-2, a missile, was created and killed over 2,000 people.

SOURCES

• http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/events/radar.html
• http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medicine_and_world_war_two.htm#.Uvjwce...
• http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005168
• http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/pests_01.html
• http://www.dosits.org/people/history/19411945/