As the world eagerly looked forward to the dawn of a new millennium, the turning of the calendar also represented an opportunity to pause and reflect on the tremendous ingenuity and invention that marked the previous hundred years. Electricity, automobiles, telephones, radio, television, computers...these are just a few of the innovations the decades had introduced - all compliments of the world's engineers.Celebrating a century of innovation, the National Academy of Engineering and a consortium of professional engineering societies present the most significant engineering triumphs of the era. While the achievements encompass many dramatic and highly visible engineering feats, from the first flight at Kitty Hawk to the birth of the Internet, the lineup is largely composed of more commonplace advances that had a truly profound and widespread effect on all of society. Indeed, most of the achievements profiled in this book are so much a part of our lives that we have come to take them for granted. But to learn the stories behind these great achievements is to behold and appreciate them anew.Each chapter tells the life story of a specific engineering achievement. Each chapter also features a personal reflection by a notable engineer involved with the achievement. Among them: Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft; Charles Townes, whose Nobel Prize-winning work in quantum electronics established the principles of the maser and laser; Robert Kahn, one of the originators of the Internet; Bill Anders, the Gemini 8 astronaut who took the famous "Earthrise" photograph while in lunar orbit; and Wilson Greatbatch, prolific innovator of the implantable pacemaker. The engineers' commentaries capture the excitement, imagination, vision, and tenacity that ultimately made each achievement a reality. Timelines trace the evolution of the achievements while dramatic illustrations depict how things actually work. Replete with photographs and drawings, the drama of invention and discovery is brought vividly to life. Read Less