Science and Technology: Weapons

20th Century Weapons

First Gun Silencer (1909)

In 1909,  Hiram Percy Maxim patented the first commercially effective gun silencer. H.P. Maxim was the son of the world's first modern machine gun inventor, Hiram Stevens Maxim. The creation of this silencer is a great feat - the science behind the silencer was before its time. At the dawn of the 20th century, there are no ultra high-speed cameras to capture the flow of supersonic propellant gas that causes the gunshot's classic sound. Regardless of this, H.P. Maxim understood the sudden and violent property of the gas's exit.

First Military Tanks (1915)

At the start of the first World War, trench warfare was a heavy component of fighting. The British, however, came up with a new form of transportable weapon to change that. In 1915, in came what we all know today as tanks. The first ever use of these tanks was at the battle of Flers-Courcelette on September 15, 1916. Only a third of the machines didn't break down, but the potential was evident.

The Manhattan Project (1941)

In 1939, the world's scientific community gained the information that German physicists learned how to split an uranium atom. Fear of course spread due to both the possibility of a bomb, and the Nazis hateful nature did not ease this threat. Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi both contacted the president informing them of the bomb threat. Roosevelt decided to listen to the scientists, but slowly and 

sources: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17423-timeline-weapons-technology/