50 Years Ago

Metropolitan areas suffer from too many people, too much congestion, problems of pollution and a scarcity of chlorophyll and sunlight ... Continual efforts must be made to prevent unnecessary concentration of activities in London, particularly in the central area ... This is where technology comes in. With the improvements now in prospect for the decades ahead, there is good reason to re-examine the assumptions on which the doctrine of counter-magnet cities has been based. Specifically, it would be good to know how far it may be possible to give people who live and work in satellite cities a sense that they are nevertheless a part of the metropolis ... Why, for example, should not the city now certain to emerge on the Solent be deliberately linked with London by fast train services and cheap telephone circuits in such a way that it would seem no farther away than the outer suburbs of the metropolitan sprawl?

From Nature 11 November 1967

100 Years Ago

Victory in the air ... depends on two sets of factors — tactical and technical ... To secure a good tactical position a machine must possess good technical factors; for instance, good armament is useless unless a machine is fast enough to be able to challenge the enemy to battle ... In the early days the importance of the mastery of the air had not been fully appreciated, and aerial combats were rare. The chief use of aeroplanes was to obtain information as to the enemy's position ... Early aerial fights were generally ineffective, and resulted in a few bullet-holes in the wings, mainly owing to the difficulties of aim and the small quantity of ammunition carried.

From Nature 8 November 1917 Footnote 1