Scientists hail the web, rockets and radio in list of innovations

 

Rockets, the world wide web, a method for copying DNA and even the humble wireless have been hailed as some of humanity's greatest innovations in a list drawn up by scientists and opinion formers.

More than 100 contributors, including six Nobel laureates, were asked to nominate the most important innovation in their field.

The list was put together by the online publication Spiked. "Some choose 'sexy' looking innovations, others apologise for the apparent dullness of their arcane choices," said Spiked editor Mick Hume. "But whatever the appearances, almost all of our respondents exude a sense of certainty about the improvement that innovations in their field are making to our world, and the potential for more of the same."

Developmental biologist Lewis Wolpert, at University College London, nominated the microscope. "When I became a biologist, changing from engineering, I was fascinated looking down the microscope at amoebae moving and sea urchins developing," he said. "Pioneers like Robert Hooke in 1665 used it to identify the cellular structure of living things for the first time. Without it cells would not have been discovered."

Paul Parsons, editor of BBC Focus Magazine, put forward "anything that enables us to rub out our mistakes and correct them; to go back and put things right".

He said: "With the ability to correct our mistakes comes the confidence to risk failure, to experiment with, abandon and to generally give the boundaries enough of a kicking to advance them on a bit."

Science writer Matt Ridley chose "random search", the ability to find information on the internet using search engines such as Google. "Random search has revolutionised the checking of facts, the discovering of new information, the gleaning of leads," he said. "If my profession is writing truthfully but interestingly about the world then this must be the best innovation one could wish for."

Sir Tim Hunt, principal scientist at Cancer Research UK and Nobel laureate, plumped for the set of techniques used by molecular biologists to manipulate DNA. "Recombinant DNA technology has made the biggest difference to the way my kind of biologist works today," he said. "We couldn't have got anywhere without it." He shared the 2001 Nobel prize for work on molecular factors that regulate cell division.

Steve Fuller, a sociologist at the University of Warwick, lauded the idea of putting university research and teaching under one roof. "That has done the most to allow knowledge to be pursued with impunity, while maximising its impact in society," he said. This formula was the brainchild of the Prussian education minister Wilhelm von Humboldt, who first applied it to the University of Berlin in 1810.

Other choices

Eric Drexler techno-guru "DNA origami" - a method for building 3D molecular structures.

Quentin Cooper broadcaster "Radio - and particularly live radio - can bring you into instant contact with almost anyone on the planet in an unfettered unfiltered way that other media just can't do."

Ian Gibson, MP for Norwich North A method for copying DNA called the polymerase chair reaction. "The PCR machine was an immediate must in every laboratory and has led to amazing discoveries in forensic science."

Benoit Mandelbrot, mathematician In his own field of fractal geometry, above, "the greatest innovation occurred when my lifetime work extended the scope of quantitative science to include roughness."

Christopher McKay, planetary scientist and astrobiologist The rocket. "The rocket has taken humans to the moon and some day will take us to Mars."

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