Innovations During World War 2

INNOVATIONS OF WORLD WAR II

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When the word ‘war’ is mentioned the first image that appears in our mind is terror, fear, destruction among others. A famous British Psychologist, Henry Ellis once said, “There is nothing the war has achieved that we could not achieve without it.” This statement is somehow not true.  Is as much as the war brings terror it also brings new developments and innovations. There is also positive side of war such as invention of methods mass food production in order to feed the soldiers and victims of war who have lost or cannot access sources of their livelihood, invention of new medicines to treat the wounded among others. Nuclear which was invented to be used as a weapon in war is currently used as a source of clean energy thus reducing the global warming instead of oil and coal which have devastating effects. Let’s focus on innovations of World War II in particular. It is believed that technological innovations played a major role in Allied Powers defeating the Axis Powers. Most of the modern advances we have were invented during World War II or as a result of the war.

Before the World War II, blood transfusion was a major challenge as blood could be stored for only two days before the blood cells could break down after which blood had to be administered to the patient as quickly as possible before it expired. During the war, blood transfusion was a necessity and it needed to be transported over a longer period to where the injured soldiers and victims of war were being treated. In response to this, Charles Drew was asked to lead medical program referred to as Blood for Britain where helped in blood transfusion to thousands of British casualties of World War II. Charles Drew was an African-America medical research who discovered that plasma could be separated from blood cells, dried and banked for longer period without getting expired and the reconstituted when required. This discovery helped save a lot of lives and it is still saving lives today (Biography.com Editor 2015).

Still in the medical field, it is difficult to ignore the famous Alexander Fleming and his discovery of penicillin the first antibiotic to be discovered that would change the world forever. It had a major impact on World War II (Maas and Hooijmaijers 2008). It was discovered that, penicillin would help in preventing infection of the wounded soldiers, it was also used to prolong the waiting time of the wounded victims as they waited to see the doctor. After the World War II, penicillin continued to be used in consecutive wars to treat the victims. In the modern world, penicillin has become the most widely used antibiotic to treat a variety of common infections such as pneumonia among others. Although discovered in 1928, it was the devastation of the war that forced the government to adopt mass production of the antibiotic (Maas and Hooijmaijers 2008).