The past few years have seen an explosion in data creation, with around 90 per cent of the world’s data generated in this short period. This vast amount of information is primarily stored and accessed through fibre optics and glass substrates, which are the backbone of everything from giant data warehouses that power our favourite e-commerce websites to the portable thumb drives we use daily. Without glass, information would be inert, unable to reach its full potential. Thus, it may be more accurate to say that we’re living in the Glass Age, rather than the Information Age.
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC)
Behind the Glass Age and its technology is an ancient practice that remains relevant today: scientific glassblowing. This craft, as old as the ancient Egyptians, is not only celebrated in the art world but also propels the technology economy, enhances human health, and promotes scientific exploration. Over the last century, the field of scientific glassblowing has evolved from a highly skilled manufacturing base into a specialised service industry for ground-breaking research and technology, continually pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.
Let’s delve into how this age-old art has fuelled technology and innovation in the Glass Age.
The Impact of Scientific Glassblowing on Various Fields
Defence Technologies
Following World War II, several defence technologies found their way into everyday life, leading to the emergence of radar, microwaves, television, and other innovations. All these technologies relied heavily on vacuum tubes, thus creating a significant demand for scientific glassblowing. As filaments in these tubes burnt out quickly, vacuum tube production became a major part of scientific and industrial glass manufacturing in the 1940s, enabling these new technologies to thrive.
The First Computer
The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), often regarded as the first computer, was designed to calculate artillery firing tables. It used 17,468 vacuum tubes, but as several tubes burnt out every day, it was often non-functional. However, engineers in the late 1940s and early 1950s managed to reduce vacuum tube failures, enabling the ENIAC to operate continuously for five days without any problems by 1954.
Semiconductors
The advent of semiconductors catalysed a new demand for scientific glassblowers. The computer chips used in our laptops, tablets, and smartphones, which began to advance electronics rapidly from the 1970s, required the creation of quartz glass with precise tolerances. The manufacturing jobs of the 1940s transitioned into highly skilled glassblowing roles, capable of building the furnace tubes, boats, carriers, and other infrastructures needed to process semiconductors.
New Fields of Study
As chemists devised new techniques for testing, characterising, and synthesising compounds, their glass requirements evolved. While scientific glassblowers were once employed in laboratories to support research, the advent of smaller, cheaper glass soon eliminated this need. However, new fields create new opportunities. Researchers exploring carbon-based polymers and the electronic properties of molecules have opened new areas of study that overlap multiple disciplines, including chemistry, engineering, and photonics.
Ken founded Scientific Glass Services in 1978 and has a wealth of experience developing custom-made scientific glassware, working closely with research laboratories, hospitals and universities. Ken and the team make bespoke laboratory glassware to your requirements or repair valuable broken apparatus, each piece being hand-blown from quality borosilicate glass.