Thomas Starzl
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After a century as the Smoky City, Pittsburgh has twice been named America’s Most Livable City by Places Rated Almanac: in 1985 and 2007. iStockPhoto. 60 WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 CHALLENGES AND 6OPPORTUNITIES 1970–TODAY …the silence was overpowering, just as the noise had been. Blaine Popp to William Serrin of the New York Times, July 25, 1986 hen former steelworker Blaine Popp entered the Homestead mill on its final W day of operation, a century of noise had been silenced, the molten metal now cold. Once the mightiest of mills—a factory that churned out structural steel for the Empire State Building and armor plate for warships—Homestead’s closing represented the end of a chapter in this region’s history. The economic and personal hardships, the uprooting of U. S. Steel’s Dorothy families, the questioning by individuals and communities posed a Furnace is demolished August 1, 1988. great challenge. But the city responded and remade itself as it had HC L&A, GPC box 19, folder 3. done so many time before. New industries, centered on medicine, technology, the environment, and education, took root and grew in the ensuing two decades. Established industries, including steel, transformed themselves, further globalizing their production or workforce, streamlining their operations, and refocusing on the development of new materials for a new century. This region faces the same challenges as the nation—preserving the environment; developing new, clean sources of energy; providing safe, efficient, affordable healthcare; developing and applying new technologies; and staying safe in uncertain times. These challenges present opportunities for creative thinkers and for Pittsburgh to build on its tradition of innovation. WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 61 First digital Mr. Yuk created Pirates manager Solarcool Interaction Management first Reaction injection molding classification yard by Poison Center Danny Murtaugh coated glass commercially available (RIM) invented by the Bayer control system by at Children’s fielded first all- developed by leadership training Corporation Union Switch & Hospital minority starting PPG Signal line-up 1970 1971 1972 1973 He determined to use Jet Inoculator Gun: Robert Hingson his invention to relieve Dr. Robert Hingson’s jet inoculator Hingson worked with several engineers human suffering on a revolutionized public health by providing and manufacturers to develop the jet painless, rapid-fire inoculations. In 1938, inoculator. In 1955, he used it to dispense the large scale and led a Hingson treated a Marine’s swollen hand by new Salk polio vaccine. He determined to lancing it, then puzzled over the black liquid use his invention to relieve human suffering team of doctors around that dripped out. The man related he had on a large scale and led a team of doctors held a rubber hose carrying oil under high around the globe, surveying medical needs the globe. pressure. Hingson surmised the oil and conditions. He began the “Brother’s penetrated the Marines’ hand through a Brother Foundation” to provide mass microscopic hole in the hose. Why not use inoculations and health care in developing the same principal for inoculations? countries. During a trip to Burma in 1958, a Hingson spent more than a decade young girl watching long lines of people experimenting and refining his invention. receiving vaccinations declared the inoculator a “peace gun.” Robert Hingson (center) takes the jet inoculator to Honduras in the 1970s. Courtesy of Brother’s Brother Foundation. 62 WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 Annie Dillard George Benson’s David McCullough K. Leroy Irvis first Edward S. Wright CHAPTER 6 awarded Breezin’ first jazz wins National Book African American PA develops linear pump Pulitzer Prize record to attain Award for Path Speaker of House to treat lymph platinum sales Between the Seas since Reconstruction accumulation disorders 1975 1976 1977 1980 Silent Spring, exposed the hazards from chemical pesticides to both public and environmental health. PioneerEnvironmentalist: Rachel Carson As a young girl Rachel Carson wrote stories and explored the natural world around her home on the banks of the Allegheny River in Springdale, Pa. At the Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham University) she discovered a passion for biology. After seeing the ocean in 1929, Carson focused on marine biology and worked as a writer and editor for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. She brought together the science of her research and the art of her writing in articles and books that captured a wide audience. Her seminal book, Silent Spring (1962), exposed the hazards from chemical pesticides to both public and environmental health, and challenged industry and government in their indiscriminate use of the pesticide DDT. Two years after publishing Silent Spring Carson died of cancer. Her work led to the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and is credited with sparking the modern environmental movement. Rachel Carson. Courtesy of Chatham University and Chatham University Archives. WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 63 Makrolon Red Whitaker Pittsburgh Takeo Kanade University of Michael Keaton The polycarbonate begins Steelers become develops first Pittsburgh Air earns first title emoticon developed by pioneering first team to win direct-drive Force created to credit in feature is invented Bayer robotics program four Super Bowls robotic arm transport organ film with Night Corporation at CMU donations Shift 1980 1981 1982 George Magovern. Courtesy of Dr. George Magovern. Heartening: George Magovern Some innovators change lives—Dr. George Magovern saves them. An internationally known physician, scholar, and educator in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, he advanced medical science and the treatment of heart patients. In 1961 Dr. Magovern performed the first heart valve replacement in Pittsburgh. Frustrated by the length of surgery and his patients’ low survival rates, he developed a sutureless heart valve along with local engineer Harry Cromie. The Magovern- Cromie valve reduced surgery time and turned the tables on survival rates—from a 90 percent death rate to a 90 percent chance of survival. The second in the world to transplant a lung, Magovern also conducted the nation’s first cardiomyoplasty and developed pacemakers and mechanical assist devices. Magovern’s research continues to make a difference as does his teaching and training of surgeons. Early heart valves used in the development of Magovern/Cromie valves, c. 1960s. WPAHS/Allegheny General Hospital Communications Department, photograph Douglas Whitman. 64 WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 Koppers develops H.H. Robertson Co. Thomas Starzl First microprocessor- CHAPTER 6 and improves coke creates vertically develops anti- based vital interlocking making and recovering adjustable rejection drugs for created by Union by-products underfloor trench organ transplant Switch & Signal headers patients 1983 1984 1985 The atomic power station at Shippingport, Pa. HC Library & Archives, The Allegheny Conference on Community Development. Nuclear Power: Shippingport In the early 1950s, President Eisenhower proposed an “Atoms-for- Peace” program that resulted in government and industry cooperation to build nuclear power plants. The Duquesne Light Company, facing resistance to another coal-fired plant, joined with the Atomic Energy Commission and Westinghouse to develop the nation’s first full-scale atomic power station dedicated to the production of electricity for civilian use. The site chosen was Shippingport, about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Construction of the station took three years. Groundbreaking President Eisenhower waves a neutron wand beginning construction at Shippingport, 1954. began on September 6, 1954, when President Eisenhower, in Denver, Westinghouse Collection box 33, folder 74. Colorado, waved a neutron wand remotely starting a bulldozer in Shippingport. Three years later Eisenhower used the same wand to officially begin operation of the power station. WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 65 Playwright Dr. John J. Eat’n Park Allegheny Reverse Sungate Zambelli Fireworks August Wilson Sassano creates Ludlum Steel Logistics is automotive pioneers electronic awarded develops the Smiley Corp. develops created by windshield firings Pulitzer Prize Rapid Infusion cookie oriented silicon Genco created by PPG for Fences System steels silicon steels 1985 1986 1987 1989 1990 Buzz Aldin exits the Lunar Module to walk on the moon, 1969. DelligattithinksBig(Mac) Photos courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration. McDonald’s shot to fame and fortune in the 1950s and early ’60s by streamlining their menu to deliver food fast. Locations were discouraged from straying too far off the corporate menu, but local franchisee Jim Aluminum Goes Lunar Delligatti had faith in his own double-decker sandwich. It wasn’t too different from a Big Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the Boy burger, but while that drive-in chain moon, exited the Apollo 11 Lunar Module struggled with whether to abandon in-car through a hatch made from an aluminum service for sit-down seating, Delligatti made alloy developed by ALCOA. Lightweight and the Big Mac just like McDonald’s other durable, aluminum has been used in nearly beloved products: quick to make and with a every flying machine since the Wright distinctive but standard taste. Headquarters Brothers first