After a century as the Smoky City, 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 CHALLENGESAND 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 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 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 , 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 . 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 1903 flight at Kitty Hawk. took notice, rolled it out nationally in 1968, and in 1974 gave it an unforgettable jingle: Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun … making it the chain’s most recognizable icon. In 2007, the Delligatti family rebuilt their North Huntingdon location to include the Big Mac Museum. It features artifacts related to the burger created in Uniontown and now sold in more than 120 countries.

Big Mac statue, North Huntingdon, Pa. Photograph Brian Butko.

66 WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 CHAPTER 6 John Edgar Robotic pharmacy Innovations made Pittsburgh FreeMarkets AB180 heart Wideman first to system developed in braking becomes a created by pump tested at win International by McKesson systems for leader in LEED Glen Meakem Allegheny PEN/Faulkner Automation railway freight certification General Hospital Award twice transportation 1992 1993 1995 1997

To date, more than 6,000 liver transplants have been performed at UPMC.

Pittsburgh Transplant: Thomas Starzl

Considered “the father of liver transplantation,” Dr. Starzl built the largest liver transplant program in the world at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Starzl had performed the world’s first liver transplant in 1968 at the University of Colorado. Instrumental in the development of the anti-rejection drug cyclosporine, he was recruited to develop and head UPMC’s liver transplant program. Arriving in Pittsburgh in 1981, he made major advances not just in the operating room, but also in the laboratory. It was Dr. Starzl who worked to organize the “University of Pittsburgh Air Force,” and Dr. Starzl and his team who identified and developed the anti-rejection drug FK506 that is 50 to 100 times more powerful than cyclosporine. To date, more than 6,000 liver transplants have been performed at UPMC. Now retired from surgery, Starzl serves as director emeritus of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute and remains involved in research.

Dr. Thomas Starzl in surgery, 1990s. Photograph courtesy of UPMC Health System.

WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 67 Ceramiclear First fully Dr. Laszlo Gyugyi Dura-Bright Aluminum Vivisimo Velocity Michael Chabon is created by consolidated develops new treatment for foam process search platform wins Pulitzer PPG transit control electronics for aluminum wheels invented by and clusty.com Prize for fiction center created power invented by Alcoa created by CMU transmission Alcoa grads 1998 2000 2001

The economy of the The Future is Green future depends on meeting the global Pittsburgh became the first city in the world These efforts build on a long tradition of to open a “green” convention center in 2003. innovation. The Renaissance spurred the challenge of With Gold-level LEED certification, the David development of new energy sources and a L. Lawrence Convention Center serves as a focus on cleaner air and water. Industry developing sustainable centerpiece for the region’s commitment to shifted to more environmentally safe environmental sustainable, environmentally sensitive materials and production sites, not only to be architecture and construction. In addition to efficient and economical but to practice good practices. green building, leadership in historic corporate citizenship. Pittsburgh’s stock of preservation, and the development and historic buildings encourages reuse as well as application of new energy sources and downtown living. The economy of the future technologies position the region to meet the and the future itself depend on meeting the challenges posed by global warming and the global challenge of developing sustainable Pittsburgh’s Convention Center environment. environmental practices. designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects, P.C., Dewhurst MacFarlane & Partners, and Goldreich Engineering P.C. Photograph Heather Mull.

68 WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 CHAPTER 6 John A. Wafer Bayer Completely Westinghouse Electric H.J. Company David L. Lawrence develops circuit Corporation driverless metro develops micro- introduces purple Convention Center breaker acquires Aventis system created by electromechanical and green ketchup is world’s largest technology Crop Science Union Switch & systems green center Signal 2002 2003

The Sandstorm, an autonomous mobile robot built by Carnegie Mellon University’s Red Team 2. Courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University.

Red Whitaker: Roboburgh

A November 1999 article in the Wall been Carnegie Mellon University Professor Street Journal identifying the nation’s top and Director of the Field Robotics Center, ten centers of technology first coined William Red Whitaker. In addition to Pittsburgh “roboburgh.” At the time, the major advances in the field of title reflected the 20 plus years of focused autonomous and teleoperated robots, research and development of robots in the Whitaker has trained over two dozen region and some key successes—robots Ph.D. students, birthing a new that inspected and repaired damaged generation of thinkers developing facilities at Three Mile Island in 1979 and robots for medicine, the military, later at Chernobyl; Dante, a robot that industry, and consumer applications. explored volcanoes, and other “smart” robots that mapped meteorites in This friendly “robot” greets visitors to the History Center Antarctica and explored the with an introduction to Pittsburghese, the form of speech terrain of Mars. At the center unique to Western Pennsylvania. Radio personality Jim of much of this activity has Krenn narrates in his best “yinzer” voice to help newcomers navigate gum bands, redd up, and Jine Iggle. Photograph Brian Butko.

WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 69 Alan A. Schneider, The first All-Clad PPG creates the first Real-Time Optimizing Ph.D., creates primary aluminum Metalcrafters nanotechnology- Traffic Planner cells and iodine beer bottle creates multilayer based pigments and created by Union containing cathodes is created composite cookware coatings Switch & Signal

2004 2005 2006

New Materials for a New Age: Bayer

This region built its reputation by introducing new materials to the American market—Bessemer and open hearth steel, pressed glass, aluminum, stainless steel, and many others. That expertise continues with the development of new materials, as well as new applications for existing products. The first DVDs and CDs introduced in the 1980s used Bayer polycarbonate resin to create a revolution in the recording and distribution of music and video. The company’s plastics are all around us—in our homes, businesses, The Two Andys (Andy Warhol and even on the ski slopes. Materials innovated in Andrew Carnegie) mural painted by Sarah Zeffiro and Tom Mosser, our region continue to change the way we live downtown Pittsburgh. and work. Photograph Brian Butko.

Pop Tops and Pop Art

Soup cans and beer cans are simple objects, but they revolutionized their respective worlds. In November 1962, Pittsburgh-born artist Andy Warhol had his first New York solo Pop Art exhibition. The show featured his work 100 Soup Cans, and made the fine art world rethink images of everyday objects. This “Pop Art” galvanized the art world, garnering both kudos and criticism. Alcoa pop-top A few months later, in 1963, Ermal Cleon Fraze, after forgetting his advertisement from the 1970s. opener at a picnic, invented the pull-tab opener and received U.S. Patent Museum purchase. No. 3,349,949 for his design. Alcoa quickly obtained the patent. The pop-top debuted on Iron City beer cans made by the Pittsburgh Brewing Company. Within a few years the pull-tab “fad” became the standard, and The high-performance Makboard™ aluminum cans supplanted glass snowboard is formed from Bayer bottles and steel cans as the Makrolon® polycarbonate resin, preferred beverage packages. which makes the board flexible, shatterproof, transparent, and 100% recyclable. Photograph Ryan Salm Photography. 70 WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 CHAPTER 6 Magnetic ATI 2003 Lean CMU’s “Boss,” Quick change tooling wallpaper created Duplex Alloy used for first driverless systems created by by Sarah Buckel world’s largest vehicle, wins DARPA stainless steel roof Challenge

2007

Black and Gold: Heritage and Identity

Just a little more than 250 years after General John Forbes stood at the Point and named Pittsburgh, 300,000 fans gathered downtown to celebrate a different sort of victory. Decked in black and gold, they cheered that cold February day to commemorate the Steelers’ sixth Super Bowl win. This city has Forbes to thank for the colors they wore. He named Pittsburgh in honor of William Pitt, Prime Minister of England, Despite many plants closing and when the city chose an official seal and colors in 1816, in the 1980s, steel remains it was Pitt’s family crest upon which they drew. a part of the region’s identity and landscape. The Steelers’ historic 2009 win reflects the ethos of Courtesy of United States Steel Corporation. this region: a victory secured through perseverance, which relied upon innovative strategies with a team dedicated to a positive outcome. Fossil Free Fuel: Innovation Still has Grass Roots

Fossil Free Fuel, a vegetable oil fuel system company based in Braddock, Pa., designs and installs fuel systems for vehicles (and equipment) James Harrison carried with diesel engines to allow them to operate on the Lombardi Trophy in clean burning, renewable plant-based fuels. the Pittsburgh Super Bowl Parade on February 3, Proprieted by Colin Huwyler and David 2009. His record-breaking, Rosenstraus, Fossil Free Fuel became an official 99-yard interception and company in 2005 and now operates in a touchdown—a Super Bowl former electronics first—ushered the Steelers to their sixth Super Bowl win. store. Photograph Paula Andras. David Rosenstraus and Colin Huwyler, new entrepreneurs in Braddock, Pa. Courtesy Fossil Free Fuel.

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