Friday, August 5, 2011
THEN
On August 5, 1858, after five unsuccessful attempts, the first transatlantic telegraph cable line is completed, laying the infrastructure for undersea communications. After obtaining a charter to lay an insulated cable across the ocean floor in 1854, American businessman, Cyrus West Field, with the aid of American and British naval ships, makes the first transatlantic communication cable a reality in 1858. In July of that year, naval ships with cable loads depart from Trinity Bay in Newfoundland, Canada and from Valentia in Ireland, to embark on this technological mission. By August 5, the cable line is officially completed stretching approximately 2,000 miles under the Atlantic Ocean, at an average depth of nearly two miles. On August 16, U.S. President James Buchanan and British Queen Victoria mark the occasion by exchanging telegraph messages across the Atlantic Ocean. But the cheering stops when the cable signal fails a few weeks later, and Field becomes as vilified as he had previously been revered. In July 1866, the second transatlantic cable is successfully laid and this time it does not give out. Field is hailed as a hero, and among other honors, is given a gold medal by the U.S. Congress.
NOW
Four days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March of this year, resulting in a toll of dead and missing exceeding 20,000, an expert analyst from ieee Spectrum—a leading professional association for advanced technology—provided some insight into why the majority of Japan’s Internet connections remained functional throughout the tragedy. Miraculously, the undersea, fiber-optic cable network that connects Japan to other parts of the world, was not severely damaged, averting widespread Internet service outages. According to a Wall Street Journal report, although people experienced service slow downs, many Japanese residents were still able to access the Internet during the disaster.
