There are many things that people encounter
on an everyday basis that were derived
from astronomical technologies. Perhaps
the most commonly used astronomyderived
invention is the wireless local area
network (WLAN). In 1977 John O’Sullivan
developed a method to sharpen images
from a radio telescope. This same method
was applied to radio signals in general,
specifically to those dedicated to strengthening
computer networks, which is now an
integral part of all WLAN implementations
(Hamaker et al., 1977).
Other technologies important to everyday
life that were originally developed
for astronomy are listed below (National
Research Council, 2010):
• X-ray observatory technology is also
used in current X-ray luggage belts in
airports.
• In airports, a gas chromatograph — for
separating and analysing compounds —
and originally designed for a Mars mission
is used to survey baggage for drugs
and explosives.
• The police use hand-held Chemical
Oxygen Demand (COD) photometers
— instruments developed by astronomers
for measuring light intensity — to
check that car windows are transparent,
as determined by the law.
• A gamma-ray spectrometer originally
used to analyse lunar soil is now used
as a non-invasive way to probe structural
weakening of historical buildings or
to look behind fragile mosaics, such as
in St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice.
More subtle than these contributions to
technology is the contribution that astronomy
has made to our view of time. The first
calendars were based on the movement of
the Moon and even the way that we define
a second is due to astronomy. The atomic
clock, developed in 1955, was calibrated
using astronomical Ephemeris Time — a
former standard astronomical timescale
adopted by the International Astronomical
Union (IAU) in 1952. This led to the internationally
agreed-upon re-definition of the
second (Markowitz et al., 1958).