# Did anything good come out of World War I? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 28, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056 "2015-05-28T17:47:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056/61 "2015-05-30T18:35:47Z")
That reminded me of another Jew, Albert Einstein. I remember that if WWI had not taken place Einstein and a lot of modern physics would had been discredited as Lawrence Krauss pointed once. Einstein had predicted in 1914 about the values of the gravitational distortion of light that one would observe in an eclipse thanks to general relativity, but he got his numbers wrong. If WWI had not taken place his theory would had been tested and found to be wrong. But happily (I mean really unhappily, but it helped in this case) WWI happened and prevented the tests from being made. By the time astronomers could make the eclipse observations Einstein had noticed his error and published the values that the theory expected. After a few observations it was found that Einstein was correct. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056/62 "2015-05-30T19:30:43Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > I remember that if WWI had not taken place Einstein and a lot of modern physics would had been discredited as Lawrence Krauss pointed once. Have you a link fir that, GIG? Thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056/63 "2015-05-30T19:38:14Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Have you a link fir that, GIG? > > Thanks. 🙂 Long video, but I will point at the part: Lawrence Krauss talks about Einstein and the background for the astronomy tests for the theory that were made in 1919. He starts talking about that at about minute 17 and 43 seconds. At 18:30 He talks about his incorrect prediction in 1914. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056/64 "2015-05-30T19:44:55Z")
Was that the war where the Brits learned that switching from cloth hats to metal helmets resulted in an increase in head injuries? > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Jesus. No, but he probably could have used a transfusion, after that spear in the side. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056/65 "2015-05-30T19:50:15Z")
I also remember that in a recent documentary on Einstein it was reported that some researchers actually had set the equipment for an eclipse back in 1914 in the Crimea, but the armies of the Tzar put a stop to that, the astronomers had their equipment confiscated and all of them were arrested, they were lucky not to be executed as spies. Sometimes science is a very dangerous business. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056/66 "2015-05-31T00:16:15Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Long video, but I will point at the part: > > Lawrence Krauss talks about Einstein and the background for the astronomy tests for the theory that were made in 1919. He starts talking about that at about minute 17 and 43 seconds. > > At 18:30 He talks about his incorrect prediction in 1914. Thanks again, I wish that I had a better look at the math. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056/67 "2015-05-31T00:27:19Z")
[This guy](http://blog.vixra.org/2010/09/08/krauss-missunderstands-energy-in-general-relativity-to-argue-against-god/) has a problem with his math for a flat universe. It is beyond me, though I dreampt of trigonometric substitution when I took differential equations. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056/68 "2015-05-31T00:57:53Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > [This guy](http://blog.vixra.org/2010/09/08/krauss-missunderstands-energy-in-general-relativity-to-argue-against-god/) has a problem with his math for a flat universe. It is beyond me, though I dreampt of trigonometric substitution when I took differential equations. 🙂 Well, this is going way besides the issue, I was sticking with Einstein and WWI, but I have comment that I do have a problem with a physicist (the guy you link at) that spent his last years before retirement at Lehman Brothers, at least he was smart to leave a couple of years before it blew up like a supernova. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056/69 "2015-07-14T14:09:07Z")
Ran across this in an edX online course about biomanufacturing: > [@](#): > > Before the war, Germany was the leading producer of industrial chemicals, including textile dyes and solvents, as well as drugs. Yet due to the British blockade, which began shortly after the war, Germany could no longer import food or raw materials for its chemical industry, and other nations no longer had access to German chemicals. These raw material shortages led scientists from both sides of the conflict to search for alternatives to manufacture important materials, and led to cells being used to manufacture nonfood products for the first time. > > Due to the blockade, Germany no longer had access to glycerol, an important component to manufacture the explosive nitroglycerine. To get around this shortage, Wilhelm Connstein and Karl Ludecke, together with Carl Alexander Neuberg and Elsa Reinfurth, used yeast to manufacture glycerol. They showed that adding sodium sulfite to a fermentation prevented the reduction of the acetaldehyde, an important metabolic intermediate, in the production of ethanol. Inhibiting the metabolism in this way meant that the fermentation would produce large amounts of glycerol instead. Germany’s United Chemical Works patented the process in 1915, and immediately adopted it for the large-scale production of glycerol. This allowed Germany to produce more than 1,000 tons of glycerol per month. > > Great Britain was also interested in alternative methods to manufacture important chemicals during the war. As with Germany, developments in the cell culture processes provided a way to meet this increased demand. But the work actually began before the war. In the early 1900s, rubber was widely used in everything, from the auto industry to pipe stems. At the time, it was isolated from natural sources, and Brazil had a virtual monopoly on the production. A shortage of rubber from 1907 to 1910 highlighted the need for synthetic alternatives. > > In 1904 Dr. Chaim Weizmann came to the UK and became a researcher at the University of Manchester. His research focused on the use of fermentation to produce butanol, a precursor to synthetic rubber. Weizmann and his colleagues, in collaboration with the Pasteur Institute in France, initially identified a bacterium that could produce butanol and amyl alcohol. Yet the potential commercial impact led to conflicts amongst the team, and Weizmann began his own research. > > In 1912, Weizmann isolated the bacterium, Clostridium acetobutylicum, which could ferment grain to produce butanol. The bacterium also produced acetone. Acetone was an essential solvent in the manufacture of the explosive cordite. Prior to World War I, acetone was manufactured from wood. However, in 1914 it became obvious that to support the war effort Britain would face a shortage of acetone, with an annual requirement greater than five times the production of the entire American wood industry in 1914. After other attempts to produce acetone from fermentation failed, the British admiralty turn to Weizmann. Using his process, the production of acetone increased fourfold to more than 1,000 tons per week. > > Beyond its usefulness, Weizmann’s process was also unique. Traditional fermentations were carried out in oak casks under non-sterile conditions. Weizmann’s process required aseptic conditions. It used aluminum vessels, steam to sterilize the vessels, and heat to sterilize the raw materials. This was the first commercial-scale process that utilized such a sophisticated approach. > > These two historical anecdotes illustrate important concepts in the use of cells for manufacturing. First, cell culture could be used to produce chemicals, not just food and drink. This was an important development in the use of cell culture and fermentation for industrial manufacturing. Second, aseptic processing conditions gave more control over the cell culture and what the culture produced. Modern biomanufacturing expends significant effort in ensuring that cell cultures or fermentations are aseptic. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056/70 "2015-07-16T12:54:24Z")
Tanks, U-boats, flamethrowers, railway guns, light automatic weapons, submachine guns, synchronized machine guns on aircraft, and many more ways to kill your enemies! If you call those good. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056/71 "2015-07-16T14:43:46Z")
Dada began as an antiwar art movement and became the first serious avant-garde art movement of the 20th Century. Plus, aircraft improved from month to month. WWI wasn’t the first war to use airplanes,but they went very quickly from quirky reconnaissance machines to serious weapons of war. Also, before the war, American women on the beach dressed like prudish grandmothers. After the war, they started to show more and more skin at the beach and pool. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056/72 "2015-07-16T16:22:35Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > None of the great powers came out of that war better off. All would have been better off sitting it out. Arguably, Soviet Russia was marginally better off than Tsarist Russia. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-good-come-out-of-world-war-i/721056.md?page=3)