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Airplanes

Editor's Note: Michael J. Boyle is Associate Professor  of Political Science at Rutgers Camden and a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.

In 1933 the 68-year-old inventor Niels Christensen finally tackled a problem that had bothered him throughout his long career in hydraulics. His elegant and simple solution—the O-ring—would become such a ubiquitous part of so many technologies that it is present by the dozens in every home and car, and applied to everything from fountain pens and soap dispensers to hydraulic presses and bomb-bay doors.

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Summer 2020 | Volume 26, Issue 2
Editor's Note: Michael J. Boyle is Associate Professor  of Political Science at Rutgers Camden and a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. His most recent book is a comprehensive look at drone technology and the risks it might bring, The Drone Age: How Drone…
Fall 2010 | Volume 25, Issue 3
In 1933 the 68-year-old inventor Niels Christensen finally tackled a problem that had bothered him throughout his long career in hydraulics. His elegant and simple solution—the O-ring—would become such a ubiquitous part of so many technologies that it is present by the dozens in every home and car…

Innovations

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