When
Anders Gustav Ekeberg was born in Sweden on this date in 1767, I'm
sure nobody thought he would contribute to making human-machine
hybrids...bionic men and women...cyborgs!
For
one thing, it was the 1700s!
And this metal, it turns out, does
not react with bodily fluids. So it is now used to make surgical
equipment, implants, artificial joints, cranial plates, and many
other medical items.
Thanks
to Ekeberg's tantalum, we now have tons of people running around who
are part human and part machine.
Eek!
Actually,
it's not “eek” at all. Many people are alive today who would not
be without their pacemakers or insulin pumps. Others live more
comfortable and happy lives thanks to their hearing aids or tantalum
knees. There are many, many other medical uses for tantalum. I will
leave it to you to wonder how many people you know who are part
human, part tantalum!
(By
the way, tantalum is also used to make non-medical items such as
parts for planes, missiles, nuclear power plants, and so forth.)
Also
on this date:
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