Vacuum engineering
Vacuum technology is a method used to evacuate air from a closed volume by creating a pressure differential from the closed volume to some vent, the ultimate vent being the open atmosphere. When using an industrial vacuum system, a vacuum pump or generator creates this pressure differential. A variety of technical inventions were created based on the idea of vacuum discovered during the 17th century. These range from vacuum generation pumps to X-ray tubes, which were later introduced to the medical field for use as sources of X-ray radiation. The vacuum environment has come to play an important role in scientific research as new discoveries are being made by looking back to the basic fundamentals of pressure. The idea of “perfect vacuum” cannot be realized, but very nearly approximated by the technological discoveries of the early 20th century. Vacuum engineering today uses a range of different material, from aluminum to zirconium and just about everything in between. There may be the popular belief that vacuum technology deals only with valves, flanges, and other vacuum components, but novel scientific discoveries are often made with the assistance of these traditional vacuum technologies, especially in the realm of high-tech. Vacuum engineering is used for compound semiconductors, power devices, memory logic, and photovoltaics.
An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump
In 1659, Robert Boyle commissioned the construction of an air pump, then described as a "pneumatic engine", which is known today as a vacuum pump. The air pump was invented by Otto von Guericke in 1650, though its cost deterred most contemporary scientists from constructing the apparatus. Boyle, the son of the Earl of Cork, had no such concerns—after its construction, he donated the initial 1659 model to the Royal Society and had a further two redesigned machines built for his personal use. Aside from Boyle's three pumps, there were probably no more than four others in existence during the 1660s: Christian Huygens had one in The Hague, Henry Power may have had one at Halifax, and there may have been pumps at Christ's College, Cambridge, and the Montmor Academy in Paris. Boyle's pump, which was largely designed to Boyle's specifications and constructed by Robert Hooke, was complicated, temperamental, and problematic to operate. Many demonstrations could only be performed with Hooke on hand, and Boyle frequently left critical public displays solely to Hooke—whose dramatic flair matched his technical skill.