SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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GREAT INVENTIONS
October 14, 1834
Henry Blair Corn Planter
August 31, 1836
Henry Blair Cotton Planter
May 23, 1871
L. Bell Locomotive Smoke Stack
May 26, 1872
T.J. Marshall Fire Extinguisher (variation)
July 2, 1872
Elijah McCoy Lubricator for steam engines
November 30, 1875
A.P. Ashbourne Biscuit Cutter
September 24, 1878
W.R. Davis, Jr. Library Table
July 22, 1879
M.W. Binga Street Sprinkling Apparatus
August 4, 1885
W.C. Carter Umbrella Stand
March 3, 1886
F. Flemings, Jr. Guitar (variation)
January 10, 1888
A.B. Blackburn Railway Signal
January 7, 1890
William B. Purvis Fountain Pen
April 26, 1892
Sarah Boone Ironing Board
July 5, 1892
A.J. Beard Rotary Engine
August 23, 1892
O.E. Brown Horseshoe
October 4, 1892
G.E. Becket Letter Box
April 2, 1895
J. Cooper Elevator Device
April 16, 1895
C.J. Dorticus Machine for Embossing Photos
March 17, 1896
C.B. Brooks Streetsweepers
April 4, 1899
B.F. Jackson Gas Burner
May 9, 1899
J.A. Burr Lawn Mower
July 18, 1899
L.C. Bailey Folding bed
October 10, 1899
J.W. Butts Luggage Carrier
December 12, 189
G.F. Grant Golf Tee
November 20, 1923
Garrett A. Morgan Traffic Signal (U.S.)
 
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THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS EXPERIMENT
In 1932, the American Government promised 400 men — all residents of Macon County, Alabama, all poor, all African American — free treatment for Bad Blood, a euphemism for syphilis which was epidemic in the county. Treatment for syphilis was never given to the men and was in fact withheld. The men became unwitting subjects for a government sanctioned medical investigation, The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. The Tuskegee Study, which lasted for 4 decades, until 1972, had nothing to do with treatment. No new drugs were tested; neither was any effort made to establish the efficacy of old forms of treatment. It was a nontherapeutic experiment, aimed at compiling data on the effects of the spontaneous evolution of syphilis on black males.

The government doctors who participated in the study failed to obtain informed consent from the subjects in a study of disease with a known risk to human life. Instead, the PHS offered the men incentives to participate: free physical examinations, free rides to and from the clinics, hot meals on examination days, free treatment for minor ailments, and a guarantee that a burial stipend would be paid to their survivors. This modest stipend of $50.00 represented the only form of burial insurance that many of the men had. By failing to obtain informed consent and offering incentives for participation, the PHS doctors were performing unethical and immoral experiments on human subjects.

In July 1972, Jean Heller broke the story. Under examination by the press, the PHS was not able to provide a formal protocol for the experiment; in fact, one never existed. While it was obvious to the American public as a whole, PHS officials maintained that they did nothing wrong. By the time the story broke, over 100 of the infected men had died, others suffered from serious syphilis-related conditions that may have contributed to their later deaths even though penicillin, an effective treatment against syphilis, was in widespread use by 1946.

On July 23, 1973, Fred Gray, a prominent civil rights lawyer, brought a $1.8 billion class action civil suit against many of those institutions and individuals involved in the study. Gray demanded $3 million in damages for each living participant and the heirs of the deceased. The case never came to trial. In December, 1974, the government agreed to a $10 million out of court settlement. The living participants each received $37,500 in damages, the heirs of the deceased, $15 000. Gray received nearly $1 million in legal fees.

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