[Rollei] What did you do in the war? (long)

["Dan Kalish" <kaliushkin >]

This discussion leads to another topic.  It is my observation that military
research can produce significant advances.  Napolean was aware of this.  He
funded a great deal of research, thus producing some of the most significant
developments in Mathematics and Science.  To name a few: the Fourier
transform, the metric system.

Many of the advances in medicine come from treating wounded soldiers.  Of
course, I can't think of a single example.

I've worked for offices in the Navy concerned with current research: the
Naval Research Laboratory, the Office of Naval Research, and the Naval
Medical Research Institute.  There's a phenomenal amount of mony (pork)
being handed out.

A Russian photographic site emphasizes their military connection.
http://www.zenit-foto.ru/english/index.htm

My question is: what scientific developments are attributable to WWII
military research?

>
> Date: Sun, 18 May 2003 11:08:35 +0200 (MEST)
> From: Daniel Ridings <daniel.ridings  
> Subject: Re: [Rollei] What did you do in the war? (long)
> Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.4.44-qp.0305181104270.18437-100000  
> References:
>
> Craig,
>
> None of this is unusual and is only disturbing when the winning side sees
> the losing side's propaganda. Some, no doubt, even though they lost, would
> find modern day Fox news to be of the same caliber you describe below. It
> happens all the time and a good lesson from this historical evidence would
> be to keep us on our toes when it comes to contemporary parallels. I'm
> sure most are agreed that the less we see of it today and in the future,
> the better.
>
> All the best,
> Daniel
>
>
> On Fri, 16 May 2003 crgrbrts   wrote:
>
> >
> > Here's one for the Rollei historians among us:
> >
> > Knowing that I'm a Leica owner, a friend recently gave me a German book
on Leica photography published in 1941. It is an interesting but unsettling
chronicle of a grim chapter in the camera maker's undeniable history.
> >
> > Curiously but predictably, the book's lead chapter on the history of the
Leica and its inventor, Oskar Barnack, is illustrated liberally with photos
of Wehrmacht soldiers, Kriegsmarine sailors and Luftwaffe airmen cheerfully
and efficiently raping their European neighbors. A portrait of Hitler in
"full cry" ends the introduction.
> >
> > Given the context and time of the book's printing, this clumsy
propaganda did not disturb me unduly. By the book's end, however, I felt
much less charitable. In a late, graphic and chilling chapter on "medical"
photography, for instance, the Leica is slyly but unmistakenly portrayed as
a "scientific" tool useful in racial and ethnic profiling (literally).
> >
> > Thoroughly disgusted, I slammed the book shut and reflected darkly upon
those who designed, assembled and marketed my pre-1960 Leicas. I am neither
young nor naive, but a periodic reminder of some of the uses to which these
masterfully crafted machines were put -- and reflection upon the fact that
Leitz provided the Nazi war machine with untold thousands of its
instruments -- still has the power to sicken me (as well it should).
> >
> > This incident got me to wondering: what was Franke & Heidecke's
contribution to the German war effort? We never hear of a "Luftwaffe
Rollei", for instance. What were the men and women of the Rollei-Werke doing
during the war years?
> >
> > Craig Roberts
> > Washington, DC
> >

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