Professor Elam

Another part of the University Experience should be an exposure to history, art, and literature that you would not otherwise experience.  Such an example is in the WSJ review of www.monitor.org.  This is a review of the new museum dedicated to the recovery of the Union Ironclad, Monitor.  I urge you to read the article, and surf around the website, as the author says, it is a model of how to display information. I found the description of the battle scene with its maps and diagrams, particularly interesting.  And the idea the the entire war might depend on the outcome of a new technology, an ironclad ship, is most interesting.  How about he Confederates reading about it in Scientific American?  Technology is nothing new and everyone always expects more than it seems to deliver.  Have nuclear subs changed the balance of power as everyone thought they would?  The problem of course is that a nuclear sub is a blunt instrument, and tactics more often call for tactical, controlled responses as opposed to nuclear attacks. 

At any rate, ironically the two ships were sunk and lately recovered.  The salt water electrolysis story of re recovering the parts is also interesting.  Good stuff.