Between WWII and 1957, Army scientists revolutionized the electronics industry by developing a compact proximity fuze that replaced bulky vacuum tubes and wires in anti-aircraft projectiles. When Army scientists went a step further, incorporating a transistor into the printed circuit via photolithography, they created the earliest microchip technology. Army assistance - offer a new world of possibilities for training and scientific exploration. At the Defense Department's Institute for Defense Analysis Simulation Center, Neil Cosby, the center's manager, sits in a tank bouncing over the Iraqi desert. Momentarily, he's in the middle of the Battle of 73 Easting, a Gulf war tank engagement.
Virtual reality has numerous applications in medicine and space, as well.
When astronauts were preparing for the difficult prospect of repairing the Hubble space telescope, the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour trained with a virtual reality system at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Through virtual reality programmed with the physics of orbiting objects, astronauts practiced installing corrective lenses, solar panels and gyroscopes in an environment more comparable to space. Previously, they practiced in water-filled simulation tanks, a JSC spokesman said. At DOD's Advanced Biomedical Technologies Program office in Arlington, Va., surgeons and engineers are using virtual reality to develop the surgical equivalent of a flight simulator. Meanwhile, virtual reality is making big bucks for video game companies across the United States and Canada, said Cosby.