A lot has been written on minorities and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). There is not enough written on the minorities that practice a good work ethic, work hard to invent products, create new processes and techniques and accomplish positive and good results. Therefore, I thought I would follow up my recent article on “Israel, Defender of Western Civilization” to elaborate on some of the over achievers from western civilization that have helped advance science and quality of life for all.

I usually write on energy and electricity generation. However, the evil and barbaric terrorist attacks on Israel October 7th inspired me to reflect on the positive contributions of the minority of very creative & productive people during the last 150 years.

Did you ever think about what western civilization has provided for the 8 Billion people of the world? The Judeo-Christian values of western civilization are at the root of the ever improving quality of life on our planet. The values that we appreciate have been a prerequisite for many accomplishments that have benefited all of the people of the world. That is all of the people of the world can benefit from the products and advancements mentioned below, providing that they live in a free country. There are many countries that do not have the freedom of the western world as we Americans do.

Capitalism should not be underestimated for it’s capability to fund large projects for Mining, Energy production and Manufacturing. Also to promote and share the high quality of life experienced by western civilization.

In my lifetime, my parents successfully prepared me to live the “American Dream“. The definition I like from the Mirriam Webster Dictionary:

A happy way of living that is thought of by many Americans as something that can be achieved by anyone in the U.S. especially by working hard and becoming successful.₍₁₂₎

Lost in the News reports are the mutually beneficial advantages of individuals and corporations contributing to industrial development on a Global Scale, as a result of their creativity and hard work….. After I thought about Israel being the leading defender of western civilization, it occurred to me that it may be of interest for some readers to review Globalization and the positive contributions of western civilization to the improvements in the quality of life to billions of people around the world.

The “American Dream” was described above and I for one give thanks to God for my good health and the satisfaction of using my good work ethic during my career. However, when Israeli’s are compared to Americans with regard to work ethic, creativity, business acumen, intellectual achievements and accomplishments, we should all be humbled by what they have accomplished. Especially considering that the state of Israel is surrounded by hundreds of millions of people who (a gross under statement) do not like them very much. The illustration below shows the reality of tiny Israel’s huge neighboring countries. Israel is about the size of the state of New Jersey. The photo is from a screenshot of a flight on El-Al.

Prominent Individuals That Have Improved the Quality of Life for Humanity

These are some of my choices of the heroes the last 150 years or so. I learned more about these folks when I was preparing to present my course, “The History of Energy and Electricity Generation” course for USCB-OLLI.₍₁₅₎

1. Nickoluas Otto, Inventor of the four cycle Internal Combustion engine
2. Karl Benz, Inventor of the first Internal Combustion engine powered automobile
3. Rudolf Diesel, Inventor of the Compression Ignition, Diesel engine
4. Thomas Edison The most prolific inventor of western civilization
5. Nikola Tesla Polyphase motors and 3 phase advanced transformers
6. George Westinghouse One of America’s best engineers and founder of Westinghouse Electric
7. Charles Martin Hall Inventor of the electrolytic method of producing Aluminum smelting. The process for production of aluminum from the alumina powder refined from Bauxite ore
8. Henry Ford Brought mass produced cars and high paying factory wages to citizens so they could enjoy the American Dream. Also, reasonable priced tractors for farmers to mechanize agricultural production.
9. Willis Carrier Inventor of modern air conditioning. (Living in South Carolina, A/C is one of my favorites)
10. Fritz Haber, Invented the “Haber-Bosch Process” for producing synthetic ammonia for agricultural use. His invention made it possible to feed about half of the people living on the planet today. Yes, according to Professor Vaclav Smil, about 4 billion people one the planet could not be fed adequate food without ammonia fertilizer.
11. Carl Bosch, Using principles from Fritz Haber’s discovery, Bosch devised a method for separating large quantities of hydrogen from a hydrogen-carbon monoxide mixture. In 1909, under Bosch’s leadership, BASF acquired the patent rights for Fritz Haber’s ammonia process and began developing the equipment and refining the process needed for mass production. By 1913, the BASF works at Oppau, Germany began the first worldwide production of ammonia.
12. In January 1930 Frank Whittle, submitted a patent application for a gas turbine for jet propulsion. His engine, which had a single-stage centrifugal compressor coupled to a single-stage turbine, was successfully bench tested in April 1937.
13. Germans Hans von Ohain and Max Hahn patented a jet propulsion engine of their own in 1936. 
14. Igor Sikorsky invented the helicopter about 1939
15. Wernher von Braun, Leader in rocket technology and space exploration. Led NASA’s rocket propulsion development
16. Robert Hutchings Goddard, Inventor of Solid Fuel Rockets
17. Alexander Fleming invents Penicillin
18. Walter H. Brattain, The Transistor, developed by Bell Laboratories in the 1940s.
19. Hyman G. Rickover, A Polish Jew that immigrated to America in 1900 and became an Admiral in the U.S. Navy. The Father of nuclear powered ships, submarines and commercial nuclear power production.
20. Jonas Salk Inventor of Polio vaccine
21. Norman Borlaug, Agricultural advancement giant that led the “Green Revolution” of the 1960’s. Like Fritz Haber, he had a lot to do with advancements in the science of agriculture to create the capacity to feed many of the people of the world.
22. Milton Friedman, A champion and leader in government administration of Economics and Capitalism. Also, improvements in public education with Charter Schools
23. Forbes Wilson, Leader of Freeport McMoran in the 1960’s and led to the development of one of the largest copper mines in the world in Iran Jaya (West Papua) New Guinee
24. Elon Musk Self made rocket scientist and business genius
25. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak Apple computer (1976) Founders that created the market for personal computers that we all use today
26. MIT Professor Richard Lindzen Atmospheric and Climate Scientist₍₁₆₎

The list of inventors and innovators from western civilization is long. These 26 are some that I became aware of and came to admire during my career.

What About the Eastern Civilization?

The Axis of Evil at war with Israel and Ukraine includes Russia & Iran with the support of China. In my opinion. The United Nations also seems to be biased toward HAMAS, a terrorist organization. The support of HAMAS and anti Jewish Semitism by citizens, Universities and groups within the U.S.A. is very disappointing. Therefore, the inspiration for this article is to highlight the positive and beneficial advances for Humanity that were created by westerners. Some may not be aware of the positive contributions from the very productive minority of people living in western civilization. Israel and many of the Jewish people live in other countries of western civilization and the list above of inventors and productive citizens is about 20% Jewish people. Let’s look at the demographics of the world…..

What if the World’s People Were Compressed into a Village of 100? What would it look like?

Back in the late 1990’s someone created a one page summary of the demographics of the people of the world and presented it as a bullet list. It is copied below. This has been updated by 100 People.org ₍₁₁₎

If the World were 100 PEOPLE:

50 would be female
50 would be male 

25 would be children
There would be 75 adults,
9 of whom would be 65 and older

There would be:
60 Asians
16 Africans
14 people from the Americas
10 Europeans

31 Christians
23 Muslims
16 people who would not be aligned with a religion
15 Hindus
7 Buddhists
8 people who practice other religions (Note: People of the Jewish faith are so small, 0.16% that they are not even mentioned)

12 would speak Chinese
6 would speak Spanish
5 would speak English
4 would speak Hindi
3 would speak Arabic
3 would speak Bengali
3 would speak Portuguese
2 would speak Russian
2 would speak Japanese
60 would speak other languages

86 would be able to read and write; 14 would not 

7 would have a college degree
40 would have an Internet connection

78 people would have a place to shelter them
from the wind and the rain, but 22 would not 

1 would be dying of starvation
11 would be undernourished
22 would be overweight 

91 would have access to safe drinking water
9 people would have no clean, safe water to drink

Showing the world’s people on a global map is also enlightening to show graphically how the statistics from above apply in today’s world:

Thinking About The Resources of the World and How Western Civilization Has Helped All of the People of the World to Improve the Quality of Life. About 20 years ago I was asked by the Pastor of our church to provide a presentation of how Americans have helped people of the world based on my experiences of working in many countries of the world. My experiences were mostly related to mining and electric power generation. So, here below are a few slides from that presentation:

The world’s resources are spread across the planet. There is enough oil, coal, uranium, copper, cobalt, iron, nickel, bauxite, lithium, chromium, gold, rare earths and other minerals for modern society to function. The key to sharing is to apply the intellectual resources of those who have the intellectual capacity and capital (most are from western civilization) to help the Developing countries of the world to produce and share their natural resources. By combining the natural resources of Developing countries with the Industrial know how and Capital of the Developed world, people can be lifted from poverty. From Biblical principles and following the “Golden Rule” from Jesus’ teaching, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. For the mutual benefit of all…..

French design rail car dumper in west Africa which lifts bauxite ore to the top of the ore crushing and processing facility.

Dried and crushed Bauxite ore for shipment to the west for refining and smelting into alumina and aluminum.

Example of quality of life before bauxite mining and mutually beneficial trade with the west. The photo below was taken about 2003 when refugees from Senegal were immigrating to Guinee to flee a war zone. Yes, I took this photo of a family of four with two water-buffaloes and all of their belongings in one mini van. Fleeing for their lives, with some of the individuals hoping to obtain work at the bauxite mine or other industry in the neighboring country of Guinee.

Moving on to the South Pacific, copper mining began in West Papua about 1965. Thanks to Freeport McMoran’s Investment of both Intellectual expertise and investment Capital. West Papua, then called “Irian Jaya” is north of Australia.₍₁₃₎

As in Suriname, Guinee (west Africa) and many other countries of the world, the mutual benefits of western civilization and the resources of the Developing world are realized for the benefit of all of humanity. The Liberty Energy ESG Report on “Bettering Human Lives” comes to mind. ₍₁₄₎

Christian missionaries lived with the people of Irian Jaya before Freeport McMoran came to help develop the copper mine. The help of the missionary was very beneficial in smoothing relations and achieving cooperation from the native people on this remote island.

These are just a few examples of how the cooperative effects have improved the quality of life for many people of the world. Not surprisingly, many of the advancements in quality of life are related to the use of energy. In the examples of aluminum and copper production, enormous amounts of energy are required to process ore into metals. Especially aluminum which requires about 5 kWH to produce one pound of aluminum from alumina powder. This is not including the energy to process bauxite ore into alumina powder and transport it across oceans. This is just as a reminder of the relationship of energy and economic prosperity, three slides from an OLLI program I presented on the importance of energy are copied below. ₍₁₅₎

Western Civilization Has Been Very Good for All of the People of the World

The Judeo-Christian values, work ethic and productive capacity has improved life for all of the people of the world. Over-represented in the list of productive citizens of the world are Jewish people. The list of 26 randomly picked above are from my personal experiences. These are about 20% Jewish people. However, when Nobel prizes in medicine and science are considered, Jewish people have earned a disproportionate share considering their worldwide population of less than 0.2%

• Chemistry: 36 (19% of total)
• Economics: 38 (41% of total)
• Literature: 16 (13% of total)
• Peace: 9 (8% of total)
• Physics: 56 (25% of total)
• Physiology or Medicine: 59 (26% of total)

The point is, massive protests in cities have taken place supporting HAMAS and the PLO. These protests, in my opinion, are basically protests against western civilization. Yet, the major contributions to society and the accomplishments of westerners and Israel are very positive. To my knowledge, I cannot think of anything invented for good, for Humanity or for improving the quality of life by HAMAS or the PLO. These organizations are basically against western civilization and much that we stand for.

Why aren’t University Professors standing up for Western Civilization? The Main Stream Media? Entertainment? Celebrities?

Why Anti-Semitism? Is it Envy?

Charlie Munger, Vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway recently passed away after living 99 productive years. Mr. Munger has offered his advice on many topics to many and I for one, appreciate his sharing of that wisdom. One point he has made on several occasions is discussing “Greed and Envy”. Mr. Munger offered his thoughts on wealth inequality and greed in this video here. Where he suggests that many wars and divisions between people come as a result of envy. Could that be one of the roots of antisemitism? The Jewish people have, at least in my lifetime, always been very innovative, creative and intellectually gifted.

It is my hope that University leaders, Journalists in the MSM and celebrities will start reporting and influencing the public on the “Good” that western civilization has brought to the world and recognize that the people of Israel have done more than their fair share of helping improve the quality of life for all of humanity.

These are my thoughts to consider.

Very truly yours,

Dick Storm, November 29, 2023

References and additional sources

1. National Inventors Hall of Fame: https://www.invent.org/inductees/search
2. Short read of the history of the Middle East, by Powerlineblog.com: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/11/dont-know-much-about-middle-eastern-history.php
3. Achievements of Jewish People November 15, 2023, Biomedical and Life Sciences: https://www.jinfo.org/Biomedical_Research.html
4. Medical advances by Jewish Nobel winners that saved millions of lives: https://www.jinfo.org/Life_Savers.html
5. Jewish Nobel Laureates : https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-nobel-prize-laureates
6. “How to Explain High Jewish Achievements, The Role of Intelligence and Values”: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=8ed1a05698ac313c6e361f1f0c31ab6d80f4c1d5
7. Wikipedia List of Jewish Nobel Laureates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_Nobel_laureates
8. Scientific Heroes website: https://web.archive.org/web/20201128185053/http://www.scienceheroes.com/
9. Beginnings of Anti-Semitism, Early Church to 1400, by U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitism-in-history-from-the-early-church-to-1400
10. Comprehensive and long read on the History of Anti-Semitism by Museum of Tolerance from days of Christ to modern times: https://www.museumoftolerance.com/education/teacher-resources/holocaust-resources/antisemitism-a-historical-survey.html
11. 100 people Statistics website: https://www.100people.org/statistics-100-people/ Sources: 2016 – Fritz Erickson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Ferris State University (Formerly Dean of Professional and Graduate Studies, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay) and John A. Vonk, University of Northern Colorado, 2006; Returning Peace Corps Volunteers of Madison Wisconsin, Unheard Voices: Celebrating Cultures from the Developing World, 1992; Donella H. Meadows, The Global Citizen, May 31, 1990.
12. Meriam Webster Dictionary, definition of the “American Dream”: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20American%20dream
13. Forbes Wilson of Freeport McMoran book, “Conquest of Copper Mountain”
14. Liberty Energy, “Bettering Human Lives”: https://www.libertyenergy.com/betteringhumanlivesv2/
15. USCB-OLLI Program, “The History of Energy and Electricity 1850-1955” by Dick Storm: https://dickstormprobizblog.org/2022/01/14/a-short-history-of-energy-electricity-and-how-our-high-quality-of-living-came-to-be-high-human-development-index-part-1-1850-1955/
16. Vaclav Smil Book, “How the World Really Works”
17. Professor Richard Lindzen, retired Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at MIT, Interview on You Tube: https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/richard-lindzen-key-points-climate-alarmists-get-wrong-5533100
18. Charlie Munger video discussing wealth inequality, greed and envy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8a0AJicXCw
19. Charles Martin Hall, Inventor of aluminum smelting process: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Martin-Hall