This period from 1926 - 1950 was a period of great development in science and technology.  New products were being developed, and while they at first seemed wonderful, it was later determined that there was not always adequate testing of products.  A perfect example of this is the insecticide DDT, which is explained more in the section on Novartis.  With the new advances in medicine, new facilities such as Jawonio were opened.  

        Prior to the 1950's, Rockland County was a rural community with a small population.  It was not until the completion of the Tappan Zee Bridge that the population of Rockland County skyrocketed.  This led to a total change in the dynamics of the county.  

        The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory was first opened in 1949 to study, among other things, seismology and the floor of the ocean.

        Read below to find more information on these topics.

Jawonio

Photos taken from www.jawonio.org

    Jawonio was organized in 1947 as the Cerebral Palsy Society of Rockland County, providing outpatient treatment for children with neuromuscular and other similar disabilities. In 1949, the first summer camp program for children with disabilities in Rockland County was founded; two years later, it was expanded to include an overnight program, Camp Jawonio. Jawonio has continued to expand its programs and now programs high quality services to more than 4,000 children and adults each year.  

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  Tappan Zee Bridge 

In this 1998 photo taken from the northeast angle in Tarrytown, the Tappan Zee Bridge spans the Hudson River near its widest point. Its location was situated to take advantage of the metropolitan highway network. (Photo by Steve Anderson.)  

    THE NEED FOR THE TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE: Plans for a trans-Hudson crossing from Westchester County had first arisen in the 1920's. The trans-Hudson bridge was proposed in conjunction with a circumferential highway that would encircle the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. After spending many years in limbo, the circumferential highway plan was given serious consideration in the years after World War II, which saw unprecedented demands on the regional highway system.

    In 1949, the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) established as its goal the development of a toll superhighway connecting the major cities of New York State. Originally proposed to end in Suffern, Rockland County, the mainline route was extended into New York City after engineering and fiscal experts agreed that the extension would serve as an integral part of the system.

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Novartis

    Novartis is the current name for the formerly the separate companies of Ciba, Geigy, and Sandoz.  With divisions throughout the world, various locations had specific areas of concentration.  The Rockland division concentrated on insecticide production, and DDT was one of its major products after its discovery in 1939.

1935
Production of insecticides. Ciba takes up its activities in this field in 1954.

1939
Production in the new plant of Schweizerhalle. Paul Müller, a Geigy researcher, discovers the insecticidal efficacy of DDT; for this work he receives the Nobel prize in 1948.

Photo taken from www.novartis.com

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Photo taken from www.ldeo.columbia.edu/what/index.html

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y., is a research division of Columbia University dedicated to understanding how planet Earth works.

    Scientific inquiry ranges from the origin and history of the planet to the processes taking place in and on it. More than 500 scientific, technical and support personnel, including 100 scientists and 100 graduate students, are involved in research that is often interdisciplinary and includes seismology, marine geology and geophysics, terrestrial geology, marine and terrestrial ecology, petrology, geochemistry, climate studies, atmospheric science, oceanography and paleontology.

    The Observatory, established in 1949 by Columbia geology professor Maurice Ewing, is located on a 125-acre estate donated to the University by the Thomas W. Lamont family. Lamont scientists devised prototypical seismic instruments for monitoring earthquakes and nuclear weapons tests and for exploring the Earth's deep interior and set up the first global seismic network. Lamont scientists also led a systematic global reconnaissance of the ocean floors, developing many of the first modern instruments to study the seafloor.

    Research in Lamont's first two decades culminated in crucial observations confirming continental drift, seafloor spreading and plate tectonics.  

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