Centennial: Arizona grows with technology

Information in this article supplied by Arizona Highways TV

In this day and age, it’s amazing that you still have people who’ve never visited Arizona who like to think we’re still that proverbial one horse town. But the fact is, Arizona’s always been at the forefront of science and technology, and it’s always been on full display.

About 106 years ago an avid star gazer named Percival Lowell decided to establish  an observatory for research in Flagstaff. Today the Lowell observatory is one of the oldest observatories in the nation, open to the public back then and now. Lowell conducts major research about our solar system and planets orbiting other stars, as well as  studies about star formation and other processes in distant galaxies.

In Southern Arizona, high above the Sonoran Desert under some of the finest night skies in the world, is Kitt Peak.

"Kitt Peak National Observatory is currently home to the largest collection of telescopes on one mountain anywhere in the world. At last count we had 24 optical and two radio telescopes on the mountain," says Robert Wilson, facility spokesman.

With our big, wide open, blue skies we’re an ideal place to highlight and store historical air and space craft. And nowhere is it on display like at the Pima Air and Space Museum near Tucson.

"You know the change has been remarkable in a very brief period," says spokesman Dan Ryan."If you think about the fact that the first aircraft flew in 1903 and we actually landed man on the moon just 66 years later, it’s a pretty significant advancement.

When fear of the Cold War gripped the nation in the sixties Titan missile stations were stationed all over the country, including in Green Valley in southern Arizona. This former Titan II ICBM missile warhead, which was the largest operational land based nuclear missile ever used by the U.S., is the only missile site open to the public in the nation.

And in Oracle, there is Biosphere 2, a center for research and learning about earth and its living systems.

"The Biosphere is 3.14 acres area that’s enclosed by a large glass and steel structure," officials say. "It can be completely sealed from the outside world so that it can function with its own climate and control over all of the things that affect life.  

There are a series of different ecosystems; a tropical forest ecosystem, a savannah and an ocean that are coupled in the same chamber.

At the time of its statehood, Arizona stood as a testament to the promise of the American West.

The state continues to be recognized for its innovation in everything from technology to agriculture -- in Willcox they're finding ways to make a better tomato.

And as for what’s next? We look to the sun and solar power, now playing a major role in a community near you.