Message from the Vice Principal: EXPO 2020 Dubai

Expo 2020 Dubai is the first Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. It is thought of as one of the most important expositions in history! 

With all the excitement and wonder of what we can experience at our very own Expo, I have enjoyed finding out about the history of the technology at the World’s Expos. Did you know that Expos have been a platform to showcase the greatest innovations that have helped to shape the world that we live in today for 170 years? 

It amazes me that at the simple push of a button on our modern computers of today, that we have a world of technology at our fingertips. Step back to 1862 at the London International Exhibition on Industry and Art was the Analytical Engine, this was one of the first mechanical computers to be invented by a gentleman named Charles Babbage. A century later in 1962 visitors to the Seattle Century 21 Exposition were stunned by IBM’s Shoebox, this was an early computer that responded to voice commands. 

What would we do without our telephones in today’s society? Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the world’s first telephone in 1876 at Philadelphia’s Centennial Exposition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of Soil and Mine. The mobile smart phones that we know and rely on so heavily today have come a long way since 1970, when the Japan World Exposition in Osaka gave visitors the first opportunity to discover the connectivity mobile-phone technology offered. Then in 1973 the first handheld cellular mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola. The handset weighed 2 kilograms (slightly heavier than the latest iPhone at approximately 170 grams), it offered a talk time of about 30 minutes and took roughly 10 hours for one full charge.  

On the 27th of November 2013, fireworks filled the sky from the Burj Khalifa as thousands across the UAE celebrated that we had won the Expo bid and would be ‘Connecting Minds and Creating the Future’ in the Middle East. Then here we are today, Expo 2020 Dubai is on our doorstep to explore and excite our minds with the latest technologies and inventions. Who knows what will come out of Expo 2020 that will shape and change our lives in the future. I urge you to experience the spectacular event and get a glimpse of what all our futures hold!

Mike Wolfe