Medieval technology that its potential was fully achieved. Artesian well (1126) A thin rod with a hard iron cutting edge is placed in the bore hole and repeatedly struck with a hammer, underground water pressure forces the water up the hole without pumping. Artesian wells are named after the town of Artois in France, where the first one was drilled by Carthusian monks in 1126. Central heating through underfloor channels (9th century) In the early medieval Alpine upland, a simpler central heating system where heat travelled through underfloor channels from the furnace room replaced the Roman hypocaust at some places. In Reichenau
Robert A. G. Monks Robert A. G. Monks Robert Augustus Gardner Monks (born December 4, 1933) is a shareholder activist and co-founder of Institutional Shareholder Services, Lens Investment Management, Lens Governance Advisors and The Corporate Library (now part of GMI Ratings). He is the author of "Corpocracy" and "The New Global Investors" and, with Nell Minow, "Watching the Watchers", "Corporate Governance" and "Power & Accountability". He was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate from Maine in 1976, losing in a landslide to Democratic Senator Edmund Muskie. He again ran for Senate in 1996, but lost that Republican primary to Susan Collins. He also