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- First humans walk upright (about 6 million years ago). Stone tools invented in Ethiopia (about 2.6 million years ago). Humans discover fire (about 1.9 million years ago). Earliest use of paint (15,000 B.C.). First calendar created (8,000 B.C.). People domesticate unruly cats (around 7,500 B.C.).
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Jul 19, 2023 · 20 inventions that changed the world. Countdowns. By Jessica Leggett, Natalie Wolchover. last updated 19 July 2023. From the wheel 5,500 years ago to the birth control pill, these 20 inventions...
- FIRE – it can be argued that fire was discovered rather than invented. Certainly, early humans observed incidents of fire, but it wasn’t until they figured out how to control it and produce it themselves that humans could really make use of everything this new tool had to offer.
- WHEEL – the wheel was invented by Mesopotamians around 3500 B.C., to be used in the creation of pottery. About 300 years after that, the wheel was put on a chariot and the rest is history.
- NAIL – The earliest known use of this very simple but super-useful metal fastener dates back to Ancient Egypt, about 3400 B.C. If you are more partial to screws, they’ve been around since Ancient Greeks (1st or 2nd century B.C.).
- OPTICAL LENSES – from glasses to microscopes and telescopes, optical lenses have greatly expanded the possibilities of our vision. They have a long history, first developed by ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, with key theories of light and vision contributed by Ancient Greeks.
- The Printing Press
- The Compass
- Paper Currency
- Steel
- The Electric Light
- Domestication of The Horse
- Transistors
- Magnifying Lenses
- The Telegraph
- Antibiotics
Prior to the rise of the Internet, no innovation did more for the spread and democratization of knowledge than Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press. Developed around 1440 in Mainz, Germany, Gutenberg’s machine improved on already existing presses through the use of a mold that allowed for the rapid production of lead alloy-type pieces. This assembly...
Magnetic compasses may have been made somewhat obsolete by satellites and global positioning systems, but their impact on early navigation and exploration was inestimable. Originally invented in China, by the 14th century compasses had widely replaced astronomical means as the primary navigational instrument for mariners. The compass provided explo...
Throughout much of human history, money took the form of precious metals, coins and even raw materials like livestock or vegetables. The inception of paper money ushered in a bold new era—a world in which currency could purchase goods and services despite having no intrinsic value. Paper currency was widely used in China in the ninth century, but d...
While early human societies made extensive use of stone, bronze and iron, it was steel that fueled the Industrial Revolution and built modern cities. Evidence of steel tools dates back 4,000 years, but the alloy was not mass-produced until the invention of the Bessemer Process, a technique for creating steel using molten pig iron, in the 1850s. Ste...
While they are easy to take for granted, all it takes is a short power outage to remind us of the importance of artificial lights. Pioneered in the early 19th century by Humphry Davy and his carbon arc lamp, electric lights developed throughout the 1800s thanks to the efforts of inventors like Warren de la Rue, Joseph Wilson Swan and Thomas Alva Ed...
Since their domestication some 5,500 years ago, horses have been inextricably tied to human development. They enabled people to travel great distances and gave different cultures the chance to trade and exchange ideas and technology. Equine strength and agility meant that horses could also carry cargo, plow farmland and even clear forests. Perhaps ...
A criminally under-appreciated innovation, the transistor is an essential component in nearly every modern electronic gadget. First developed in late 1947 by Bell Laboratories, these tiny semiconductor devices allow for precise control of the amount and flow of current through circuit boards. Originally used in radios, transistors have since become...
Magnifying lenses might seem like an unremarkable invention, but their use has offered mankind a glimpse of everything from distant stars and galaxies to the minute workings of living cells. Lenses first came into use in the 13th century as an aid for the weak-sighted, and the first microscopes and telescopes followed in the late 16th and early 17t...
The telegraph was the first in a long line of communications breakthroughs that later included radio, telephones and email. Pioneered by a variety of inventors in the 18th and 19th centuries, the telegraph used Samuel Morse’sfamous Morse code to convey messages by intermittently stopping the flow of electricity along communications wires. Telegraph...
A giant step forward in the field of medicine, antibiotics saved millions of lives by killing and preventing the growth of harmful bacteria. Scientists like Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister were the first to recognize and attempt to combat bacteria, but it was Alexander Fleming who made the first leap in antibiotics when he accidentally discovered t...
- Christopher Mcfadden
- The invention of the wheel was a big deal. The wheel is an original engineering marvel and one of the most famous inventions. This basic technology not only made it easier to travel but also served as the foundation for a vast number of other innovative technologies.
- The compass ranks up there with the most important inventions. Some believe this relatively modern invention was first created for fortune-telling and “geomancy.”
- The modern world wouldn’t exist without the automobile.
- The steam engine was a true revolution in technology. A Spanish mining administrator named Jerónimo de Ayanz is thought to have been the first to develop a steam engine.
- The Wheel (3500 BC) – Let’s Get Things Rolling. One early invention that altered the history of humanity was the wheel. Although, the wheel is not really as old as you may think.
- The Compass (c. 200 BC) The compass has helped humans to explore and navigate around the world. In today’s world of satellites and GPS, it may seem irrelevant, but it was an important invention in its day.
- Waterwheel. A water wheel is a machine that converts the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, such as a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel and a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving car.
- Calendar. The notion of a calendar, in the sense of keeping track of how many days have passed, is likely quite old — at least as old as writing itself.
Mar 30, 2023 · From blood banks to barcodes and beyond, here are the stories behind 20 inventions that changed the world. 1. Suspension Bridges. Marti Bug Catcher (bridge) // Shutterstock; Julia Lemba...
Nov 1, 2013 · November 2013 Issue. The Sciences. A competition sponsored in 1913 by Scientific American asked for essays on the 10 greatest inventions. The rules: “our time” meant the previous quarter century,...
