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- Wheel. Before the invention of the wheel in 3500 B.C., humans were severely limited in how much stuff we could transport over land, and how far. The wheel itself wasn't the most difficult part of "inventing the wheel."
- Printing press. German inventor Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press sometime between 1440 and 1450. Key to its development was the hand mold, a new molding technique that enabled the rapid creation of large quantities of metal movable type.
- Penicillin. It's one of the most famous discovery stories in history. In 1928, the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming noticed a bacteria-filled Petri dish in his laboratory with its lid accidentally ajar.
- Compass. Ancient mariners used the stars for navigation, but this method didn’t work during the day or on cloudy nights, making it dangerous to travel far from land.
- 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.
Apr 19, 2021 · Ever since Alessandro Volta created the first true version in 1800, the battery has been on a slow but steady rise to fame – powering revolution after revolution – literally.
- Suspension Bridges. Suspension bridges are nothing new; there’s one in China that until recently used bamboo that’s at least 1000 years old, and may be over 2000.
- Toilets. Dry and flush toilets have been around for thousands of years, and while many of us take these pieces of porcelain hardware for granted these days, there’s no doubt that life would look much different—and much worse—without them.
- The Walkman. Though many of today’s kids didn’t know what a Walkman was until they saw Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill flaunt one in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, they pay unofficial homage to the device every time they play a song on their smartphone.
- The Pill. By the end of the 19th century, bicycles were offering women a relatively cheap, easy form of independence. Their movements, and the clothing they wore, became less restricted.
- Overview
- Top 10 innovations
The U.S. librarian of Congress ranks history's most important innovations.
This story appears in the June 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine.
Thomas Edison liked to say that he never failed. He succeeded every now and again with an invention that would change the world. The rest of the time, he tried thousands of other things with only one fault—that they would never work.
That’s the sort of spirit and tenacity that leads to progress, says Carla Hayden, the U.S. librarian of Congress. The library keeps archives of many of America’s copyrights and blueprints, so National Geographic asked Hayden to list what she considers 10 of the most meaningful advances in history—the inventions and innovations responsible for the trappings of modern life.
Ranking innovations is more art than science. Can you really compare a camera to an airplane? But while progress is incremental, it’s also exponential; it builds on itself. The printing press allowed literacy to spread and thinkers to share ideas and, thus, invent more things.
Modern inventions tend more toward improving than transforming: an app that connects the world in a better way, planes that fly farther, faster. But there’s still room, every so often, for dramatic advances like, say, 3-D printing or the Internet. “There will be more great leaps,” says Hayden. “We have a momentum and acceleration I think we can all feel.”
1.Printing press
2.Light bulb
3.Airplane
4.Personal computer
5.Vaccines
6.Automobile
Jun 23, 2017 · The art of invention. For a successful invention to become a reality, the ‘big idea’ needs to be practical and achievable. It can't just look great on paper. England boasts a proud history of...
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Sep 16, 2024 · Invention, the act of bringing ideas or objects together in a novel way to create something that did not exist before. Ever since the first prehistoric stone tools, humans have lived in a world shaped by invention.
