|
Great Inventions
-- Great Inventors |
|
WHAT
WERE THE GREATEST INVENTIONS OF ALL TIME?
Here is the Encyclopædia Britannica's
list for-- The
Greatest Inventions of All Times
|
| INVENTION | YEAR | INVENTOR | COUNTRY |
| aerosol
can | 1926 | Erik
Rotheim | Norway |
| air
conditioning | 1902 | Willis
Haviland Carrier | US |
| airbag, automotive | 1952 | John
Hetrick | US |
| airplane, engine-powered | 1903 | Wilbur
& Orville Wright | US |
| airship | 1852 | Henri
Giffard | France |
| alphabet | c.
1700–1500 BC | Semitic-speaking peoples | eastern
coast of Mediterranean Sea | | American
Sign Language | 1817 | Thomas
H. Gallaudet | US |
| animation,
motion-picture | 1906 | J.
Stuart Blackton | US |
| answering
machine, telephone | 1898 | Valdemar
Poulsen | Denmark |
| aspartame | 1965 | James
Schlatter | US |
| aspirin | 1897 | Felix
Hoffmann (Bayer) | Germany |
| assembly
line | 1913 | Henry
Ford | US | | astrolabe | c.
2nd century | — | — |
| AstroTurf | 1965 | James
M. Faria, Robert T. Wright | US |
| audiotape | 1928 | Fritz
Pfleumer | Germany |
| automated
teller machine (ATM) | 1968 | Don
Wetzel | US |
| automobile | 1889 | Gottlieb
Daimler | Germany |
| baby food,
prepared | 1927 | Dorothy
Gerber | US |
| bag, flat-bottomed
paper | 1870 | Margaret
Knight | US |
| Bakelite | 1907 | Leo
Hendrik Baekeland | US |
| ball
bearing | 1794 | Philip
Vaughan | England |
| balloon,
hot-air | 1783 | Joseph
& Étienne Montgolfier | France |
| bandage,
adhesive | 1921 | Earle
Dickson | US |
| bar code | 1952 | Joseph
Woodland | US |
| barbed wire | 1874 | Joseph
Glidden | US |
| barometer | 1643 | Evangelista
Torricelli | Italy |
| battery,
electric storage | 1800 | Alessandro
Volta | Italy |
| beer | before
6000 BC | Sumerians, Babylonians | Mesopotamia |
| bicycle | 1818 | Baron
Karl de Drais de Sauerbrun | Germany |
| bifocal lens | 1784 | Benjamin
Franklin | US |
| bikini | 1946 | Louis
Réard | France |
| blood bank | late
1930s | Charles Richard Drew | US |
| blow-dryer | 1920 | Racine
Universal Motor Co., Hamilton Beach Manufacturing Co. | US |
| bomb,
atomic | 1945 | J.
Robert Oppenheimer, et al. | US |
| bomb,
thermonuclear (hydrogen) | 1952 | Edward
Teller, et al. | US |
| boomerang | c.
15,000 years ago | Aboriginal peoples | Australia |
| Braille system | 1824 | Louis
Braille | France |
| brassiere
(bra) | 1913 | Mary
Phelps Jacob | US |
| bread, sliced (bread-slicing machine) | 1928 | Otto
Frederick Rohwedder | US |
| button | c.
700 BC | Greeks, Etruscans | Greece,
Italy | | buttonhole | 13th
century | — | Europe |
| calculator,
electronic hand-held | 1967 | Jack
S. Kilby | US |
| calculus | 1680s | Sir
Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (invented separately) | England
and Germany (respectively) | | calendar,
modern (Gregorian) | 1582 | Pope
Gregory XIII | Italy |
| camcorder | 1982 | Sony
Corp. | Japan |
| camera, motion
picture | 1891 | Thomas
Alva Edison, William K.L. Dickson | US |
| camera, portable
photographic | 1888 | George
Eastman | US |
| can, metal beverage | 1933 | American
Can Co. | US |
| can opener | 1858 | Ezra
J. Warner | US |
| candle | c.
3000 BC | — | Egypt,
Crete | | canning,
food | 1809 | Nicolas
Appert | France |
| carbon-14
dating | 1946 | Willard
F. Libby | US |
| cardboard, corrugated | 1871 | Albert
Jones | US | | cards,
playing | c. 10th century | — | China |
| cash
register | 1879 | James
Ritty | US | | cat
litter | 1947 | Edward
Lowe | US | | catalog,
mail-order | 1872 | Aaron
Montgomery Ward | US |
| cellophane | 1911 | Jacques
E. Brandenberger | Switzerland |
| celluloid | 1869 | John
Wesley Hyatt | US |
| cement, portland | 1824 | Joseph
Aspdin | England |
| cereal
flakes, breakfast | 1894 | John
Harvey Kellogg | US |
| chewing
gum (modern) | c. 1870 | Thomas
Adams | US | | chocolate | c.
3rd–10th century | Maya, Aztecs | Central
America, Mexico | | chronometer | 1762 | John
Harrison | England |
| clock,
pendulum | 1656 | Christiaan
Huygens | The Netherlands |
| clock,
quartz | 1927 | Warren
A. Marrison | Canada/US |
| cloning,
animal | 1970 | John
B. Gurdon | UK |
| coffee, drip | 1908 | Melitta
Bentz | Germany |
| coffee,
decaffeinated | 1905 | Ludwig
Roselius | Germany |
| coins | c.
650 BC | Lydians | Turkey |
| compact
disc (CD) | 1980 | Philips
Electronics, Sony Corp. | The Netherlands,
Japan | | compass,
magnetic | c. 12th century | — | China,
Europe | | computed
tomography (CT scan, CAT scan) | 1972 | Godfrey
Hounsfield, Allan Cormack | UK, US |
| computer,
electronic digital | 1939 | John
V. Atanasoff, Clifford E. Berry | US |
| computer,
laptop | 1983 | Radio
Shack Corp. | US |
| computer,
personal | 1974 | MITS
(Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems) | US |
| concrete,
reinforced | 1867 | Joseph
Monier | France |
| condom, latex | c.
1930 | — | — |
| contact
lenses | 1887 | Adolf
Fick | Germany |
| contraceptives,
oral | early 1950s | Gregory
Pincus, John Rock, Min Chueh Chang | US |
| corn,
hybrid | 1917 | Donald
F. Jones | US |
| correction
fluid, white | 1951 | Bette
Nesmith | US |
| cotton gin | 1793 | Eli
Whitney | US |
| coupon, grocery | 1894 | Asa
Candler | US |
| crayons, children's
wax | 1903 | Edwin
Binney, C. Harold Smith | US |
| cream separator (dairy processing) | 1878 | Carl
Gustaf Patrik de Laval | Sweden |
| credit
card | 1950 | Frank
McNamara, Ralph Schneider (Diners' Club) | US |
| crossword
puzzles | 1913 | Arthur
Wynne | US | | DDT | 1874 | Othmar
Zeidler | Germany |
| defibrillator | 1952 | Paul
M. Zoll | US |
| dentures | c.
700 BC | Etruscans | Italy |
| detector,
metal | late 1920s | Gerhard
Fisher | Germany/US |
| detector,
home smoke | 1969 | Randolph
Smith, Kenneth House | US |
| diamond,
artificial | 1955 | General
Electric Co. | US |
| diapers,
disposable | 1950 | Marion
Donovan | US |
| digital
videodisc (DVD) | 1995 | consortium
of international electronics companies | Japan,
US, The Netherlands | | dishwasher | 1886 | Josephine
Cochrane | US |
| DNA
fingerprinting | 1984 | Alec
Jeffreys | UK |
| doughnut (ring)
or donut | 1847 | Hanson
Crockett Gregory | US |
| door,
revolving | 1888 | Theophilus
von Kannel | US |
| drinking fountain | c.
1905–1912 | Luther Haws, Halsey W.
Taylor (invented separately) | US |
| dry
cleaning | 1855 | Jean
Baptiste Jolly | France |
| dynamite | 1867 | Alfred
Nobel | Sweden |
| elastic, fabric | c.
1830 | Thomas Hancock | UK |
| electric chair | 1888 | Harold
P. Brown, Arthur E. Kennelly | US |
| electrocardiogram
(ECG, EKG) | 1903 | Willem
Einthoven | The Netherlands |
| electroencephalogram
(EEG) | 1929 | Hans
Berger | Germany |
| electronic
mail (e-mail) | 1971 | Ray
Tomlinson | US |
| elevator, passenger | 1852 | Elisha
Graves Otis | US |
| encyclopedia | c.
4th century BC or 77 AD | Speusippus
(compliation of Plato's teachings) or Pliny the Elder (comprehensive work) | Greece
or Rome | | engine,
internal-combustion | 1859 | Étienne
Lenoir | France |
| engine, jet | 1930 | Sir
Frank Whittle | UK |
| engine,
liquid-fueled rocket | 1926 | Robert
H. Goddard | US |
| engine, steam | 1698 | Thomas
Savery | England |
| escalator | 1891 | Jesse
W. Reno | US |
| eyeglasses | 1280s | Salvino
degli Armati or Alessandro di Spina | Italy |
| facsimile (fax) | 1842 | Alexander
Bain | Scotland |
| fiber optics | 1955 | Narinder
S. Kapany | India |
| fiberglass | 1938 | Owens
Corning (corp.) | US |
| film,
photographic | 1884 | George
Eastman | US |
| flashlight,
battery-operated portable | 1899 | Conrad
Hubert | Russia/US |
| flask,
vacuum (Thermos) | 1892 | Sir
James Dewar | Scotland |
| food
processor | 1971 | Pierre
Verdon | France |
| foods,
freeze-dried | 1946 | Earl
W. Flosdorf | US |
| foods,
frozen | c. 1924 | Clarence
Birdseye | US |
| Fresnel lens | 1820 | Augustin-Jean
Fresnel | France |
| fuel cell | 1839 | William
R. Grove | UK |
| genetic
engineering | 1973 | Stanley
N. Cohen, Herbert W. Boyer | US |
| Geiger
counter | 1908 | Hans
Geiger | Germany |
| glass | c.
2500 BC | Egyptians or Phoenicians | Egypt
or Lebanon | | glass,
safety | 1909 | Édouard
Bénédictus | France |
| greeting card, Christmas | 1843 | John
Callcott Horsley | England |
| guillotine | 1792 | Joseph-Ignace
Guillotin | France |
| guitar,
electric | 1941 | Les
Paul | US | | gunpowder | c.
10th century | — | China
or Arabia | | hanger,
wire coat | 1903 | Albert
J. Parkhouse | US |
| helicopter | 1939 | Igor
Sikorsky | Russia/US |
| holography | 1948 | Dennis
Gabor | Hungary |
| hypodermic
syringe | 1853 | Charles
Gabriel Pravaz | France |
| in
vitro fertilization (IVF), human | 1978 | Patrick
Steptoe, Robert Edwards | UK |
| ink | c.
2500 BC | — | Egypt,
China | | insulin,
extraction and preparation of | 1921 | Sir
Frederick Grant Banting, Charles H. Best | Canada |
| integrated
circuit | 1958 | Jack
S. Kilby | US |
| Internet | 1969 | Advanced
Research Projects Agency (ARPA) at the Dept. of Defense | US |
| iron, electric | 1882 | Henry
W. Seely | US |
| irradiation,
food | 1905 | — | US/UK |
| jeans | 1873 | Levi
Strauss, Jacob Davis | US |
| JELL-O (gelatin
dessert) | 1897 | Pearle
B. Wait | US |
| jukebox | 1889 | Louis
Glass | US | | Kevlar | 1965 | Stephanie
Kwolek | US |
| Kool-Aid
(fruit drink mix) | 1927 | Edwin
E. Perkins | US |
| laser | 1958 | Gordon
Gould and Charles Hard Townes, Arthur L. Schawlow (invented separately) | US |
| laundromat | 1934 | J.F.
Cantrell | US |
| lawn mower,
gasoline-powered | c. 1940 | Leonard
Goodall | US |
| Lego | late
1940s | Ole Kirk Christiansen | Denmark |
| light
bulb, incandescent | 1879 | Thomas
Alva Edison | US |
| light
bulb, fluorescent | 1934 | Arthur
Compton | US |
| light-emitting
diode (LED) | 1962 | Nick
Holonyak, Jr. | US |
| linoleum | 1860 | Frederick
Walton | UK |
| lipstick, tube | 1915 | Maurice
Levy | US | | liquid
crystal display (LCD) | 1963 | George
Heilmeier | US |
| lock and key | c.
2000 BC | Assyrians | Mesopotamia |
| locomotive | 1829 | George
Stephenson | England |
| longbow | c.
1000 | — | Wales |
| loudspeaker | 1924 | Chester
W. Rice, Edward W. Kellogg | US |
| magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) | early 1970s | Raymond
Damadian, Paul Lauterbur | US |
| margarine | 1869 | Hippolyte
Mège-Mouriès | France |
| matches,
friction | 1827 | John
Walker | England |
| metric
system of measurement | 1795 | French
Academy of Sciences | France |
| microphone | 1878 | David
E. Hughes | UK/US |
| microscope,
compound optical | c. 1600 | Hans
& Zacharias Jansen | The Netherlands |
| microscope,
electron | 1933 | Ernst
Ruska | Germany |
| microwave
oven | 1945 | Percy
L. Spencer | US |
| miniature
golf | c. 1930 | Garnet
Carter | US |
| mirror, glass | c.
1200 | Venetians | Italy |
| missile,
guided | 1942 | Wernher
von Braun | Germany |
| mobile
home | 1919 | Glenn
H. Curtiss | US |
| money, paper | late
900s | — | China |
| Monopoly
(board game) | 1934 | Charles
B. Darrow | US |
| Morse code | 1838 | Samuel
F.B. Morse | US |
| motor,
electric | 1834 | Thomas
Davenport | US |
| motor, outboard | 1907 | Ole
Evinrude | Norway/US |
| motorcycle | 1885 | Gottlieb
Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach | Germany |
| mouse,
computer | 1963–64 | Douglas
Engelbart | US |
| Muzak | 1922 | George
Owen Squier | US |
| nail, construction | c.
3300 BC | Sumerians | Mesopotamia |
| necktie | 17th
century | — | Croatia |
| neon lighting | 1910 | Georges
Claude | France |
| nuclear
reactor | 1942 | Enrico
Fermi | US | | nylon | 1937 | Wallace
H. Carothers | US |
| oil lamp | 1784 | Aimé
Argand | Switzerland |
| oil well | 1859 | Edwin
Laurentine Drake | US |
| pacemaker,
cardiac | 1952 | Paul
M. Zoll | US |
| paper | c.
105 | Ts'ai Lun | China |
| paper
clip | 1899 | Johan
Vaaler | Norway |
| paper towel | 1931 | Arthur
Scott | US | | parachute,
modern | 1797 | André-Jacques
Garnerin | France |
| parking
meter | 1932 | Carl
C. Magee | US |
| particle
accelerator | 1929 | Sir
John Douglas Cockcroft, Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton | Ireland/UK |
| pasteurization | 1864 | Louis
Pasteur | France |
| pen, ballpoint | 1938 | Lazlo
Biro | Hungary |
| pencil | 1565 | Conrad
Gesner | Switzerland |
| periodic
table | 1871 | Dmitry
Ivanovich Mendeleyev | Russia |
| personal watercraft, motorized | 1968 | Bombardier,
Inc. | Canada |
| petroleum
jelly | 1870s | Robert
Chesebrough | US |
| phonograph | 1877 | Thomas
Alva Edison | US |
| photocopying
(xerography) | 1937 | Chester
F. Carlson | US |
| photography | 1837 | Louis-Jacques-Mandé
Daguerre | France |
| photography,
instant | 1947 | Edwin
Herbert Land | US |
| Play-Doh | 1956 | Noah
W. & Joseph S. McVicker | US |
| plow,
steel | 1836 | John
Deere | US | | pocket
watch | c. 1500 | Peter
Henlein | Germany |
| polyethylene | 1935 | Eric
Fawcett, Reginald Gibson | UK |
| polygraph
(lie detector) | 1921 | John
A. Larson | US |
| polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) | 1872 | Eugen
Baumann | Germany |
| Post-it
Notes | mid-1970s | Arthur
Fry (3M) | US |
| potato chips | 1853 | George
Crum | US | | printing
press, movable type | c. 1450 | Johannes
Gutenberg | Germany |
| Prozac | 1972 | Ray
W. Fuller, Bryan B. Molloy, David T. Wong | US |
| radar | c.
1904 | Christian Hülsmeyer | Germany |
| radio | 1896 | Guglielmo
Marconi | Italy |
| radio, car | early
1920s | William P. Lear | US |
| rayon | 1884 | Louis-Marie-Hilaire
Bernigaud, count of Chardonnet | France |
| razor, electric | 1928 | Jacob
Schick | US |
| razor, safety | c.
1900 | King Camp Gillette | US |
| reaper,
mechanical | 1831 | Cyrus
Hall McCormick | US |
| record, long-playing (LP) | 1948 | Peter
Carl Goldmark | US |
| refrigerator | 1842 | John
Gorrie | US |
| remote control, television | 1950 | Robert
Adler | US | | respirator | c.
1955 | Forrest M. Bird | US |
| revolver | 1835–36 | Samuel
Colt | US | | Richter
scale | 1935 | Charles
Francis Richter, Beno Gutenberg | US |
| rifle, assault | 1944 | Hugo
Schmeisser | Germany |
| roller
coaster | 1884 | LeMarcus
A. Thompson | US |
| rubber, vulcanized | 1839 | Charles
Goodyear | US |
| rubber band | 1845 | Stephen
Perry | UK | | saccharin | 1879 | Ira
Remsen, Constantin Fahlberg | US,
Germany | | saddle
(riding) | c. 200 BC | — | China |
| safety
pin | 1849 | Walter
Hunt | US | | satellite,
successful artificial earth | 1957 | Sergey
Korolyov, et al. | USSR |
| satellite,
communications | 1960 | John
Robinson Pierce | US |
| saxophone | 1846 | Antoine-Joseph
Sax | Belgium |
| Scotch tape | 1930 | Richard
Drew (3M) | US |
| scuba gear | 1943 | Jacques
Cousteau, Émile Gagnan | France |
| seat belt,
automotive shoulder | 1959 | Nils
Bohlin (Volvo) | Sweden |
| sewing
machine | 1841 | Barthélemy
Thimonnier | France |
| shoelaces | 1790 | — | England |
| silicone | 1904 | Frederic
Stanley Kipping | UK |
| skateboard | 1958 | Bill
& Mark Richards | US |
| skates,
ice | 1000 BC | — | Scandinavia |
| skates,
roller | 1760s | Joseph
Merlin | Belgium |
| ski, snow | c.
2000–3000 BC | — | Sweden,
Finland, Norway | | skyscraper,
steel-frame | 1884 | William
Le Baron Jenney | US |
| slot
machine | 1890s | Charles
Fey | US | | snowmobile | 1922 | Joseph-Armand
Bombardier | Canada |
| soap | 600
BC | Phoenicians | Lebanon |
| soft
drinks, carbonated | 1772 | Joseph
Priestley | UK |
| sonar | 1915 | Paul
Langevin | France |
| stamps,
postage | 1840 | Sir
Rowland Hill | UK |
| stapler | 1866 | George
W. McGill | US |
| steamboat,
successful | 1807 | Robert
Fulton | US |
| steel, mass-production | 1856 | Henry
Bessemer | UK |
| steel, stainless | 1914 | Harry
Brearley | UK |
| stereo,
personal | 1979 | Sony
Corp. | Japan |
| stereophonic
sound recording | 1931 | Alan
Dower Blumlein | UK |
| stethoscope | 1819 | René-Théophile-Hyacinthe
Laënnec | France |
| stock
ticker | 1867 | Edward
A. Calahan | US |
| stove,
electric | 1896 | William
Hadaway | US |
| stove, gas | 1826 | James
Sharp | UK | | straw,
drinking | 1888 | Marvin
Stone | US | | submarine | 1620 | Cornelis
Drebbel | The Netherlands |
| sunglasses | 1752 | James
Ayscough | UK |
| sunscreen | 1944 | Benjamin
Green | US | | supermarket | 1930 | Michael
Cullen | US |
| synthesizer,
music | 1955 | Harry
Olson, Herbert Belar | US |
| synthetic skin | 1981 | Ioannis
V. Yannas, John F. Burke | US |
| tampon, cotton | 1931 | Earle
Cleveland Haas | US |
| tank,
military | 1915 | Admiralty
Landships Committee | UK |
| tea bag | early
1900s | Thomas Sullivan | US |
| teddy
bear | 1902 | Morris
Michtom | US |
| Teflon | 1938 | Roy
Plunkett | US |
| telegraph | 1832–35 | Samuel
F.B. Morse | US |
| telephone, wired-line | 1876 | Alexander
Graham Bell | Scotland/US |
| telephone,
mobile | 1946 | Bell
Laboratories | US |
| telescope,
optical | 1608 | Hans
Lippershey | The Netherlands |
| television | 1923,
1927 | Vladimir Kosma Zworykin, Philo
Taylor Farnsworth | Russia/US, US |
| thermometer | 1592 | Galileo | Italy |
| thermostat | 1830 | Andrew
Ure | UK | | threshing
machine | 1778 | Andrew
Meikle | Scotland |
| tire, pneumatic | 1888 | John
Boyd Dunlop | UK |
| tissue, disposable facial | 1924 | Kimberly-Clark
Co. | US | | tissue,
toilet | 1857 | Joseph
Gayetty | US |
| toaster, electric | 1893 | Crompton
Co. | UK | | toilet,
flush | c. 1591 | Sir
John Harington | England |
| toothbrush | 1498 | — | China |
| tractor | 1892 | John
Froehlich | US |
| traffic
lights, automatic | 1923 | Garrett
A. Morgan | US |
| transistor | 1947 | John
Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, William B. Shockley | US |
| typewriter | 1868 | Christopher
Latham Sholes | US |
| ultrasound
imaging, obstetric | 1958 | Ian
Donald | UK |
| vaccination | 1796 | Edward
Jenner | England |
| vacuum
cleaner, electric | 1901 | Herbert
Cecil Booth | UK |
| Velcro | 1948 | George
de Mestral | Switzerland |
| vending
machine | c. 100–200 BC | — | Egypt |
| Viagra | 1997 | Pfizer
Inc. | US | | video
games | 1972 | Nolan
Bushnell | US |
| videocassette
recorder | 1969 | Sony
Corp. | Japan |
| videotape | 1950s | Charles
Ginsburg | US |
| virtual
reality | 1989 | Jaron
Lanier | US |
| vision correction, laser | 1987 | Stephen
Trokel | US |
| washing
machine, electric | 1907 | Alva
J. Fisher | US |
| wheel | about
3500 BC | proto-Aryan people or Sumerians | Russia/Kazakhstan
or Mesopotamia | | wheelbarrow | 1st
century BC | — | China |
| wheelchair | 1590s | — | Spain |
| windmill | 644 | — | Persia |
| wine | before
4000 BC | — | Middle
East | | World
Wide Web | 1989 | Tim
Berners-Lee | UK |
| wristwatch,
digital | 1970 | John
M. Bergey | US |
| X-ray imaging | 1895 | Wilhelm
Conrad Röntgen | Germany |
| Zamboni
(ice resurfacing machine) | 1949 | Frank
J. Zamboni | US |
| zipper | 1893 | Whitcomb
L. Judson | US | |
Careers
Home Page What are
the 20 fastest growing career? Colleges and
Universities -- USA and Foreign Career Guide
for Kids and Teens
Select
a Career Science
Math Vocational Careers Nursing Biotechnology
| Student
and Teacher Travel |
|
