Timeline of invention
This is a chronological list of inventions.
Note: Dates for inventions are often controversial. Inventions are often invented by several inventors around the same time, or may be invented in an impractical form many years before another inventor improves the invention into a practical form. Where there is ambiguity, the date of the first practical, fielded version of the invention is used here.
[edit]
Paleolithic Era
- 2.4 mya: Stone tools in Africa
- 1 mya: Controlled fire in Africa
- 400 tya: Pigments in Zambia
- 60 tya: Ships probably used by settlers of New Guinea
- 50 tya: Bow and arrow in Tunisia
- 43 tya: Mining
- 30 tya: Sewing
- 26 tya: Ceramics in Moravia
- 22 tya: Tally sticks in Egypt
- 12 tya: Pottery in Japan
- Language
[edit]
10th millennium BC
- Agriculture in the Fertile Crescent
- 9500 BC: Granary in the Jordan Valley
[edit]
9th millennium BC
- 8700 BC: Metalworking (copper pendant) in Iraq
[edit]
8th millennium BC
- Animal husbandry in the Middle East
[edit]
7th millennium BC
- 6200 BC: Map in Çatalhöyük
- Cloth woven from flax fiber
- Alcoholic beverages in Jiahu,China and Middle East
[edit]
6th millennium BC
- Irrigation in the Fertile Crescent
- Ploughs in Mesopotamia
[edit]
5th millennium BC
[edit]
4th millennium BC
- 4000 BC: Canal in Mesopotamia
- 3800s BC: Engineered roadway in England
- 3500 BC: Plywood in Egypt
- 3500 BC: Writing in Sumer
- 3500 BC: Carts in Sumer
- 3100 BC: Drainage in the Indus Valley Civilization (India/Pakistan)
- Dental surgery in Mehrgarh (Indus Valley Civilization)
- Bronze: Maykop culture
- Silk in China
- Cement in Egypt
- River boats in Egypt
[edit]
3rd millennium BC
- 2800 BC: Soap in Mesopotamia
- 2800 BC: Button in the Indus Valley Civilization
- 2600 BC: Artificial sewage systems in the Indus Valley Civilization
- 2500 BC: Flush toilets in the Indus Valley Civilization
- 2400 BC: Shipyard in Lothal (Indus Valley Civilization)
- Sledges in Scandinavia
- Alphabet in Egypt
[edit]
2nd millennium BC
- Glass in Egypt
- Rubber in Mesoamerica
- Spoked wheel chariot in the Middle East
- Water clock in Egypt
- Bells in China
[edit]
1st millennium BC
- 600s BC: Coins in Lydia
- 500s BC: Sugar in India
- 500s BC: Dental bridge in Etruria
- 500s BC: Trebuchet in China
- 400s BC: Plastic surgery: Sushruta
- 400s BC: Catapult in Syracuse
- 300s BC: Compass in China.
- 300s BC: Screw: Archytas
- 200s BC: Crossbow in China
- 200s BC: Compound pulley: Archimedes
- 200s BC: Odometer: Archimedes?
- 150s BC: Astrolabe: Hipparchus
- 100s BC: Parchment in Pergamon
- 1st century BC: Glassblowing in Syria
- 87 BC: Clockwork (the Antikythera mechanism): Posidonius?
[edit]
1st millennium
- 50: Mouldboard plough in Gaul
- 100s: Aeolipile: Hero of Alexandria
- 100s: Stern mounted rudder in China
- 105: Paper: Cai Lun
- 132: Rudimentary Seismometer: Zhang Heng
- 200s: Wheelbarrow: Zhuge Liang
- 200s: Horseshoes in Germany
- 300: Wootz steel in India
- 300s: Stirrup in China
- 300s: Toothpaste in Egypt
- 600s: Windmill in Persia
- 673: Greek fire: Kallinikos of Heliopolis
- 800s: Gunpowder in China
- 852: Parachute: Armen Firman
- 900: Horse collar in Europe
- 900s: Rocket in China
- Woodblock printing in China
- Porcelain in China
- Spinning wheel in China or India
[edit]
2nd millennium
[edit]
11th century
- 1041: Movable type printing press: Bi Sheng
[edit]
12th century
[edit]
13th century
- 1280s: Eyeglasses in Northern Italy
- Mechanical clocks in Northern Italy
[edit]
15th century
- Arquebus and Rifle in Europe
- 1441: Rain gauge: Munjong of Joseon
- 1450s: Alphabetic, movable type printing press: Johann Gutenberg
- 1451: Concave lens for eyeglasses: Nicholas of Cusa
- 1498: Toothbrush in China
[edit]
16th century
- 1510: Pocket watch: Peter Henlein
- 1540: Ether: Valerius Cordus
- 1576: Ironclad warship: Oda Nobunaga
- 1581: Pendulum: Galileo Galilei
- 1589: Stocking frame: William Lee
- 1593: Thermometer: Galileo Galilei
- Musket in Europe
- Pencil in England
[edit]
17th century
- 1608: Telescope: Hans Lippershey
- 1609: Microscope: Galileo Galilei
- 1620: Slide rule: William Oughtred
- 1623: Automatic calculator: Wilhelm Schickard
- 1642: Adding machine: Blaise Pascal
- 1643: Barometer: Evangelista Torricelli
- 1645: Vacuum pump: Otto von Guericke
- 1657: Pendulum clock: Christiaan Huygens
- 1698: Steam engine: Thomas Savery
[edit]
18th century
- 1701: Seed drill: Jethro Tull
- 1705: Steam piston engine: Thomas Newcomen
- 1709: Piano: Bartolomeo Cristofori
- 1710: Thermometer: René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
- 1711: Tuning fork: John Shore
- 1714: Mercury thermometer: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
- 1730: Mariner's quadrant: Thomas Godfrey
- 1731: Sextant: John Hadley
- 1733: Flying shuttle: John Kay (Flying Shuttle)
- 1742: Franklin stove: Benjamin Franklin
- 1750: Flatboat: Jacob Yoder
- 1752: Lightning rod: Benjamin Franklin
- 1762: Iron smelting process: Jared Eliot
- 1767: Spinning jenny: James Hargreaves
- 1767: Carbonated water: Joseph Priestley
- 1769: Steam engine: James Watt
- 1769: Water Frame: Richard Arkwright
- 1775: Submarine Turtle: David Bushnell
- 1777: Card teeth making machine: Oliver Evans
- 1777: Circular saw: Samuel Miller
- 1779: Spinning mule: Samuel Crompton
- 1780s: Iron rocket: Tipu Sultan in India
- 1783: Multitubular boiler engine: John Stevens
- 1783: Parachute: Jean Pierre Blanchard
- 1783: Hot air balloon: Montgolfier brothers
- 1784: Bifocals: Benjamin Franklin
- 1784: Shrapnel shell: Henry Shrapnel
- 1785: Power loom: Edmund Cartwright
- 1785: Automatic flour mill: Oliver Evans
- 1787: Non-condensing high pressure Engine: Oliver Evans
- 1790: Cut and head nail machine: Jacob Perkins
- 1791: Steamboat: John Fitch
- 1791: Artificial teeth: Nicholas Dubois De Chemant
- 1793: Cotton gin: Eli Whitney
- 1793: Optical telegraph: Claude Chappe
- 1797: Cast iron plow: Charles Newbold
- 1798: Vaccination: Edward Jenner
- 1798: Lithography: Alois Senefelder
- 1799: Seeding machine: Eliakim Spooner
[edit]
19th century
[edit]
1800s
- 1800: Electric battery: Alessandro Volta
- 1801: Jacquard loom: Joseph Marie Jacquard
- 1802: Screw propeller steamboat Phoenix: John Stevens
- 1802: gas stove: Zachäus Andreas Winzler
- 1804: Locomotive: Richard Trevithick
- 1805: Submarine Nautilus: Robert Fulton
- 1805: Refrigerator: Oliver Evans
- 1807: Steamboat Clermont: Robert Fulton
- 1808: Band saw: William Newberry
[edit]
1810s
- 1811: Gun- Breechloader: Thornton
- 1812: Metronome: Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel
- 1813: Hand printing press: George Clymer
- 1814: Steam Locomotive (Blucher): George Stephenson
- 1816: Miner's safety lamp: Humphry Davy
- 1816: Metronome: Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (reputed)
- 1816: Stirling engine: Robert Stirling
- 1816: Stethoscope: Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec
- 1817: Kaleidoscope: David Brewster
- 1819: Breech loading flintlock: John Hall
[edit]
1820s
- 1821: Electric motor: Michael Faraday
- 1823: Electromagnet: William Sturgeon
- 1826: Photography: Joseph Nicéphore Niépce
- 1826: internal combustion engine: Samuel Morey
- 1827: Insulated wire: Joseph Henry
- 1827: Screw propeller: Josef Ressel
- 1827: Friction match: John Walker
[edit]
1830s
- 1830: Lawn mower: Edwin Beard Budding
- 1831: Multiple coil magnet: Joseph Henry
- 1831: Magnetic acoustic telegraph: Joseph Henry (patented 1837)
- 1831: Reaper: Cyrus McCormick
- 1831: Electrical generator: Michael Faraday, Stefan Jedlik
- 1834: June 14 - Isaac Fischer, Jr. patents sandpaper
- 1834: The Hansom cab is patented
- 1834: Louis Braille perfects his Braille system
- 1835: Photogenic Drawing: William Henry Fox Talbot
- 1835: Revolver: Samuel Colt
- 1835: Morse code: Samuel Morse
- 1835: Electromechanical Relay: Joseph Henry
- 1836: Samuel Colt receives a patent for the Colt revolver (February 24)
- 1836: Improved screw propeller: John Ericsson
- 1836: Sewing machine: Josef Madersberger
- 1837: Photography: Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre
- 1837: First US electric printing press patented by Thomas Davenport (February 25)
- 1837: Steel plow: John Deere
- 1837: Standard diving dress: Augustus Siebe
- 1837: Camera Zoom Lens: Jozef Maximilián Petzval
- 1838: Electric telegraph: Charles Wheatstone (also Samuel Morse)
- 1838: Forerunner of Morse code: Alfred Vail
- 1838: closed diving suit with a helmet: Augustus Siebe
- 1839: Vulcanization of rubber: Charles Goodyear
[edit]
1840s
- 1840: Frigate with submarine machinery SS Princeton: John Ericsson
- 1840: artificial fertilizer: Justus von Liebig
- 1842: Anaesthesia: Crawford Long
- 1843: Typewriter: Charles Thurber
- 1843: Fax machine: Alexander Bain
- 1843: Ice cream maker: Nancy Johnson
- 1845: Portland cement: William Aspdin
- 1845: Double tube tire: Robert Thomson (inventor)
- 1846: Sewing machine: Elias Howe
- 1846: Rotary printing press: Richard M. Hoe
- 1849: Safety pin: Walter Hunt
- 1849: Francis turbine: James B. Francis
[edit]
1850s
- 1852: Airship: Henri Giffard
- 1852: Passenger elevator: Elisha Otis
- 1852: Gyroscope: Léon Foucault
- 1855: Bunsen burner: Robert Bunsen
- 1855: Bessemer process: Henry Bessemer
- 1856: First celluloids: Alexander Parkes
- 1858: Undersea telegraph cable: Fredrick Newton Gisborne
- 1858: Shoe sole sewing machine: Lyman R. Blake
- 1858: Mason jar: John L. Mason
- 1859: Oil drill: Edwin L. Drake
[edit]
1860s
- 1860: Linoleum: Fredrick Walton
- 1860: Repeating rifle: Oliver F. Winchester, Christopher Spencer
- 1860: Self-propelled torpedo: Ivan Lupis-Vukić
- 1861: Ironclad USS Monitor: John Ericsson
- 1861: Regenerative Furnace: Carl Wilhelm Siemens
- 1862: Revolving machine gun: Richard J. Gatling
- 1862: Mechanical submarine: Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol
- 1862: Pasteurization: Louis Pasteur, Claude Bernard
- 1863: Player piano: Henri Fourneaux
- 1864: First concept typewriter: Peter Mitterhofer
- 1865: Compression ice machine: Thaddeus Lowe
- 1865: Roller Coaster: LaMarcus Adna Thompson
- 1866: Dynamite: Alfred Nobel
- 1868: First practical typewriter: Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule, with assistance from James Densmore
- 1868: Air brake (rail): George Westinghouse
- 1868: Oleomargarine: Mege Mouries
- 1869: Vacuum cleaner: I.W. McGaffers
[edit]
1870s
- 1870: Magic Lantern projector: Henry R. Heyl
- 1870: Stock ticker: Thomas Alva Edison
- 1870: Mobile Gasoline Engine, Automobile: Siegfried Marcus
- 1871: Cable car (railway): Andrew S. Hallidie
- 1871: Compressed air rock drill: Simon Ingersoll
- 1872: Celluloid (later development): John W. Hyatt
- 1872: Adding machine: Edmund D. Barbour
- 1873: Barbed wire: Joseph F. Glidden
- 1873: Railway knuckle coupler: Eli H. Janney
- 1873: Modern direct current electric motor: Zénobe Gramme
- 1874: Electric street car: Stephen Dudle Field
- 1875: Dynamo: William A. Anthony
- 1875: Magazine (firearm): Benjamin B. Hotchkiss
- 1876: Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell
- 1876: Telephone: Elisha Gray
- 1876: Carpet sweeper: Melville Bissell
- 1876: Gasoline carburettor: Daimler
- 1876: Loudspeaker: Alexander Graham Bell
- 1877: Stapler: Henry R. Heyl
- 1877: Induction motor: Nikola Tesla
- 1877: Phonograph: Thomas Alva Edison
- 1877: Electric welding: Elihu Thomson
- 1877: Twine Knotter: John Appleby
- 1877: Microphone: Emile Berliner
- 1878: Cathode ray tube: William Crookes
- 1878: Transparent film: Eastman Goodwin
- 1878: Rebreather: Henry Fleuss
- 1878: Incandescent Light bulb: Joseph Swan
- 1879: Pelton turbine: Lester Pelton
- 1879: Automobile engine: Karl Benz
- 1879: Cash register: James Ritty
- 1879: Automobile (Patent): George B. Seldon ... note did NOT invent auto
[edit]
1880s
- 1880: Photophone: Alexander Graham Bell
- 1880: Roll film: George Eastman
- 1880: Safety razor: Kampfe Brothers
- 1880: Seismograph: John Milne
- 1881: Electric welding machine: Elihu Thomson
- 1881: Metal detector: Alexander Graham Bell
- 1882: Electric fan: Schuyler Skatts Wheeler
- 1882: Electric flat iron: Henry W. Seely
- 1883: Auto engine - compression ignition: Gottlieb Daimler
- 1883: two-phase (alternating current) induction motor: Nikola Tesla
- 1884: Linotype machine: Ottmar Mergenthaler
- 1884: Fountain pen: Lewis Waterman NB: Did not invent fountain pen, nor even "first practical fountain pen". Started manufacture in 1883, too.
- 1884: Punched card accounting: Herman Hollerith
- 1884: Trolley car, (electric): Frank Sprague, Karel Van de Poele
- 1885: Automobile, differential gear: Karl Benz
- 1885: Maxim gun: Hiram Stevens Maxim
- 1885: Motor cycle: Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach
- 1885: Alternating current transformer: William Stanley
- 1886: Dishwasher: Josephine Cochrane
- 1886: Gasoline engine: Gottlieb Daimler
- 1886: Improved phonograph cylinder: Tainter & Bell
- 1887: Monotype machine: Tolbert Lanston
- 1887: Contact lens: Adolf E. Fick, Eugene Kalt and August Muller
- 1887: Gramophone record: Emile Berliner
- 1887: Automobile, (gasoline): Gottlieb Daimler
- 1888: Polyphase AC Electric power system: Nikola Tesla (30 related patents.)
- 1888: Kodak hand camera: George Eastman
- 1888: Ballpoint pen: John Loud
- 1888: Pneumatic tube tire: John Boyd Dunlop
- 1888: Harvester-thresher: Matteson (?)
- 1888: Kinematograph: Augustin Le Prince
- 1889: Automobile, (steam): Sylvester Roper
[edit]
1890s
- 1890: Pneumatic Hammer: Charles B. King
- 1891: Automobile Storage Battery: William Morrison
- 1891: Zipper: Whitcomb L. Judson
- 1891: Carborundum: Edward G. Acheson
- 1892: Color photography: Frederic E. Ives
- 1892: Automatic telephone exchange (electromechanical): Almon Strowger - First in commercial service.
- 1893: Photographic gun: E.J. Marcy
- 1893: Half tone engraving: Frederick Ives
- 1893: Wireless communication: Nikola Tesla
- 1894: Radio transmission: Jagdish Chandra Bose
- 1895: Phatoptiken projector: Woodville Latham
- 1895: Phantascope: C. Francis Jenkins
- 1895: Disposable blades: King C. Gillette
- 1895: Diesel engine: Rudolf Diesel
- 1895: Radio signals: Guglielmo Marconi
- 1895: Shredded Wheat: Henry Perky
- 1896: Vitascope: Thomas Armat
- 1896: Steam turbine: Charles Curtis
- 1896: Electric stove: William S. Hadaway
- 1897: Automobile, magneto: Robert Bosch
- 1897: Modern escalator: Jesse W. Reno
- 1898: Remote control: Nikola Tesla
- 1899: Iron-mercury coherer with telephone detector: Jagdish Chandra Bose
- 1899: Automobile self starter: Clyde J. Coleman
- 1899: Magnetic tape recorder: Valdemar Poulsen
- 1899: Gas turbine: Charles Curtis
[edit]
20th century
[edit]
1900s
- 1900: Rigid dirigible airship: Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin
- 1900: Self-heating can
- 1900s: Microwave optics: Jagdish Chandra Bose
- 1901: Improved wireless transmitter: Reginald Fessenden
- 1901: Instant Coffee by Sartori Kato
- 1901: Mercury vapor lamp: Peter C. Hewitt
- 1901: Paperclip: Johan Vaaler
- 1901: Razor: King Camp Gillette
- 1901: Vacuum cleaner: Hubert Booth
- 1902: Ostwald process: Wilhelm Ostwald
- 1902: Radio magnetic detector: Guglielmo Marconi
- 1902: Air Conditioner: Willis Carrier
- 1902: Neon lamp: Georges Claude
- 1902: Radio telephone: Poulsen Reginald Fessenden
- 1902: Rayon cellulose ester: Arthur D. Little
- 1903: Electrocardiograph (EKG): Willem Einthoven
- 1903: Powered Monoplane: Richard Pearse
- 1903: Powered Airplane: Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright
- 1903: Bottle machine: Michael Owens
- 1903: Windshield wiper: Mary Anderson
- 1904: Thermionic valve: John Ambrose Fleming
- 1904: Separable Attachment Plug: Harvey Hubbell
- 1904: Tractor: Benjamin Holt
- 1905: Radio tube diode: John Ambrose Fleming
- 1906: Sonar (first device): Lewis Nixon
- 1906: Triode amplifier: Lee DeForest
- 1907: Color photography: Auguste and Louis Lumiere
- 1907: Helicopter: Paul Cornu
- 1907: Radio amplifier: Lee DeForest
- 1907: Radio tube triode: Lee DeForest
- 1907: Vacuum cleaner, (electric): James Spangler
- 1907: Washing machine, (electric): Alva Fisher (Hurley Corporation)
- 1908: Cellophane: Jacques E. Brandenberger
- 1908: Geiger counter: Hans Geiger and Ernest Rutherford
- 1908: Gyrocompass: Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe
- 1908: Haber process: Fritz Haber
- 1908: Tea bag: Thomas Sullivan
- 1909: Monoplane: Henry W. Walden
- 1909: Bakelite: Leo Baekeland
- 1909: Gun silencer: Hiram Percy Maxim
[edit]
1910s
- 1910: Thermojet engine: Henri Coandă
- 1911: Gyrocompass: Elmer A. Sperry
- 1911: Automobile self starter (perfected): Charles F. Kettering
- 1911: Air conditioner: Willis Haviland Carrier
- 1911: Cellophane: Jacques Brandenburger
- 1911: Hydroplane: Glenn Curtiss
- 1912: Ecstacy: Merck
- 1912: Photography ;Lapse-time camera for use with plants:Arthur C. Pillsbury
- 1912: Regenerative radio circuit: Edwin H. Armstrong
- 1913: Cracking process for Gasoline: William M. Burten
- 1913: Crossword: Arthur Wynne
- 1913: Double acting wrench: Robert Owen
- 1913: Gyroscope stabilizer: Elmer A. Sperry
- 1913: Radio receiver, cascade tuning: Ernst Alexanderson
- 1913: Radio receiver, heterodyne: Reginald Fessenden
- 1913: Stainless steel: Harry Brearley
- 1913: X-Ray (improved): William D. Coolidge
- 1914: Radio transmitter triode mod.: Ernst Alexanderson
- 1914: Liquid fuel rocket: Robert Goddard
- 1914: Tank, military: Ernest Dunlop Swinton
- 1915: Tungsten Filament: Irving Langmuir
- 1915: Searchlight arc: Elmer A. Sperry
- 1915: Radio tube oscillator: Lee DeForest
- 1916: Browning Gun: John Browning
- 1916: Thompson submachine gun: John T. Thompson
- 1916: Incandescent gas lamp: Irving Langmuir
- 1917: Sonar echolocation: Paul Langevin
- 1918: Superheterodyne receiver: Edwin H. Armstrong
- 1918: Interrupter gear: Anton Fokker
- 1918: Radio crystal oscillator: A.M. Nicolson
- 1918: Pop-up toaster: Charles Strite
- 1919: Flip-flop circuit: William Eccles and F. W. Jordan
- 1919: radio station (first licensed), KDKA AM, in Pennsylvania, USA
- 1919: Theremin: Leon Theremin
[edit]
1920s
- 1922: Radar: Robert Watson-Watt, A. H. Taylor, L. C. Young, Gregory Breit, Merle Antony Tuve
- 1922: Technicolor: Herbert T. Kalmus
- 1922: Water skiing: Ralph Samuelson
- 1922: Photography : First mass production photo machine:Arthur C. Pillsbury
- 1923: Arc tube: Ernst Alexanderson
- 1923: Sound film: Lee DeForest
- 1923: Television Electronic: Philo Farnsworth
- 1923: Wind tunnel: Max Munk
- 1923: Autogyro: Juan de la Cierva
- 1923: Xenon flash lamp: Harold Edgerton
- 1925: ultra-centrifuge: Theodor Svedberg - used to determine molecular weights
- 1925: Television Iconoscope: Vladimir Zworykin
- 1925: Television Nipkow System: C. Francis Jenkins
- 1925: Telephoto: C. Francis Jenkins
- 1926: Television Mechanical Scanner: John Logie Baird
- 1926: Aerosol spray: Rotheim
- 1927: Mechanical cotton picker: John Rust
- 1927: PEZ Candy: Eduard Haas III
- 1927: Photography:First microscopic motion picture camera: Arthur C. Pillsbury
- 1928: sliced bread: Otto Frederick Rohwedder
- 1928: Electric dry shaver: Jacob Schick
- 1928: Antibiotics: Alexander Fleming
- 1929: Electroencephelograph (EEG): Hans Berger
- 1929: Iconoscope: Vladimir Zworykin
- 1929: Photography:First X-Ray motion picture camera:Arthur C. Pillsbury
- 1920s: Band aid: Earle Dickson
- 1920s: Insulin
- 1920s: Mechanical potato peeler: Herman Lay
[edit]
1930s
- 1930: Neoprene: Wallace Carothers
- 1930: Nylon: Wallace Carothers
- 1930: Photography: Underwater Motion Picture Camera: Arthur C. Pillsbury
- 1931: the Radio telescope: Karl Jansky Grote Reber
- 1932: Polaroid glass: Edwin H. Land
- 1935: microwave radar: Robert Watson-Watt
- 1935: Trampoline: George Nissen and Larry Griswold
- 1935: Spectrophotometer: Arthur C. Hardy
- 1935: Casein fiber: Earl Whittier Stephen
- 1935: Hammond Organ: Laurens Hammond
- 1936: Pinsetter (bowling): Gottfried Schmidt
- 1937: Jet engine: Frank Whittle Hans von Ohain
- 1938: Fiberglass: Russell Games Slayter John H. Thomas
- 1938: Computer: (simultaneously) Konrad Zuse (Germany) and John Atanasoff (United States)
- 1939: FM radio: Edwin H. Armstrong
- 1939: Helicopter: Igor Sikorsky
- 1939: View-master: William Gruber
[edit]
1940s
- 1942: Bazooka Rocket Gun: Leslie A. Skinner C. N. Hickman
- 1942: Undersea oil pipeline: Hartley, Anglo-Iranian, Siemens in Operation Pluto
- 1942: frequency hopping: Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil
- 1943: Aqua-Lung: Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan
- 1943: electronic programmable digital computer: Tommy Flowers [1]
- 1944: Electron spectrometer: Deutsch Elliot Evans
- 1945: Nuclear weapons (but note: chain reaction theory: 1933)
- 1946: microwave oven: Percy Spencer
- 1947: Transistor: William Shockley, Walter Brattain, John Bardeen
- 1947: Polaroid camera: Edwin Land
- 1948: Long Playing Record: Peter Carl Goldmark
- 1949: Atomic clocks
[edit]
1950s
- 1951: Liquid Paper: Bette Nesmith Graham
- 1952: fusion bomb: Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam
- 1952: hovercraft: Christopher Cockerell
- 1953: maser: Charles Townes
- 1953: medical ultrasonography
- 1954: transistor radio (dated from the from Regency TR1) (USA)
- 1954: first nuclear power reactor
- 1954: geodesic dome: Buckminster Fuller
- 1955: Velcro: George de Mestral
- 1955: Hard Drive: Reynold Johnson with IBM
- 1956: Digital clock
- 1957: Jet Boat: William Hamilton
- 1957: EEG topography: Walter Grey Walter
- 1957: Bubble Wrap - Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes of Sealed Air
- 1958: the Integrated circuit: Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments, Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor
- 1959: snowmobile: Joseph-Armand Bombardier
[edit]
1960s
- 1960s: Packet switching: Donald Davies and Paul Baran, video games
- 1960: lasers: Theodore Maiman, at Hughes Aircraft
- 1962: Communications satellites: Arthur C. Clarke
- 1962: Light-emitting diode: Nick Holonyak
- 1963: Hypertext: Ted Nelson
- 1963: Computer mouse: Douglas Engelbart
- 1965: 8-track tapes: William Powell Lear
- 1968: Video game console: Ralph Baer
- 1968: Videoconferencing: AT&T
- 1969: the ARPANET, predecessor of the Internet
[edit]
1970s
- 1970: Fiber optics
- 1971: E-mail: Ray Tomlinson
- 1971: the Microprocessor
- 1971: the Pocket calculator
- 1971: Magnetic resonance imaging: Raymond V. Damadian
- 1971: Floppy Disk: David Noble with IBM
- 1972: Computed Tomography: Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield
- 1973: Ethernet: Bob Metcalfe and David Boggs
- 1973: Monash University scientists report the world's first IVF pregnancy.
- 1974: Scramjet: NASA and United States Navy -- first operational prototype flown in 2002
- 1974: Heimlich Maneuever: Henry Heimlich
- 1975: digital camera: Steven Sasson
- 1976: Gore-Tex fabric: W. L. Gore
- 1977: the personal computer (dated from Commodore PET)
- 1978: Philips releases the laserdisc player
- 1978: Spring loaded camming device: Ray Jardine
- 1978: The first bionic ear was fitted to an Australian patient. Graeme Clark
- 1979: the Walkman: Akio Morita, Masaru Ibuka, Kozo Ohsone
- 1979: the cellular telephone (first commercially fielded version, NTT)
- 197x: Leaf blower (exact year unknown)
- 1970s: Tomahawk Cruise Missile (first computerized cruise missile)
[edit]
1980s
- 1981: the Xerox Star is the first computer to feature a WIMP graphical user interface
- 1981: Digital Camera: Mavica marketed by Sony
- 1982: Sony and Philips release compact discs
- 1983: the Internet Protocol, which created the Internet as we know it
- 1983: Domain Name System: Paul Mockapetris
- 1983: Camcorder: Sony
- 1985: polymerase chain reaction: Kary Mullis
- 1985: DNA fingerprinting: Alec Jeffreys
- 1985: Windows program by Microsoft
- 1985: CD-ROM: Sony and Philips
- 1986: breadmaker
- 1989: the World Wide Web: Tim Berners-Lee
- 1989: High definition television
[edit]
1990s
- 1991: genetically modified, herbicide tolerant soybeans developed
- 1993: Global Positioning System
- 1993: Pentium processor: Vinod Dahm (for Intel)
- 1995: Webmail: Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith
- 1995: DVD standard: Sony and Philips
- 1995: USB
- 1996: cloning of mammals: Ian Wilmut and others
- 1996: Gasoelectric hybrid automobile
- 1997: Digital Audio Player - By SaeHan Corporation of Korea
- 1997: AMD K6 processor: Vinod Dahm (for AMD)
- 1998: Personal video recorder
- 1999: Bluetooth
[edit]
3rd millennium
[edit]
21st century
[edit]
2000s
- 2001: Digital satellite radio
- 2001: Artificial heart
- 2003: Blu-Ray Disc
- 2003: HD DVD
[edit]
See also
- Innovation
- List of inventors
- List of inventions named after people
- List of technical timelines
- List of technologies
[edit]
