Encyclopædia Britannica's Great Inventions
From the Encyclopædia Britannica Almanac 2003
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-shaped |
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 |
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 |
|