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/Canada/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 |
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