From my search, I gleaned an important fact: no invention is created in a vacuum. Each was created based on previous inventions created by others some time earlier, recently or centuries before. According to the TV show and my online reading, these are the Top Ten Inventions that Changed the World.
10: The Plow doesn't seem exciting compared to the electronic inventions created in recent times. A simple cutting tool that carved grooves into soil, churning up nutrients to prepare it for planting. However, the plow is quite likely the invention that made all the subsequent ones possible. Some say the plow is largely responsible for the creation of human civilization.
9. The Wheel is such an ancient invention we have no way of knowing who first created it. They have been around since at least 3100 BC. Think how many things in today’s technology depend upon the wheel.
8: The Printing Press is widely credited to Johann Gutenberg. He actually improved on technologies that already existed, making them more useful and efficient enough. The Chinese had paper and block printing in the centuries earlier, but their popularity was limited. The printing press enabled the disbursement of knowledge, thus educating humans so they could invent other important things.
7: Refrigeration has been around for centuries. No one knows who invented it. The concept of cooling things down was known and gradually improved upon over a couple centuries. The ability to keep food cold for prolonged periods dramatically changed the food production industry and the way people eat.
6: Mass Communications, the telegraph, telephone, radio and television made more information available to us, changing how we interact with each other. The development of communication technology, beginning with Samuel Morse’s electric telegraph, grew and developed over a long period of time, gradually increasing and improving upon its usability and flexibility. The telegraph, telephone, radio and TV all required an extensive infrastructure of wires to enable them to function.
5: Steam Engine – Prior to the invention of the Steam Engine, most products were made by hand. People used water wheels and draft animals for the power needed to do so. The steam engine moved the Industrial Revolution forward. Most power plants today generate electricity using steam turbines.
4: The Automobile mobilized people. Ideas for personal vehicles were around for years, but Karl Benz's 1885 Motorwagen used an internal combustion engine and is widely considered the first automobile. Henry Ford's improvements in the production process and his marketing skills brought the price of owning a car to most Americans, with Europe close behind. The automobile's effect on commerce, society and culture is incalculable.
3: Light Bulb – None of these inventions came from a “light bulb” moment of a single inventor. Each was built by improving on earlier inventions and designs. Whoever made an invention commercially viable was usually credited for it. We think of Edison as the inventor of the electric light bulb, but others were working on the same idea at that time. Joseph Swan did similar work in Britain, and eventually he and Edison merged their ideas into a single company. Today we have powered devices for which we can all thank the light bulb.
2: A Computer takes information in, manipulates it somehow, and outputs new information. No single person is credited for the creation of the modern computer. There were mechanical computing devices for hundreds of years, but electronic computers arrived in the 20th century. Many things we take for granted wouldn't function without computers, from cars to power plants to phones.
1: The Internet, a worldwide network of computers, allows us to access almost any information anywhere in the world at any time. The profound effect of the Internet on business, communication, economy, entertainment and even politics is unquestionable. And, we've probably only begun to see the effects it will have on the world.
If it wasn’t for the computer and the Internet, I would not be sitting here typing this blog right now. Internet marketing enabled me to own my Xpress Healthcare business, allowing me to make a living without leaving home. Because of the extraordinary inventions that came before them, we can cool our homes, visit distant places and nearly every other activity we perform throughout our lives.
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