| Date |
Invention or discovery |
Articles on Explain that stuff |
| Prehistory |
|
|
|
4–5 billion years ago
|
Sun starts to produce energy.
|
Solar cells
Energy
|
~3.5 million years ago
|
Humans make the first tools from stone, wood,
antlers, and bones.
|
Tools and machines
|
|
1–2 million years ago
|
Humans discover fire.
|
Biofuels
Candles
Car engines
Jet engines
|
10,000 BCE
|
Earliest boats are constructed.
|
Ships and boats
|
8000– 9000 BCE
|
Beginnings of human settlements and agriculture.
|
Biofuels
Water
|
6000– 7000 BCE
|
Hand-made bricks first used for construction in the Middle East.
|
Brick (ceramics) |
| Ancient times |
|
|
4000 BCE
|
Iron used for the first time in decorative ornaments.
|
Iron and steel |
3500– 5000 BCE
|
Glass is made by people for the first time.
|
Glass |
3500 BCE
|
Humans invent the wheel.
|
Tools and machines
Wheels and axles
|
3000 BCE
|
First written languages are developed by the Sumerian people of southern Mesopotamia (part of modern Iraq). |
Communications
Typewriters
|
| ~2500 BCE |
Ancient Egyptians produce papyrus, a crude early version of paper. |
Paper
Communications
|
| 3000– 600BCE |
Bronze Age: Widespread use of copper and its important alloy bronze. |
Copper
Alloys
Metals |
| 2000 BCE |
Water-raising and irrigation devices like the shaduf (shadoof), invented
by the Ancient Egyptians, introduce the idea of lifting things using counterweights. |
Cranes
Elevators
Tools and machines
|
c1700 BCE
|
Semites of the Mediterranean develop the
alphabet.
|
Communications |
1000 BCE
|
Iron Age begins: iron is widely used for making tools and weapons in many parts of the world.
|
Iron and steel |
|
600 BCE
|
Thales of Miletus discovers static electricity.
|
Electricity
Static electricity
History of electricity
|
| 500BCE– 900CE |
Nazca people of Peru are believed to have experimented with balloon flight.
|
Hot-air balloons
|
| 400BCE– 300BCE |
Chinese experiment with flying kites.
|
Airplanes
History of flight
|
|
~250 BCE
|
Ancient Egyptians invent lighthouses, including the huge Lighthouse of Alexandria.
|
Fresnel lenses
|
|
~300– 200 BCE
|
Chinese invent early magnetic direction finders.
|
Compasses
|
|
~250 BCE
|
Archimedes invents the screw pump for moving water and other materials.
|
Tools and machines |
c.150– 100 BCE
|
Gear-driven, precision clockwork machines (such as the Antikythera mechanism) are in existence. |
Clockwork |
c.50 BCE
|
Roman engineer Vitruvius perfects the modern, vertical water wheel.
|
Turbines
|
|
62 CE
|
Hero of Alexandria, a Greek scientist, pioneers steam power.
|
Steam engines
Steam turbines
|
|
105 CE
|
Ts'ai Lun makes the first paper in China.
|
Paper
|
27 BCE–395 CE
|
Romans develop the first, basic concrete called
pozzolana.
|
Steel and concrete
|
| Middle Ages |
|
|
~600 CE
|
Windmills are invented in the Middle East.
|
Wind turbines
|
700–900 CE
|
Chinese invent gunpowder and fireworks.
|
Bullets
Fireworks
Space rockets
|
800–1300 CE
|
Thanks to inventors such as the Banū Mūsā brothers
and al-Jazari, the Islamic "Golden Age" sees the development of a wide range
of technologies, including ingenious clocks and feedback mechanisms
that are the ancestors of modern automated factory machines. |
Clockwork
Cams and cranks
Robots |
1000 CE ??
|
Chinese develop eyeglasses by fixing lenses to
frames that fit onto people's faces.
|
Lenses |
1206
|
Arabic engineer al-Jazari invents a flushing hand-washing machine, one
of the ancestors of the modern toilet.
|
Toilets |
1232 CE
|
Chinese repel Mongol invaders using early rockets.
|
Space rockets
|
1450
|
Johannes Gutenberg pioneers the modern printing
press, using rearrangeable metal letters called movable type.
|
Printing
|
1470s
|
The first parachute is sketched on paper by an unknown inventor. |
Parachutes
|
| 16th century |
|
|
| 1530s |
Gerardus Mercator helps to revolutionize navigation with better mapmaking.
|
Satellite navigation
|
1590
|
A Dutch spectacle maker named Zacharias Janssen makes the first compound microscope.
|
Microscopes
Electron microscopes
|
1596
|
Sir John Harington describes one of the first modern flush toilets. |
Toilets |
| 17th century |
|
|
~1600
|
Galileo Galilei designs a basic thermometer.
|
Thermometer
|
1600
|
William Gilbert publishes his great book De Magnete describing how Earth behaves like a giant magnet. It's the beginning of the scientific study of magnetism. |
Magnetism
History of electricity
|
1609
|
Galileo Galilei builds a practical telescope and
makes new astronomical discoveries.
|
Space telescopes
|
mid-17th century
|
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek and Robert Hooke
independently develop microscopes. |
Microscopes
Electron
microscopes
|
| 1643 |
Galileo's pupil Evangelista Torricelli builds the first mercury barometer for measuring air pressure.
|
Barometers
|
| 1650s |
Christiaan Huygens develops the pendulum clock (using Galileo's earlier discovery that a swinging pendulum can be used to keep time). |
Pendulum clocks
|
1687
|
Isaac Newton formulates his three laws of motion and gravity.
|
Motion
Gravity
|
1700s
|
Bartolomeo Cristofori invents the piano.
|
Pianos |
| 18th century |
|
|
1701
|
English farmer Jethro Tull begins the mechanization of agriculture by inventing the horse-drawn seed drill. |
Tractors |
1703
|
Gottfried Leibniz pioneers the binary number
system now used in virtually all computers.
|
How computers work
History of computers
|
|
1712
|
Thomas Newcomen builds the first practical (but stationary)
steam engine.
|
Steam engines
|
| 1700s |
Christiaan Huygens conceives the internal combustion engine, but never actually builds one.
|
Car engines |
| 1737 |
William Champion develops a commercially viable process for extracting zinc on a large scale.
|
Metals |
| 1757 |
John Campbell invents the sextant, an improved navigational device that enables sailors to measure latitude.
|
Satellite navigation
|
| 1730s– 1770s |
John Harrison develops reliable chronometers (seafaring clocks) that allow sailors to measure longitude accurately for the first time.
|
Quartz clocks and watches
Satellite navigation
|
| 1756 |
Axel Cronstedt notices steam when he boils a rock—and discovers zeolites. |
Zeolites |
| 1769 |
Wolfgang von Kempelen develops a mechanical speaking machine: the world's first speech synthesizer. |
Speech synthesizers |
1770s
|
Abraham Darby III builds a pioneering iron bridge at a place now called Ironbridge in England. |
Bridges
|
~1780
|
Josiah Wedgwood (or Thomas Massey) invents the pyrometer.
|
Pyrometers |
| 1783 |
French Brothers Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier make the first practical
hot-air balloon.
|
Hot-air balloons
|
| 1791 |
Reverend William Gregor, a British clergyman and amateur geologist, discovers a mysterious mineral that he calls menachite. Four years later, Martin Klaproth gives it its modern name, titanium. |
Titanium
|
| 19th century |
|
|
1800
|
Italian Alessandro Volta makes the first battery
(known as a Voltaic pile).
|
Electricity
Batteries
History of electricity
|
1801
|
Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents the automated
cloth-weaving loom. The punched cards it uses to store patterns help to
inspire programmable computers.
|
History of computers |
1803
|
Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier develop the papermaking machine.
|
Paper |
1806
|
Humphry Davy develops electrolysis into an important chemical technique and uses it to identify a number of new elements. |
Electrolyzers |
1806
|
Sir William Congreve develops long-range military rockets, based on an earlier Indian technology known as the Mysore rocket. |
Space rockets |
1807
|
Humphry Davy develops the electric arc lamp. |
Xenon lamps |
1814
|
George Stephenson builds the first practical
steam locomotive.
|
Steam engines |
1816
|
Robert Stirling invents the efficient Stirling engine.
|
Stirling engines |
1820s– 1830s
|
Michael Faraday builds primitive electric generators and motors.
|
Electricity generators
Electric motors
Hub motors |
1824
|
Nicolas Sadi Carnot sets out his hugely influential theory of engine efficiency.
|
Heat engines
|
1827
|
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce
makes the first modern photograph.
|
Photography
Digital cameras
|
1830s
|
William Sturgeon develops the first practical
electric motor.
|
Electric motors
Hub motors
|
1830s
|
Louis Daguerre invents a practical method of
taking pin-sharp photographs called Daguerreotypes.
|
Digital cameras
Photography
|
1830s
|
William Henry Fox Talbot develops a way of
making and printing photographs using reverse images called negatives.
|
Digital cameras
Photography |
1830s– 1840s
|
Charles Wheatstone and William Cooke, in
England, and Samuel Morse, in the United States, develop the electric
telegraph (a forerunner of the telephone).
|
Telephones
|
1836
|
Englishman Francis Petit-Smith and Swedish-American John Ericsson independently develop propellers with blades for ships.
|
Propellers
|
1839
|
Charles Goodyear finally perfects a durable form
of rubber (vulcanized rubber) after many years of unsuccessful
experimenting.
|
Rubber
|
1840s
|
Scottish physicist James Prescott Joule outlines
the theory of the conservation of energy.
|
Energy
Great physics experiments |
1840s
|
Scotsman Alexander Bain invents a primitive fax
machine based on chemical technology.
|
Fax machines
|
1849
|
James Francis invents a water turbine now used
in many of the world's hydropower plants.
|
Turbines
Water
|
1850s
|
Henry Bessemer pioneers a new method of making steel in large quantities.
|
Iron and steel
|
1850s
|
Louis Pasteur develops pasteurization: a way of preserving food by heating it to kill off bacteria.
|
Pasteurization
|
1850s
|
Italian Giovanni Caselli develops a mechanical
fax machine called the pantelegraph.
|
Fax machines |
1860s
|
Frenchman Étienne Lenoir and German Nikolaus
Otto pioneer the internal combustion engine.
|
Car engines
Cars, history of
|
1860s
|
James Clerk Maxwell figures out that radio waves
must exist and sets out basic laws of electromagnetism.
|
Radio
|
1860s
|
Fire extinguishers are invented.
|
Fire extinguisher
|
1861
|
Elisha Graves Otis invents the elevator with built-in safety brake.
|
Elevators
|
1867
|
Joseph Monier invents reinforced concrete.
|
Reinforced concrete |
1868
|
Christopher Latham Sholes invents the modern
typewriter and QWERTY keyboard.
|
Typewriters |
1871
|
Frank Wenham, a British aeronautical engineer, invents the wind tunnel.
|
Wind tunnels
Aerodynamics |
1876
|
Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone,
though the true ownership of the invention remains controversial even
today.
|
Telephones |
1870s
|
Thomas Edison develops the phonograph, the first
practical method of recording and playing back sound on metal foil.
|
CD players
MP3 players |
1870s
|
Lester Pelton invents a useful new kind of water
turbine known as a Pelton wheel.
|
Turbines |
1877
|
Thomas Edison invents his sound-recording machine or phonograph—a forerunner of the record player and CD player.
|
Record players
Sound
|
1877
|
Edward Very invents the flare gun (Very pistol) for sending distress flares at sea.
|
Flares |
1880
|
Thomas Edison patents the modern incandescent
electric lamp.
|
Incandescent
lamps
|
1880
|
Pierre and Paul-Jacques Curie discover the piezoelectric effect.
|
Piezoelectricity
|
1880s
|
Thomas Edison opens the world's first power
plants.
|
Power plants
|
1880s
|
Charles Chamberland invents the autoclave (steam sterilizing machine).
|
Autoclaves
|
1880s
|
Charles and Julia Hall and Paul Heroult
independently develop an affordable way of making aluminum.
|
Aluminum
|
1880s
|
Carrie Everson invents new ways of mining
silver, gold, and copper.
|
Copper |
| 1881 |
Jacques d'Arsonval suggests heat energy could be extracted from the oceans.
|
OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion)
|
1883
|
George Eastman invents plastic photographic
film.
|
Digital cameras
Plastics
|
1884
|
Charles Parsons develops the steam turbine.
|
Steam turbines
Turbines
|
1885
|
Karl Benz builds a gasoline-engined car.
|
Car engines
|
1886
|
Josephine Cochran invents the dishwasher.
|
Dishwashers
|
1888
|
Friedrich Reinitzer discovers liquid crystals. |
LCD screens and displays |
1888
|
John Boyd Dunlop patents air-filled (pneumatic) tires.
|
Pneumatics |
1888
|
Nikola Tesla patents the alternating current
(AC) electric induction motor and, in opposition to Thomas Edison, becomes a
staunch advocate of AC power.
|
Electricity
Electric motors
Induction motors
Power plants
|
1899
|
Everett F. Morse invents the optical pyrometer for measuring temperatures at a safe distance.
|
Pyrometers
|
1890s
|
French brothers Joseph and Louis Lumiere invent
movie projectors and open the first movie theater.
|
Projection TV
|
1890s
|
German engineer Rudolf Diesel develops his diesel engine—a more efficient internal combustion engine
without a sparking plug.
|
Diesel engines
|
1890s
|
Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky figures out the theory of space rockets. |
Space rockets
|
1894
|
Physicist Sir Oliver Lodge sends the first ever message by radio wave in Oxford, England.
|
Radio
|
1895
|
German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovers X rays.
|
X rays
|
1895
|
American Ogden Bolton, Jr. invents the electric bicycle.
|
Electric bikes
|
1884
|
Charles G. Curtis develops the compound, impulse steam turbine.
|
Steam turbines
|
1898
|
Nikola Tesla invents remote, radio control.
|
Remote control
|
| 20th century |
|
|
1901
|
Guglielmo Marconi sends radio-wave signals
across the Atlantic Ocean from England to Canada
|
Radio |
1901
|
The first electric vacuum cleaner is developed.
|
Vacuum cleaners
|
1903
|
Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright build the
first engine-powered airplane.
|
Airplanes
History of flight
|
1905
|
Albert Einstein explains the photoelectric effect.
|
Photoelectric cells |
1905
|
Samuel J. Bens invents the chainsaw.
|
Chainsaws |
1906
|
Willis Carrier pioneers the air conditioner.
|
Air conditioners
|
1906
|
Mikhail Tswett discovers chromatography.
|
Chromatography |
1907
|
Leo Baekeland develops Bakelite, the first
popular synthetic plastic.
|
Plastics |
1907
|
Alva Fisher invents the electric clothes washer.
|
Clothes washer
|
1906-8
|
Frederick Gardner Cottrell develops the electrostatic smoke precipitator (smokestack pollution scrubber).
|
Air pollution
Electrostatic smoke precipitators
|
1908
|
American industrialist and engineer Henry Ford launches the Ford Model T, the world's first truly affordable car.
|
Car engines
Cars, history of
|
1909
|
German chemists Fritz Haber and Zygmunt Klemensiewicz develop the glass electrode, enabling very precise measurements of acidity.
|
pH meters |
1910
|
Romanian-born Henri-Marie Coandă builds a simple jet plane, but it never actually flies.
|
Jet engines
History of flight
|
1912
|
American chemist Gilbert Lewis describes the basic chemistry that leads to practical, lithium-ion rechargeable batteries (though they don't appear in a practical, commercial form until the 1990s).
|
Lithium-ion batteries |
| 1912 |
Hans Geiger develops the Geiger counter, a detector for radioactivity. |
Geiger counters |
| 1916 |
Robert Hutchings Goddard, an American physicist, publishes influential ideas on building space rockets. |
Space rockets
|
| 1919 |
Francis Aston pioneers the mass spectrometer and uses it to discover many isotopes. |
Mass spectrometers |
1920s
|
John Logie Baird develops mechanical television.
|
Television
LCD TV |
1920s
|
Philo T. Farnsworth invents modern electronic
television. |
Television
LCD TV |
1920s
|
Robert H. Goddard develops the principle of the
modern, liquid-fueled space rocket.
|
Bullets
Space rockets |
1920s
|
German engineer Gustav Tauschek and American Paul Handel independently develop primitive optical character recognition (OCR)
scanning systems.
|
OCR
|
1920s
|
Albert W. Hull invents the magnetron, a device that can generate microwaves from electricity.
|
Magnetrons
Microwave ovens
|
1921
|
Karel Capek and his brother coin the word "robot" in a play
about artificial humans.
|
Robots
|
1921
|
John Larson develops the polygraph ("lie detector") machine. |
Forensic science |
1928
|
Thomas Midgley, Jr. invents coolant chemicals
for air conditioners and refrigerators.
|
Air conditioners
Refrigerators
|
1928
|
The electric refrigerator is invented.
|
Refrigerators
|
| 1920s– 1930s |
Frank Whittle of England and Hans Pabst von Ohain of Germany develop rival jet engines. |
Jet engine
|
1930s
|
Peter Goldmark pioneers color television.
|
Television
LCD TV
|
1930s
|
Laszlo and Georg Biro pioneer the modern
ballpoint pen.
|
Digital pens
|
1930s
|
Maria Telkes creates the first solar-powered
house.
|
Passive solar
Solar cells
|
1930s
|
Wallace Carothers develops neoprene (synthetic
rubber used in wetsuits) and nylon, the first popular synthetic clothing
material. |
Kevlar
Nomex
Nylon
Wetsuits
|
1930s
|
Robert Watson Watt oversees the development of
radar.
|
Radar
|
1930s
|
Arnold Beckman develops the electronic pH meter.
|
pH meters |
1931
|
Harold E. Edgerton invents the xenon flash lamp for high-speed photography.
|
Xenon lamps
|
1932
|
Arne Olander discovers the shape memory effect in a gold-cadmium alloy.
|
Shape memory alloys
|
1936
|
W.B. Elwood invents the magnetic reed switch.
|
Reed switches
|
1938
|
Chester Carlson invents the principle of
photocopying (xerography).
|
Photocopiers
|
1938
|
Roy Plunkett accidentally invents a nonstick
plastic coating called Teflon®.
|
GORE-TEX®
Nonstick pans
|
1939
|
Igor Sikorsky builds the first truly practical
helicopter.
|
Helicopters
|
1940s
|
English physicists John Randall and Harry Boot develop a compact magnetron for use in airplane radar navigation systems.
|
Magnetrons
Radar
|
1942
|
Enrico Fermi builds the first nuclear chain
reactor at the University of Chicago.
|
Nuclear power
|
| 1945 |
US government scientist Vannevar Bush proposes a kind of desk-sized memory store called Memex, which has some
of the features later incorporated into electronic books and the World Wide Web (WWW).
|
Electronic books
World Wide Web |
| 1945 |
Arthur C. Clarke conceives the idea of the communications satellite, a space-based signal
"mirror" that can bounce radio waves from one side of Earth to the other. |
Satellites |
1947
|
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William
Shockley invent the transistor, which allows electronic equipment to
made much smaller and leads to the modern computer revolution.
|
Amplifiers
Electronics
History of computers
Transistors
|
| 1949 |
Bernard Silver and N. Joseph Woodland patent barcodes—striped patterns that are initially developed
for marking products in grocery stores. |
Barcodes and barcode scanners
|
1950s
|
Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow invent the
maser (microwave laser). Gordon Gould coins the word "laser" and builds
the first optical laser in 1958.
|
Lasers |
1950s
|
Stanford Ovshinksy develops various technologies that make renewable
energy more practical, including practical solar cells and improved
rechargeable batteries.
|
Batteries
Electric bicycles
Electric cars
Solar cells
|
1950s
|
European bus companies experiment with using flywheels as regenerative brakes |
Flywheels
|
1950s
|
Percy Spencer accidentally discovers how to cook
with microwaves, inadvertently inventing the microwave oven.
|
Microwave ovens
|
1956
|
British computer pioneer Alan Turing describes an "imitation game" for
testing whether machines can think. It's now known as the Turing test.
|
Artificial intelligence
|
1952
|
American John W. Hetrick
and German Walter Linderer independently invent the automobile airbag.
|
Airbags
|
1954
|
Indian physicist Narinder Kapany pioneers fiber optics.
|
Fiber optics
|
1955
|
US electrical engineer Eugene Polley invents the TV remote control.
|
Remote control
|
1956
|
First commercial nuclear power is produced at Calder Hall, Cumbria, England.
|
Nuclear power plants
|
1956
|
US computer scientist John McCarthy coins the term "artificial intelligence."
|
Artificial intelligence
|
1957
|
Soviet Union (Russia and her allies) launch the
Sputnik space satellite.
|
Satellites
|
1957
|
Lawrence Curtiss, Basil Hirschowitz, and Wilbur Peters build the first fiber-optic gastroscope.
|
Fiber optics
|
1958
|
Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce, working
independently, develop the integrated circuit.
|
History of computers
integrated circuits
Transistors
|
1959
|
IBM and General Motors develop Design Augmented by Computers-1 (DAC-1),
the first computer-aided design (CAD) system. |
Computer graphics
|
| 1960s |
Joseph-Armand Bombardier perfects his Ski-Doo® snowmobile. |
Snowmobiles
|
| 1960 |
Theodore Maiman invents the ruby laser.
|
Lasers
|
| 1962 |
William Armistead and S. Donald Stookey of Corning Glass Works invent light-sensitive (photochromic) glass. |
Photochromic lenses
|
| 1962 |
Nick Holonyak invents the LED (light-emitting diode) while working at General Electric. |
Diodes and LEDs
|
| 1963 |
Ivan Sutherland develops Sketchpad, one of the first computer-aided design programs.
|
Computer graphics
|
1964
|
IBM helps to pioneer e-commerce with an airline
ticket reservation system called SABRE.
|
E-commerce
|
1965
|
Frank Pantridge develops the portable defibrillator for treating cardiac arrest patients. |
Defibrillators
|
1966
|
Stephanie Kwolek patents a super-strong plastic
called Kevlar.
|
Kevlar
|
1966
|
Robert H. Dennard of IBM invents dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
|
Computer memory
|
1967
|
Japanese company Noritake invents the vacuum fluorescent display (VFD). |
Vacuum fluorescent displays
|
1968
|
Alfred Y. Cho and John R. Arthur, Jr invent a precise way of making single crystals called molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).
|
Molecular beam epitaxy
|
1969
|
World's first solar power station opened in
France.
|
Solar cells
Energy
|
1969
|
Robert W. Gore develops an ingenious waterproof material called GORE-TEX® by stretching
slippery, nonstick PTFE (Teflon®). |
GORE-TEX®
|
1969
|
Long before computers become portable, Alan Kay imagines building an electronic book, which he nicknames the Dynabook.
|
Electronic books |
1969
|
Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith invent the CCD (charge-coupled device): the light-sensitive chip used in digital cameras, webcams, and other modern optical equipment.
|
CCDs
Digital cameras
|
1969
|
Astronauts walk on the Moon.
|
Space rockets
|
1960s
|
Douglas Engelbart develops the computer mouse.
|
Computer mouse
|
1960s
|
James Russell invents compact discs.
|
CD players
|
1971
|
Electronic ink is pioneered by Nick Sheridon at Xerox PARC. |
Electronic ink and paper |
1971
|
Ted Hoff builds the first single-chip computer
or microprocessor.
|
History of
computers |
1973
|
Martin Cooper develops the first handheld
cellphone (mobile phone).
|
Cellphones
|
1973
|
Robert Metcalfe figures out a simple way of
linking computers together that he names Ethernet. Most computers
hooked up to the Internet now use it.
|
Computer
networks
Internet
|
| 1974 |
First grocery-store purchase of an item coded with a barcode. |
Barcodes and barcode scanners
|
1975
|
Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman invent public-key cryptography.
|
Encryption |
1975
|
Pico Electronics develops X-10 home automation system.
|
Smart homes |
1976
|
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs launch the Apple I:
one of the world's first personal home computers
|
History of
computers |
1970s– 1980s
|
James Dyson invents the bagless, cyclonic vacuum
cleaner.
|
Vacuum cleaners
|
1970s– 1980s
|
Scientists including Charles Bennett, Paul Benioff, Richard Feynman, and David Deutsch sketch out how quantum computers
might work. |
Quantum computers |
1980s
|
Japanese electrical pioneer Akio Morita develops
the Sony Walkman, the first truly portable player for recorded music.
|
CD players
MP3 players |
1981
|
Stung by Apple's success, IBM releases its own
affordable personal computer (PC).
|
History of
computers |
1981
|
The Space Shuttle makes its maiden voyage.
|
Space Shuttle |
1981
|
Patricia Bath develops laser eye surgery for
removing cataracts.
|
Lasers |
1981
|
Fujio Masuoka files a patent for flash memory—a type of reusable computer
memory that can store information even when the power is off.
|
Flash memory |
1981– 1982
|
Alexei Ekimov and Louis E. Brus (independently) discover quantum dots.
|
Quantum dots |
1983
|
Compact discs (CDs) are launched as a new way to
store music by the Sony and Philips corporations.
|
CD players
|
1987
|
Larry Hornbeck, working at Texas Instruments, develops DLP® projection—now used in many projection TV systems. |
DLP® projectors
|
1989
|
Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web.
|
Internet
World Wide Web
|
1990
|
German watchmaking company Junghans introduces the MEGA 1, believed to be the world's first radio-controlled wristwatch.
|
Radio-controlled clocks
Quartz clocks and watches
|
1991
|
Linus Torvalds creates the first version of
Linux, a collaboratively written computer operating system.
|
Computers
Linux
|
1994
|
American-born mathematician John Daugman perfects the mathematics that make iris scanning systems possible.
|
Iris scans
|
1994
|
Japanese Masahiro Hara invents a two-dimensional barcode known as the QR Code®.
|
QR codes and 2D barcodes
|
1994
|
Israeli computer scientists Alon Cohen and Lior Haramaty invent VoIP for sending telephone calls over the Internet.
|
VoIP
|
1995
|
Broadcast.com becomes one of the world's first
online radio stations.
|
Streaming media
|
1995
|
Pierre Omidyar launches the eBay auction website.
|
E-commerce |
1996
|
WRAL-HD broadcasts the first high-definition television (HDTV) signal in the United States. |
HDTV |
1997
|
Electronics companies agree to make Wi-Fi a
worldwide standard for wireless Internet.
|
Wireless Internet
|
| 21st century |
|
|
| 2001 |
Apple revolutionizes music listening by unveiling its iPod MP3 music player. |
MP3 players |
2001
|
Richard Palmer develops energy-absorbing D3O plastic.
|
Energy-absorbing materials
|
2001
|
The Wikipedia online encyclopedia is founded by Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales.
|
Electronic books
|
2001
|
Bram Cohen develops BitTorrent file-sharing.
|
BitTorrent
Internet
|
| 2001 |
Scott White, Nancy Sottos, and colleagues develop self-healing materials. |
Self-healing materials |
2002
|
iRobot Corporation releases the first version of its Roomba® vacuum cleaning robot.
|
Roomba
Robots
|
2004
|
Electronic voting plays a major part in a
controversial US Presidential Election.
|
Touchscreens
|
2004
|
Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov discover graphene.
|
Graphene
|
2005
|
A pioneering low-cost laptop for developing
countries called OLPC is announced by MIT computing pioneer Nicholas
Negroponte.
|
Computers
|
2007
|
Amazon.com launches its Kindle electronic book (e-book) reader.
|
Electronic books |
2007
|
Apple introduces a touchscreen cellphone called
the iPhone.
|
Cellphones
Touchscreens
|
2010
|
Apple releases its touchscreen tablet computer, the iPad.
|
Computers
Touchscreens
|
2010
|
3D TV starts to become more widely available.
|
3D Television
Television
|
2013
|
Elon Musk announces "hyperloop"—a giant, pneumatic tube transport system. |
Pneumatics
Pneumatic transport tube
|
2015
|
Supercomputers (the world's fastest computers) are now a mere 30 times less powerful than
human brains. |
Supercomputers
|
| 2016 |
Three nanotechnologists win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for building miniature machines out of molecules. |
Nanotechnology |
| 2019 |
Google claims to have achieved "quantum supremacy"—with a quantum computer that
calculates faster than a conventional one. |
Quantum computers |
| 2020 |
DeepMind, Google/Alphabet's artificial intelligence computer program, cracks the classic problem of
protein folding. |
Neural networks
Artificial intelligence
|
2022
|
NASA unveils Space Launch System (SLS), a new moon rocket 15 percent more powerful than the Saturn V
rocket from the Apollo era. |
Space rockets |
| 2023 |
Microsoft announces a new version of its Bing search engine incorporating ChatGPT, an "artificially intelligent" chatbot, for smarter answers to search queries. |
Artificial intelligence |
