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|
| “Canals”
of Mars |
Giovanni Schiaparelli |
Italy |
1877 |
|
| “Scotch”
tape |
Richard Drew |
U.S. |
1929 |
|
| Adrenaline |
(isolation of) John Jacob Abel |
U.S. |
1897 |
|
| Aerosol
can |
Erik Rotheim |
Norway |
1926 |
|
| Air
brake |
George Westinghouse |
U.S. |
1868 |
|
| Air
conditioning |
Willis Carrier |
U.S. |
1911 |
|
| Airship |
(non-rigid) Henri Giffard |
France |
1852 |
(rigid) Ferdinand von Zeppelin |
|
| Aluminum
manufacture |
(by electrolytic action) Charles M. Hall |
U.S. |
1866 |
|
| Anesthetic |
(first use of anesthetic—ether—on humans) Crawford W. Long |
U.S. |
1842 |
|
| Antibiotics |
Jules-François Joubert |
France |
1887 |
|
(discovery of penicillin |
first modern antibiotic) Alexander Fleming |
England |
1928; (penicillin's infection-fighting properties) Howard Florey |
Ernst Chain |
England |
1940 |
|
| Antiseptic |
(surgery) Joseph Lister |
England |
1867 |
|
| Antitoxin,
diphtheria |
Emil von Behring |
Germany |
1890 |
|
| Appliances,
electric |
(fan) Schuyler Wheeler |
U.S. |
1882 |
(flatiron) Henry W. Seely |
U.S. |
1896; (washing machine) Alva Fisher |
U.S. |
1906 |
|
| Aqualung |
Emile Gagnan |
France |
1943 |
|
| Aspirin |
Dr. Felix Hoffman |
Germany |
1899 |
|
| Astronomical
calculator |
first century B.C. |
Greece. Found off island of Antikythera in 1900. |
50 |
|
| Atom |
(nuclear model of) Ernest Rutherford |
England |
1911 |
|
| Atomic
structure |
Rutherford model) Ernest Rutherford |
England |
1911 |
|
(proposed current concept of atomic structure |
the Bohr model) Niels Bohr |
Denmark |
1913 |
|
| Atomic
theory |
Democritus |
Greece |
-500 |
|
Rome c.100
B.C.; (modern) John Dalton |
England |
1808 |
|
| Automobile |
250 rpm) Karl Benz |
Germany |
1885 |
|
(first with practical high-speed internal combustion engine |
900 rpm) Gottlieb Daimler |
Germany |
1885; (first true automobile |
not carriage with motor) René Panhard |
Emile Lavassor |
France |
1891; (carburetor |
spray) Charles E. Duryea |
U.S. |
1892 |
|
| Autopilot |
(for aircraft) Elmer A. Sperry |
U.S. |
1910 |
|
in a Curtiss flying boat. |
|
| Avogadro's
law |
(equal volumes of all gases at the same temperature and pressure contain equal
number of molecules) Amedeo Avogadro |
Italy |
1811 |
|
| Bacteria |
Anton van Leeuwenhoek |
The Netherlands |
1683 |
|
| Balloon,
hot-air |
Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier |
France |
1783 |
|
| Barbed
wire |
(most popular) Joseph E. Glidden |
U.S. |
1873 |
|
| Barometer |
Evangelista Torricelli |
Italy |
1643 |
|
| Bicycle |
Karl D. von Sauerbronn |
Germany |
1816 |
(first modern model) James Starley |
|
| Big
Bang theory |
(the universe originated with a huge explosion) George LeMaitre |
Belgium |
1927 |
(modified LeMaitre theory labeled “Big Bang”) George A. Gamow |
confirms theory) Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson |
U.S. |
1965 |
|
| Blood,
circulation of |
William Harvey |
England |
1628 |
|
| Boyle's
law |
(relation between pressure and volume in gases) Robert Boyle |
Ireland |
1662 |
|
| Braille |
Louis Braille |
France |
1829 |
|
| Bridges |
(suspension iron chains) James Finley |
U.S. |
1800 |
|
1800; (wire suspension) Marc Seguin |
Lyons |
1825; (truss) Ithiel Town |
U.S. |
1820 |
|
| Bullet |
(conical) Claude Minié |
France |
1849 |
|
| Calculus |
Isaac Newton |
England |
1669 |
(differential calculus) Gottfried Leibniz |
|
| Camera |
(hand-held) George Eastman |
U.S. |
1888 |
(Polaroid Land) Edwin Land |
|
| Car
radio |
William Lear |
U.S. |
1929 |
Elmer Wavering |
manufactured
by Galvin Manufacturing Co. |
“Motorola.” |
|
| Carpet
sweeper |
Melville R. Bissell |
U.S. |
1876 |
|
| Cells |
(word used to describe microscopic examination of cork) Robert Hooke |
England |
1665 |
(theory |
|
| Cement,
Portland |
Joseph Aspdin |
England |
1824 |
|
| Chewing
gum |
(spruce-based) John Curtis |
U.S. |
1848 |
(chicle-based) Thomas Adams |
|
| Cholera
bacterium |
Robert Koch |
Germany |
1883 |
|
| Circuit,
integrated |
(theoretical) G.W.A. Dummer |
England |
1952 |
(phase-shift oscillator) Jack S. Kilby |
1959 |
|
| Classification
of plants |
based on comparative study of forms) Andrea Cesalpino |
Italy |
1583 |
|
1583; (classification of plants and animals by genera and species) Carolus
Linnaeus |
Sweden |
1737–1753. |
|
| Clock,
pendulum |
Christian Huygens |
The Netherlands |
1656 |
|
| Coca-Cola |
John Pemberton |
U.S. |
1886 |
|
| Combustion |
(nature of) Antoine Lavoisier |
France |
1777 |
|
| Compact
disk |
RCA |
U.S. |
1972 |
|
| Computers |
(first design of analytical engine) Charles Babbage |
England |
1830 |
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator |
first all-electronic |
completed)
1945; (dedicated at University of Pennsylvania) 1946; (UNIVAC |
Universal Automatic Computer |
handled both numeric and alphabetic data)
1951. |
|
| Concrete |
(reinforced) Joseph Monier |
France |
1877 |
|
| Condensed
milk |
Gail Borden |
U.S. |
1853 |
|
| Conditioned
reflex |
Ivan Pavlov |
Russia |
1910 |
|
| Conservation
of electric charge |
(the total electric charge of the universe or any closed system is constant)
Benjamin Franklin |
U.S. |
1751 |
–1754. |
|
| Contagion
theory |
(infectious diseases caused by living agent transmitted from person to person)
Girolamo Fracastoro |
Italy |
1546 |
|
| Continental
drift theory |
(geographer who pieced together continents into a single landmass on maps)
Antonio Snider-Pellegrini |
France |
1858 |
(first proposed in lecture) Frank Taylor |
1912 |
|
| Contraceptive,
oral |
Gregory Pincus |
U.S. |
1951 |
|
Carl Djerassi |
|
Min Chuch
Chang |
John Rock |
|
| Converter,
Bessemer |
William Kelly |
U.S. |
1851 |
|
| Cosamic
string theory |
(first postulated) Thomas Kibble |
U.S. |
1976 |
|
| Cosmetics |
|
Egypt |
-4000 |
|
| Cotton
gin |
Eli Whitney |
U.S. |
1793 |
|
| Crossbow |
|
China |
-300 |
|
| Cyclotron |
Ernest O. Lawrence |
U.S. |
1931 |
|
| Deuterium |
(heavy hydrogen) Harold Urey |
U.S. |
1931 |
|
| Disease |
1527–1541;
(germ theory) Louis Pasteur |
France |
1862 |
–1877. |
|
| DNA |
(deoxyribonucleic acid) Friedrich Meischer |
Germany |
1869 |
(determination of double-helical structure) Rosalind Elsie Franklin |
James D. Watson |
U.S. |
1953 |
|
| Dye |
start of synthetic dye industry) William H. Perkin |
England |
1856 |
|
| Dynamite |
Alfred Nobel |
Sweden |
1867 |
|
| E = mc2 |
(equivalence of mass and energy) Albert Einstein |
Switzerland |
1907 |
|
| Electric
cooking utensil |
(first) patented by St. George Lane-Fox |
England |
1874 |
|
| Electric
generator (dynamo) |
(laboratory model) Michael Faraday |
England |
1832 |
Joseph Henry |
|
France |
1833; (alternating-current generator) Nikola Tesla |
U.S. |
1892 |
|
| Electric
lamp |
(arc lamp) Sir Humphrey Davy |
England |
1801 |
(fluorescent lamp) A.E. Becquerel |
England |
Thomas A.
Edison |
U.S. |
contemporaneously |
1870s; (carbon arc street lamp) Charles F. Brush |
U.S. |
1879; (first widely marketed incandescent lamp) Thomas A. Edison |
U.S. |
1879; (mercury vapor lamp) Peter Cooper Hewitt |
U.S. |
1903; (neon lamp) Georges Claude |
France |
1911; (tungsten filament) Irving Langmuir |
U.S. |
1915 |
|
| Electrocardiography |
Demonstrated
by Augustus Waller |
England |
1903 |
|
Dutch physiologist. |
|
| Electromagnet |
William Sturgeon |
England |
1823 |
|
| Electron |
Sir Joseph J. Thompson |
England |
1897 |
|
| Elevator,
passenger |
(safety device permitting use by passengers) Elisha G. Otis |
U.S. |
1852 |
(elevator utilizing safety device) 1857. |
|
| Engine,
internal combustion |
No single inventor. Fundamental theory established by Sadi Carnot |
France |
1824 |
(two-stroke) Etienne Lenoir |
France |
1862; (operating four-stroke) Nikolaus Otto |
Germany |
1876; (diesel) Rudolf Diesel |
Germany |
1892; (rotary) Felix Wankel |
Germany |
1956 |
|
| Evolution |
(organic) Jean-Baptiste Lamarck |
France |
1809 |
(by natural selection) Charles Darwin |
|
| Exclusion
principle |
(no two electrons in an atom can occupy the same energy level) Wolfgang Pauli |
Germany |
1925 |
|
| Expanding
universe theory |
(first proposed) George LeMaitre |
Belgium |
1927 |
(discovered first direct evidence that the
universe is expanding) Edwin P. Hubble |
|
| Falling
bodies, law of |
Galileo Galilei |
Italy |
1590 |
|
| Fermentation |
(microorganisms as cause of) Louis Pasteur |
France |
1660 |
|
| Fiber
optics |
Narinder Kapany |
England |
1955 |
|
| Fibers,
man-made |
(nitrocellulose fibers treated to change flammable nitrocellulose to
harmless cellulose precursor of rayon) Sir Joseph Swann |
England |
1883 |
|
(rayon) Count Hilaire de Chardonnet |
France |
1889; (Celanese) Henry and Camille Dreyfuss |
U.S. |
England |
1921; (research on polyesters and polyamides |
basis for modern man-made fibers) U.S. |
England |
Germany |
1930s; (nylon) Wallace H. Carothers |
U.S. |
1935 |
|
| Frozen
food |
Clarence Birdseye |
U.S. |
1924 |
|
| Gene
transfer |
(human) Steven
Rosenberg |
U.S. |
1989 |
|
R. Michael Blaese |
W. French Anderson |
|
| Geometry,
elements of |
Euclid |
Egypt |
-300 |
|
c. 300 B.C.; (analytic) René Descartes |
France; and Pierre de Fermat |
Switzerland |
1637 |
|
| Gravitation,
law of |
Sir Isaac Newton |
England |
1665 |
|
| Gunpowder |
|
China |
700 |
|
| Gyrocompass |
Elmer A. Sperry |
U.S. |
1905 |
|
| Gyroscope |
Léon Foucault |
France |
1852 |
|
| Halley's
Comet |
Edmund Halley |
England |
1705 |
|
| Heart
implanted in human, permanent artificial |
Dr. Robert Jarvik |
U.S. |
1982 |
|
| Helicopter |
(double rotor) Heinrich Focke |
Germany |
1936 |
(single rotor) Igor Sikorsky |
|
| Helium
first observed on sun |
Sir Joseph Lockyer |
England |
1868 |
|
| Heredity,
laws of |
Gregor Mendel |
Austria |
1865 |
|
| Holograph |
Dennis Gabor |
England |
1947 |
|
| Home
videotape systems (VCR) |
(Betamax)
Sony |
Japan |
1975 |
(VHS) Matsushita |
|
| Ice age
theory |
Louis Agassiz |
Swiss-American |
1840 |
|
| Induction,
electric |
Joseph Henry |
U.S. |
1828 |
|
| Insulin |
(first isolated) Sir Frederick G. Banting and Charles H. Best |
Canada |
1921 |
(discovery first published) Banting and Best |
China |
1966 |
|
| Intelligence
testing |
Theodore Simon |
France |
1905 |
|
| Interferon |
Alick Isaacs Jean Lindemann |
England |
1957 |
|
Switzerland |
|
| Inventions and Discoveries |
|
http://www.indianchild.com/inventions.htm |
|
| Isotopes |
(concept of) Frederick Soddy |
England |
1912 |
(stable isotopes) J. J. Thompson |
1919 |
|
| Jet
propulsion |
Hans von Ohain |
England |
1936 |
|
Germany |
1936; (aircraft) Heinkel He 178 |
1939 |
|
| Kinetic
theory of gases |
(molecules of a gas are in a state of rapid motion) Daniel Bernoulli |
Switzerland |
1738 |
|
| Laser |
(theoretical work on) Charles H. Townes |
U.S. |
1958 |
Arthur L. Schawlow |
A. Prokhorov |
U.S.S.R. |
1958; (first working model) T. H. Maiman |
U.S. |
1960 |
|
| Lawn
mower |
Edwin Budding John Ferrabee |
England |
1830 |
–1831. |
|
| LCD
(liquid crystal display) |
Hoffmann-La Roche |
Switzerland |
1970 |
|
| Lens,
bifocal |
Benjamin Franklin |
U.S. |
1760 |
|
| Leyden
jar |
(prototype electrical condenser) Canon E. G. von Kleist of Kamin |
Pomerania |
1745 |
independently evolved by Cunaeus and P. van Musschenbroek |
1746 |
from where name originated. |
|
| Light,
nature of |
(wave theory) Christian Huygens |
The Netherlands |
1678 |
(electromagnetic theory) James Clerk Maxwell |
|
| Light,
speed of |
(theory that light has finite velocity) Olaus Roemer |
Denmark |
1675 |
|
| Lightning
rod |
Benjamin Franklin |
U.S. |
1752 |
|
| Lock,
cylinder |
Linus Yale |
U.S. |
1851 |
|
| Locomotive |
(steam powered) Richard Trevithick |
England |
1804 |
(first practical |
|
1829; (largest steam-powered) Union Pacific's “Big Boy |
” U.S. |
1941 |
|
| Loom |
(horizontal |
Egypt |
-4400 |
(Jacquard drawloom |
|
1745 |
Joseph-Marie
Jacquard |
1801; (flying shuttle) John Kay |
England |
1733; (power-driven loom) Edmund Cartwright |
England |
1785 |
|
| Machine
gun |
(hand-cranked multibarrel) Richard J. Gatling |
U.S. |
1862 |
(practical single barrel |
1884 |
|
| Magnet,
Earth is |
William Gilbert |
England |
1600 |
|
| Match |
(phosphorus) François Derosne |
France |
1816 |
(friction) Charles Sauria |
Sweden |
1855 |
|
| Measles
vaccine |
John F. Enders |
U.S. |
1953 |
Thomas Peebles |
|
| Metric
system |
|
France |
1790 |
–1801. |
|
| Microphone |
Charles Wheatstone |
England |
1827 |
|
| Microscope |
(compound)
Zacharias Janssen |
The Netherlands |
1590 |
(electron) Vladimir Zworykin et al. |
Germany |
1932–1939. |
|
| Microwave
oven |
Percy Spencer |
U.S. |
1947 |
|
| Motion
pictures |
Thomas A.
Edison |
U.S. |
1893 |
|
| Motion
pictures, sound |
Product of various inventions. First picture with synchronized musical score |
U.S. |
1927 |
|
| Motion,
laws of |
Isaac Newton |
England |
1687 |
|
| Motor,
electric |
Michael Faraday |
England |
1822 |
(alternating-current) Nikola Tesla |
|
| Motorcycle |
(motor tricycle) Edward Butler |
England |
1884 |
(gasoline-engine motorcycle) Gottlieb
Daimler |
|
| Moving
assembly line |
Henry Ford |
U.S. |
1913 |
|
| Neptune |
(discovery of) Johann Galle |
Germany |
1846 |
|
| Neptunium |
Philip H. Abelson |
U.S. |
1940 |
|
| Neutron |
James Chadwick |
England |
1932 |
|
| Neutron-induced
radiation |
Enrico Fermi et al. |
Italy |
1934 |
|
| Nitroglycerin |
Ascanio Sobrero |
Italy |
1846 |
|
| Nuclear
fission |
Fritz Strassmann |
Germany |
1938 |
|
| Nuclear
reactor |
|
Italy |
1942 |
|
| Oil
well |
Edwin L. Drake |
U.S. |
1859 |
|
| Oxygen |
(isolation of) Joseph Priestley |
England |
1773 |
|
| Ozone |
Christian Schönbein |
Germany |
1839 |
|
| Pacemaker |
(internal) Clarence W. Lillehie |
U.S. |
1957 |
Earl Bakk |
|
| Paper |
|
China |
100 |
|
| Parachute |
Louis S. Lenormand |
France |
1783 |
|
| Pen |
(fountain) Lewis E. Waterman |
U.S. |
1884 |
(ball-point |
|
1888; (ball-point |
for handwriting) Lazlo Biro |
Argentina |
1944 |
|
| Periodic
law |
(that properties of elements are functions of their atomic weights) Dmitri
Mendeleev |
Russia |
1869 |
|
| Periodic
table |
(arrangement of chemical elements based on periodic law) Dmitri Mendeleev |
Russia |
1869 |
|
| Phonograph |
Thomas A.
Edison |
U.S. |
1877 |
|
| Photography |
on metal) Joseph Nicéphore Niepce |
France |
1816 |
–1827; |
(discovery |
of |
fixative |
powers |
of |
hyposulfite |
of |
soda) |
Sir |
John |
Herschel |
forms basis for all modern photography. (First color images) Alexandre Becquerel |
Claude Niepce de Saint-Victor |
France |
1848–1860;
(commercial color film with three emulsion layers |
Kodachrome)
U.S. |
1935 |
|
| Photovoltaic
effect |
(light falling on certain materials can produce electricity) Edmund
Becquerel |
France |
1839 |
|
| Piano |
(Hammerklavier)
Bartolommeo Cristofori |
Italy |
1709 |
(pianoforte with sustaining and damper
pedals) John Broadwood |
|
| Planetary
motion, laws of |
Johannes Kepler |
Germany |
1609 |
|
1619 |
|
| Plant
respiration and photosynthesis |
Jan Ingenhousz |
Holland |
1779 |
|
| Plastics |
precursor to Celluloid) Alexander Parkes |
England |
1855 |
|
involving recognition of vital effect of camphor) John W. Hyatt |
U.S. |
1869; (Bakelite |
first completely synthetic plastic) Leo H. Baekeland |
U.S. |
1910; (theoretical background of macromolecules and process of polymerization on
which modern plastics industry rests) Hermann Staudinger |
Germany |
1922 |
|
| Plate
tectonics |
Alfred Wegener |
Germany |
1912 |
–1915. |
|
| Plow,
forked |
|
Mesopotamia |
-3000 |
|
| Plutonium,
synthesis of |
Glenn T. Seaborg |
U.S. |
1941 |
Edwin M. McMillan |
Arthur C. Wahl |
|
| Polio,
vaccine |
(experimentally safe dead-virus vaccine) Jonas E. Salk |
U.S. |
1952 |
(effective large-scale field trials) 1954 |
(officially approved) 1955 |
(safe oral live-virus vaccine developed)
Albert B. Sabin |
|
| Positron |
Carl D. Anderson |
U.S. |
1932 |
|
| Pressure
cooker |
(early version) Denis Papin |
France |
1679 |
|
| Printing |
(block) Japan |
Japan |
700 |
Johann Gutenberg |
|
offset) Aloys Senefelder |
Germany |
1796; (rotary press) Richard Hoe |
U.S. |
1844; (linotype) Ottmar Mergenthaler |
U.S. |
1884 |
|
| Probability
theory |
René Descartes |
France; and Pierre de Fermat |
1654 |
|
| Proton |
Ernest Rutherford |
England |
1919 |
|
| Prozac |
(antidepressant fluoxetine) Bryan B. Malloy |
Scotland |
1987 |
|
| Psychoanalysis |
Sigmund Freud |
Austria |
1904 |
|
| Pulsars |
Antony Hewish
and Jocelyn Bell Burnel |
England |
1967 |
|
| Quantum
theory |
(general) Max Planck |
Germany |
1900 |
(sub-atomic) Niels Bohr |
Erwin Schrödinger |
Germany |
1925 |
|
| Quarks |
Richard Taylor |
U.S. |
1967 |
|
| Quasars |
Marten Schmidt |
U.S. |
1963 |
|
| Rabies
immunization |
Louis Pasteur |
France |
1885 |
|
| Radar |
(limited to one-mile range) Christian Hulsmeyer |
Germany |
1904 |
(pulse modulation |
|
U.S. |
1925; (first practical radar—radio detection and ranging) Sir Robert Watson-Watt |
England |
1934–1935. |
|
| Radio |
(electromagnetism James Clerk Maxwell |
Germany |
1873 |
|
(spark coil |
generator of electromagnetic waves) Heinrich Hertz |
1886; (first practical system of wireless telegraphy) Guglielmo Marconi |
Italy |
1895; (first long-distance telegraphic radio signal sent across the Atlantic)
Marconi |
1901; (vacuum electron tube |
basis for radio telephony) Sir John Fleming |
England |
1904; (triode amplifying tube) Lee de Forest |
U.S. |
1906; (regenerative circuit |
allowing long-distance sound reception) Edwin H. Armstrong |
U.S. |
1912; (frequency modulation—FM) Edwin H. Armstrong |
U.S. |
1933 |
|
| Radio
signals, extraterrestrial |
Karl Jansky |
U.S. |
1931 |
|
| Radio
waves |
(cosmic sources |
U.S. |
1932 |
led to radio astronomy) Karl Jansky |
|
| Radioactivity |
(X-rays) Wilhelm K. Roentgen |
Germany |
1895 |
(radioactivity of uranium) Henri Becquerel |
radium and polonium in uranium ore) Marie Sklodowska-Curie |
Pierre Curie |
France |
1898; (classification of alpha and beta particle radiation) Pierre Curie |
France |
1900; (gamma radiation) Paul-Ulrich Villard |
France |
1900 |
|
| Radiocarbon
dating, carbon-14 method |
Willard F. Libby |
U.S. |
1950 |
|
| Razor |
(safety |
U.S. |
1901 |
successfully marketed) King Gillette |
U.S. |
1928 |
1931 |
|
| Reaper |
Cyrus McCormick |
U.S. |
1834 |
|
| Refrigerator |
Alexander Twining |
U.S. |
1850 |
James Harrison |
Australia |
1850; (first with a compressor device) the Domelse |
Chicago |
U.S. |
1913 |
|
| Refrigerator
ship |
cooling unit designed by Charles Teller |
France |
1877 |
|
| Relativity |
Switzerland |
Germany |
1905 |
–1953. |
|
| Revolver |
Samuel Colt |
U.S. |
1835 |
|
| Richter
scale |
Charles F. Richter |
U.S. |
1935 |
|
| Rifle |
(muzzle-loaded) Italy |
Germany |
1475 |
(breech-loaded) England |
U.S. |
c.1866; (bolt-action) Paul von Mauser |
Germany |
1889; (automatic) John Browning |
U.S. |
1918 |
|
| Rocket |
(liquid-fueled) Robert Goddard |
U.S. |
1926 |
|
| Roller
bearing |
(wooden for
cartwheel) |
Germany |
-100 |
|
| Rotation
of Earth |
Jean Bernard Foucault |
France |
1851 |
|
| Royal
Observatory, Greenwich |
John Flamsteed |
England |
1675 |
|
| Rubber |
(vulcanization process) Charles Goodyear |
U.S. |
1839 |
|
| Saccharin |
Constantine Fuhlberg |
U.S. |
1879 |
Ira Remsen |
|
| Safety
pin |
Walter Hunt |
U.S. |
1849 |
|
| Saturn,
ring around |
Christian Huygens |
The Netherlands |
1659 |
|
| Screw
propeller |
Sir Francis P. Smith |
England |
1836 |
John Ericsson |
|
1837 |
|
| Seismograph |
(first accurate) John Milne |
England |
1880 |
|
| Sewing
machine |
Elias Howe |
U.S. |
1846 |
(continuous stitch) Isaac Singer |
|
| Solar
energy |
First realistic application of solar energy using parabolic solar reflector to
drive caloric engine on steam boiler |
U.S. |
1860 |
John Ericsson |
|
| Solar
system, universe |
(Sun-centered universe) Nicolaus Copernicus |
Poland |
1543 |
(establishment of planetary orbits as elliptical) Johannes Kepler |
Italian monk |
1584 |
|
| Spectrum |
(heterogeneity of light) Sir Isaac Newton |
England |
1665 |
|
| Spectrum
analysis |
Robert Bunsen |
Germany |
1859 |
|
| Spermatozoa |
Anton van Leeuwenhoek |
The Netherlands |
1683 |
|
| Spinning |
(spinning wheel) India |
India |
1000 |
|
c.1500–1600;
(spinning jenny) James Hargreaves |
England |
1764; (spinning frame) Sir Richard Arkwright |
England |
1769; (spinning mule |
completed
mechanization of spinning |
permitting production of yarn to keep up with demands of modern looms) Samuel
Crompton |
England |
1779 |
|
| Star
catalog |
(first modern) Tycho Brahe |
Denmark |
1572 |
|
| Steam
engine |
(first commercial version based on principles of French physicist Denis Papin)
Thomas Savery |
England |
1639 |
(atmospheric steam engine) Thomas Newcomen |
Newcomen |
1725; (modern condensing |
double acting) James Watt |
England |
1782 |
|
| Steamship |
Claude de Jouffroy d'Abbans |
France |
1783 |
James Rumsey |
|
U.S. |
1790. All preceded Robert Fulton |
U.S. |
1807 |
credited with launching first commercially
successful steamship. |
|
| Stethoscope |
René Laënnec |
France |
1819 |
|
| Sulfa
drugs |
para-aminobenzenesulfanomide) Paul Gelmo |
Austria |
1935 |
|
| Superconductivity |
Scheiffer |
U.S. |
1957 |
|
| Symbolic
logic |
George Boule |
England |
1854 |
1854; (modern) Bertrand Russell |
Alfred North Whitehead |
|
| Tank,
military |
Sir Ernest Swinton |
England |
1914 |
|
| Tape
recorder |
(magnetic steel tape) Valdemar Poulsen |
Denmark |
1899 |
|
| Teflon |
DuPont |
U.S. |
1943 |
|
| Telegraph |
Samuel F.
B. Morse |
U.S. |
1837 |
|
| Telephone |
Alexander Graham Bell |
U.S. |
1876 |
|
| Telescope |
Hans Lippershey |
The Netherlands |
1608 |
(astronomical) Galileo Galilei |
England |
1668 |
|
| Television |
(Iconoscope–T.V. camera table) |
U.S. |
1923 |
Vladimir Zworkin |
and also kinescope (cathode ray tube) |
1928; (mechanical disk-scanning method) successfully demonstrated by J.K. Baird |
England |
C.F. Jenkins |
U.S. |
1926; (first all-electric television image) |
1927 |
Philo T. Farnsworth |
U.S; (color |
mechanical
disk) Baird |
1928; (color |
compatible with black and white) George Valensi |
France |
1938; (color |
sequential rotating filter) Peter Goldmark |
U.S. |
first introduced |
1951; (color |
compatible with black and white) commercially introduced in U.S. |
National Television Systems Committee |
1953 |
|
| Thermometer |
(open-column) Galileo Galilei |
Italy |
1593 |
|
c.1615; (mercury |
also Fahrenheit scale) Gabriel D. Fahrenheit |
Germany |
1714; (centigrade scale) Anders Celsius |
Sweden |
1742; (absolute-temperature |
or Kelvin |
scale) William Thompson |
Lord Kelvin |
England |
1848 |
|
| Tire,
pneumatic |
Robert W. Thompson |
England |
1845 |
(bicycle tire) John B. Dunlop |
|
| Toilet,
flush |
Product of Minoan civilization |
Crete |
-2000 |
|
| Tractor |
Benjamin Holt |
U.S. |
1900 |
|
| Transformer,
electric |
William Stanley |
U.S. |
1885 |
|
| Transistor |
John Bardeen |
U.S. |
1947 |
|
Walter H. Brattain |
William B. Shockley |
|
| Tuberculosis
bacterium |
Robert Koch |
Germany |
1882 |
|
| Typewriter |
Christopher Sholes |
U.S. |
1867 |
Carlos Glidden |
|
| Uncertainty
principle |
at the same time) Werner Heisenberg |
Germany |
1927 |
|
| Uranus |
(first planet discovered in recorded history) William Herschel |
England |
1781 |
|
| Vaccination |
Edward Jenner |
England |
1796 |
|
| Vacuum
cleaner |
(manually operated) Ives W. McGaffey |
England |
1873 |
|
1873; (upright) J. Murray Spangler |
U.S. |
1907 |
|
| Van
Allen (radiation) Belt |
(around Earth) James Van Allen |
U.S. |
1958 |
|
| Video
disk |
Philips Co. |
The Netherlands |
1972 |
|
| Vitamins |
Casimir Funk |
England |
1912 |
|
(vitamin A) Elmer V. McCollum |
M. Davis |
U.S. |
1912–1914;
(vitamin B) McCollum |
U.S. |
1915–1916;
(thiamin |
B1) Casimir
Funk |
England |
1912; (riboflavin |
B2) D. T. Smith |
E. G. Hendrick |
U.S. |
1926; (niacin) Conrad Elvehjem |
U.S. |
1937; (B6) Paul Gyorgy |
U.S. |
1934; (vitamin C) C. A. Hoist |
T. Froelich |
Norway |
1912; (vitamin D) McCollum |
U.S. |
1922; (folic acid) Lucy Wills |
England |
1933 |
| Voltaic
pile |
first source of continuous electric current) Alessandro Volta |
Italy |
1800 |
|
| Wallpaper |
|
Europe |
1600 |
|
| Wassermann
test |
(for syphilis) August von Wassermann |
Germany |
1906 |
|
| Wheel |
(cart |
solid wood) Mesopotamia |
-3800 |
|
| Windmill |
|
Persia |
600 |
|
| World
Wide Web |
(developed while working at CERN) Tim Berners-Lee |
U.S. |
1989 |
(development of Mosaic browser makes WWW
available for general use) Marc Andreeson |
|
| Xerography |
Chester Carlson |
U.S. |
1938 |
|
| Zero |
|
India |
600 |
cessation of all molecular energy) William Thompson |
Lord Kelvin |
England |
1848 |
|
| Zipper |
W. L. Judson |
U.S. |
1891 |
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