Inventions that Changed the World 3 Flashcards
steel
While the early ages used stone, bronze, and iron, it was steel that fired the industrial revolution. As per archaeological excavations, the earliest known production of the metal dates back to 4,000 years.
The invention of the Bessemer Process (a technique for creating steel using molten pig iron) paved the way for the mass production of steel, making it one of the biggest industries on the planet. Now steel is used in the creation of everything from bridges to skyscrapers.
transistors
The transistor is an essential component in nearly every modern electronic gadget.
In 1926, Julius Lilienfeld patented a field-effect transistor, but the working device was not feasible.
In 1947 John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley developed the first practical device at Bell Laboratories.
It then won the trio 1956 Nobel Prize in physics.
Transistors have become a fundamental piece of the circuitry in countless electronic devices including televisions, cell phones, and computers making a remarkable impact on technology.
Antibiotics
Antibiotics saved millions of lives by killing and inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria.
Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch first described the Antibiosis (phenomena of antibiotic drug) in 1877.
In 1928, Alexander Fleming set the first leap in antibiotics by identifying penicillin, the chemical compound with antibiotic properties.
Throughout the 20th century, antibiotics spread rapidly and proved to be a major living improvement, fighting nearly every known form of infection and protecting peoples’ health.
X-ray
Of course, x-rays are a phenomenon of the natural world, and thus can’t be invented. But they were discovered accidentally.
The invisible was made visible in 1895. X-ray is undoubtedly one of the epoch-making advancement in the field of medicine.
All credits to physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen. While testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass, he noticed a glow coming from a nearby chemically coated screen. Because of their unknown nature, he named it as X-rays. Through his observation, he learned that X-rays can be photographed when they penetrate into human flesh.
Refrigerator
Over the last 150 years, refrigeration offered us ways to preserve food, medicines, and other perishable substances. Before its conception, people cooled their food with ice and snow.
James Harrison built the first practical vapor compression refrigeration system. However, the first widespread refrigerator was the General Electric “Monitor-Top” refrigerator of 1927. While it helped to rev up industrial processes, it became an industry itself.
television
Television! A small box with enormous information that changed entertainment and communications forever.
The invention of the television was the work of many individuals. Although TV plays an important part in our everyday lives, it rapidly developed during the 19th and the 20th century.
The first television camera was invented by two men without knowing that they both are working on the same one (No TV to communicate them the news); Vladimir Zworykin and Philo Taylor. In 1884, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow created and patented the first television which he called the electromechanical television system.
Though Color TV was not a new idea, in 1925 Zworykin filed a patent for an electronic color television system. Over time, television will gain political importance as every country started to share their political agenda through it.
camera
The camera is undoubtedly one of the most cherished creations.
Cameras have witnessed many phases of evolution – camera obscura, daguerreotypes, dry plates, calotypes, film to SLRs and DSLRs. In 1826, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce used a sliding wooden box camera made by Charles and Vincent Chevalier to click the first permanent photograph.
With the technological advancements, Digital cameras were introduced to save pictures on the memory cards rather than using films.
The history of the digital camera began with Eugene F. Lally idea to take pictures of the planets and stars while traveling through space.
Later, Steven Sasson a Kodak engineer invented and built the first digital camera in 1975. Though the digital camera ruled over the traditional camera, the most revolutionary aspect has been the advent of the camera phone.
Now, every smartphone has an inbuilt camera and is able to take images. With the growing demand, video recording was also made a part of it.
At present, the camera comes with inbuilt GPS system and real-time geotagging options. Freeze the great moments from your life in the form of photographs with better quality and superior handling digital camera. One doesn’t have to look much further than a photo album to see that cameras are one of the great inventions that changed the world.
computers
Major shoutout to the mechanical engineer Charles Babbage for laying the foundation to this remarkable and most reliable invention. In the early 19th century, the “father of the computer” conceptualized and invented the first mechanical computer. Although there’s no single inventor of the modern computer, the principle was proposed by Alan Turing in his seminal 1936 paper.
Today, computers stand as the symbolic representation of the modern world.
