Copycats

1875

Typewriter

1900

Photocopying (camera takes a photo of an original)

1906

Photostats (copies made on light-sensitive paper instead of film)

1938

Xerography (a dry process, with no liquid developer)

1938

Tape recorder

1963

Home video recorder

1988

Facsimile (fax) machine


Counts

3000 B.C.

Abacus (board with beads for mathematical functions)

1623 A.D.

Mechanical calculator

1642

Adding machine

1946

Electronic computer

1963

Disk storage for computer

1969

The Internet

1970

Floppy disk

1971

Pocket calculator

1972

Compact disk

1975

Desktop computer

1976

Apple computer

1981

IBM Personal computer

1984

Laserdisc storage

1998

More than 20 percent of all U.S. households are online

1995

DVD (digital video disk)



Internet

1969

ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) goes online in December, connecting four major U.S. universities. Designed for research, education, and government organizations, it provides a communications network linking the country in the event that a military attack destroys conventional communications systems.

1972

Electronic mail is introduced by Ray Tomlinson, a Cambridge, Mass., computer scientist. He uses the @ to distinguish between the sender's name and network name in the email address.

1973

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is designed and in
1983 it becomes the standard for communicating between computers over the Internet. One of these protocols, FTP (File Transfer Protocol), allows users to log onto a remote computer, list the files on that computer, and download files from that computer.

1976

Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter and running mate Walter Mondale use email to plan campaign events.
Queen Elizabeth sends her first email. She's the first state leader to do so.

1982

The word “Internet” is used for the first time.

1984

Domain Name System (DNS) is established, with network addresses identified by extensions such as .com, .org, and .edu.
Writer William Gibson coins the term “cyberspace.”

1985

Quantum Computer Services, which later changes its name to America Online, debuts. It offers email, electronic bulletin boards, news, and other information.

1988

A virus called the Internet Worm temporarily shuts down about 10% of the world's Internet servers.

1989

The World (world.std.com) debuts as the first provider of dial-up Internet access for consumers.
Tim Berners-Lee of CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Physics) develops a new technique for distributing information on the Internet. He calls it the World Wide Web. The Web is based on hypertext, which permits the user to connect from one document to another at different sites on the Internet via hyperlinks (specially programmed words, phrases, buttons, or graphics). Unlike other Internet protocols, such as FTP and email, the Web is accessible through a graphical user interface.

1990

The first effort to index the Internet is created by Peter Deutsch at McGill University in Montreal, who devises Archie, an archive of FTP sites.

1991

Gopher, which provides point-and-click navigation, is created at the University of Minnesota and named after the school mascot. Gopher becomes the most popular interface for several years.
Another indexing system, WAIS (Wide Area Information Server), is developed by Brewster Kahle of Thinking Machines Corp.

1993

Mosaic is developed by Marc Andreeson at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). It becomes the dominant navigating system for the World Wide Web, which at this time accounts for merely 1% of all Internet traffic.

1994

The White House launches its website, www.whitehouse.gov.
Initial commerce sites are established and mass marketing campaigns are launched via email, introducing the term “spamming” to the Internet vocabulary.
Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark start Netscape Communications. They introduce the Navigator browser.

1995

CompuServe, America Online, and Prodigy start providing dial-up Internet access.
Sun Microsystems releases the Internet programming language called Java.
The Vatican launches its own website, www.vatican.va.

1996

Approximately 45 million people are using the Internet, with roughly 30 million of those in North America (United States and Canada), 9 million in Europe, and 6 million in Asia/Pacific (Australia, Japan, etc.). 43.2 million (44%) U.S. households own a personal computer, and 14 million of them are online.

1997

On July 8, 1997, Internet traffic records are broken as the NASA website broadcasts images taken by Pathfinder on Mars. The broadcast generates 46 million hits in one day.
The term “weblog” is coined. It’s later shortened to “blog.”

1998

Google opens its first office, in California.

1999

College student Shawn Fanning invents Napster, a computer application that allows users to swap music over the Internet.
The number of Internet users worldwide reaches 150 million by the beginning of 1999. More than 50% are from the United States.
“E-commerce” becomes the new buzzword as Internet shopping rapidly spreads.
MySpace.com is launched.

2000

To the chagrin of the Internet population, deviant computer programmers begin designing and circulating viruses with greater frequency. “Love Bug” and “Stages” are two examples of self-replicating viruses that send themselves to people listed in a computer user's email address book. The heavy volume of email messages being sent and received forces many infected companies to temporarily shut down their clogged networks.
The Internet bubble bursts, as the fountain of investment capital dries up and the Nasdaq stock index plunges, causing the initial public offering (IPO) window to slam shut and many dotcoms to close their doors.
America Online buys Time Warner for $16 billion. It’s the biggest merger of all time.

2001

Napster is dealt a potentially fatal blow when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco rules that the company is violating copyright laws and orders it to stop distributing copyrighted music. The file-swapping company says it is developing a subscription-based service.
About 9.8 billion electronic messages are sent daily.
Wikipedia is created.

2002

As of January, 58.5% of the U.S. population (164.14 million people) uses the Internet. Worldwide there are 544.2 million users.
The death knell tolls for Napster after a bankruptcy judge ruled in September that German media giant Bertelsmann cannot buy the assets of troubled Napster Inc. The ruling prompts Konrad Hilbers, Napster CEO, to resign and lay off his staff.

2003

It's estimated that Internet users illegally download about 2.6 billion music files each month.
Spam, unsolicited email, becomes a server-clogging menace. It accounts for about half of all emails. In December, President Bush signs the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM Act), which is intended to help individuals and businesses control the amount of unsolicited email they receive.
Apple Computer introduces Apple iTunes Music Store, which allows people to download songs for 99 cents each.
Spam, unsolicited email, becomes a server-clogging menace. It accounts for about half of all emails.
Apple Computer introduces Apple iTunes Music Store, which allows people to download songs for 99 cents each.

2004

Internet Worm, called MyDoom or Novarg, spreads through Internet servers. About 1 in 12 email messages are infected.
Online spending reaches a record high—$117 billion in 2004, a 26% increase over 2003.

2005

YouTube.com is launched.

2006

There are more than 92 million websites online.



Light

1906

Light bulbs (tungsten)

1910

Neon light

1915

Searchlight arc

1936

Fluorescent light

1960

Laser light used in U.S.



High-Tech

1876

Telephone patented

1893

Motion pictures (movies)

1899

Tape recorder

1927

Television

1933

FM radio

1951

Long-distance dialing in the U.S.

1956

Transatlantic telephone cable

1963

Pushbutton telephone in U.S.
Home video recorder

1972

Compact disk

1979

Sony Walkman

1983

Cellular phones in U.S.: mobile phones for cars, transportable phones carried in a case, and portable phones carried in hand

1994

Digital camera

1995

DVD (digital video disk)

2003

Camera phones



Household Heroes


1810

Canned food is introduced.

1834

The first refrigerator is invented.

1836

Gas stoves are used in homes.

1869

Margarine is produced.

1901

Electric washing machine is invented.

1906

The lightbulb is introduced.

1907

Electric vacuum cleaner is introduced.

1909

Electric toaster is made.

1911

Air conditioning is invented.

1928

Sliced bread is introduced.

1940

Automatic dishwasher is manufactured.

1967

Compact microwave ovens are sold




Bits and Pieces

1832

Matches

1845

Rubber bands

1879

Mechanical pencil

1888

Ball-point pen

1900

Paper clips

1937

Cellophane tape

1960

Felt-tip pens

1980

Post-It Notes




Take care,

A Guide to Inventions and Discoveries

From Adrenaline to the Zipper

A

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, Germany, 1900.

Aluminum manufacture:
(by electrolytic action) Charles M. Hall, U.S., 1866.

Anatomy, human:
(De fabrica corporis humani, an illustrated systematic study of the human body) Andreas Vesalius, Belgium, 1543; (comparative: parts of an organism are correlated to the functioning whole) Georges Cuvier, France, 1799–1805.

Anesthetic:
(first use of anesthetic—ether—on humans) Crawford W. Long, U.S., 1842.

Antibiotics:
(first demonstration of antibiotic effect) Louis Pasteur, Jules-François Joubert, France, 1887; (discovery of penicillin, first modern antibiotic) Alexander Fleming, Scotland, 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., 1882; (stove) Hadaway, U.S., 1896; (washing machine) Alva Fisher, U.S., 1906.

Aqualung:
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Emile Gagnan, France, 1943.

Aspirin:
Dr. Felix Hoffman, Germany, 1899.

Astronomical calculator:
The Antikythera device, Greece, first century B.C.. Found off island of Antikythera in 1900.

Atom:
(nuclear model of) Ernest Rutherford, England, 1911.

Atomic structure:
(formulated nuclear model of atom, Rutherford model) Ernest Rutherford, England, 1911; (proposed current concept of atomic structure, the Bohr model) Niels Bohr, Denmark, 1913.

Atomic theory:
(ancient) Leucippus, Democritus, Greece, c. 500 B.C.; Lucretius, Rome c.100 B.C.; (modern) John Dalton, England, 1808.

Automobile:
(first with internal combustion engine, 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., c.1910, first successful test, 1912, 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.

B

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.

Bar codes (computer-scanned binary signal code):
(retail trade use) Monarch Marking, U.S. 1970; (industrial use) Plessey Telecommunications, England, 1970.

Barometer:
Evangelista Torricelli, Italy, 1643.

Bicycle:
Karl D. von Sauerbronn, Germany, 1816; (first modern model) James Starley, England, 1884.

Big Bang theory:
(the universe originated with a huge explosion) George LeMaitre, Belgium, 1927; (modified LeMaitre theory labeled “Big Bang”) George A. Gamow, U.S., 1948; (cosmic microwave background radiation discovered, 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, Pa., 1800; (wire suspension) Marc Seguin, Lyons, 1825; (truss) Ithiel Town, U.S., 1820.

Bullet:
(conical) Claude Minié, France, 1849

C

Calculating machine:
(logarithms: made multiplying easier and thus calculators practical) John Napier, Scotland, 1614; (slide rule) William Oughtred, England, 1632; (digital calculator) Blaise Pascal, 1642; (multiplication machine) Gottfried Leibniz, Germany, 1671; (important 19th-century contributors to modern machine) Frank S. Baldwin, Jay R. Monroe, Dorr E. Felt, W. T. Ohdner, William Burroughs, all U.S.; (“analytical engine” design, included concepts of programming, taping) Charles Babbage, England, 1835.

Calculus:
Isaac Newton, England, 1669; (differential calculus) Gottfried Leibniz, Germany, 1684.

Camera:
(hand-held) George Eastman, U.S., 1888; (Polaroid Land) Edwin Land, U.S., 1948.

“Canals” of Mars:
Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italy, 1877.

Carpet sweeper:
Melville R. Bissell, U.S., 1876.

Car radio:
William Lear, Elmer Wavering, U.S., 1929, manufactured by Galvin Manufacturing Co., “Motorola.”

Cells:
(word used to describe microscopic examination of cork) Robert Hooke, England, 1665; (theory: cells are common structural and functional unit of all living organisms) Theodor Schwann, Matthias Schleiden, 1838–1839.

Cement, Portland:
Joseph Aspdin, England, 1824.

Chewing gum:
(spruce-based) John Curtis, U.S., 1848; (chicle-based) Thomas Adams, U.S., 1870.

Cholera bacterium:
Robert Koch, Germany, 1883.

Circuit, integrated:
(theoretical) G.W.A. Dummer, England, 1952; (phase-shift oscillator) Jack S. Kilby, Texas Instruments, U.S., 1959.

Classification of plants:
(first modern, based on comparative study of forms) Andrea Cesalpino, Italy, 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, 1830s; (ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator, first all-electronic, completed) John Presper Eckert, Jr., John Mauchly, U.S., 1945; (dedicated at University of Pennsylvania) 1946; (UNIVAC, Universal Automatic Computer, handled both numeric and alphabetic data) 1951; (personal computer) Steve Wozniak, U.S., 1976.

Concrete:
(reinforced) Joseph Monier, France, 1877.

Condensed milk:
Gail Borden, U.S., 1853.

Conditioned reflex:
Ivan Pavlov, Russia, c.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, U.S. 1912; (first comprehensive detailed theory) Alfred Wegener, Germany, 1912.

Contraceptive, oral:
Gregory Pincus, Min Chuch Chang, John Rock, Carl Djerassi, U.S., 1951.

Converter, Bessemer:
William Kelly, U.S., 1851.

Cosmetics:
Egypt, c. 4000 B.C.

Cosmic string theory:
(first postulated) Thomas Kibble, UK, 1976.

Cotton gin:
Eli Whitney, U.S., 1793.

Crossbow:
China, c. 300 B.C.

Cyclotron:
Ernest O. Lawrence, U.S., 1931

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D

Defibrillator:
Dr. William Bennett Kouwenhoven, U.S., 1932; (implantable) M. Stephen Heilman, MD, Dr. Alois Langer, Morton Mower, MD, Michel Mirowski, MD, 1980.

Deuterium:
(heavy hydrogen) Harold Urey, U.S., 1931.

Disease:
(chemicals in treatment of) crusaded by Philippus Paracelsus, 1527–1541; (germ theory) Louis Pasteur, France, 1862–1877.

DNA:
(deoxyribonucleic acid) Friedrich Meischer, Germany, 1869; (determination of double-helical structure) F. H. Crick, England and James D. Watson, U.S., 1953.

Dye:
(aniline, start of synthetic dye industry) William H. Perkin, England, 1856.

Dynamite:
Alfred Nobel, Sweden, 1867.

E

Electric cooking utensil:
(first) patented by St. George Lane-Fox, England, 1874.

Electric generator (dynamo):
(laboratory model) Michael Faraday, England, 1832; Joseph Henry, U.S., c.1832; (hand-driven model) Hippolyte Pixii, France, 1833; (alternating-current generator) Nikola Tesla, U.S., 1892.

Electric lamp:
(arc lamp) Sir Humphrey Davy, England, 1801; (fluorescent lamp) A.E. Becquerel, France, 1867; (incandescent lamp) Sir Joseph Swann, 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, Switzerland, 1887; (first practical device for recording activity of heart) Willem Einthoven, 1903, Netherlands.

Electromagnet:
William Sturgeon, England, 1823.

Electron:
Sir Joseph J. Thompson, England, 1897.

Electronic mail:
Ray Tomlinson, U.S., 1972.

Elevator, passenger:
(safety device permitting use by passengers) Elisha G. Otis, U.S., 1852; (elevator utilizing safety device) 1857.

E = mc2:
(equivalence of mass and energy) Albert Einstein, Switzerland, 1907.

Engine, internal combustion:
No single inventor. Fundamental theory established by Sadi Carnot, France, 1824; (two-stroke) Etienne Lenoir, France, 1860; (ideal operating cycle for four-stroke) Alphonse Beau de Roche, 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, England, 1859.

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, U.S., 1929; (Hubble constant: a measure of the rate at which the universe is expanding) Edwin P. Hubble, U.S., 1929.

F

Falling bodies, law of:
Galileo Galilei, Italy, 1590.

Fermentation:
(microorganisms as cause of) Louis Pasteur, France, c.1860.

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.

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G

Gene transfer:
(recombinant DNA organism) Herbert Boyer, Stanley Cohen, U.S., 1973; (human) Steven Rosenberg, R. Michael Blaese, W. French Anderson, U.S., 1989.

Geometry, elements of:
Euclid, Alexandria, Egypt, c. 300 B.C.; (analytic) René Descartes, France; and Pierre de Fermat, Switzerland, 1637.

Gravitation, law of:
Sir Isaac Newton, England, c.1665 (published 1687).

Gunpowder:
China, c.700.

Gyrocompass:
Elmer A. Sperry, U.S., 1905.

Gyroscope:
Jean Léon Foucault, France, 1852

H

Halley's Comet:
Edmund Halley, England, 1705.

Heart implanted in human, permanent artificial:
Dr. Robert Jarvik, U.S., 1982.

Heart, temporary artificial:
Willem Kolff, Netherlands, U.S., 1957.

Helicopter:
(double rotor) Heinrich Focke, Germany, 1936; (single rotor) Igor Sikorsky, U.S., 1939.

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, Japan, 1975.

I

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, 1922; (Nobel Prize awarded for purification for use in humans) John Macleod and Banting, 1923; (first synthesized), China, 1966.

Intelligence testing:
Alfred Binet, Theodore Simon, France, 1905.

Interferon:
Alick Isaacs, England, Jean Lindemann, Switzerland, 1957.

Isotopes:
(concept of) Frederick Soddy, England, 1912; (stable isotopes) J. J. Thompson, England, 1913; (existence demonstrated by mass spectrography) Francis W. Aston, England, 1919.

J

Jet propulsion:
(engine) Sir Frank Whittle, England, Hans von Ohain, Germany, 1936; (aircraft) Heinkel He 178, 1939.

K

Kinetic theory of gases:
(molecules of a gas are in a state of rapid motion) Daniel Bernoulli, Switzerland, 1738.

L

Laser:
(theoretical work on) Charles H. Townes, Arthur L. Schawlow, U.S., N. Basov, 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., c.1760.

Leyden jar:
(prototype electrical condenser) Canon E. G. von Kleist of Kamin, Pomerania, 1745; independently evolved by Cunaeus and P. van Musschenbroek, University of Leyden, Holland, 1746, from where name originated.

Light, nature of:
(wave theory) Christian Huygens, The Netherlands, 1678; (electromagnetic theory) James Clerk Maxwell, England, 1873.

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, due to multiple-fire-tube boiler) George Stephenson, England, 1829; (largest steam-powered) Union Pacific's “Big Boy,” U.S., 1941.

Loom:
(horizontal, two-beamed) Egypt, c. 4400 B.C.; (Jacquard drawloom, pattern controlled by punch cards) Jacques de Vaucanson, France, 1745, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, 1801; (flying shuttle) John Kay, England, 1733; (power-driven loom) Edmund Cartwright, England, 1785.

__________________
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M

Machine gun:
(hand-cranked multibarrel) Richard J. Gatling, U.S., 1862; (practical single barrel, belt-fed) Hiram S. Maxim, Anglo-American, 1884.

Magnet, Earth is:
William Gilbert, England, 1600.

Match:
(phosphorus) François Derosne, France, 1816; (friction) Charles Sauria, France, 1831; (safety) J. E. Lundstrom, Sweden, 1855.

Measles vaccine:
John F. Enders, Thomas Peebles, U.S., 1953.

Metric system:
revolutionary government of France, 1790–1801.

Microphone:
Charles Wheatstone, England, 1827.

Microscope:
(compound) Zacharias Janssen, The Netherlands, 1590; (electron) Vladimir Zworykin et al., U.S., Canada, Germany, 1932–1939.

Microwave oven:
Percy Spencer, U.S., 1947.

Motion, laws of:
Isaac Newton, England, 1687.

Motion pictures:
Thomas A. Edison, U.S., 1893.

Motion pictures, sound:
Product of various inventions. First picture with synchronized musical score: Don Juan, 1926; with spoken dialogue: The Jazz Singer, 1927; both Warner Bros.

Motor, electric:
Michael Faraday, England, 1822; (alternating-current) Nikola Tesla, U.S., 1892.

Motorcycle:
(motor tricycle) Edward Butler, England, 1884; (gasoline-engine motorcycle) Gottlieb Daimler, Germany, 1885.

Moving assembly line:
Henry Ford, U.S., 1913.

N

Neptune:
(discovery of) Johann Galle, Germany, 1846.

Neptunium:
(first transuranic element, synthesis of) Edward M. McMillan, 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:
Otto Hahn, Fritz Strassmann, Germany, 1938.

Nuclear reactor:
Enrico Fermi, Italy, et al., 1942.

O

Ohm's law:
(relationship between strength of electric current, electromotive force, and circuit resistance) Georg S. Ohm, Germany, 1827.

Oil well:
Edwin L. Drake, U.S., 1859.

Oxygen:
(isolation of) Joseph Priestley, England, 1774; Karl Scheele, Sweden, 1773.

Ozone:
Christian Schönbein, Germany, 1839.

P

Pacemaker:
(internal) Clarence W. Lillehie, Earl Bakk, U.S., 1957.

Paper:
China, c.100 A.D.

Parachute:
Louis S. Lenormand, France, 1783.

Pen:
(fountain) Lewis E. Waterman, U.S., 1884; (ball-point, for marking on rough surfaces) John H. Loud, U.S., 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:
(first paper negative, first photograph, on metal) Joseph Nicéphore Niepce, France, 1816–1827; (discovery of fixative powers of hyposulfite of soda) Sir John Herschel, England, 1819; (first direct positive image on silver plate, the daguerreotype) Louis Daguerre, based on work with Niepce, France, 1839; (first paper negative from which a number of positive prints could be made) William Talbot, England, 1841. Work of these four men, taken together, 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, England, 1873.

Planetary motion, laws of:
Johannes Kepler, Germany, 1609, 1619.

Plant respiration and photosynthesis:
Jan Ingenhousz, Holland, 1779.

Plastics:
(first material, nitrocellulose softened by vegetable oil, camphor, precursor to Celluloid) Alexander Parkes, England, 1855; (Celluloid, 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; (polypropylene and low-pressure method for producing high-density polyethylene) Robert Banks, Paul Hogan, U.S., 1958.

Plate tectonics:
Alfred Wegener, Germany, 1912–1915.

Plow, forked:
Mesopotamia, before 3000 B.C.

Plutonium, synthesis of:
Glenn T. Seaborg, Edwin M. McMillan, Arthur C. Wahl, Joseph W. Kennedy, U.S., 1941.

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, U.S., 1954; (available in the U.S.) 1960.

Positron:
Carl D. Anderson, U.S., 1932.

Pressure cooker:
(early version) Denis Papin, France, 1679.

Printing:
(block) Japan, c.700; (movable type) Korea, c.1400, Johann Gutenberg, Germany, c.1450; (lithography, 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, Switzerland, 1654.

Proton:
Ernest Rutherford, England, 1919.

Prozac:
(antidepressant fluoxetine) Bryan B. Malloy, Scotland, and Klaus K. Schmiegel, U.S., 1972; (released for use in U.S.) Eli Lilly & Company, 1987.

Psychoanalysis:
Sigmund Freud, Austria, c.1904.

Pulsars:
Antony Hewish and Jocelyn Bell Burnel, England, 1967.

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Q

Quantum theory:
(general) Max Planck, Germany, 1900; (sub-atomic) Niels Bohr, Denmark, 1913; (quantum mechanics) Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Germany, 1925.

Quarks:
Jerome Friedman, Henry Kendall, Richard Taylor, U.S., 1967.

Quasars:
Marten Schmidt, U.S., 1963.

R

Rabies immunization:
Louis Pasteur, France, 1885.

Radar:
(limited to one-mile range) Christian Hulsmeyer, Germany, 1904; (pulse modulation, used for measuring height of ionosphere) Gregory Breit, Merle Tuve, U.S., 1925; (first practical radar—radio detection and ranging) Sir Robert Watson-Watt, Scotland, 1934–1935.

Radio:
(electromagnetism, theory of) James Clerk Maxwell, England, 1873; (spark coil, generator of electromagnetic waves) Heinrich Hertz, Germany, 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.

Radioactivity:
(X-rays) Wilhelm K. Roentgen, Germany, 1895; (radioactivity of uranium) Henri Becquerel, France, 1896; (radioactive elements, 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:
(discovered) Willard F. Libby, U.S., 1947; (first demonstrated) U.S., 1950.

Radio signals, extraterrestrial:
first known radio noise signals were received by U.S. engineer, Karl Jansky, originating from the Galactic Center, 1931.

Radio waves:
(cosmic sources, led to radio astronomy) Karl Jansky, U.S., 1932.

Razor:
(safety, successfully marketed) King Gillette, U.S., 1901; (electric) Jacob Schick, U.S., 1928, 1931.

Reaper:
Cyrus McCormick, U.S., 1834.

Refrigerator:
Alexander Twining, U.S., James Harrison, Australia, 1850; (first with a compressor device) the Domelse, Chicago, U.S., 1913.

Refrigerator ship:
(first) the Frigorifique, cooling unit designed by Charles Teller, France, 1877.

Relativity:
(special and general theories of) Albert Einstein, Switzerland, Germany, U.S., 1905–1953.

Revolver:
Samuel Colt, U.S., 1835.

Richter scale:
Charles F. Richter, U.S., 1935.

Rifle:
(muzzle-loaded) Italy, Germany, c.1475; (breech-loaded) England, France, Germany, 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 or France, c.100 B.C.

Rotation of Earth:
Jean Bernard Foucault, France, 1851.

Royal Observatory, Greenwich:
established in 1675 by Charles II of England; John Flamsteed first Astronomer Royal.

Rubber:
(vulcanization process) Charles Goodyear, U.S., 1839.

S

Saccharin:
Constantine Fuhlberg, Ira Remsen, U.S., 1879.

Safety pin:
Walter Hunt, U.S., 1849.

Saturn, ring around:
Christian Huygens, The Netherlands, 1659.

“Scotch” tape:
Richard Drew, U.S., 1929.

Screw propeller:
Sir Francis P. Smith, England, 1836; John Ericsson, England, worked independently of and simultaneously with Smith, 1837.

Seat belt:
(three point) Nils Bohlin, Sweden, 1962.

Seismograph:
(first accurate) John Milne, England, 1880.

Sewing machine:
Elias Howe, U.S., 1846; (continuous stitch) Isaac Singer, U.S., 1851.

Solar energy:
First realistic application of solar energy using parabolic solar reflector to drive caloric engine on steam boiler, John Ericsson, U.S., 1860s.

Solar system, universe:
(Sun-centered universe) Nicolaus Copernicus, Warsaw, 1543; (establishment of planetary orbits as elliptical) Johannes Kepler, Germany, 1609; (infinity of universe) Giordano Bruno, Italian monk, 1584.

Spectrum:
(heterogeneity of light) Sir Isaac Newton, England, 1665–1666.

Spectrum analysis:
Gustav Kirchhoff, Robert Bunsen, Germany, 1859.

Spermatozoa:
Anton van Leeuwenhoek, The Netherlands, 1683.

Spinning:
(spinning wheel) India, introduced to Europe in Middle Ages; (Saxony wheel, continuous spinning of wool or cotton yarn) England, 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, England, 1705; (steam engine for pumping water from collieries) Savery, Newcomen, 1725; (modern condensing, double acting) James Watt, England, 1782; (high-pressure) Oliver Evans, U.S., 1804.

Steamship:
Claude de Jouffroy d'Abbans, France, 1783; James Rumsey, U.S., 1787; John Fitch, U.S., 1790; (high-pressure) Oliver Evans, U.S., 1804. All preceded Robert Fulton, U.S., 1807, credited with launching first commercially successful steamship.

Stethoscope:
René Laënnec, France, 1819.

Sulfa drugs:
(parent compound, para-aminobenzenesulfanomide) Paul Gelmo, Austria, 1908; (antibacterial activity) Gerhard Domagk, Germany, 1935.

Superconductivity:
(theory) John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, John Scheiffer, U.S., 1957.

Symbolic logic:
George Boule, 1854; (modern) Bertrand Russell, Alfred North Whitehead, England, 1910–1913.

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T

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, Italy, 1609; (reflecting) Isaac Newton, England, 1668.

Television:
(Iconoscope–T.V. camera table) Vladimir Zworykin, U.S., 1923, and also kinescope (cathode ray tube) 1928; (mechanical disk-scanning method) successfully demonstrated by J.L. Baird, Scotland, C.F. Jenkins, U.S., 1926; (first all-electric television image) Philo T. Farnsworth, U.S., 1927; (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.

Thermodynamics:
(first law: energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another) Julius von Mayer, Germany, 1842; James Joule, England, 1843; (second law: heat cannot of itself pass from a colder to a warmer body) Rudolph Clausius, Germany, 1850; (third law: the entropy of ordered solids reaches zero at the absolute zero of temperature) Walter Nernst, Germany, 1918.

Thermometer:
(open-column) Galileo Galilei, c.1593; (clinical) Santorio Santorio, Padua, 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, Northern Ireland, 1888.

Toilet, flush:
Product of Minoan civilization, Crete, c. 2000 B.C. Alleged invention by “Thomas Crapper” is untrue.

Tractor:
Benjamin Holt, U.S., 1900.

Transformer, electric:
William Stanley, U.S., 1885.

Transistor:
John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, William B. Shockley, U.S., 1947.

Tuberculosis bacterium:
Robert Koch, Germany, 1882.

Typewriter:
Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden, U.S., 1867

U

Uncertainty principle:
(that position and velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly, at the same time) Werner Heisenberg, Germany, 1927.

Uranus:
(first planet discovered in recorded history) William Herschel, England, 1781.

V

Vaccination:
Edward Jenner, England, 1796.

Vacuum cleaner:
(manually operated) Ives W. McGaffey, U.S., 1869; (electric) Hubert C. Booth, England, 1901; (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:
(hypothesis of disease deficiency) Sir F. G. Hopkins, 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:
(forerunner of modern battery, first source of continuous electric current) Alessandro Volta, Italy, 1800.

W

Wallpaper:
Europe, 16th and 17th century.

Wassermann test:
(for syphilis) August von Wassermann, Germany, 1906.

Wheel:
(cart, solid wood) Mesopotamia, c.3800–3600 B.C.

Windmill:
Persia, c.600.

World Wide Web:
(developed while working at CERN) Tim Berners-Lee, England, 1989; (development of Mosaic browser makes WWW available for general use) Marc Andreeson, U.S., 1993.

X , Y & Z

Xerography:
Chester Carlson, U.S., 1938.

Yellow Fever:
(transmission of) Walter Reed, U.S., 1900.

Zero:
India, c. 600; (absolute zero temperature, cessation of all molecular energy) William Thompson, Lord Kelvin, England, 1848.

Zipper:
W. L. Judson, U.S., 1891

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Invention Channel

Computer

Transistor

Semiconductor Amplifier; Three-Electrode Circuit Element Utilizing Semiconductive Materials

Physicists John Bardeen, William B. Shockley, and Walter Brattain shared the 1956 Nobel Prize for jointly inventing the transistor, a solid-state device that could amplify electrical current. In 1972, Bardeen received a second Nobel Prize in Physics for the theory of superconductivity.




Calculator


William Seward Burroughs invented the first practical adding and listing machine. Burroughs submitted a patent application in 1885 for his 'Calculating Machine' and the patent was awarded in 1888. In 1886 Burroughs and several St. Louis businessmen formed the American Arithmometer Co. to market the machine. The first machine, however, required a special knack in pulling the handle to execute the calculation correctly. More often than not novice users would get wildly differing sums depending on the vigor they employed in using the invention. In 1893 Burroughs received a patent for an improved calculating machine, which incorporated an oil-filled 'dashpot,' a hydraulic governor. This device enabled the machine to operate properly regardless of the manner with which the handle might be pulled.








Computer Mouse


Douglas Engelbart's patent for the mouse is only a representation of his pioneering working designing modern interactive computer environments.

A main concern for Engelbart was how the computer could be used as a useful tool in tomorrow's office. While at SRI, he developed a hypermedia groupware system called NLS (oN-Line System). NLS utilized two-dimensional computerized text editing, and the mouse, used to position a pointer into text, was a critical component. During a 1968 demonstration, Engelbart first introduced NLS--this was the world debut of the mouse, hypermedia, and on-screen video teleconferencing. His project became the second host on Arpanet, predecessor of the Internet.









Audio Signals

Cofounder of the electronics giant Hewlett-Packard, William R. Hewlett invented the audio oscillator, the first practical method of generating audio signals needed in communications, geophysics, medicine, and defense work.








Miniaturized Electronic Circuits
Integrated Circuit



In 1959 electrical engineer Jack S. Kilby invented the monolithic integrated circuit, which is still widely used in electronic systems. In 1958 he joined Texas Instruments Inc. in Dallas where he was responsible for integrated circuit development and applications. Within a year he had invented the monolithic integrated circuit.






Semiconductor Device-and-Lead Structure
Integrated Circuit



Robert N. Noyce, cofounder of Intel Corporation, was one of the pioneers of semiconductor development.








Display Devices Utilizing Liquid Crystal Light Modulation
Liquid Crystal Display



James Fergason holds a series of patents that form the foundation of the multi-billion dollar LCD industry which has been rapidly growing since 1971.

In 1970, Fergason made the first operating LCDs. Prior to this invention, LCDs used a large amount of power, provided a limited life, and had poor visual contrast. In 1971, the first LCDs were demonstrated publicly and enthusiastically accepted.









Personal Computer

Wozniak's Apple II personal computer - introduced in 1977 and featuring a central processing unit (CPU), keyboard, floppy disk drive and a $1,300 price tag - helped launch the PC industry. In 1980, just a little more than four years after being founded, Apple went public.







Supercomputer

Seymour Cray unveiled the CRAY-1 in 1976, considered the first supercomputer.


The CRAY-2, his second supercomputer, came in 1985. The amount of silicon chips used in CRAY-2 caused a problem because they overheated so intensely during use. By immersing CRAY-2 in a cooling bath of liquid fluorocarbon, Cray kept the chips from melting. Cray's theory for success with the CRAY-3 was to substitute revolutionary new gallium arsenide integrated circuits for the traditional silicon ones.









Random Access Memory

Jay W. Forrester was a pioneer in early digital computer development and invented random-access, coincident-current magnetic storage, which became the standard memory device for digital computers.

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Communications

Radio

High-Frequency Alternator
Radio


Inventor Ernst Alexanderson was the General Electric Company engineer whose high-frequency alternator gave America its start in the field of radio communication. In 1904, Alexanderson was assigned to build a high-frequency machine that would operate at high speeds and produce a continuous-wave commission.

Beforethe invention of his alternator, radio was an affair only of dots and dashes transmitted by inefficient crashing spark machines. After two years of experimentation, Alexanderson finally constructed a two-kilowatt, 100,000-cycle machine. It was installed in the Fessenden station at Brant Rock, Massachusetts, on Christmas Eve, 1906. It enabled that station to transmit a radio broadcast which included a voice and a violin solo.





Method of Receiving High-Frequency Oscillations
Radio


His crowning achievement (1933) was the invention of wide-band frequency modulation, now known as FM radio.

The inventions of engineer Edwin Howard Armstrong were so important that to this day every radio or television set makes use of one or more of his developments.






Space Telegraphy
Radio


In the early 1900s, the great requirement for further development of radio was an efficient and delicate detector of electromagnetic radiation. Lee de Forest provided that detector. DeForest found a clue to creating the long-sought detector of electromagnetic radiation in John A. Fleming's invention of the so-called electronic valve. The most serious drawback of the Fleming valve was that it was relatively insensitive to changes in the intensity of incident electromagnetic radiation. Moreover, the Fleming valve could act only as a rectifier, not an amplifier. DeForest's simple but revolutionary answer was to insert a third electrode between the cathode and the anode. The audion amplifier was the most important of de Forest's more than 300 patents.



Apparatus for Signaling by Electromagnetic Waves
Radio


Reginald Fessenden is known for discovering amplitude modulation (AM) radioand explaining its scientific principles. With this heterodyne principle, he put into practice the idea of mixing two high frequency signals to carry the audible low frequency of the human voice.

Fessenden became fascinated with the idea of wireless telegraphy as a childwhen he saw Bell demonstrate his telephone. He wondered from that point on if he could transmit voice without using wires. In 1900 he did just that transmitting his voice with his wireless telephone. Six years later, history was made on Christmas Eve when Fessenden transmitted the first radio broadcast from Brant Rock Station, Massachesetts. Ships at sea heard a broadcast that included Fessenden playing O Holy Night on the violin and reading a passage from the Bible.







Telegraph

Morse developed 'lightning wires' and 'Morse code,' an electronic alphabet that could carry messages. The patent was applied for in 1840. A line was constructed between Baltimore and Washington and the first message, sent on May 24,1844, was 'What hath God wrought!'

In 1861 the two coasts of the United States were linked by telegraph.







Typewriter

Christopher Sholes invented the first practical typewriter and introduced the keyboard layout that is familiar today. As he experimented early on with different versions, Sholes realized that the levers in the type basket would jam when he arranged the keys in alphabetical order. He rearranged the keyboard to prevent levers from jamming when frequently used keys were utilized. The rearranged keys in the upper row formed the order QWERTY, and the design exists to this day.









Telephone / Telegraphy

Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone grew out of his research into ways to improve the telegraph.





Car Radio

Though his name is most often associated with corporate jet airplanes, William Lear earlier made his mark in car radios and by inventing the eight-track tape player.






Cathode-Ray Tube


Television System
Cathode-Ray Tube


Farnsworth's basic television patents covered scanning, focusing, synchronizing, contrast, controls, and power. He also invented the first cold cathode ray tubes and the first simple electronic microscope. He used radio waves to get direction (later called radar) and black light for seeing at night (used in World War II).

Philo Taylor Farnsworth's electronic inventions took all of the moving parts out of televisions and made possible today's TV industry, the TV shots from the moon, and satellite pictures.



Cathode-Ray Tube

Most people think of television as a development of the mid-20th century. But as early as 1929 Russian inventor Vladimir Kosma Zworykin was demonstrating a system with all the features of modern picture tubes.

On November 18,1929, at a convention of radio engineers, Zworykin demonstrated a television receiver containing his 'kinescope,' a cathode-ray tube.







Electret Microphone

Electroacoustic Transducer
Electret Microphone


Gerhard Sessler and James West invented the foil electret microphone while working at Bell Laboratories. This device, which was finalized in 1962, combines high performance features, such as broad frequency range, low noise, and high sensitivity with low cost. Its commercial production began in 1968. Today, almost one billion electret microphones are manufactured annually.

In the 1980s at the University of Darmstadt, Sessler developed the first condenser microphones based on silicon micromachining.

This innovative technology allows for the fabrication of thousands of tiny microphones on a single silicon wafer. These can be used for hearing aids, hearing implants, and other applications.




Electroacoustic Transducer
Electret Microphone


In 1962, James West and Gerhard Sessler patented the electret microphone while working at Bell Laboratories. In the electret microphone, thin sheets of polymer electret film are metal-coated on one side to form the membrane of the movable plate capacitor that converts sound to electrical signals with high fidelity

The microphone became widely used because of its high performance, accuracy, and reliability, in addition to its low cost, small size, and light weight. Ninety percent of today’s microphones are electret microphones, and they are used in everyday items such as telephones, camcorders, and tape recorders.










High Resolution Radar and Sonar

Electric System; Microwave Scanning System; Sound Ranging System


Robert H. Rines' contributions to the technology of high-resolution image-scanning radar and sonar began in the era of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Radiation Laboratory with modulation techniques for the Microwave Early Warning System developed secretly during World War II. In peace time, his inventions were basic to high-definition sonar scanning systems used in locating the Titanic and the Bismarck. They are also used in new medical instrumentation allowing noninvasive ultrasound imaging of internal organs.

His patents underlie nearly all the high-definition image-scanning radar used to provide early-warning, weapons fire-control, and some artillery and missile detection radars during the war in the Persian Gulf.









Machine for Producing Printing Bars
Linotype


Ottmar Mergenthaler's invention of the linotype composing machine in 1886 is regarded as the greatest advance in printing since the development of moveable type 400 years earlier.

Mergenthaler's machine enabled one operator to be machinist, type-setter, justifier, typefounder, and type-distributor.

Since the machine was first used in 1886 by the New York Tribune, great improvements on its design have been made. Probably more than 1,500 separate patents have been taken out in connection with it.









Magnetic Recording

Electromagnetic Talking Device; Electromagnetic Talking Machine

Semi Joseph Begun was a pioneer of magnetic recording. He developed the Sound Mirror, the first consumer tape recorder, the Mail-A-Voice, which magnetically recorded on one side of a paper disk for letter correspondence, and a sourcing agreement for magnetic tape with 3M that turned into a billion dollar product line.

One application was the Black Box aircraft recorder used to investigate aircraft accidents.



Method and Means of Magnetic Recording
Magnetic Recording


Marvin Camras' inventions are used in modern magnetic tape and wire recorders, including high frequency bias, improved recording heads, wire and tape material, magnetic sound for motion pictures, multitrack tape machines, stereophonic sound reproduction, and video tape recording.

Before and during World War II his early wire recorders were used by the military to train pilots. Battle sounds were recorded and equipment was developed to amplify it by thousands of watts. The recordings were placed where the invasion of D-Day was not to take place, giving false information to the Germans. The public first heard of Camras' work after the war had ended.








Radio Distance and Direction Indicator

Luis Walter Alvarez invented a radio distance and direction indicator. During World War II, he designed a landing system for aircrafts and a radar system for locating planes. Later, he helped develop the hydrogen bubble chamber, used to detect subatomic particles.

This research led to the discovery of over 70 elementary particles and resulted in a major revision of nuclear theories.










Television

Louis W. Parker invented the intercarrier sound system for television sets, the modern basis for coordinating sound and picture.









Video Tape Recording

Charles Ginsburg led the research team at Ampex Corporation in developing the first practical videotape recorder (VTR). The system used a rapidly rotating recording head to apply high-frequency signals onto a reel of magnetic tape.

The VTR revolutionized television broadcasting. Ginsburg led the Ampex research team that developed a new machine that could run the tape at a much slower rate because the recording heads rotated at high speed, allowing the necessary high-frequency response. Recorded programs that could be edited replaced most live broadcasts. In 1956, CBS became the first network to employ VTR technology.

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Agriculture

Cotton Gin

American inventor, pioneer, mechanical engineer, and manufacturer Eli Whitney is best remembered as the inventor of the cotton gin. He also affected the industrial development of the United States when, in manufacturing muskets for the government, he translated the concept of interchangeable parts into a manufacturing system, giving birth to the American mass-production concept. Whitney saw that a machine to clean the seed from cotton could make the South prosperous and make its inventor rich. He set to work at once and within days had drawn a sketch to explain his idea; 10 days later he constructed a crude model that separated fiber from seed.

After perfecting his machine he filed an application for a patent on June 20, 1793; in February 1794 he deposited a model at the Patent Office, and on March 14 he received his patent.

Whitney's gin brought the South prosperity, but the unwillingness of the planters to pay for its use and the ease with which the gin could be pirated put Whitney's company out of business by 1797.

When Congress refused to renew the patent, which expired in 1807, Whitney concluded that 'an invention can be so valuable as to be worthless to the inventor.' He never patented his later inventions, one of which was a milling machine. His genius as expressed in tools, machines, and technological ideas made the southern United States dominant in cotton production and the northern states a bastion of industry.










Mechanical Reaper

Cyrus Hall McCormick invented the mechanical reaper, which combined all the steps that earlier harvesting machines had performed separately.

Patenting his invention in 1834, after Obed Hussey had announced (1833) the construction of a reaper of his own, McCormick started to manufacture the machine on the family estate in 1837. Six years later he began to license its manufacture in other parts of the country. In 1847 he set up a factory in Chicago, founding what eventually became one of the greatest industrial establishments in the United States.

His timesaving invention allowed farmers to more than double their crop size and spurred innovations in farm machinery.










Peach and Fruit

During a lifetime devoted to plant breeding, Luther Burbank developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants, including 113 varieties of plums and prunes, 10 varieties of berries, 50 varieties of lilies and the Freestone peach.







Peanut Products

Agricultural chemist George Washington Carver developed crop-rotation methods for conserving nutrients in soil and discovered hundreds of new uses for crops such as the peanut, which created new markets for farmers, especially in the South.


At Tuskegee, Carver developed his crop rotation method, which alternated nitrate producing legumes-such as peanuts and peas-with cotton, which depletes soil of its nutrients. Following Carver's lead, southern farmers soon began planting peanuts one year and cotton the next. While many of the peanuts were used to feed livestock, large surpluses quickly developed. Carver then developed 325 different uses for the extra peanuts-from cooking oil to printers ink. When he discovered that the sweet potato and the pecan also enriched depleted soils, Carver found almost 20 uses for these crops, including synthetic rubber and material for paving highways.










Plows

John Deere developed the first American cast steel plow. The implements being used by pioneer farmers of that day were cumbersome and ineffective for cutting and turning the prairie soil. To alleviate the problem, Deere and a partner, Major Leonard Andrus, designed three new plows in 1838. Their cutting part was made from steel cut from an old sawmill blade and shaped by bending it over a log. The moldboard, used for lifting and turning, was made of wrought iron and polished on the upper surface to prevent clogging.


The plow was so successful that by 1846 Deere and his partner were selling a thousand a year. Deere then sold his interest in the Grand Detour enterprise to Andrus and organized a plow company in Moline, Illinois. After experimenting with imported English steel, he had a cast steel plow made for him in Pittsburgh. By 1855 he was selling more than 13,000 such plows a year.

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