inventions

A post in the Israeli Jar thread got me thinking. What discoveries do we know of that were discovered by more than one society (or person) in more than one place? Pyramid structures. Use of hallucinogenic drugs (as per the interesting post by @grunion ). Beer/alcohol. What else? And have you...

Inspired by the "Inventions that could have been made 5000 years ago" and by H. G. Wells(*): What is your favourite anecdote of a civilization that prospered without a very basic discovery/invention? For instance, you could live happily on sashimi and salad in a warm climate without being able...

Jack Kilby passed away not to long ago. He was the inventor of the integrated circuit, when he was at Texas Instruments. The Chairman of TI said "In my opinion, there are only a handful of people whose works have truly transformed the world and the way we live in it – Henry Ford, Thomas...