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Inventions that have changed human existence

Freakshow

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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 Edison, the Wright Brothers and Jack Kilby"

This got me thinking...what other inventors/inventions have fundamentally changed human existence? I'm thinking really big here, not "cool stuff to have" type of things. I thought it might be fun to have a thread where we could list and discuss inventions/inventors that have changed humanity. The four inventors listed by the TI Chairman definately belong on the list.

I've thought of some others...anyone disagree with my choices? Or have others to add? (I'm sure I'll think of more later.) I'm thinking strictly of technical invention here. "Taming and training horses" is certainly important to human history, and people had to develop the technique at some point. But, for the purposes of this list, I don't consider it an "invention".

Whenever there is not easily one person to select as the inventor, I just listed the inventor as "various". I didn't create the thread to get into arguments over who precisely invented what. :) But if you have a clear correction on an item, please let me know, I'd be interested in reading it.

Printing press: Johann Gutenberg
Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell
Wheel: Unknown
Battery: ?
Television: Various (depends on definition of "television")
Vaccination: Jenner/Pasteur
Refrigeration (think of preserving food here, not just being comfortable with AC): Various (Many people claim it).
Camera: ?
Computer (including all forms in this context, along with software, and networking): Various
Modern rocketry: Robert Goddard
Artificial satellite: Various
Jet engine: Various
Gun: Various/unknown
 
We went through this 5 years ago with the "Most Important Inventions of the Century" lists. IMHO, one very important one that is usually left out is the transistor. It was a fundamental shift in electronic technology. Integrated circuits and/or computers usually make the list, but they are just a whole bunch of transistors crammed together. They are incremental improvements, not the paradigm shift from vacuum tubes to transistors.

Most of the marvelous technology we take for granted today would not be possible without transistors.
 
The camera is something I know about.

The camera obscura has been known about and used for centuries, as well as the camera lucida.

The photosensivity of certain chemicals has also been in our knowledge for a while, but the ability to 'fix' the image had been was not until the early 19th century.

Niepce produced what is commonly considered the first photograph, but the process was impractical as it required several hours of exposure time.

The invention of photography is normally credited to Louis Jaques Mandé Daguerre, who publicly announced his discovery in 1839. William Henry Fox-Talbot was close behind.
 
If we've got the wheel, how about symbols?

Surely someone must have first thought of representing an object with an abstract representation of it.



And, whenever it happens, the holodeck.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it more the wheel axle that represented a really, big change? Suddenly transportation was made much, much easier than the previous method of using a lot of logs as "proto-wheels", which by itself is so slow and requires several workers, so that only really heavy stuff (like the blocks for pyramids and other buildings) was worth. But suddenly, you then have access to something that is (most of the time) much quicker, much easier, and allows people to travel over long land distances with more than the absolute necessary equipment...

Or am I totally off the track, and the wheel axle wasn't much of a paradigm shifter from the "proto-wheels"? Or were there transitions between them that I am currently unaware of, even?
 
The church key. That was easy. It is the most important invention ever invented.

Paul

:) :) :)
 
Ashles said:
If we've got the wheel, how about symbols?

Surely someone must have first thought of representing an object with an abstract representation of it.



And, whenever it happens, the holodeck.
Click to expand...

I thought about that the minute I saw the opening post.

The first invention/innovation: writing.

Some might put speech/language as the first but that seems more a discovery of innate ability/adaptation than an invention.

Tools, the use there of, don't really count either because they exist in other primates (sees the ape fishing for termites with a twig, hitting a rival with a stick)

Writing (or basic symbology) first.

The Zero is a close second. Abstract built upon abstract.
 
Interesting. As part of a lecture I give we covered:

Horse collar:
Imagine an addition to your truck which instantly increased it's haulage capability by a factor of 10.

Paper

Ink

Printing / Movable type

Gunpowder

Paper money

Internal combustion engine

Steam engine
 
With all the medical miracles we have the simple things matter the most. Hydrogen Peroxide, Iodine and others have probably saved more lives than all the other medical achievements in history put together.

With my genetic ingrown toenails, I would most certainly be maimed and probably dead without it.
 
I'm going with the electric guitar. It has completely changed our popular music.

The earliest electric guitars were Rickenbacker using tungsten pickups. The first solid body electric guitars (what I would consider the modern electric guitar) were created by Les Paul after working for Epiphone, and there was a solid body bakelite guitar by Rickenbacker, as well as Leo Fender and his Broadcaster guitar.

At the very least, having such an impact on our cultural popular music, it deserves a spot on the list.


(edited to add...)

I should mention those were the commercially sold early guitars. The world's first electric guitar was created in 1928 by George Beauchamp with the help of craftsman Harry Watson.
 
Um, lets see string and glue are a good place to start along with horticulture leading to agriculture, I think that bee keeping is really a radical step as well.
 
Funny how everyone forgets the vacuum tube when it comes to major developments in electronics. Almost EVERY major analog circuit was developed first with vacuum tubes before they were translated to solid-state devices.

What I like about vacuum tubes is that they can be produced using relatively low-tech equipment (a vacuum pump and hand tools). If any end-of-the-world scenarios played out, leaving mankind with a lower technology capability, then vacuum tubes would be produced long before the transistor. There are examples I've read about early radio amateurs making their own tubes using filaments from light bulbs, glass tubes, rubber stoppers, and sealing wax.

You could make the case that the light bulb is more important, because vacuum tubes grew out of research into some strange phenominon observed in the early light bulbs.

Beanbag
 
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