Inventions play a big role in shaping our history. Today we will be looking at some inventions that
forever changed our world. Without these inventions, life, as we know it simply,
wouldn’t be possible. So let's jump right into these inventions coming up next!
A stone tool in general is any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. The earliest
known human-made stone tools date back about 2.6 million years. They were crafted and used by Homo
habilis, an early human ancestor, and marked the first in a series of major toolmaking advances
among early human hunter-gatherer societies. Without these primitive tools,
our ancestors would not have survived the stone age resulting in the extinction of Homo Sapiens.
The invention of the wheel is often known as the most important invention of all time. By
definition, a wheel is a circular object that revolves on an axle and is fixed below a vehicle
or other object to enable it to move easily over the ground. The place and time of the invention of
the wheel remain unclear, however, many modern scholars suggest that the first potter's wheel
was developed by the ancient Sumerians in Mesopotamia around 7000 years ago. Some believe
that before we had a full set of wheels on rolling objects as we know it today, it was found on toys
that were most likely made by potters for their children. However, the societal revolution came
many centuries later when the idea was adapted for other uses, in particular for wagons and chariots.
The invention of the wagon had an immediate and dramatic effect on societies throughout the
Middle East and Europe. It dramatically increased farmer’s productivity, altering the landscape as a
consequence. The wagon changed entire economies, lifestyles, wars, and even languages. Today,
we find wheels almost everywhere. From the most obvious places such as on cars, trucks,
and airplanes, to the most hidden places such as on the inside of computer hard-drives washing
machines, and dishwashers. Many great things without the invention of the wheel would not be
possible, which is why the wheel is considered one of the greatest inventions of mankind.
Paper is a thin nonwoven material traditionally made by pressing together cellulose fibers
extracted from plants and trees. Papyrus paper is the first paper in history which was found
in the tombs and temples of Ancient Egyptians as far back as 2700 B.C. It was made by Ancient
Egyptians from papyrus plants. However, the invention of paper as we know it is generally
associated with Ts’ai Lun, a Chinese scholar and a government official under the Han dynasty around
100 A.D since he was the first to have been officially recorded. Ts’ai Lun seems to have
made his paper by mixing finely chopped mulberry bark and hemp rags with water, mashing it flat,
and then pressing out the water and letting it dry in the sun. The art of papermaking was kept
a secret in China for centuries as it took another one thousand years before people were using paper
all over Eurasia. Without the invention of paper, we would not have many useful things
such as the printing press, paper currency, and other packaging materials that are widely used.
A clock is a device used to measure time. Some of the oldest known clocks are the sundials
along with the hourglass, and water clocks. However, it wasn’t until 725 A.D when the first
mechanical clock was invented by Yi Xing, a monk and a mathematician in China. Earlier clocks like
Xing's lasted only a few years before the water in the mechanism caused the metal to corrode.
Later clocks used mercury, which was better to use with iron and bronze mechanisms
since it did not cause any corrosion in these metals.
Modern clocks of today are much different and work on much more sophisticated principles,
however, without the invention of the first mechanical clock, we would all be lost in time.
Invented more than 2000 years ago, a compass is an instrument for navigation and orientation.
It is said to have been invented during the Han Dynasty of China around 300 and 200 BC.
At first, it was used for fortune-telling, and other related matters,
however, people soon discovered its navigational capabilities during the Song Dynasty. The first
compasses were made of lodestone, a naturally magnetized stone of iron, but today we have
liquid-filled magnetic compasses without which the age of exploration would be very difficult.
Telephones revolutionized communications around the world.
While Italian innovator Antonio Meucci is credited with inventing the first basic phone in 1849,
and Frenchman Charles Bourseul for devising a phone in 1854, it is Alexander Graham Bell who
is widely credited as the inventor of the telephone. After some controversy,
Bell won the first U.S. patent for the device in 1876. His interest in sound technology was very
personal since both his wife and mother were deaf. Within 50 years of its invention, the telephone
had become an indispensable tool around the world. It has changed a lot since its conception,
but life in the modern times would simply not be the same without the telephone.
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.
It uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder.
The movement of the piston is then used to power machines or perform other tasks. One of the first
steam engines was invented by Thomas Savery in 1698. It wasn't very useful, but other inventors
made improvements over time which lead to the first useful steam engine invented by
Thomas Newcomen in 1712. It was first used to pump water out of mines but later was used in factories
throughout England. The steam engine was one of the most important inventions of the Industrial
Revolution as it was used in factories, mines, locomotives, and steamboats. Although it has
largely been replaced by electrical and internal combustion engines, steam power is still heavily
used around the world in various applications such as nuclear power plants and electric plants.
A computer is a machine that can be instructed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical
operations automatically through computer programming. Modern computers have the ability
to follow generalized sets of operations, called programs. Early computers were only thought of
as calculating devices so we could say that the first computer was in fact an abacus. However,
the first computer resembling today's modern machines was the Analytical Engine, a device
conceived and designed by British mathematician Charles Babbage between 1833 and 1871.
It used moving parts to do the computations and weighed tons. The Analytical Engine,
lead to the computers of today without which live would not be the same.
A refrigerator consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump
that transfers heat from its inside to the external environment. Refrigeration is an
essential food storage technique since lower temperatures slow the rate of reproduction of
bacteria and reduce the rate of food spoilage. The first vapor-compression refrigeration cycle
was put forward by Jacob Perkins, who is also known as the father of refrigeration.
His refrigeration machine, built in 1834, was based on the theory put forward by Oliver Evans
who designed the first refrigeration machine that used vapor instead of liquid to cool. Without
artificial refrigeration, we would have to rely on ancient methods of cooling things with ice or
placing items under water which would definitely cause many problems in today’s way of life.
Electric light is a device that produces visible light from electric current.
Thomas Edison is often credited with creating the light bulb in 1879, however, he was not
the only one who contributed to the development of this revolutionary technology. It happened
over many decades with many great inventors making small improvements on previous ideas
and trying to better understand the properties of electricity. The invention of lightbulbs
liberated humanity from the dependence of just daylight. This meant that people could now also
work or do other activities at night increasing productivity. We rely very heavily on electricity
and light in our daily lives, so life without them in today’s world would is unimaginable.
So, these were some of our picks for Inventions that changed the world.
Do you agree with our choices? What are your top picks for inventions that changed the world?
Let us know in the comment section below and we might even make another video on your list. Also,
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