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You see them every day without giving them a second look. They are all around you, often taken for granted, often the only thing keeping you safe and healthy, but every one of them important for their intended purpose. They help us, they make us see things differently, and they guide us to our destiny.
We are talking about inventions. Take the lightbulb. Invented by Nicola Tesla, rushed to market by Thomas Edison, and we use them every single day, knowing they will light our path or keep us from the black of darkness. But how often do you really think about the inventor? Probably never, which is a shame. They were fascinating people.
Update this concept today. You watch the official trailer for a movie by Christopher Nolen based on a comic book. You know the hero’s name, but do you know the mind that dreamt him up, inked him, shaped his backstory, and gave him his wonderful toys?
How We Got Here?
There are no failures, just early opportunities at success. Here are some inventions that shaped our world, from the minds of vigilant dreamers who saw it through:
1. The Printing Press
The written word is humanity’s greatest achievement, and in 1440, Johannes Gutenberg invented a mechanical press that used ink and metal moveable type and transferred the type to paper. The first item he printed was the Bible.
2. The Telephone
That little device glued to your hand had a humbler beginning. A few folks tried to do it before, but Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 was awarded the inventors patent for the electric telephone. It quickly replaced the less efficient telegraph system that used morse code. This is one of the more popular new technology inventions that just keeps evolving.
3. Airplanes
We think you probably know this story. In 1903, the Wright Brothers did the first successful manned and controlled flight of a homemade airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. They set in motion the air travel many of us use today. DiVinci thought them up, but the Wright Brothers saw it through.
4. Penicillin
A few essential items throughout history were invented by accident. One you have definitely heard of is penicillin. Alexander Fleming, in 1928 saw a mold-filled bacteria jar with the lid not correctly on it and saw that where the mold was, the bacteria had died. The mold, Penicillium, was refined and purified into what hospitals use today.
5. Electricity
It is a misnomer that Ben Franklin invented electricity. Not true. He discovered it, but the first person to generate electricity safely and practically was Alessandro Volta. New robot inventions wouldn’t work without this vital tool.
6. Contraceptives
The innovations in birth control options changed the way millions looked at intercourse. In the old logic, sex was only for procreation. With the inventions of birth control pills, condoms, and other methods, sex became recreational without fear of pregnancy. These cool new inventions gained popularity quickly.
7. Television
In 1884 Paul Gottlieb Nipkow patented the first official television, dubbing it the “electromechanical television system.” It wasn’t until 1925 that one of the inventors of the first TV camera patented the tech to make a TV with color.
8. Banknote Currency
This started all the way back in the Han Dynasty in China in 118 BC. It was much easier to transport lightweight currency than paying with livestock.
9. The Compass
You use Google maps, but that had to start somewhere. The Chinese discovered the lodestone’s magnetic properties and used it for navigational purposes somewhere between the 9th and 11th centuries. Even new scientific inventions like modern GPS still use this basic concept.
10. Nuclear Weapons
Robert Oppenheimer, who spent the greater part of his life regretting his invention, was the father of the modern nuclear age with the atomic bomb’s creation. He spent his remaining years after fighting to keep nuclear power regulated, lest it sends us into an apocalypse of our own making. He is coined with quoting the Bhavagad Gita, “Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
Conclusion: You might be asking yourself: “What are the new inventions?” And the simple answer is the more recent innovations are often based on these classics from the past, Although new invention ideas pop up all the time. Have you any new invention ideas that might change the world?
