Timeline of historic inventions

The timeline of historic inventions is a chronological list of particularly significant technological inventions and their inventors, where known.Template:Efn This page lists nonincremental inventions that are widely recognized by reliable sources as having had a direct impact on the course of history that was profound, global, and enduring. The dates in this article make frequent use of the units mya and kya, which refer to millions and thousands of years ago, respectively. Template:History of technology sidebar

Paleolithic

Template:Further The dates listed in this section refer to the earliest evidence of an invention found and dated by archaeologists (or in a few cases, suggested by indirect evidence). Dates are often approximate and change as more research is done, reported and seen. Older examples of any given technology are often found. The locations listed are for the site where the earliest solid evidence has been found, but especially for the earlier inventions, there is little certainty how close that may be to where the invention took place.

Lower Paleolithic

The Lower Paleolithic period lasted over 3 million years, during which there many human-like species evolved including toward the end of this period, Homo sapiens. The original divergence between humans and chimpanzees occurred 13 (Mya), however interbreeding continued until as recently as 4 Ma, with the first species clearly belonging to the human (and not chimpanzee) lineage being Australopithecus anamensis. Some species are controversial among paleoanthropologists, who disagree whether they are species on their own or not. Here Homo ergaster is included under Homo erectus, while Homo rhodesiensis is included under Homo heidelbergensis.

During this period the Quaternary glaciation began (about 2.58 million years ago), and continues to today. It has been an ice age, with cycles of 40–100,000 years alternating between long, cold, more glaciated periods, and shorter warmer periods – interglacial episodes.

• 3.3 Mya – 2.6 Mya: Stone tools - found in modern-day Kenya are older and only found on the archetype road. Ancient stone tools from Ethiopia (Oldowan) were hand-crafted by Australopithecus or related people.<ref name="de Heinzelin">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>Template:Explain
• 2.3 Mya: Earliest likely control of fire and cooking, by Homo habilis<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Miller">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="James">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1.76 Mya: Advanced (Acheulean) stone tools in Kenya by Homo erectus<ref>"Anthropologists have yet to find an Acheulian hand axe gripped in a Homo erectus fist but most credit Homo erectus with developing the technology."</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1.75 Mya – 150 kya: Varying estimates for the origin of language<ref name="Uomini e72693">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Perreault 2012">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1.5 Mya: Bone tools in Africa by Homo erectus and/or Paranthropus boisei<ref>https://www.sciencenews.org/article/human-ancestors-oldest-bone-tools</ref><ref>https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08652-5</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 900 kya – 40 kya: Boats<ref name="Plakias2010" >Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 500 kya: Hafting in South Africa by Homo heidelbergensis<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 500 kya – 450 kya: Woodworking construction in Zambia by Homo heidelbergensis<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> (The oldest known surviving buildings are made from stone and date back no more than 9,500 years.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>)
• 420 – 200 kya: Food storage in the form of uncracked bones saved for their marrow in Qesem cave, Palestine.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 400 kya: Pigments in Zambia by Homo heidelbergensis<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 337 kya – 300 kya: Schöningen Spears in Germany<ref>Kouwenhoven, Arlette P., World's Oldest Spears</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Richter, D. and M. Krbetschek. 2015: The age of the Lower Paleolithic occupation at Schöningen. Journal of Human Evolution 89, 46-56.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> likely by Homo heidelbergensis or early Neandarthals.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 320 kya: The trade and long-distance (up to 50 miles) transportation of resources (e.g. obsidian), use of pigments, and possible making of projectile points in Kenya<ref name="NPR-593591796">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="The Atlantic-555674">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Brooks">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Middle Paleolithic

The evolution of early modern humans around 300 kya coincides with the start of the Middle Paleolithic period. During this 250,000-year period, our related archaic humans such as Neanderthals and Denisovans began to spread out of Africa, joined later by Homo sapiens. Over the course of the period we see evidence of increasingly long-distance trade, religious rites, and other behavior associated with Behavioral modernity.

• 279 kya: Hafting and early stone-tipped projectile weapons in Ethiopia<ref name="SahlePLOS1">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 200 kya: Simple glue (adhesive) made of one kind of material, birch tar, in Central Italy by Neanderthals.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 200 kya: Beds in South Africa.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 170 kya – 90 kya: Clothing, among anatomically modern humans in Africa. Genetic evidence from body lice suggests a range of dates centering over 100 thousand years ago.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The first bone scrapers appropriate for scraping hides to make supple leather were found in Morocco dating to 90–120,000 years ago.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="TG-20210916">Template:Cite news</ref>
• 164 kya – 47 kya: Heat treating of stone blades in South Africa.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 135 kya – 100 kya: Beads in Palestine and Algeria<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> — implying string or thread
• 100 kya: Compound paints made in South Africa<ref name="bbc.com-15257259">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Washington Post-2011/10/12/gIQApyHrhL">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Henshilwood et al. 2011">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 100 kya: Funerals (in the form of burial) in Palestine<ref name="lieberman2">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 90 kya: Harpoons in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 70 kya – 60 kya in Sibudu Cave in South Africa by Homo sapiens:
  • Compound adhesives<ref name="Wadley">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Arrows and other evidence of bow-and-arrow technology<ref name="Lombard">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Lombard M">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Backwell2018">Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Sewing needle<ref name="Backwell">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> (implying thread of some kind)
• 61 kya – 62 kya: Cave painting in Spain by Neanderthal<ref name=Hoffmann2018>

Template:Cite journal "we present dating results for three sites in Spain that show that cave art emerged in Iberia substantially earlier than previously thought. Uranium-thorium (U-Th) dates on carbonate crusts overlying paintings provide minimum ages for a red linear motif in La Pasiega (Cantabria), a hand stencil in Maltravieso (Extremadura), and red-painted speleothems in Ardales (Andalucía). Collectively, these results show that cave art in Iberia is older than 64.8 thousand years (ka). This cave art is the earliest dated so far and predates, by at least 20 ka, the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which implies Neandertal authorship."</ref>

• 55.8–51.2 kya: Representational and Narrative art in Indonesia by Homo sapiens<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Upper Paleolithic to Early Mesolithic

50 kya was long regarded as the beginning of behavioral modernity, which defined the Upper Paleolithic period. The Upper Paleolithic lasted nearly 40,000 years, while research continues to push the beginnings of behavioral modernity earlier into the Middle Paleolithic. Behavioral modernity is characterized by the widespread observation of religious rites, artistic expression and the appearance of tools made for purely intellectual or artistic pursuits.

• 49 kya – 30 kya: Ground stone tools – fragments of an axe in Australia date to 49–45 ka, more appear in Japan closer to 30 ka, and elsewhere closer to the Neolithic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>"Prehistoric Japan, New perspectives on insular East Asia", Keiji Imamura, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Template:ISBN</ref>
• 47 kya: The oldest-known mines in the world are from Eswatini, and extracted hematite for the production of the red pigment ochre.<ref>Swaziland Natural Trust Commission, "Cultural Resources – Malolotja Archaeology, Lion Cavern", Retrieved 27 August 2007, Template:Cite web.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 45 kya – 9 kya: Earliest evidence of shoes, suggested by changes in foot bone morphology in China by Tianyuan man.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The earliest physical shoes found so far are bark sandals dated to 10 to 9 kya in Fort Rock Cave, United States.<ref name="Connolly_Tom">Template:Cite web</ref> The oldest known leather shoe dated to 5.5 kya was found in excellent condition in the Areni-1 cave located in the Vayots Dzor province of Armenia.<ref name="National Geographic">Template:Cite news</ref>
• 44 kya – 42 kya: Tally sticks (see Lebombo bone) in Eswatini<ref>It is called a notched bone, illustrated in Fig. 1, 12 Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 42 kya: Flute in Germany<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 37 kya: Mortar and pestle in Southwest Asia<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 32-28 kya: Rope and Cords for "hafting stone tools, weaving baskets, or sewing garments," according to Elis Kvavadze et al.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 31 kya: Amputation and surgery.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Medicine in a meaningful sense likely predates the human-chimpanzee split, as, for example, herbal medicine has been observed in other primates.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 28 kya: Ceramics (direct evidence) and weaving (impressions left in the ceramics) in Moravia<ref>"The occupants used flint knives, made bone tools and modelled in baked clay – on which they left their fingerprints, along with imprints of reindeer hair and textiles." Template:Cite web</ref><ref>"Several imprints of human fingers, animal hair and textile structures were incidentally produced as well" Template:Cite journal</ref> (Czech Republic) and Georgia. (The oldest piece of woven cloth found so far was in Çatalhöyük, Turkey and dated to about 9,000 years ago.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>)
• 24 kya: Oldest known ceramic sculpture<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 23 kya: Domestication of the dog in Siberia.<ref name=Perri2021>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 22 – 17 kya Bullroarer<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>"In total, Dauvois describes or illustrates seven likely bullroarers associated with Solutrean and Magdalenian contexts" Template:Citation</ref><ref>Dauvois, M. (1989) Son et Musique Paléolithiques, Les Dossiers D'Archéologie Vol. 142, p. 2-11.</ref>
• 22 kya: Fish hook in Okinawa Island, modern day Japan.<ref name="Price2016">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 21 – 3.7 kya: Star chart in France,<ref>Template:Cite arXiv</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and later Spain,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kashmir,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Germany,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Egypt.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 20 – 16 kya: Pottery in China<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Science">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>"Chinese pottery may be earliest discovered". Associated Press. 1 June 2009</ref>
• 17.5 kya: Spear-thrower (atlatl), found in France.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
• 14.5 kya: Bread in Jordan<ref name="Briggs2018">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Arranz-Otaegui Gonzalez Carretero Ramsey Fuller p=201801071">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 12 kya: Spindle whorl, also the oldest wheel-like tool, at Nahal Ein Gev II (Palestine)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Agricultural and proto-agricultural eras

The end of the Last Glacial Period ("ice age") and the beginning of the Holocene around 11.7 ka coincide with the Agricultural Revolution, marking the beginning of the agricultural era, which persisted there until the industrial revolution.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Neolithic and Late Mesolithic

Template:Further During the Neolithic period, lasting 8400 years, stone began to be used for construction, and remained a predominant hard material for toolmaking. Copper and arsenic bronze were developed towards the end of this period, and of course the use of many softer materials such as wood, bone, and fibers continued. Domestication spread both in the sense of how many species were domesticated, and how widespread the practice became.

• 10,000 BC – 9000 BC: Agriculture in the Fertile Crescent<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 10,000 BC – 9000 BC: Domestication of sheep in Southwest Asia<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="storey">Template:Cite book</ref> (followed shortly by pigs, goats and cattle)
• 9500 BC – 9000 BC: Oldest known surviving building – Göbekli Tepe, in Turkey<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 9000 BC – 6000 BC: Domestication of rice in China<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 9000 BC: Mudbricks (unfired bricks), and clay mortar in Jericho.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 8400 BC: Oldest known water well in Cyprus.<ref name="autogenerated2">Template:Cite news</ref>
• 8040–7510 BC: The Pesse canoe is the oldest boat we have found,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> while early human habitation of Crete and Australia make clear human seafaring goes back tens or hundreds of thousands of years. (see above)
• 8000–7500 BC: Proto-city – large permanent settlements, such as Tell es-Sultan (Jericho) and Çatalhöyük, Turkey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 8000–5000 BC: Domestication of potatoes, in southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia by pre-Columbian farmers, around Lake Titicaca.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 7000 BC: Alcohol fermentation – specifically mead, in China<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 7000 BC: Sled dog and Dog sled, in Siberia.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
• 7000 BC – 3300 BC: Tanned leather in Mehrgarh, Pakistan.<ref>Possehl, Gregory L. (1996). Mehrgarh in Oxford Companion to Archaeology, edited by Brian Fagan. Oxford University Press.</ref>
• 6500 BC: Evidence of lead smelting in Çatalhöyük, Turkey<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 6000 BC: Kiln in Mesopotamia (Iraq)<ref name="Bienkowski">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 6th millennium BC: Irrigation in Khuzistan, Iran<ref>

Template:Cite book </ref><ref> Template:Cite book </ref>

• 6000 BC – 3200 BC: Proto-writing in present-day Egypt, Iraq, Romania, China, India and Pakistan.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 5900 – 5600 BC: Oldest evidence of salt production found in Southeastern Europe, in the countries of Moldova and Romania.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 5500 – 5200 BC: Oldest evidence of cheese found, in Poland and on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 5500 BC: Sailing - pottery depictions of sail boats, in Mesopotamia,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and later ancient Egypt<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="johnstone">The sea-craft of prehistory, p76, by Paul Johnstone, Routledge, 1980</ref>
• 5000 BC: Copper smelting in Serbia.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 5000 BC: Seawall in Tel Hreiz, near Haifa, Israel.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 5th millennium BC: Lacquer in China<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Loewe (1968), 170–171</ref>
• 5000 BC: Cotton thread, in Mehrgarh, Pakistan, connecting the copper beads of a bracelet.<ref name="Mithen2006">Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="JIAPAN2018">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 5000 BC – 4500 BC: Rowing oars in China<ref>Deng, Gang. (1997). Chinese Maritime Activities and Socioeconomic Development, c. 2100 B.C.–1900 A.D. Westport: Greenwood Press. Template:ISBN, p. 22.</ref><ref name="Stark">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 4500 BC – 3500 BC: Lost-wax casting in Palestine<ref name="Muhly">Template:Citation. In Template:Harvnb</ref> or the Indus Valley<ref>Thoury, M.; et al. (2016). "High spatial dynamics-photoluminescence imaging reveals the metallurgy of the earliest lost-wax cast object". Nature Communications. 7. doi:10.1038/ncomms13356.</ref>
• 4400 BC: Fired bricks in China.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 4000 BC: Probable time period of the first diamond-mines in the world, in Southern India.<ref name=hershey>

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• 4000 BC: Paved roads, in and around the Mesopotamian city of Ur, Iraq.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 4000 BC: Plumbing. The earliest pipes were made of clay, and are found at the Temple of Bel at Nippur in Babylonia.<ref>Template:Cite book.</ref>Template:Efn
• 4000 BC: Oldest evidence of locks, the earliest example discovered in the ruins of Nineveh, the capital of ancient Assyria.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 4000 BC – 3400 BC: Oldest evidence of wheels, found in the countries of Ukraine, Poland, and Germany.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 3630 BC: Silk garments (sericulture) in China<ref name="Schoeser">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 3500 BC: Probable first domestication of the horse in the Eurasian Steppes.<ref>Matossian Shaping World History p. 43</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="cbc.ca">Template:Cite news</ref>
• 3500 BC: Wine as general anaesthesia in Sumer.<ref name="Powell1996">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 3500 BC: Seal (emblem) invented around in the Near East, at the contemporary sites of Uruk in southern Mesopotamia and slightly later at Susa in south-western Iran during the Proto-Elamite period, and they follow the development of stamp seals in the Halaf culture or slightly earlier.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 3500 BC: Ploughing, on a site in Bubeneč, Czech Republic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Evidence, c. 2800 BC, has also been found at Kalibangan, Indus Valley (modern-day India).<ref name="lal-ivc">B. B. Lal, India 1947–1997: New Light on the Indus Civilization</ref>
• 3400 BC – 3100 BC: Tattoos in southern Europe<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Bronze Age

File:Nippur cubit.JPG

The Nippur cubit-rod, Template:C., in the Archeological Museum of Istanbul, Turkey

The beginning of bronze-smelting coincides with the emergence of the first cities and of writing in the Ancient Near East and the Indus Valley. The Bronze Age starting in Eurasia in the 4th millennia BC and ended, in Eurasia, c.1200 BC.

• Late 4th millennium BC: Writing – in Sumer and Egypt.<ref name="Radner">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>"The world's earliest known writing systems emerged at more or less the same time, around 3300 bc, in Egypt and Mesopotamia (today's Iraq)."Template:Cite book</ref><ref>"Although it was once thought that the idea of writing came to Egypt from Mesopotamia, recent discoveries indicate that writing arose first in Egypt."Template:Cite book</ref><ref>"and examples of writing in Egypt have been found that very well may pre-date the earliest writing from Mesopotamia."Template:Cite book</ref>
• 3300 BC: The first documented swords. They have been found in Arslantepe, Turkey, are made from arsenical bronze, and are about Template:Convert long.<ref>Frangipane, M. et al. (2010). "The collapse of the 4th millennium centralised system at Arslantepe and the far-reaching changes in 3rd millennium societies". ORIGINI XXXIV, 2012: 237–60.</ref><ref name=KAY>Template:Cite book</ref> Some of them are inlaid with silver.<ref name=KAY/>
• 3300 BC: City in Uruk, Sumer, Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 3250 BC: One of the earliest documented hats was worn by a man (nicknamed Ötzi) whose body and hat found frozen in a mountain between Austria and Italy. He was found wearing a bearskin cap with a chin strap, made of several hides stitched together, resembling a Russian fur hat without the flaps.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 3200 BC: Dry Latrines in the city of Uruk, Iraq, with later dry squat Toilets, that added raised fired brick foot platforms, and pedestal toilets, all over clay pipe constructed drains.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 3200 BC: Earliest actual wheel ever found, the Ljubljana Marshes Wheel, made of wood, in Slovenia.<ref name=":4" />
• 3000 BC: Devices functionally equivalent to dice, in the form of flat two-sided throwsticks, are seen in the Egyptian game of Senet.<ref name="Aruz">Template:Cite book</ref> Perhaps the oldest known dice, resembling modern ones, were excavated as part of a backgammon-like game set at the Burnt City, an archeological site in south-eastern Iran, estimated to be from between 2800 and 2500 BC.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Later, terracotta dice were used at the Indus Valley site of Mohenjo-daro (modern-day Pakistan).<ref>Possehl, Gregory. "Meluhha". In: J. Reade (ed.) The Indian Ocean in Antiquity. London: Kegan Paul Intl. 1996a, 133–208</ref>
• 3000 BC: Tin extraction in Central Asia<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 3000 BC – 2560 BC: Papyrus in Egypt<ref name="Fischer">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Johnson">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 3000 BC: Reservoir in Girnar, Indus Valley (modern-day India).<ref name="Rodda">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 3000 BC: Receipt in Ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 3000 BC – 2800 BC: Prosthesis first documented in the Ancient Near East, in ancient Egypt and Iran, specifically for an eye prosthetics, the eye found in Iran was likely made of bitumen paste that was covered with a thin layer of gold.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 3000 BC – 2500 BC: Rhinoplasty in Egypt.<ref name="cossurg">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="plsurgery">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 2650 BC: The Ruler, or Measuring rod, in the subdivided Nippur, copper rod, of the Sumerian Civilisation (modern-day Iraq). Template:Efn
• 2600 BC: Planned city in Indus Valley (modern-day: India, Pakistan).<ref name="Davreu1">Davreu, Robert (1978). "Cities of Mystery: The Lost Empire of the Indus Valley". The World's Last Mysteries. (second edition). Sydney: Reader's Digest. pp. 121-129. Template:ISBN.</ref><ref name="Kipfer229">Kipfer, Barbara Ann (2000). Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology. (Illustrated edition). New York: Springer. p. 229. Template:ISBN.</ref>
• 2600 BC: Public sewage and sanitation systems in Indus Valley sites such as Mohenjo-daro and Rakhigarhi (modern-day: India, Pakistan).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2600 BC: Public bath in Mohenjo-daro, Indus Valley (modern-day Pakistan).<ref name="Kenoyer">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2600 BC: Levee in Indus Valley.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2600 BC: Balance weights and scales, from the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt; examples of Deben (unit) balance weights, from reign of Sneferu (c. 2600 BC) have been attributed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2556 BC: Docks structure in Wadi al-Jarf, Egypt, which was developed by the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu.<ref name="Global">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":1" />Template:Efn
• 2500 BC: Puppetry in the Indus Valley.<ref>Ghosh, S. and Banerjee, Utpal Kumar, Indian Puppets, Abhinav Publications, 2006. Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2400 BC: Fork in Bronze Age Qijia culture in China<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 2400 BC: Copper pipes, the Pyramid of Sahure, an adjoining temple complex at Abusir, was discovered to have a network of copper drainage pipes.<ref name="Bunson 6" />
• 2400 BC: Touchstone in the Indus Valley site of Banawali (modern-day India).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 2300 BC: Dictionary in Mesopotamia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 2200 BC – 2000 BC: Iron smelting in Kaman-Kalehöyük.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 2200 BC: Protractor, Phase IV, Lothal, Indus Valley (modern-day India), a Xancus shell cylinder with sawn grooves, at right angles, in its top and bottom surfaces, has been proposed as an angle marking tool.<ref name="Rao401">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal Notes: protractor described as "compass" in article.</ref>
• 2000 BC: Water clock by at least the old Babylonian period (c. 2000 – c. 1600 BC),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> but possibly earlier from Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus Valley.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 2000 BC: Chariot in Russia and Kazakhstan<ref>David S. Anthony, The Horse, The Wheel and Language: How bronze age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world (2007), pp. 397-405.</ref>
• 2000 BC: Fountain in Lagash, Sumer.
• 2000 BC: Scissors, in Mesopotamia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1850 BC: Proto-alphabet (Proto-Sinaitic script) in Egypt.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1600 BC: Surgical treatise appeared in Egypt.<ref name="WilkinsRobert">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1500 BC: Sundial in Ancient Egypt<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> or Babylonia (modern-day Iraq).
• 1500 BC: Glass manufacture in either Mesopotamia or Ancient Egypt.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1500 BC: Seed drill in Babylonia.<ref name="ReferenceA">History Channel, Where Did It Come From? Episode: "Ancient China: Agriculture"</ref>
• 1500 BC: Prosthetic limb in India mentioned in vedas (warrior queen vishpala).
• 1400 BC: Rubber,<ref name=":3" /> Mesoamerican ballgame.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Shelton, pp. 109–110. There is wide agreement on game originating in the tropical lowlands, likely the Gulf Coast or Pacific Coast.</ref>
• 1400 BC – 1200 BC: Concrete in Tiryns (Mycenaean Greece),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite arXiv</ref> though it was not yet waterproof.
• 1300 BC: Lathe in Ancient Egypt.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1200 BC: Distillation is described on Akkadian tablets documenting perfumery operations.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Iron Age

The Late Bronze Age collapse occurs around 1200 BC,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> extinguishing most Bronze-Age Near Eastern cultures, and significantly weakening the rest. This is coincident with the complete collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation. This event is followed by the beginning of the Iron Age. We define the Iron Age as ending in 510 BC for the purposes of this article, even though the typical definition is region-dependent (e.g. 510 BC in Greece, 322 BC in India, 200 BC in China), thus being an 800-year period.Template:Efn

• 1100 BC Star catalogue — Three Stars Each is the earliest known catalogue in long-running tradition of Babylonian astronomy,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> likely drawing on Sumerian<ref>History of the Constellations and Star Names — D.4: Sumerian constellations and star names? Template:Webarchive, by Gary D. Thompson</ref> and/or Elamite constellations.<ref>History of the Constellations and Star Names — D.5: Elamite lion-bull iconography as constellations? Template:Webarchive, by Gary D. Thompson</ref>
• 700 BC: Saddle (fringed cloths or pads used by Assyrian cavalry).<ref name=Beatie18>Beatie, Russel H. Saddles, University of Oklahoma Press, 1981 Template:Webarchive, Template:ISBN, 9780806115849 P.18-22</ref>
• 7th century BC: The royal Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh had 30,000 clay tablets, in several languages, organized according to shape and separated by content. The first recorded example of a library catalog.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 688 BC: Waterproof concrete in use, by the Assyrians.<ref>Jacobsen T and Lloyd S, (1935) "Sennacherib's Aqueduct at Jerwan", Oriental Institute Publications 24, Chicago University Press</ref> Later, the Romans developed concretes that could set underwater,<ref name="Lechtman and Hobbs">Lechtman and Hobbs "Roman Concrete and the Roman Architectural Revolution"</ref> and used concrete extensively for construction from 300 BC to 476 AD.<ref name="MAST">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 650 BC: Crossbow in China.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
• 600 BC: Coins in Phoenicia (Modern Lebanon) or Lydia.<ref>M. Kroll, review of G. Le Rider's La naissance de la monnaie, Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau 80 (2001), p. 526. D. Sear, Greek Coins and Their Values Vol. 2, Seaby, London, 1979, p. 317.</ref>
• Late 7th or early 6th century BC: Wagonway called Diolkos across the Isthmus of Corinth in Ancient Greece.

File:Trispastos scheme.svg

With the Greco-Roman trispastos ("three-pulley-crane"), the simplest ancient crane, a single man tripled the weight he could lift than with his muscular strength alone.<ref>Hans-Liudger, Dienel; Wolfgang, Meighörner (1997): "Der Tretradkran", Technikgeschichte series, 2nd ed., Deutsches Museum, München, p. 13</ref>

• 6th century BC – 10th century AD: High Carbon Steel, produced by the Closed Crucible method, later known as Wootz steel, of South India.<ref name="wootz-davidson">Davidson, Hilda Ellis (1998). The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England: Its Archaeology and Literature. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 20. Template:ISBN.</ref><ref name="wootz-iisc">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn
• 6th century BC: University in Taxila, of the Indus Valley, then part of the kingdom of Gandhara, of the Achaemenid Empire (modern-day Pakistan).
• 6th century – 2nd century BC: Systematization of medicine and surgery in the Sushruta Samhita in Vedic Northern India.<ref name = "sush">Hoernle, A. F. Rudolf (1907). Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India: Osteology or the Bones of the Human Body. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.</ref><ref>Wendy Doniger (2014), On Hinduism, Oxford University Press, Template:ISBN, page 79;
  Sarah Boslaugh (2007), Encyclopedia of Epidemiology, Volume 1, SAGE Publications, Template:ISBN, page 547, Quote: "The Hindu text known as Sushruta Samhita is possibly the earliest effort to classify diseases and injuries"</ref><ref name = "sush_date">Meulenbeld, Gerrit Jan (1999). A History of Indian Medical Literature. Groningen: Brill (all volumes, 1999-2002). Template:ISBN.</ref> Documented procedures to:
  • Perform cataract surgery (couching). Babylonian and Egyptian texts, a millennium before, depict and mention oculists, but not the procedure itself.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Perform Caesarean section.<ref name = "sush_info"/>
  • Construct Prosthetic limbs.<ref name = "sush_info"/>
  • Perform Plastic surgery, though reconstructive nasal surgery is described in millennia older Egyptian papyri.<ref name="sush_info">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=Dwivedi&Dwivedi>Dwivedi, Girish & Dwivedi, Shridhar (2007). History of Medicine: Sushruta – the Clinician – Teacher par Excellence Template:Webarchive. National Informatics Centre (Government of India).</ref>
• Late 6th century BC: Crank motion (rotary quern) in CarthageTemplate:Sfn or 5th century BC Celtiberian Spain<ref name="Frankel 2003, 17–19">Frankel, Rafael (2003): "The Olynthus Mill, Its Origin, and Diffusion: Typology and Distribution", American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 107, No. 1, pp. 1–21 (17–19)</ref><ref>Ritti, Tullia; Grewe, Klaus; Kessener, Paul (2007): "A Relief of a Water-powered Stone Saw Mill on a Sarcophagus at Hierapolis and its Implications", Journal of Roman Archaeology, Vol. 20, pp. 138–163 (159)</ref> Later during the Roman empire, a mechanism appeared that incorporated a connecting rod.
• Before 5th century BC: Loan deeds in Upanishadic India.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 500 BC: Lighthouse in Greece.<ref>Elinor Dewire and Dolores Reyes-Pergioudakis (2010). The Lighthouses of Greece. Sarasota: Pineapple Press. Template:ISBN, pp 1-5.</ref>

Classical antiquity and medieval era

5th century BC

• 500 – 200 BC: Toe stirrup, depicted in 2nd century Buddhist art, of the Sanchi and Bhaja Caves, of the Deccan Satavahana empire (modern-day India)<ref>Saddles, Author Russel H. Beatie, Publisher University of Oklahoma Press, 1981, Template:ISBN, 9780806115849 P.28</ref><ref>White, Lynn Townsend. Medieval Technology and Social Change, Publisher Oxford University Press, 1964, Template:ISBN, 9780195002669 P.14</ref> although may have originated as early as 500 BC.<ref>Chamberlin, J. Edward (2007). Horse: How the Horse Has Shaped Civilizations. Moscow: Olma Media Group. Template:ISBN.</ref>
• 485 BC: Catapult by Ajatashatru in Magadha, India.<ref name = "Ajatashatru">Singh, Upinder (2016), A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, Pearson PLC, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="aja_date">Jain, Kailash Chand (1991), Lord Mahāvīra and His Times, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN</ref>
• 485 BC: Scythed chariot by Ajatashatru in Magadha, India.<ref name="Ajatashatru"/><ref name="aja_date" />
• 5th century BC: Cast iron in Ancient China: Confirmed by archaeological evidence, the earliest cast iron is developed in China by the early 5th century BC during the Zhou dynasty (1122–256 BC), the oldest specimens found in a tomb of Luhe County in Jiangsu province.<ref name="wagner 7 36 37 64 68">Wagner (2001), 7, 36–37, 64–68. 335.</ref><ref>Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais (2006), 30.</ref><ref name="pigott 1999 177">Pigott (1999), 177.</ref>
• 480 BC: Spiral stairs (Temple A) in Selinunte, Sicily (see also List of ancient spiral stairs)<ref>Beckmann, Martin (2002): "The 'Columnae Coc(h)lides' of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius", Phoenix, Vol. 56, No. 3/4, pp. 348–357 (354)</ref><ref>Ruggeri, Stefania (2006): "Selinunt", Edizioni Affinità Elettive, Messina, Template:ISBN, p. 77</ref>
• By 407 BC: Early descriptions of what may be a Wheelbarrow in Greece.<ref>M. J. T. Lewis, "The Origins of the Wheelbarrow", Technology and Culture, Vol. 35, No. 3. (July 1994), pp. 470</ref> First actual depiction of one (tomb mural) shows up in China in 118 AD.<ref>Needham, Joseph (1965). Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering; rpr. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd., page 265</ref>
• By 400 BC: Camera obscura described by Mo-tzu (or Mozi) in China.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

4th century BC

File:Musée du Louvre - Antiquités égyptiennes - Salle 06 - 02f.jpg

Egyptian reed pens inside ivory and wooden palettes, the Louvre<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• 4th century BC: Traction trebuchet in Ancient China.<ref name="O'Callaghan">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 4th century BC: Gears in Ancient China
• 4th century BC: Reed pens, utilising a split nib, were used to write with ink on Papyrus in Egypt.<ref name="O'Callaghan" />
• 4th century BC: Nailed Horseshoe, with 4 bronze shoes found in an Etruscan tomb.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 375 BC – 350 BC: Animal-driven rotary mill in Carthage.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
• By the late 4th century BC: Corporations in either the Maurya Empire of India<ref>Vikramaditya S. Khanna (2005). The Economic History of the Corporate Form in Ancient India. University of Michigan.</ref> or in Ancient Rome (Collegium).
• Late 4th century BC: Cheque in the Maurya Empire of India.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Late 4th century BC: Potassium nitrate manufacturing and military use in the Seleucid Empire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Verify source
• Late 4th century BC: Formal systems by Pāṇini in India, possibly during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya.<ref>Vergiani, Vincenzo (2017), "Bhartrhari on Language, Perception, and Consciousness", in Ganeri, Jonardon (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy, Oxford University Press</ref>
• 4th to 3rd century BC: Zinc production in North-Western India during the Maurya Empire.<ref>Craddock et al. 1983. (The earliest evidence for the production of zinc comes from India. Srinivasan, Sharda and Srinivasa Rangnathan. 2004)</ref> The earliest known zinc mines and smelting sites are from Zawar, near Udaipur, in Rajasthan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

3rd century BC

File:Making Paper 4.PNG

An illustration depicting the papermaking process in Han dynasty China.

• 3rd century BC: Analog computers in the Hellenistic world (see e.g. the Antikythera mechanism), possibly in Rhodes.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• By at least the 3rd century BC: Archimedes' screw, one of the earliest hydraulic machines, was first used in the Nile river for irrigation purposes in Ancient Egypt<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Early 3rd century BC: Canal lock in Canal of the Pharaohs under Ptolemy II (283–246 BC) in Hellenistic Egypt<ref>Moore, Frank Gardner (1950): "Three Canal Projects, Roman and Byzantine", American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 54, No. 2, pp. 97–111 (99–101)</ref><ref>Froriep, Siegfried (1986): "Ein Wasserweg in Bithynien. Bemühungen der Römer, Byzantiner und Osmanen", Antike Welt, 2nd Special Edition, pp. 39–50 (46)</ref><ref>Schörner, Hadwiga (2000): "Künstliche Schiffahrtskanäle in der Antike. Der sogenannte antike Suez-Kanal", Skyllis, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 28–43 (33–35, 39)</ref>
• 3rd century BC: Cam during the Hellenistic period, used in water-driven automata.<ref>Wilson, Andrew (2002): "Machines, Power and the Ancient Economy", The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 92, pp. 1–32 (16) Template:JSTOR</ref>
• By the 3rd century BC: Water wheel. The origin is unclear: Indian Pali texts dating to the 4th century BCE refer to the cakkavattaka, which later commentaries describe as arahatta-ghati-yanta (machine with wheel-pots attached). Helaine Selin suggests that the device existed in Persia before 350 BC.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The clearest description of the water wheel and Liquid-driven escapement is provided by Philo of Byzantium (c. 280 – 220 BC) in the Hellenistic kingdoms.<ref>Oleson, John Peter (2000): "Water-Lifting", in: Wikander, Örjan: "Handbook of Ancient Water Technology", Technology and Change in History, Vol. 2, Brill, Leiden, Template:ISBN, pp. 217–302 (233)</ref>
• 3rd century BC: Gimbal described by Philo of Byzantium<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Late 3rd century BC: Dry dock under Ptolemy IV (221–205 BC) in Hellenistic Egypt<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
• 3rd century BC – 2nd century BC: Blast furnace in Ancient China: The earliest discovered blast furnaces in China date to the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, although most sites are from the later Han dynasty.<ref name="wagner 7 36 37 64 68"/><ref>Pigott (1999), 183–184.</ref>

File:Museum für Antike Schiffahrt, Mainz 02. Spritsail.jpg

The earliest fore-and-aft rigs, spritsails, appeared in the 2nd century BC in the Aegean Sea on small Greek craft.<ref name="Casson 1995, 243–245">Casson, Lionel (1995): "Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World", Johns Hopkins University Press, Template:ISBN, pp. 243–245</ref> Here a spritsail used on a Roman merchant ship (3rd century AD).

2nd century BC

• 2nd century BC: Paper in Han dynasty ChinaTemplate:Efn
• 206 BC: Compass in Han dynasty China<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Early 2nd century BC: Astrolabe invented by Apollonius of Perga.

1st century BC

• 1st century BC: Segmental arch bridge (e.g. Pont-Saint-Martin or Ponte San Lorenzo) in Italy, Roman Republic<ref>O'Connor, Colin: Roman Bridges, Cambridge University Press, 1993, Template:ISBN, p. 171</ref><ref>Galliazzo, Vittorio (1995): "I ponti romani", Vol. 1, Edizioni Canova, Treviso, Template:ISBN, pp. 429–437</ref>
• 1st century BC: News bulletin during the reign of Julius Caesar.<ref name="Chisholm 1911, p. 159">Template:EB1911</ref> A paper form, i.e. the earliest newspaper, later appeared during the late Han dynasty in the form of the Dibao.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=if30>Irving Fang, A History of Mass Communication: Six Information Revolutions, Focal Press, 1997, p. 30</ref><ref>Lamont, Ian, "The Rise of the Press in Late Imperial China", 27 November 2007</ref>
• 1st century BC: Arch dam (Glanum Dam) in Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Republic (see also List of Roman dams)<ref>Smith, Norman (1971): "A History of Dams", Peter Davies, London, Template:ISBN, pp. 25–49 (33–35)</ref><ref>Schnitter, Niklaus (1978): "Römische Talsperren", Antike Welt, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 25–32 (31f.)</ref><ref>Schnitter, Niklaus (1987): "Verzeichnis geschichtlicher Talsperren bis Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts", in: Garbrecht, Günther (ed.): Historische Talsperren, Verlag Konrad Wittwer, Stuttgart, Vol. 1, Template:ISBN, pp. 9–20 (12)</ref><ref>Schnitter, Niklaus (1987): "Die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Bogenstaumauer", Garbrecht, Günther (ed.): Historische Talsperren, Vol. 1, Verlag Konrad Wittwer, Stuttgart, Template:ISBN, pp. 75–96 (80)</ref><ref>Hodge, A. Trevor (2000): "Reservoirs and Dams", in: Wikander, Örjan: Handbook of Ancient Water Technology, Technology and Change in History, Vol. 2, Brill, Leiden, Template:ISBN, pp. 331–339 (332, fn. 2)</ref>
• Before 40 BC: Trip hammer in China<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 184" >Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 184.</ref>
• 38 BC: An empty shell Glyph for zero, is found on a Maya numerals Stela, from Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas. Independently invented by Claudius Ptolemy, in the second century CE Egypt, and appearing in the calculations of the Almagest.
• 37 BC – 14 BC: Glass blowing developed in Jerusalem.<ref name="Avigad">Avigad, N (1983). Discovering Jerusalem. Nashville. Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Tattona">Tatton-Brown, V. (1991). "The Roman Empire". In H. Tait (ed.) Five Thousand Years of Glass. pp. 62–97. British Museum Press: London Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Stern">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Before 25 BC: Reverse overshot water wheel by Roman engineers in Rio Tinto, Spain<ref>Davies, Oliver: Roman Mines in Europe, Oxford (1935)</ref>
• 25 BC: Noodle in Lajia in China<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

1st century AD

• 1st century AD: The aeolipile, a simple steam turbine is recorded by Hero of Alexandria.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
• 1st century AD: The first use of respiratory protective equipment is documented by Pliny the Elder (Template:Circa–79) using animal bladder skins to protect workers in Roman mines from red lead oxide dust.<ref>Template:Cite wikisource</ref>
• 1st century AD: Oldest surviving wine.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1st century AD: Vending machines invented by Hero of Alexandria.
• By the 1st century AD: The double-entry bookkeeping system in the Roman Empire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

2nd century

• 132: Seismometer and pendulum in Han dynasty China, built by Zhang Heng. It is a large metal urn-shaped instrument which employed either a suspended pendulum or inverted pendulum acting on inertia, like the ground tremors from earthquakes, to dislodge a metal ball by a lever trip device.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 2nd century: Carding in India.<ref name=Baber1>Baber (1996), page 57</ref>

3rd century

File:Römische Sägemühle.svg

Schematic of the Roman Hierapolis sawmill. Dated to the 3rd century AD, it is the earliest known machine to incorporate a crank and connecting rod mechanism.<ref name="Ritti, Grewe, Kessener 2007, 140, 161">Ritti, Tullia; Grewe, Klaus; Kessener, Paul (2007): "A Relief of a Water-powered Stone Saw Mill on a Sarcophagus at Hierapolis and its Implications", Journal of Roman Archaeology, Vol. 20, pp. 138–163 (140, 161)</ref><ref name="Grewe 2009, 429">Grewe, Klaus (2009): "Die Reliefdarstellung einer antiken Steinsägemaschine aus Hierapolis in Phrygien und ihre Bedeutung für die Technikgeschichte. Internationale Konferenz 13.−16. Juni 2007 in Istanbul" Template:Webarchive, in: Bachmann, Martin (ed.): Bautechnik im antiken und vorantiken Kleinasien, Byzas, Vol. 9, Ege Yayınları/Zero Prod. Ltd., Istanbul, Template:ISBN, pp. 429–454 (429)</ref><ref name="Grewe 2010">Grewe, Klaus (2010): "La máquina romana de serrar piedras. La representación en bajorrelieve de una sierra de piedras de la antigüedad, en Hierápolis de Frigia y su relevancia para la historia técnica (translation by Miguel Ordóñez)", in: Las técnicas y las construcciones de la Ingeniería Romana, V Congreso de las Obras Públicas Romanas, pp. 381–401</ref>

• By at least the 3rd century: Crystallized sugar in India.<ref>Shaffer, Lynda N., "Southernization", Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History edited by Michael Adas, pp. 311, Temple University Press, Template:ISBN.</ref>
• Early 3rd century: Woodblock printing is invented in Han dynasty China at sometime before 220 AD. This made China become the world's first print culture.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Late 3rd century – Early 4th century: Water turbine in the Roman Empire in modern-day Tunisia.<ref>Wilson, Andrew (1995): "Water-Power in North Africa and the Development of the Horizontal Water-Wheel", Journal of Roman Archaeology, Vol. 8, pp. 499–510 (507f.)</ref><ref>Wikander, Örjan (2000): "The Water-Mill" in: Wikander, Örjan (ed.): Handbook of Ancient Water Technology, Technology and Change in History, Vol. 2, Brill, Leiden, Template:ISBN, pp. 371–400 (377)</ref><ref>Donners, K.; Waelkens, M.; Deckers, J. (2002): "Water Mills in the Area of Sagalassos: A Disappearing Ancient Technology", Anatolian Studies, Vol. 52, pp. 1–17 (13)</ref>

4th century

• 280 – 550: Chaturanga, a precursor of Chess was invented in India during the Gupta Empire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 4th century: Roman Dichroic glass, which displays one of two different colors depending on lighting conditions.
• 4th century: Simple suspension bridge, independently invented in Pre-Columbian South America, and the Hindu Kush range, of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. With Han dynasty travelers noting bridges being constructed from 3 or more vines or 3 ropes.<ref name="needham 1986 volume 4 part 3 187−189">Needham, Joseph. (1986d). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd. Template:ISBN, 187–189.</ref> Later bridges constructed utilizing cables of iron chains appeared in Tibet.<ref name="Peters">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>"suspension bridge" in Encyclopædia Britannica (2008). 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.</ref>
• 4th century: Fishing reel in Ancient China: In literary records, the earliest evidence of the fishing reel comes from a 4th-century AD<ref>Hucker (1975), 206.</ref> work entitled Lives of Famous Immortals.<ref>Ronan (1994), 41.</ref>
• 347: Oil Wells and Borehole drilling in China. Such wells could reach depths of up to 240 m (790 ft).<ref name=ASTM>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 4th century – 5th century: Paddle wheel boat (in De rebus bellicis) in Roman Empire<ref>De Rebus Bellicis (anon.), chapter XVII, text edited by Robert Ireland, in: BAR International Series 63, part 2, p. 34</ref>

5th century

• 400: The construction of the Iron pillar of Delhi in Mathura by the Gupta Empire shows the development of rust-resistant ferrous metallurgy in Ancient India,<ref>On the Corrosion Resistance of the Delhi Iron Pillar, R. Balasubramaniam, Corrosion Science, Volume 42 (2000) pp. 2103–2129. Corrosion Science is a publication specialized in corrosion science and engineering.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> although original texts do not survive to detail the specific processes invented in this period.
• 5th century: The horse collar as a fully developed collar harness is developed in Northern and Southern dynasties China during the 5th century AD.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 28">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 28.</ref> The earliest depiction of it is a Dunhuang cave mural from the Chinese Northern Wei dynasty, the painting dated to 477–499.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 322">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 322.</ref>
• 5th century – 6th century: Pointed arch bridge (Karamagara Bridge) in Cappadocia, Eastern Roman Empire<ref>Galliazzo, Vittorio (1995): "I ponti romani", Vol. 1, Edizioni Canova, Treviso, Template:ISBN, p. 92</ref><ref>Warren, John (1991): "Creswell's Use of the Theory of Dating by the Acuteness of the Pointed Arches in Early Muslim Architecture", Muqarnas, Vol. 8, pp. 59–65 (61–63)</ref>

File:Nepali charka in action.jpg

A Nepali Charkha in action

6th century

• By the 6th century: Incense clock in China.<ref name=Schafer161>Schafer (1963), pages 160-161</ref><ref name=Bedini69>Bedini (1994), pages 69-80</ref>
• After 500: Charkha (spinning wheel/cotton gin) invented in India (probably during the Vakataka dynasty of Maharashtra, India), between 500 and 1000 A.D.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 563: Pendentive dome (Hagia Sophia) in Constantinople, Eastern Roman Empire<ref>Heinle, Erwin; Schlaich, Jörg (1996): "Kuppeln aller Zeiten, aller Kulturen", Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart, Template:ISBN, pp. 30–32</ref>
• 577: Sulfur matches exist in China.
• 589: Toilet paper in Sui dynasty China, first mentioned by the official Yan Zhitui (531–591), with full evidence of continual use in subsequent dynasties.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 123">Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 123.</ref><ref>Hunter (1978), 207.</ref>

7th century

• 619: Toothbrush in China during the Tang dynasty<ref name=kumar-412413>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 672: Greek fire in Constantinople, Byzantine Empire: Greek fire, an incendiary weapon likely based on petroleum or naphtha, is invented by Kallinikos, a Lebanese Greek refugee from Baalbek, as described by Theophanes.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> However, the historicity and exact chronology of this account is dubious,<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> and it could be that Kallinikos merely introduced an improved version of an established weapon.<ref>Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb</ref>
• 7th century: Banknote in Tang dynasty China: The banknote is first developed in China during the Tang and Song dynasties, starting in the 7th century. Its roots are in merchant receipts of deposit during the Tang dynasty (618–907), as merchants and wholesalers desire to avoid the heavy bulk of copper coinage in large commercial transactions.<ref name="Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais">Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais (2006), 156.</ref><ref name="Bowman">Bowman (2000), 105.</ref><ref name="gernet 1962 80">Gernet (1962), 80.</ref>
• 7th century: Porcelain in Tang dynasty China: True porcelain is manufactured in northern China from roughly the beginning of the Tang dynasty in the 7th century, while true porcelain was not manufactured in southern China until about 300 years later, during the early 10th century.<ref>Wood (1999), 49.</ref>

9th century

File:Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba.jpg

A Mongol bomb thrown against a charging Japanese samurai during the Mongol invasions of Japan after founding the Yuan dynasty, 1281.

• 9th century: Gunpowder in Tang dynasty China: Gunpowder is, according to prevailing academic consensus, discovered in the 9th century by Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality.<ref name="Jack Kelly 2005">Jack Kelly Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World, Perseus Books Group: 2005, Template:ISBN, 9780465037223: pp. 2-5</ref> Evidence of gunpowder's first use in China comes from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (618–907).<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 8–9, 80–82.</ref> The earliest known recorded recipes for gunpowder are written by Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du, and Yang Weide in the Wujing Zongyao, a military manuscript compiled in 1044 during the Song dynasty (960–1279).<ref>Needham (1987), Volume 5, Part 7, 70–73, 120–124.</ref><ref name="gernet 1996 311">Gernet (1996), 311.</ref><ref>Day & McNeil (1996), 785.</ref>
• 9th century: Playing card in Tang dynasty China<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref><ref name="wilkinson">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="lo 2000 390">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb "it is also now rather well-established that dominoes and playing-cards were originally Chinese developments from dice."</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb "Numbered dice, anciently widespread, were on a related line of development which gave rise to dominoes and playing-cards (+9th-century China)."</ref>

10th century

• 10th century: Fire lance in Song dynasty China, developed in the 10th century with a tube of first bamboo and later on metal that shot a weak gunpowder blast of flame and shrapnel, its earliest depiction is a painting found at Dunhuang.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 224–225, 232–233, 241–244.</ref> Fire lance is the earliest firearm in the world and one of the earliest gunpowder weapons.<ref name=Helaine>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>
• 10th century: Fireworks in Song dynasty China: Fireworks first appear in China during the Song dynasty (960–1279), in the early age of gunpowder. Fireworks could be purchased from market vendors; these were made of sticks of bamboo packed with gunpowder.<ref>Gernet (1962), 186.</ref>
• 974: Fountain pen: invented at the request of al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah in Arab Egypt.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

11th century

• 11th century: Early versions of the Bessemer process are developed in China.
• 11th century: Endless power-transmitting chain drive by Su Song for the development an astronomical clock (the Cosmic Engine)<ref name="needham volume 4 111">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 111.</ref>
• 11th century: Calico was developed in Calicut, India.<ref name="eb-calico2">Encyclopædia Britannica (2008). "calico".</ref>
• 1088: Movable type in Song dynasty China: The first record of a movable type system is in the Dream Pool Essays, which attributes the invention of the movable type to Bi Sheng.<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 201–202.</ref><ref name="gernet 1996 335">Gernet (1996), 335.</ref><ref name="bowman 2000 599">Bowman (2000), 599.</ref><ref name="day mcneil 70">Day & McNeil (1996), 70.</ref>

13th century

• 13th century: Rocket for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th-century China.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 13th century: The earliest form of mechanical escapement, the verge escapement in Europe.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 13th century: Buttons (combined with buttonholes) as a functional fastening for closing clothes appear first in Germany.<ref>Lynn White: "The Act of Invention: Causes, Contexts, Continuities and Consequences", Technology and Culture, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Autumn, 1962), pp. 486–500 (497f. & 500)</ref>
• 13th century: Explosive bomb in Jin dynasty Manchuria: Explosive bombs are used in 1221 by the Jin dynasty against a Song dynasty city.<ref name="Connolly">Template:Cite book</ref> The first accounts of bombs made of cast iron shells packed with explosive gunpowder are documented in the 13th century in China and are called "thunder-crash bombs",<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 170–174.</ref> coined during a Jin dynasty naval battle in 1231.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 171">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 171.</ref>
• 13th century: Hand cannon in Yuan dynasty China: The earliest hand cannon dates to the 13th century based on archaeological evidence from a Heilongjiang excavation. There is also written evidence in the Yuanshi (1370) on Li Tang, an ethnic Jurchen commander under the Yuan dynasty who in 1288 suppresses the rebellion of the Christian prince Nayan with his "gun-soldiers" or chongzu, this being the earliest known event where this phrase is used.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 293–294.</ref>
• 13th century: Earliest documented snow goggles, a type of sunglasses, made of flattened walrus or caribou ivory are used by the Inuit peoples in the arctic regions of North America.<ref>Template:Cite web
  Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Inuit hero Nanook from the silent documentary film Nanook of the North (1922) wearing whale bone snow-goggles Template:Webarchive Retrieved December 5, 2014</ref> In China, the first sunglasses consisting of flat panes of smoky quartz are documented.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Vision">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 13th century - 14th century: Worm gear cotton gin in India.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1277: Land mine in Song dynasty China: Textual evidence suggests that the first use of a land mine in history is by a Song dynasty brigadier general known as Lou Qianxia, who uses an 'enormous bomb' (huo pao) to kill Mongol soldiers invading Guangxi in 1277.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 175–176, 192.</ref>
• 1286: Eyeglasses in Italy<ref>Vincent Ilardi, Renaissance Vision from Spectacles to Telescopes (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: American Philosophical Society, 2007), page 5.</ref>

14th century

• Early 14th century – Mid 14th century: Multistage rocket in Ming dynasty China described in Huolongjing by Jiao Yu.
• By at least 1326: Cannon in Ming dynasty China<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 14th century: Painting Canvas was first used in Italy.<ref>Gordon, xiii</ref>
• 14th century: Jacob's staff described by Levi ben Gerson
• 14th century: Naval mine in Ming dynasty China: Mentioned in the Huolongjing military manuscript written by Jiao Yu (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and Liu Bowen (1311–1375), describing naval mines used at sea or on rivers and lakes, made of wrought iron and enclosed in an ox bladder. A later model is documented in Song Yingxing's encyclopedia written in 1637.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 203–205.</ref>
• 14th century: Bidriware in the Bahmani Sultanate in India.<ref name="TOI">Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Handtiegelpresse von 1811.jpg

The 15th-century invention of the printing press with movable type by the German Johannes Gutenberg.<ref>See People of the Millennium for an overview of the wide acclaim. In 1999, the A&E Network ranked Gutenberg no. 1 on their "People of the Millennium" countdown. In 1997, Time–Life magazine picked Gutenberg's invention as the most important of the second millennium Template:Webarchive; the same did four prominent US journalists in their 1998 resume 1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking The Men and Women Who Shaped The Millennium. The Johann Gutenberg entry of the Catholic Encyclopedia describes his invention as having made a practically unparalleled cultural impact in the Christian era.</ref>

15th century

• Early 15th century: Coil spring in Europe<ref name="White1966" >Template:Cite book, p.126-127</ref>
• 15th century: Mainspring in Europe<ref name="White1966"/>
• 15th century: Rifle in Europe
• 1420s: Brace in Flanders, Holy Roman Empire<ref name="White 1968, 462f.">White, Lynn (1962): "Medieval Technology and Social Change", At the Clarendon Press, Oxford, p. 112</ref>
• 1439: Printing press in Mainz, Germany: The printing press is invented in the Holy Roman Empire by Johannes Gutenberg before 1440, based on existing screw presses. The first confirmed record of a press appeared in a 1439 lawsuit against Gutenberg.<ref name="meggs58-69">Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1998. (pp 58–69) Template:ISBN</ref>
• Mid 15th century: The Arquebus (also spelled Harquebus) is invented, possibly in Spain.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1480s: Mariner's astrolabe in Portuguese circumnavigation of Africa<ref>Stimson, Alan (1985): "The Mariner's Astrolabe. A Survey of 48 Surviving Examples", UC Biblioteca Geral, Coimbra, p. 576</ref>

Early modern era

16th century

• 16th century: Chintz or printed clothing in Golconda, India<ref name="Allen G. Noble">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 16th century: Hookah by Irfan Shaikh, at the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar I (1542Template:Endash1605).

<ref name="iranica">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Sivaramakrishnan4-5">Template:Cite book</ref>

• 1560: Floating dry dock in Venice, Venetian Republic<ref>Sarton, George (1946): "Floating Docks in the Sixteenth Century", Isis, Vol. 36, No. 3/4, pp. 153–154 (153f.)</ref>
• 1569: Mercator Projection map created by Gerardus Mercator
• 1589: Stocking frame: Invented by William Lee.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1594: Backstaff: Invented by Captain John Davis.
• By at least 1597: Revolver: Invented by Hans Stopler.

17th century

File:Relation Aller Fuernemmen und gedenckwuerdigen Historien (1609).jpg

A 1609 title page of the Relation, the world's first newspaper (first published in 1605)<ref name="World Association of Newspapers"/><ref name="Weber 2006, 396f."/>

• 1605: Newspaper (Relation): Johann Carolus in Strassburg (see also List of the oldest newspapers)<ref name="World Association of Newspapers">World Association of Newspapers: "Newspapers: 400 Years Young!" Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name="Weber 2006, 396f.">Weber, Johannes (2006): "Strassburg, 1605: The Origins of the Newspaper in Europe", German History, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 387–412 (396f.)</ref>
• 1608: Telescope: Patent applied for by Hans Lippershey. Actual inventor unknown since it seemed to already be a common item being offered by the spectacle makers in the Netherlands with Jacob Metius also applying for patent and the son of Zacharias Janssen making a claim 47 years later that his father invented it.
• 1620: Compound microscopes, which combine an objective lens with an eyepiece to view a real image, first appear in Europe. Apparently derived from the telescope, actual inventor unknown, variously attributed to Zacharias Janssen (his son claiming it was invented in 1590), Cornelis Drebbel, and Galileo Galilei.<ref>David Macaulay, The Way Things Work Now, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – 2016, page 383</ref>
• 1630: Slide rule: invented by William Oughtred<ref>Michelle Selinger, Teaching Mathematics (1994), p. 142.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1642: Mechanical calculator. The Pascaline is built by Blaise Pascal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1643: Barometer: invented by Evangelista Torricelli, or possibly up to three years earlier by Gasparo Berti.<ref name="http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/history/barometerhistory1.htm">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1650: Vacuum pump: Invented by Otto von Guericke.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1656: Pendulum clock: Invented by Christiaan Huygens. It was first conceptualized in 1637 by Galileo Galilei but he was unable to create a working model.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1663: Friction machine: Invented by Otto von Guericke.
• 1668: First functional reflecting telescope constructed by Isaac Newton.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1679: Pressure-cooker: Invented by Denis Papin.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1680: Christiaan Huygens provides the first known description of a piston engine.<ref>Thurston, pp 25</ref>
• 1698: Thomas Savery develops a steam-powered water pump: for draining mines<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

18th century

1700s

• 1709: Bartolomeo Cristofori crafts the first piano.
• 1709: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invents the alcohol thermometer.

1710s

• 1712: Thomas Newcomen builds the first commercial steam engine to pump water out of mines.<ref name="McNeil1990">Template:Cite book</ref> Newcomen's engine, unlike Thomas Savery's, uses a piston.

1730s

• 1730: Thomas Godfrey and John Hadley independently develop the octant
• 1733: John Kay enables one person to operate a loom with the flying shuttle<ref name="Lord1903">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1738: Lewis Paul and John Wyatt invent the first mechanized cotton spinning machine.

1740s

• 1742: Benjamin Franklin invents the Franklin stove.
• 1745: Musschenbroek and Kleist independently develop the Leyden jar, an early form of capacitor.
• 1746: John Roebuck invents the lead chamber process.

1750s

• 1752: Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning rod.
• 1755: William Cullen invents the first artificial refrigeration machine.

1760s

• 1760: John Joseph Merlin invents the first Roller skates.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1764: James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny.
• 1765: James Watt invents the improved steam engine utilizing a separate condenser.
• 1767: Joseph Priestley invents a method for the production of carbonated water.
• 1769: Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot invents the first steam-powered vehicle capable of carrying passengers, an early car.

1770s

• 1770: Richard Salter invents the earliest known design for a weighing scale.
• 1774: John Wilkinson invents his boring machine, considered by some to be the first machine tool.
• 1775: Jesse Ramsden invents the modern screw-cutting lathe.
• 1776: John Wilkinson invents a mechanical air compressor that would become the prototype for all later mechanical compressors.
• 1778: Robert Barron invents the first lever tumbler lock.

1780s

• 1780: Hyder Ali of Mysore, India develops the first metal-cylinder rockets.<ref name="Roddam">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1783: Claude de Jouffroy builds the first steamboat.
• 1783: Joseph-Ralf and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier build the first manned hot air balloon.
• 1783: Louis-Sébastien Lenormand invents and uses the first modern parachute.
• 1785: Martinus van Marum is the first to use the electrolysis technique.
• 1786: Andrew Meikle invents the threshing machine.
• 1789: Edmund Cartwright invents the power loom.

1790s

• 1790: Thomas Saint invents the sewing machine.
• 1792: Claude Chappe invents the modern semaphore telegraph.
• 1793: Eli Whitney invents the modern cotton gin.
• 1795: Joseph Bramah invents the hydraulic press.
• 1796: Alois Senefelder invents the lithography printing technique.<ref name="meggspage146">Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1998. p 146 Template:ISBN</ref>
• 1797: Samuel Bentham invents plywood.
• 1799: George Medhurst invents the first motorized air compressor.
• 1799: The first paper machine is invented by Louis-Nicolas Robert.

Late modern period

19th century

1800s

• 1800: Alessandro Volta invents the voltaic pile, an early form of battery in Italy, based on previous works by Luigi Galvani.
• 1802: Humphry Davy invents the arc lamp (exact date unclear; not practical as a light source until the invention of efficient electric generators).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1804: Friedrich Sertürner discovers morphine as the first active alkaloid extracted from the opium poppy plant.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1804: Joseph Marie Jacquard develops his automated Jacquard loom.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1804: Richard Trevithick invents the steam locomotive.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1804: Hanaoka Seishū creates tsūsensan, the first modern general anesthetic.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1807: Nicéphore Niépce invents an early internal combustion engine capable of doing useful work.
• 1807: François Isaac de Rivaz designs the first automobile powered by an internal combustion engine fuelled by hydrogen.
• 1807: Robert Fulton expands water transportation and trade with the workable steamboat.

1810s

File:KarlVonDrais.jpg

Karl von Drais on his original Laufmaschine, the earliest two-wheeler, or hobbyhorse, in 1819

• 1810: Nicolas Appert invents the canning process for food.<ref>Applied Nutrition and Food Technology, Jesse D. Dagoon, 1989; p. 2.</ref>
• 1810: Abraham-Louis Breguet creates the first wristwatch.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1811: Friedrich Koenig invents the first powered printing press, which was also the first to use a cylinder.
• 1812: William Reid Clanny pioneered the invention of the safety lamp which he improved in later years. Safety lamps based on Clanny's improved design were used until the adoption of electric lamps.
• 1814: James Fox invents the modern planing machine, though Matthew Murray of Leeds and Richard Roberts of Manchester have also been credited at times with its invention.
• 1816: René Laennec invents the first Stethoscope.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1816: Francis Ronalds builds the first working electric telegraph using electrostatic means.
• 1816: Robert Stirling invents the Stirling engine.<ref>R. Sier (1999)</ref>
• 1817: Baron Karl von Drais invents the dandy horse, an early velocipede and precursor to the modern bicycle.
• 1818: Marc Isambard Brunel invents the tunnelling shield.

1820s

• 1822: Thomas Blanchard invents the pattern-tracing lathe (actually more like a shaper). The lathe can copy symmetrical shapes and is used for making gun stocks, and later, ax handles.<ref name="Thomson 2009">Template:Cite book

</ref><ref name="Hounshell1984p35">Template:Harvnb</ref>

• 1822: Nicéphore Niépce invents Heliography, the first photographic process.
• 1822: Charles Babbage, considered the "father of the computer",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> begins building the first programmable mechanical computer.
• 1823: Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner invents the first lighter.
• 1824: Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse invents the bolt-action rifle.<ref>Flatnes, Oyvind. From Musket to Metallic Cartridge: A Practical History of Black Powder Firearms. Crowood Press, 2013, pp. 125–130. Template:ISBN</ref>
• 1824: William Sturgeon invents the electromagnet.<ref>Template:Cite journal cited in Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Windelspecht, Michael. Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the 19th Century Template:Webarchive, xxii, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, Template:ISBN.</ref>
• 1826: John Walker invents the friction match.<ref name=BBCwalker>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1826: James Sharp invents and goes on to manufacture the first practical gas stove.
• 1828: James Beaumont Neilson develops the hot blast process.
• 1828: Patrick Bell invents the reaping machine.
• 1828: Hungarian physicist Ányos Jedlik invents the first commutated rotary electromechanical machine with electromagnets.
• 1829: Louis Braille invents the Braille reading system for the blind.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1829: William Mann invents the compound air compressor.
• 1829: Henry Robinson Palmer is awarded a patent for corrugated galvanised iron.

1830s

• 1830: Edwin Budding invents the lawn mower.
• 1831: Michael Faraday invents a method of electromagnetic induction. It would be independently invented by Joseph Henry the following year. Faraday is credited with inventing the first electric generator called the Faraday disk.
• 1834: Moritz von Jacobi invents the first practical electric motor.
• 1835: Joseph Henry invents the electromechanical relay.
• 1837: Samuel Morse invents Morse code.
• 1838: Moritz von Jacobi invents electrotyping.
• 1839: William Otis invents the steam shovel.
• 1839: James Nasmyth invents the steam hammer.
• 1839: Edmond Becquerel invents a method for the photovoltaic effect, effectively producing the first solar cell.
• 1839: Charles Goodyear invents vulcanized rubber.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1839: Louis Daguerre invents daguerreotype photography.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1840s

• 1840: John Herschel invents the blueprint.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1841: Alexander Bain devises a printing telegraph.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1842: William Robert Grove invents the first fuel cell.
• 1842: John Bennet Lawes invents superphosphate, the first man-made fertilizer.
• 1844: Friedrich Gottlob Keller and, independently, Charles Fenerty come up with the wood pulp method of paper production.
• 1844: Francis Rynd invents the hypodermic needle.
• 1845: Isaac Charles Johnson invents modern Portland cement.
• 1846: Henri-Joseph Maus invents the tunnel boring machine.
• 1847: Ascanio Sobrero invents Nitroglycerin, the first explosive made that was stronger than black powder.
• 1848: Jonathan J. Couch invents the pneumatic drill.
• 1848: Linus Yale Sr. invents the first modern pin tumbler lock.
• 1849: Walter Hunt invents the first repeating rifle to use metallic cartridges (of his own design) and a spring-fed magazine.
• 1849: James B. Francis invents the Francis turbine.
• 1849: Walter Hunt invents the Safety pin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1850s

• 1850: William Armstrong invents the hydraulic accumulator.
• 1851: George Jennings offers the first public flush toilets, accessible for a penny per visit, and in 1852 receives a UK patent for the single piece, free standing, earthenware, trap plumed, flushing, water-closet.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1852: Robert Bunsen is the first to use a chemical vapor deposition technique.
• 1852: Elisha Otis invents the safety brake elevator.<ref>Goodwin, Jason OTIS GIVING RISE TO THE MODERN CITY, Chicago, 2001: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, pp. 5-21</ref>
• 1852: Henri Giffard becomes the first person to make a manned, controlled and powered flight using a dirigible.
• 1853: François Coignet invents reinforced concrete.
• 1855: James Clerk Maxwell invents the first practical method for color photography, whether chemical or electronic.
• 1855: Henry Bessemer patents the Bessemer process for making steel, with improvements made by others over the following years.
• 1856: Alexander Parkes invents parkesine, also known as celluloid, the first man-made plastic.
• 1856: James Harrison produces the world's first practical ice making machine and refrigerator using the principle of vapour compression in Geelong, Australia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1856: William Henry Perkin invents mauveine, the first synthetic dye.
• 1857: Heinrich Geissler invents the Geissler tube.
• 1857: The phonautograph, the earliest known device for recording sound, is patented and invented by Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville.
• 1859: Gaston Planté invents the lead acid battery, the first rechargeable battery.

1860s

• 1860: Joseph Swan produces carbon fibers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1864: Louis Pasteur invents the pasteurization process.
• 1865: Carl Wilhelm Siemens and Pierre-Émile Martin invented the Siemens-Martin process for making steel.
• 1867: Alfred Nobel invents dynamite, the first safely manageable explosive stronger than black powder.
• 1867: Lucien B. Smith invents barbed wire, which Joseph F. Glidden will modify in 1874, leading to the taming of the West and the end of the cowboys.

1870s

• 1872: Polyvinyl chloride, more commonly known as vinyl, is synthesized by German chemist Eugen Baumann
• 1872: J.E.T. Woods and J. Clark invented stainless steel. Harry Brearley was the first to commercialize it.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1873: Frederick Ransome invents the rotary kiln.
• 1873: William Crookes, a chemist, invents the Crookes radiometer as the by-product of some chemical research.
• 1873: Zénobe Gramme invents the first commercial electrical generator, the Gramme machine.
• 1874: Gustave Trouvé invents the first metal detector.
• 1875: Fyodor Pirotsky invents the first electric tram near Saint Petersburg, Russia.
• 1876: Nicolaus August Otto invents the four-stroke cycle.
• 1876: Alexander Graham Bell has a patent granted for the telephone. However, other inventors before Bell had worked on the development of the telephone and the invention had several pioneers.<ref name="Geisst">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1877: Thomas Edison invents the first working phonograph.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1878: Henry Fleuss is granted a patent for the first practical rebreather.<ref name=rebreather_hx>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1878: Lester Allan Pelton invents the Pelton wheel.
• 1879: Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison both patent a functional incandescent light bulb. Some two dozen inventors had experimented with electric incandescent lighting over the first three-quarters of the 19th century but never came up with a practical design.<ref>Friedel, Robert, and Paul Palestine. 1986. Edison's electric light: biography of an invention. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. pages 115–117</ref> Swan's, which he had been working on since the 1860s, had a low resistance so was only suited for small installations. Edison designed a high-resistance bulb as part of a large-scale commercial electric lighting utility.<ref>Kenneth E. Hendrickson III, The Encyclopedia of the Industrial Revolution in World History, Volume 3, Rowman & Littlefield – 2014, page 564</ref><ref>Maury Klein, The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America, Bloomsbury Publishing USA – 2010, Chapter 9 – The Cowbird, The Plugger, and the Dreamer</ref><ref>David O. Whitten, Bessie Emrick Whitten, Handbook of American Business History: Manufacturing, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990, pages 315-316</ref>

1880s

• 1881: Nikolay Benardos presents carbon arc welding, the first practical arc welding method.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1884: Hiram Maxim invents the recoil-operated Maxim gun, ushering in the age of semi- and fully automatic firearms.
• 1884: Paul Vieille invents Poudre B, the first smokeless powder for firearms.
• 1884: Sir Charles Parsons invents the modern steam turbine.
• 1884: Hungarian engineers Károly Zipernowsky, Ottó Bláthy and Miksa Déri invent the closed core high efficiency transformer and the AC parallel power distribution.
• 1885: John Kemp Starley invents the modern safety bicycle.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref>
• 1886: Carl Gassner invents the zinc–carbon battery, the first dry cell battery, making portable electronics practical.
• 1886: Charles Martin Hall and independently Paul Héroult invent the Hall–Héroult process for economically producing aluminum in 1886.
• 1886: Karl Benz invents the first petrol or gasoline powered auto-mobile (car).<ref>DRP's patent No. 37435 Template:Webarchive (PDF, 561 kB, German)</ref>
• 1887: Carl Josef Bayer invents the Bayer process for the production of alumina.
• 1887: James Blyth invents the first wind turbine used for generating electricity.
• 1887: John Stewart MacArthur, working in collaboration with brothers Dr. Robert and Dr. William Forrest, develops the process of gold cyanidation.
• 1888: John J. Loud invents the ballpoint pen.<ref>Great Britain Patent No. 15630, 30 October 2008</ref>
• 1888: Thomas Edison and William Kennedy Dickson invent the Kinetoscope.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1888: Heinrich Hertz publishes a conclusive proof of James Clerk Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in experiments that also demonstrate the existence of radio waves. The effects of electromagnetic waves had been observed by many people before this but no usable theory explaining them existed until Maxwell.
• 1888: The first practical pneumatic tire was made by Scotsman John Boyd Dunlop, the patent was from 1847 by Robert William Thomson

1890s

• 1890s: Frédéric Swarts invents the first chlorofluorocarbons to be applied as refrigerant.<ref name=Sneader2005>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1890: Robert Gair would invent the pre-cut cardboard box.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1891: Whitcomb Judson invents the zipper.
• 1892: Léon Bouly invents the cinematograph.
• 1892: Thomas Ahearn invents the electric oven.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1893: Rudolf Diesel invents the diesel engine (although Herbert Akroyd Stuart had experimented with compression ignition before Diesel).
• 1893: William Stewart Halsted, invents the rubber glove for his wife Caroline Hampton as he noticed her hands were affected by the daily surgeries she had performed. The gloves were intended to prevent medical staff from developing dermatitis from surgical chemicals.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The first modern disposable glove was created by Ansell Rubber Co. Pty. Ltd. in 1965.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite patent</ref>
• 1895: Guglielmo Marconi invents a system of wireless communication using radio waves.
• 1895: Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen invented the first radiograph (X-ray).
• 1897: Surgical masks made of cloth were developed in Europe by physicians Jan Mikulicz-Radecki at the University of Breslau and Paul Berger in Paris, as a result of increasing awareness of germ theory and the importance of antiseptic procedures in medicine.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1898: Hans von Pechmann synthesizes polyethylene, now the most common plastic in the world.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1899: Waldemar Jungner invents the rechargeable nickel-cadmium battery (NiCd) as well as the nickel-iron electric storage battery (NiFe) and the rechargeable alkaline silver-cadmium battery (AgCd)

20th century

1900s

• 1900: The first Zeppelin is designed by Theodor Kober.
• 1901: The first motorized cleaner using suction, a powered "vacuum cleaner", is patented independently by Hubert Cecil Booth and David T. Kenney.<ref>Gantz, Carroll (21 September 2012). The Vacuum Cleaner: A History. McFarland. p. 49</ref>
• 1903: The first successful gas turbine is invented by Ægidius Elling.
• 1903: Édouard Bénédictus invents laminated glass.
• 1903: First sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight achieved by an airplane flown at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina by Orville and Wilbur Wright. See Claims to the first powered flight.
• 1904: The Fleming valve, the first vacuum tube and diode, is invented by John Ambrose Fleming.
• 1907: The first free flight of a rotary-wing aircraft is carried out by Paul Cornu.
• 1907: Leo Baekeland invents bakelite, the first plastic made from synthetic components.
• 1907: The tuyères thermopropulsives<ref name="Peter">Peter O. K. Krehl (24 Sep 2008) History of Shock Waves, Explosions and Impact: A Chronological and Biographical Reference, p.443, Springer Science & Business Media, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN, accessed 7 July 2019</ref> after 1945 (Maurice Roy (fr)) known as the statoreacteur<ref name="Peter" /><ref>Personnage Larousse, accessed 7 July 2019</ref> a combustion subsonique (the ramjet)<ref>Anthony Roux (2 July 2009) Simulation aux Grandes Echelles d'un statoréacteur, p.15, University of Toulouse, "...La propulsion par statoreacteur a été inventée par le francais René Lorin en 1907 et decrite pour la ´

premiere fois dans la revue ` l'aerophile ´ dans un article intitule "Propulseur par reaction directe"...", accessed 7 July 2019</ref> – R. Lorin<ref name="Lorin">Lorin, René (1877–1933), Digital Mechanism and Gear Library, first contact for: "1913 – Lorin" (Margaret Connor) obtained via search criteria (google): "discovery of scramjet Frank Whittle", accessed 7 July 2019</ref><ref>R. Lorin (15 May 1913) – de la turbine a gaz au propulseur a reaction, pp.229–230, L'Aérophile; BnF Gallica, accessed 7 July 2019</ref><ref>Michael G. Smith (1 December 2014) — Rockets and Revolution: A Cultural History of Early Spaceflight, 7th page of Chapter 3, University of Nebraska Press, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN, accessed 7 July 2019</ref>

• 1908: Cellophane is invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger.
• 1909: Fritz Haber invents the Haber process.
• 1909: The first instantaneous transmission of images, or television broadcast, is carried out by Georges Rignoux and A. Fournier.

1910s

File:BERy Articulated number 2 side view, 1913.jpg

BERy articulated streetcar no. 2 in 1913. The Boston Elevated Railway was the world's first street railway system to use articulated streetcars.

• 1911: The cloud chamber, the first particle detector, is invented by Charles Thomson Rees Wilson.
• 1912: The first commercial slot cars or more accurately model electric racing cars operating under constant power were made by Lionel (USA) and appeared in their catalogues in 1912.
• 1912: The first use of articulated trams by Boston Elevated Railway.
• 1913: The Bergius process is developed by Friedrich Bergius.
• 1913: The Kaplan turbine is invented by Viktor Kaplan.
• 1915: Harry Brearley invents a process to create Martensitic stainless steel, initially labelled Rustless Steel, later marketed as Staybrite, and AISI Type 420.<ref name="NYT">Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1915: The first operational military tanks are designed in Great Britain and France. They are used in battle from 1916 and 1917 respectively. The designers in Great Britain are Walter Wilson and William Tritton and in France, Eugène Brillié. (Although it is known that vehicles incorporating at least some of the features of the tank were designed in a number of countries from 1903 onward, none reached a practical form.)
• 1916: The Czochralski process, widely used for the production of single crystal silicon, is invented by Jan Czochralski.
• 1917: The crystal oscillator is invented by Alexander M. Nicholson using a crystal of Rochelle Salt although his priority was disputed by Walter Guyton Cady.

1920s

• 1925: The Fischer–Tropsch process is developed by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Kohlenforschung.
• 1926: The Yagi-Uda Antenna or simply Yagi Antenna is invented by Shintaro Uda of Tohoku Imperial University, assisted by his colleague Hidetsugu Yagi. The Yagi Antenna was widely used during World War II. After the war they saw extensive development as home television antennas.
• 1926: Robert H. Goddard launches the first liquid fueled rocket.
• 1926: Harry Ferguson, patents the Three-point hitch equipment linkage system for tractors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1926: John Logie Baird demonstrates the world's first live working television system.<ref>"The "Televisor" Successful Test of New Apparatus", The Times (London), Thursday 28 January 1926, p. 9 column C.</ref><ref name="Telegraph">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1927: The quartz clock is invented by Warren Marrison and J.W. Horton at Bell Telephone Laboratories.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1928: Penicillin is first observed to exude antibiotic substances by Nobel laureate Alexander Fleming. Development of medicinal penicillin is attributed to a team of medics and scientists including Howard Walter Florey, Ernst Chain and Norman Heatley.
• 1928: Frank Whittle formally submitted his ideas for a turbo-jet engine. In October 1929, he developed his ideas further.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 16 January 1930, Whittle submitted his first patent (granted in 1932).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1928: Philo Farnsworth demonstrates the first practical electronic television to the press.
• 1929: The ball screw is invented by Rudolph G. Boehm.

1930s

• 1930: The Supersonic combusting ramjet — Frank Whittle.Template:Citation needed
• 1930: The Phase-contrast microscopy is invented by Frits Zernike.
• 1931: The electron microscope is invented by Ernst Ruska.
• 1933: FM radio is patented by inventor Edwin H. Armstrong.
• 1933: Harry C. Jennings Sr. and Herbert Everest, both mechanical engineers, invented the first lightweight, steel, folding, portable wheelchair with their "X-brace" design.<ref>Everest, Herbert A., Jennings, Harry C. Sr., "Folding wheel chair", US Patent 2095411, 1937</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1935: Nylon, the first fully synthetic fiber is produced by Wallace Carothers while working at DuPont.<ref name=Carothers>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1938: Z1, built by Konrad Zuse, is the first freely programmable computer in the world.
• 1938: Nuclear fission discovered in experiment by chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann and physicists Lise Meitner and Otto Robert Frisch. The German nuclear energy project was based on this research. The Tube Alloys project and, subsequently, the Manhattan Project and the Soviet atomic bomb project were influenced by this research.
• 1939: G. S. Yunyev or Naum Gurvich invented the electric current defibrillator

1940-1944

• 1940: Pu-239 isotope (isotope of plutonium)<ref name=t2>The Technology of Nuclear Weapons, Arms Control Association, accessed 9 January 2020</ref><ref name="t3">Plutonium 239 Template:Webarchive, EDP-Sciences (EDITIONS DE PHYSIQUE) (& the Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et Physique des Particules (IN2P3) accessed 9 January 2020</ref> a form of matter existing with the capacity for use as a destructive element<ref>Plutonium, published by the Atomic Heritage Foundation & the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History (of the United States) 5 June 2014 – accessed 2020-1-9, re-accessed due to an error in application during 9, 10 January 2020</ref> (because the isotope has an exponentially increasing<ref name=t2 /> spontaneous<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> fissile decay<ref>Segre, Emilio — Spontaneous Fission p.13 "From this we deduce a spontaneous fission decay constant of 2.1 x l0³ fissions per gram per second". published Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, 22 November 1950 (this source represents a re-application of sourcing due to an error in application of sourcing to the inclusion " fission" (+) "decay" during the 1st inclusion made 2020-1-9)</ref>) within nuclear devices — Glenn Seaborg.<ref name=t3 />
• 1940: John Randall and Harry Boot would develop the high power, microwave generating, cavity magnetron, later applied to commercial Radar and Microwave oven appliances.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1941: Polyester is invented by John Rex Whinfield and James Dickson.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>
• 1942: The V-2 rocket, the world's first long range ballistic missile, developed by engineer Wernher von Braun.
• 1944: The non-infectious viral vaccine is perfected by Dr. Jonas Salk and Thomas Francis.<ref>Bookchin, Debbie and Schumacher, Jim. The Virus and the Vaccine. MacMillan 2005</ref>

Contemporary history

1945-1950

• 1945: The atomic bomb is developed by the Manhattan Project and swiftly used in August 1945 in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively ending World War II.
• 1945: Percy Spencer, while employed at Raytheon, would patent a magnetron based microwave oven.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1945: Willard Libby began his work on radiocarbon dating. He published his paper in 1946,<ref name=Bowman_9>Bowman (1995), pp. 9–15.</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> a second paper in Science in 1947.<ref name=Bowman_9/><ref name=Anderson_1947>Template:Cite journal</ref> Libby and James Arnold succeeded with the radiocarbon dating theory after results were published in Science in December 1949.<ref name=libby49>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=Aitken_60>Aitken (1990), pp. 60–61.</ref>
• 1946: James Martin invents the ejector seat, inspired by the death of his friend and test pilot Captain Valentine Baker in an aeroplane crash in 1942.
• 1947: Holography is invented by Dennis Gabor.
• 1947: Floyd Farris and J.B. Clark (Stanolind Oil and Gas Corporation) invents hydraulic fracturing technology.<ref name="Hubbarb">Template:Citation</ref>
• 1947: The first transistor, a bipolar point-contact transistor, is invented by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain under the supervision of William Shockley at Bell Labs.
• 1948: The first atomic clock is developed at the National Bureau of Standards.
• 1948: Basic oxygen steelmaking is developed by Robert Durrer. The majority of steel manufactured in the world is produced using the basic oxygen furnace; in 2000, it accounted for 60% of global steel output.<ref name=S978>Smil, pp. 97-98.</ref>

1950s

• 1950: Bertie the Brain, debatably the first video game, is displayed to the public at the Canadian National Exhibition.
• 1950: The Toroidal chamber with axial magnetic fields (the Tokamak) is developed by Igor E. Tamm and Andrei D. Sakharov.<ref>R.G. Sharma (26 February 2015) Superconductivity: Basics and Applications to Magnets, p.311 Springer Science+Business Media, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN, illustrated, Retrieved 27 June 2019</ref>
• 1952: The float glass process is developed by Alastair Pilkington.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1952: The first thermonuclear weapon is developed.
• 1953: The first video tape recorder, a helical scan recorder, is invented by Norikazu Sawazaki.
• 1954: Invention of the solar battery by Bell Telephone scientists, Calvin Souther Fuller, Daryl Chapin and Gerald Pearson capturing the Sun's power. First practical means of collecting energy from the Sun and turning it into a current of electricity.
• 1955: The hovercraft is patented by Christopher Cockerell.
• 1955: The intermodal container is developed by Malcom McLean.
• 1956: The hard disk drive is invented by IBM.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1956: The Logic Theorist computer program, the first "artificial intelligence program", was written and invented by Allen Newell, Herbert A. Simon, and Cliff Shaw.<ref name="mccCrevRussNorv">

Template:Harvnb, Template:Harvnb and Template:Harvnb</ref>

• 1957: The laser and optical amplifier are invented and named by Gordon Gould and Charles Townes. The laser and optical amplifier are foundational to powering the Internet.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1957: The first personal computer used by one person and controlled by a keyboard, the IBM 610, is invented by IBM.
• 1957: The first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, is launched.
• 1958 – 1959: The integrated circuit is independently invented by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce.
• 1959: The MOSFET (MOS transistor) is invented by the Egyptian Mohamed Atalla and the Korean Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs. It is used in almost all modern electronic products. It was smaller, faster, more reliable and cheaper to manufacture than earlier bipolar transistors, leading to a revolution in computers, controls and communication.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1960s

File:0 series Yurakucho 19670505.jpg

The original 0 series Shinkansen train. Introduced in 1964, it reached a speed of Template:Convert.

• 1960: The first functioning laser is invented by Theodore Maiman.
• 1963: The first electronic cigarette is created by Herbert A. Gilbert. Hon Lik is often credited with its invention as he developed the modern electronic cigarette and was the first to commercialize it.
• 1964: Shinkansen, the first high-speed rail commercial passenger service.
• 1965: Kevlar is invented by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont.
• 1969: The NPL network followed by the ARPANET implement packet switching for data communication,<ref name=":22">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> drawing on the concepts and designs of Donald Davies,<ref name="Abbate20002">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web</ref> and Paul Baran.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite news</ref> These are considered precursors to the modern Internet.<ref name="Abbate20002" /><ref name=":5" />

1970s

• 1970s: Public-key cryptography is invented and developed by James H. Ellis, Clifford Cocks, Malcolm J. Williamson, Whitfield Diffie, Martin Hellman, Ralph Merkle, Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, Leonard Adleman, et al.
• 1970: The pocket calculator is invented.
• 1971: The first single-chip microprocessor, the Intel 4004, is invented. Its development was led by Federico Faggin, using his silicon-gate MOS technology. This led to the personal computer (PC) revolution.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1971: The first space station, Salyut 1, is launched.
• 1971: IBM developed and released the world's first floppy disk and disk drive.<ref name="computerhistory.org">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1972: The first video game console, used primarily for playing video games on a TV, is the Magnavox Odyssey.<ref name="HilbertLopez2011">"The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information", Martin Hilbert and Priscila López (2011), Science, 332(6025), 60-65; free access to the article through here martinhilbert.net/WorldInfoCapacity.html</ref>
• 1973: The first fiber optic communication systems were developed by Optelecom.<ref>Nick Taylor. Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and the Thirty-Year Patent War. Simon & Schuster. 2000</ref>
• 1973: The first commercial graphical user interface is introduced in 1973 on the Xerox Alto. The modern GUI is later popularized by the Xerox Star and Apple Lisa.
• 1973: The first capacitive touchscreen is developed at CERN.
• 1974: The Transmission Control Program is proposed by Vinton Cerf and Robert E. Kahn, building on the work of Louis Pouzin and other Internet pioneers, creating the basis for the modern Internet.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":7">Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1974: The lithium-ion battery is invented by M. Stanley Whittingham, and further developed in the 1980s and 1990s by John B. Goodenough, Rachid Yazami and Akira Yoshino. It has impacted modern consumer electronics and electric vehicles.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1974: The Rubik's cube is invented by Ernő Rubik which went on to be the best selling puzzle ever.<ref name="castel">Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1977: Dr Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger invented a new DNA sequencing method for which they won the Nobel Prize.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1977: The first self-driving car that did not rely upon rails or wires under the road is designed by the Tsukuba Mechanical Engineering Laboratory.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1978: The Global Positioning System (GPS) enters service. While not the first Satellite navigation system, it is the first to enter widespread civilian use.
• 1979: The first handheld game console with interchangeable game cartridges, the Microvision is released.
• 1979: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) launched the first cellular network in Japan.<ref>Garcia-Swartz, Daniel D, and Martin Campbell-Kelly. “The First Cellular Systems: Japan, Europe, and the United States.” Cellular: An Economic and Business History of the International Mobile-Phone Industry, The MIT Press, pp. 52–52.</ref>
• 1979: Public dialup information, messaging and e-commerce services, were pioneered through CompuServe and RadioShack's MicroNET, and the UK's Post Office Telecommunications Prestel services.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1980s

• 1980: Flash memory (both NOR and NAND types) was invented by Fujio Masuoka while working for Toshiba. It was formally introduced to the public in 1984.
• 1980: Scientists Mark Skolnick, Ron Davis, Ray White, and David Botstein published their findings on a gene mapping tool using Restriction Fragment-length Polymorphisms (RFLP), that would have applications to identify heritable disorders, including some forms of cancer.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Botstein D, White RL, Skolnick M, Davis RW. Construction of a genetic linkage map in man using restriction fragment length polymorphisms. Am J Hum Genet. 1980 May;32(3):314-31. PMID 6247908; PMCID: PMC1686077.</ref>
• 1981: The first reusable spacecraft, the Space Shuttle undergoes test flights ahead of full operation in 1982.
• 1981: Kane Kramer develops the credit card-sized, IXI digital media player.<ref>Template:Cite patent</ref>
• 1981: Televerket, a Swedish state-owned corporation, launched the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Garcia-Swartz, Daniel D, and Martin Campbell-Kelly. “The First Cellular Systems: Japan, Europe, and the United States.” Cellular: An Economic and Business History of the International Mobile-Phone Industry, The MIT Press, pp. 50–51.</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1981: Comvik, a Swedish telecommunications company, launched the first commercial automatic cellular system. However, according to the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority, the company launched an unlicensed automatic system. Comvik didn’t receive a license to operate until December 1981, two months after the NMT system was launched.<ref>Mölleryd, Bengt G. “Entrepreneurship in Technological Systems - The Development of Mobile Telephony in Sweden.” Stockholm School of Economics: Economic Research Institute, Stockholm School of Economics, 1999, pp. 104.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1982: A CD-ROM contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 Yellow Book standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data.<ref name="EP689208">Template:Patent</ref>
• 1982: Direct to home satellite television transmission, with the launch of Sky One service.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1982: The first laptop computer is launched, the 8/16-bit Epson HX-20.<ref name="ipsj">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1983: Stereolithography is invented by Chuck Hull.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1983: Ameritech, now known as AT&T, commercialized the Bell System (its cellular network) in Chicago, Ill.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1984: The first commercially available cell phone in the US, the DynaTAC 8000X, is created by Motorola.
• 1984: DNA profiling is pioneered by Alec Jeffreys.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1986: Technophone, a British mobile phone company, created the first pocket-sized cell phone, the Excell PCT105.<ref>Becket, Michael. "Excell unveils new portable telephone." Daily Telegraph, 13 July 1987, p. 20. The Telegraph Historical Archive, Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1989: Karlheinz Brandenburg would publish the audio compression algorithms that would be standardised as the: MPEG-1, layer 3 (mp3), and later the MPEG-2, layer 7 Advanced Audio Compression (AAC).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1989: The World Wide Web is invented by computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee.<ref name="AHT">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1990s

• 1990: The Neo Geo AES becomes the first video game system to launch that used Memory Cards.
• 1990: The first search engine invented was “Archie”, created by Alan Emtage a student at McGill University in Montreal.
• 1991: The first commercial flash-based solid-state drive is launched by SunDisk.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1991: The first sim card is developed by Munich smart-card maker Giesecke & Devrient.
• 1993: IBM created the first mobile app with SIMON; it had 10 built-in apps from Email to Calendar.
• 1994: IBM Simon, the world's first smartphone, is developed by IBM.
• 1994: First generation of Bluetooth is developed by Ericsson Mobile. A form of data communication on short distances between electronic devices.
• 1994: A Tetris variant on the Hagenuk MT-2000 device becomes the first mobile game.
• 1995: DVD is an optical disc storage format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than compact discs while having the same dimensions.
• 1995: Match.com launches as the first dating site ever and is the number 1 most visited dating site in the US.
• 1995: Waiter.com launches as the first online food ordering service.
• 1996: The Ciena Corporation, in partnership with Sprint, deployed the first commercial dense wavelength-division multiplexing system, which created the massive capacity of the Internet.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1996: Mobile web was first commercially offered in Finland on the Nokia 9000 Communicator phone, and it was also the first phone with texting.
• 1996: Bolt and Six Degrees (1997) both become the first social media sites.
• 1996: Myriad Genetics released the BRACAnalysis, the first commercial genetic test for assessing the risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.<ref>Cook-Deegan, Robert, and Annie Niehaus. “After Myriad: Genetic Testing in the Wake of Recent Supreme Court Decisions about Gene Patents.” Current Genetic Medicine Reports, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 11 Sept. 2014,</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1997: The first weblog, a discussion or informational website, was created by Jorn Barger, and later shortened to "blog" in 1999 by Peter Merholz.
• 1998: The first portable MP3 player was released by SaeHan Information Systems.
• 1998:  The search engine Google, is launched.<ref>Hall, Mark, and William L Hosch. “Google: American Company.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 31 Oct. 2024.</ref>
• 1999: The first digital video recorder (DVR), the TiVo, is launched by Xperi.
• 1999: NTT DoCoMo launches i-mode, the first integrated Online App store for mobile phones.

21st century

2000s

• 2000: Sony develops the first prototypes for the Blu-ray optical disc format. The first prototype player was released in 2004.
• 2000: First documented placement of Geocaching, an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, took place on May 3, 2000, by Dave Ulmer of Beavercreek, Oregon.
• 2004: First podcast, invented by Adam Curry and Dave Winer, is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet and it usually features one or more recurring hosts engaged in a discussion about a particular topic or current event.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2005: YouTube, the first popular video-streaming site, was founded
• 2007: Netflix debuted the first popular video-on-demand service
• 2007: Apple Inc. released the iPhone
• 2007: The Bank of Scotland develops the world's first banking app
• 2007: SoundCloud, the first on-demand service to focus on music is debuted
• 2007: First Kindle introduced by Amazon (company) founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who instructed the company's employees to build the world's best e-reader before Amazon's competitors could. Amazon originally used the codename Fiona for the device. This hardware evolved from the original Kindle introduced in 2007 and the Kindle DX (with its larger 9.7" screen) introduced in 2009.<ref>Inside the secret lab where Amazon is designing the future of reading Template:Webarchive The Verge, 2014</ref>
• 2008: Satoshi Nakamoto develops the first blockchain.<ref>Template:Cite book

</ref>

2010s

• 2010: The first solar sail based spacecraft, IKAROS.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2010: The first quantum machine<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 2010: The first synthetic organism, Mycoplasma laboratorium is created by the J. Craig Venter Institute
• 2011: HIV treatment as prevention (HPTN 052)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 2013: Cancer immunotherapy<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 2014: The first known "NFT", Quantum,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was created by Kevin McCoy and Anil Dash in May.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2015: CRISPR genome-editing method<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 2017: Google publishes a research paper "Attention Is All You Need" leading to the development into a new deep learning architecture known as the transformer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2018: Single-cell sequencing<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2019: IBM launches IBM Q System One, its first integrated quantum computing system for commercial use.

2020s

• 2020: The first MRNA vaccine to be approved by public health medicines regulators is co-developed by Pfizer and BioNTech for COVID-19.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2020: OpenAI demonstrated an Artificial Intelligence model called GPT-3. The program was created to generate human-like responses when given prompts.<ref>Kissinger, Henry; Schmidt, Eric; Huttenlocher, Daniel P. (2021). The age of AI: and our human future. Schuyler Schouten (First edition ed.). New York Boston London: Little, Brown and Company. Template:ISBN.</ref>
• 2021: Pfizer develops the world's first pill for COVID.
• 2022: ChatGPT is launched to the public, making its first mainstream generative AI to be released.

See also

• Accelerating change
• List of emerging technologies
• List of inventors
• List of years in science
• Outline of prehistoric technology
• Timeline of prehistory

By type

• History of communication
• Timeline of agriculture and food technology
• Timeline of electrical and electronic engineering
• Timeline of transportation technology
• Timeline of heat engine technology
• Timeline of rocket and missile technology
• Timeline of motor and engine technology
• Timeline of steam power
• Timeline of temperature and pressure measurement technology
• Timeline of mathematics
• Timeline of computing

References

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• Day, Lance and Ian McNeil. (1996). Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology. New York: Routledge. Template:ISBN.
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• Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1999). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN (paperback).
• Ebrey, Walthall, Palais, (2006). East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
• Elisseeff, Vadime. (2000). The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce. New York: Berghahn Books. Template:ISBN.
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• Hucker, Charles O. (1975). China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture. Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University. Template:ISBN.
• Hunter, Dard (1978). Papermaking: The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc. Template:ISBN.
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• Gernet, Jacques. (1996). A History of Chinese Civilization. Translated by J.R. Foster and Charles Hartman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN.
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• Lo, Andrew. "The Game of Leaves: An Inquiry into the Origin of Chinese Playing Cards", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 63, No. 3 (2000): 389–406.
• Loewe, Michael. (1968). Everyday Life in Early Imperial China during the Han Period 202 BC–AD 220. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd.; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
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• Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd.,1986 Template:ISBN
• Needham, Joseph (1962). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology; Part 1, Physics. Cambridge University Press., reprinted Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. (1986)
• Needham, Joseph and Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin. (1985). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 1, Paper and Printing. Cambridge University Press., reprinted Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. (1986)
• Needham, Joseph. (1987). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology; the Gunpowder Epic. Cambridge University Press.
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• Pigott, Vincent C. (1999). The Archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Template:ISBN.
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• Ronan, Colin A. (1994). The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN.
• Sivin, Nathan (1995). Science in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections. Brookfield, Vermont: VARIORUM, Ashgate Publishing.
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• Wagner, Donald B. (1993). Iron and Steel in Ancient China: Second Impression, With Corrections. Leiden: E.J. Brill. Template:ISBN.
• Wagner, Donald B. (2001). The State and the Iron Industry in Han China. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Publishing. Template:ISBN.
• Wang, Zhongshu. (1982). Han Civilization. Translated by K.C. Chang and Collaborators. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Template:ISBN.
• Wood, Nigel. (1999). Chinese Glazes On The Coast: Their Origins, Chemistry, and Recreation. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Template:ISBN.

External links

• U.S. National Academy of Engineering's Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century Timeline