20 Inventions that Changed the World Forever

August 24, 2023

Do you know about Inventions that Changed the World? Humans are just wired to be curious and inventive—you can pretty much trace our history through a series of “aha!” moments that have changed the game in one way or another. Think about it: our ancestors were the first DIY enthusiasts, taking a rock and turning it into the world’s first knife. Fast forward through centuries packed with moments of genius—from the wheel to sending robots to Mars—and you’ll see that we’ve always been all about pushing the envelope.

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Now, while some of these groundbreaking inventions happened in a flash of inspiration, let’s be real—most came about thanks to a bunch of smart folks tinkering around for years, or even decades. So let’s dive in and give a shoutout to 20 of the biggest game-changers in the history of, well, everything. We’ll look at what sparked these ideas, how they evolved, and why they’re so darn important.

1. Wheel

Ever thought about life before the wheel? Let me paint you a picture: moving anything heavy was a total pain. You could only haul what you could carry, and forget about traveling long distances with a lot of stuff. But around 3500 B.C., someone had a lightbulb moment that would change everything: the wheel.

Now, you might think the wheel’s a simple thing, right? Just a round thing that rolls. But according to David Anthony, an anthropology professor at Hartwick College, it’s not just about making something round and rolling it. The real genius? The whole wheel-and-axle setup. It sounds simple now, but getting it right was a game-changer.

Imagine trying to carve perfectly round holes with whatever tools they had back then. Not only did the holes need to be round, but the axle also had to fit just right—not too tight and not too loose. It’s like the Goldilocks of ancient engineering.

And boy, did it pay off. Once we had wheels on carts, everything changed. We could take goods to market, move around supplies, and travel much farther than before without breaking our backs. Fast forward to today, and you see wheels everywhere—from the car you drive to the clock on your wall. So next time you’re cruising down the highway or checking the time, give a little nod to that ancient inventor. They really got the ball—or should I say the wheel—rolling!

2. Printing Press

Let’s break it down: Imagine a world where, if you wanted a book, someone had to write it out by hand. Yep, every single word. Enter Johannes Gutenberg and his game-changing invention between 1440 and 1450—the printing press. The guy didn’t just wake up one day and invent it; he actually fine-tuned the whole process, thanks to a nifty thing called the hand mold. This technique let him crank out metal movable type like it was going out of style.

Now, Gutenberg wasn’t the first guy to think of movable type. Innovators in China and Korea had been there and done that. But what set him apart? His process was mechanized, and he even cooked up his own ink from linseed oil and soot. The result? A turbocharged way to make books.

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Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, a historian who knew her stuff, said in her book that by 1500, you could find a printer’s workshop in just about every major city. We’re talking about millions of books getting into the hands of people who’d never had access to so much information. The numbers vary, but let’s just say by the time 1500 rolled around, a whole lot of pages had been printed—Eisenstein guesses around eight million, but some say it could be up to twenty million!

And here’s the kicker: this printing explosion didn’t just mean more books; it changed the game entirely. Take the Bible, for instance. All of a sudden, anyone could read it and come up with their own interpretations. Remember Martin Luther and his “95 Theses”? He was able to spread his ideas like wildfire, sparking the Protestant Reformation, all thanks to Gutenberg’s invention.

So next time you’re scrolling through your Kindle or even reading a good ol’ fashioned paper book, give a little mental high-five to Gutenberg. The guy basically laid the groundwork for spreading knowledge as we know it.

3. Penicillin

Alexander Fleming and his accidental wonder drug, penicillin—now that’s a story worth retelling! Picture this: It’s 1928, and Fleming, a Scottish scientist, walks into his lab only to find he’d left a Petri dish open. Normally, that’s a big “oops,” but this time it was different. The dish was teeming with bacteria except for the spots where some mold had contaminated it. That mold? It was killing the bacteria! Turns out, it was a type of Penicillium fungus.

It took a couple more decades to perfect it, but by the 1940s, penicillin was being mass-produced. They even started slapping ads for it on mailboxes to let World War II soldiers know it could help them fight off venereal disease. How’s that for medical marketing?

Now, let’s be real; it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. According to a study from 2003, about one in ten people might have an allergic reaction to this antibiotic. But don’t fret. Most of those people eventually become tolerant to the drug, according to researchers.

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So, the next time you pop a penicillin pill for that nasty infection, maybe give a little nod to Mr. Fleming and his serendipitous, somewhat sloppy lab practices. That little mistake of his ended up saving countless lives.

4. Compass

Ever wonder how sailors of old managed to explore the seas without getting hopelessly lost? Sure, they had the stars to guide them, but what about daytime or those pesky cloudy nights? Enter the compass, one of those inventions that truly changed the game.

So, here’s a quick history lesson: The Chinese were the first to invent the compass, way back during the Han dynasty—yep, that’s somewhere between the 2nd century B.C. and the 1st century A.D. They used lodestone, this iron ore that’s naturally magnetic, to make the first compasses. Pretty smart, right? But it wasn’t until the Song Dynasty, a few centuries later, that sailors started using it for navigation.

And you can bet it didn’t take long for this nifty gadget to make its way to the West, thanks to sailors bumping into each other on the high seas. Suddenly, explorers could venture far from shore without worrying about getting lost, opening up whole new opportunities for trade and discovery.

So the next time you use your phone’s GPS to find the closest coffee shop, maybe give a little mental high-five to those ancient innovators. Because, honestly, the compass laid the groundwork for us to understand the world in ways we never could’ve imagined.

5. Light Bulb

The humble light bulb. You might not give it much thought, but it’s one of those inventions that seriously flipped the switch on human progress. You know how we’re no longer tied to the sun’s schedule? Yeah, we’ve got the light bulb to thank for that.

While a bunch of smart folks were tinkering with the idea back in the 1800s, it’s Thomas Edison who usually gets the spotlight. Why? Because in 1879, he didn’t just create a bulb; he gave us the whole package—a working electrical system with generators and wiring to light up that bulb.

And here’s a fun side effect you might not have considered: the light bulb changed how we sleep! Seriously, before light bulbs, people would hit the hay when the sun went down because, well, what else was there to do in the dark? And they’d wake up on and off throughout the night. But now, thanks to Edison and Co., we have the luxury of binge-watching our favorite shows until the wee hours and then getting a solid 7 to 8 hours of sleep.

So next time you flip a switch to light up a room, give a nod to Edison and those 1800s inventors. They didn’t just light up our homes; they pretty much changed how we live our lives.

6. Telephone

You know that handy device we can’t seem to live without? The one that lets you call your mom, text your friends, and scroll through endless memes? Yep, I’m talking about the phone. But long before smartphones, there was the classic, groundbreaking telephone, and we’ve got Alexander Graham Bell to thank for that.

While a bunch of inventors were messing around with the idea of electronic voice transmission—and let’s just say, the patent office got pretty busy—Bell was the guy who snagged the first patent for an electric telephone on March 7, 1876. Just three days later, he made the first-ever phone call to his assistant, Thomas Watson. The words “Mr. Watson, come here — I want to see you,” might not seem like much, but they were revolutionary at the time.

And get this: Bell’s whole life kinda set him up for this. His dad was an elocution expert who also worked with the deaf. His mom, a talented musician, lost her hearing later in life. And his wife Mabel? She’d been deaf since she was five. So you could say the telephone wasn’t just a business venture for him; it was personal.

This invention didn’t just make waves; it made tsunamis. It changed how the world did business and communicated. And when Bell passed away in 1922, the U.S. and Canada literally hit the mute button on all telephone service for a minute to honor him.

So next time you’re glued to your smartphone, maybe take a second to appreciate the guy who got the whole conversation started.

7. Internal Combustion Engine

Know those roaring engines in cars, planes, and a ton of other machines? They didn’t just pop into existence. A lot of brainpower and elbow grease from various engineers over decades went into creating what we now know as the internal combustion engine. This bad boy really took shape in the second half of the 19th century and has been a game-changer ever since. I mean, without it, the Industrial Revolution wouldn’t have revved up the way it did, and our modern world of cars and planes would look pretty different.

So how does it work? Simple—kinda. You burn some fuel, and this makes a hot gas that expands. This expanding gas then pushes on a piston, which moves and does the work you need—whether that’s driving your car forward or making a plane lift off. In geeky terms, what’s happening is that the engine is turning chemical energy into mechanical work.

Want to dive a bit deeper? Cool, let’s talk about the four steps or ‘strokes’ it takes to make this engine magic happen. First, the ‘Intake stroke’ sucks in air and vaporized fuel. Second, in the ‘Compression stroke,’ that air-fuel mix gets compressed and is ignited. Next up is the ‘Power stroke,’ where the fuel burns up, the piston moves, and we get some serious action. Last but not least, the ‘Exhaust stroke’ kicks out the waste, making room for a new cycle to start.

So there you have it—the internal combustion engine in a nutshell. It’s not just a hunk of metal; it’s a marvel of engineering that changed the world.

8. Combined Monophasic Early Contraception Pill, 1960

Contraception has changed the game in so many ways, and not just in the bedroom. Yeah, it’s been a major player in the sexual revolution, giving folks the freedom to get intimate without the immediate concern of making a baby. But it’s done more than just liberate our love lives. It’s also had a massive impact on family size and quality of life. With fewer kids to look after, families can focus on providing more for each child, leveling up their standard of living.

But let’s not forget, this isn’t some modern miracle. People have been dabbling in natural and herbal forms of birth control for ages. Condoms? They’ve been around for centuries, says Jessica Borge in her book on the history of the rubber condom, which itself made its debut in the 19th century. But the game truly changed in the 1960s when the FDA gave the green light to the first oral contraceptive pill. In just five years, more than 6.5 million American women hopped on the pill train, according to Jonathan Eig’s book on the subject.

The science hasn’t stopped there, either. Researchers are still pushing the boundaries, even toying with the idea of a male birth control pill. And let’s not overlook permanent solutions like the Essure implant, which got FDA approval in 2002. Sure, it’s had its share of controversy, but the fact remains: we’ve come a long way in controlling when and how we expand our families.

The upshot? Contraception is doing more than just spicing up our sex lives; it’s reshaping societies and could even help stabilize the global population by the century’s end. Plus, it’s a frontline defense against STDs. So, yeah, it’s kind of a big deal.

9. Internet

The internet—where would we be without it? Seriously, it’s hard to imagine life pre-internet. But let’s rewind a bit and see where it all began. It wasn’t born overnight, that’s for sure. Way back in the ’60s, a bunch of super-smart folks at the U.S. Defense Department’s ARPA got the ball rolling. They put together this network called ARPANET, which is kinda like the internet’s grandparent. One of the big leaps they made was this thing called “packet switching,” a brainchild of Lawrence Roberts and based on earlier work by some other tech whizzes.

Fast forward to the ’70s, and enter two new heroes: Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf. These guys took the baton and sprinted with it. They cooked up TCP and IP, two vital protocols that basically serve as the internet’s backbone. You’ll often hear them called the “fathers of the internet,” and it’s not just hype; they really earned that title.

But wait, there’s more! In the late ’80s, Tim Berners-Lee, a computer scientist at CERN, took the game to a whole new level. He gave us the World Wide Web. This wasn’t just a tweak; it was a revolution. It transformed the internet from a playground for techies into an everyday tool for, well, everyone. According to CERN, Berners-Lee’s goal was to blend computers, data networks, and hypertext into an “easy-to-use global information system.” Nailed it, right?

So, there you have it: the internet, a global phenomenon that started as a series of tiny, interconnected steps by some seriously smart people. Today, it’s a part of everything we do, and it’s hard to imagine a world without it.

10. Nails

Nails and screws—those little things we take for granted when putting together, well, just about anything. But did you know these tiny wonders have a history going back thousands of years? Yep, we’re talking Ancient Rome here. Before metalwork became a thing, folks had to go through the painstaking process of carving and interlocking wooden boards to make any sort of structure. Talk about a DIY nightmare!

Fast forward a bit to the 1790s. Until then, making nails was pretty much an art. Blacksmiths would heat up a square iron rod and then hammer away until they got a pointy end. It was a lot of work for a simple nail! But then machines came into the picture, and by the early 1800s, the production of nails became a whole lot easier.

Things didn’t stop there. Once Henry Bessemer figured out how to mass-produce steel, iron nails started to become a thing of the past. By 1886, about 10% of all nails made in the U.S. were from soft steel wire, and by 1913, that number shot up to a whopping 90%.

And let’s not forget screws, the nail’s more complicated cousin. While they’re often credited to Archimedes, a Greek scholar, some experts like David Blockley believe it was actually Archytas of Tarentum, a Pythagorean philosopher, who came up with this twisty invention.

So there you have it: from humble beginnings in ancient workshops to the backbone of modern construction, nails and screws have come a long way. And to think, all this time we’ve been walking on floors and sitting in chairs without giving a second thought to what’s holding them together!

11. Use of Fire

Fire—the original game-changer. Can you imagine life without it? It’s hard to pin down exactly when our ancestors first struck that fateful spark, but one thing’s for sure: fire completely flipped the script on how early humans lived. Suddenly, we had warmth, cooked food, and a natural gathering spot for socializing and storytelling. Oh, and let’s not forget, it was also a pretty effective way to keep those pesky predators at bay.

Now, when it comes to the “who-did-it-first” debate, well, that’s still a bit of a hot topic. Some researchers think it was hominins in Kenya who first harnessed fire to cook up some grub about a million years ago. But then there’s evidence suggesting that Neanderthals in Europe and Asia were no strangers to a flickering flame either. And don’t count out Homo sapiens! Our direct ancestors, who evolved in Africa, seem to have had a pretty good handle on fire-making too.

But the plot thickens. Recent discoveries in Israel indicate that fire usage could go back even further—like, 1.5 to 2 million years further. So while the jury’s still out on who exactly made the first s’mores, there’s no denying that fire has been lighting up human life for a really, really long time.

12. Concrete

You’ve got to hand it to the Ancient Romans—they really knew their way around a bag of cement. I mean, look at the Colosseum or the Pantheon’s dome. These iconic structures weren’t just slapped together; they were engineered using a brilliant cocktail of volcanic ash, lime, and good old seawater. And guess what? They’re not just still standing, they’re actually in pretty good nick, even after two millennia. Talk about durability!

But hold on, let’s not forget the Ancient Egyptians. They were messing around with an early form of concrete as far back as 3000 B.C. They mixed ash and saltwater to whip up mortar, and some researchers even think parts of the Great Pyramids might have had a concrete helping hand.

Now, as much as we love concrete, it’s got a bit of an Achilles’ heel—it’s strong when you squish it, but try pulling it apart and it’ll crack faster than an overcooked brownie. Enter reinforced steel-concrete, the brainchild of some clever French folks in the late 19th century. Adding steel to the mix gave concrete some much-needed tensile strength, making it the go-to material for all sorts of constructions. So, whether it’s a skyscraper or a simple sidewalk, you can bet that concrete’s historical journey has made our world what it is today.

13. Magnifying Glass

Handy little magnifying glass you use to read the fine print or inspect tiny objects? You can thank Roger Bacon for that. This guy wasn’t just a Franciscan friar; he was also a scholar at Oxford University. Around 1268, he took the whole magnifying idea to the next level, building on what Muslim scholars had already figured out. Some folks even call him “Britain’s first scientist,” and given his contributions, it’s easy to see why.

But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. People have been fascinated by optics for a really long time. Flashback to ancient Egypt, around 700 B.C., and you’ll find folks discovering they could see better through crystals. So, while Bacon might have given us the modern magnifying glass, the urge to see the world in greater detail is as old as civilization itself.

14. Batteries

Ever wonder who you have to thank for not having to crank-start your car every morning? Or for that matter, who made it possible for you to use a flashlight? The whole battery game actually kicked off in 1800 with an Italian guy named Alessandro Volta. He took discs of copper and zinc, wrapped them in cloth, dunked them in salty water, and boom—energy was conducted!

Just two years later, a Scottish professor named William Cruickshank came up with his own twist. He lined up 50 discs of copper and zinc in a wooden box and filled it with a salt solution to get the juice flowing. But it wasn’t until 1859 that the French physicist Gaston Planté took things to the next level. He created the first rechargeable lead-acid battery, and you know what? We’re still using updated versions of Planté’s design in cars today. How’s that for a lasting impact?

15. Marine Chronometer

15th century—when fearless adventurers and savvy merchants took to the high seas, marking the start of an epic era of global trade. Picture ships brimming with exotic goods like silk, spices, and tea, all sailing through uncharted, often perilous waters for months on end. But after a tragic incident in 1707, where four ships were lost at sea near the Scilly Isles, it became glaringly obvious that something had to be done about figuring out one’s location when there was no land in sight.

Enter the British parliament, dangling a juicy prize of 20,000 pounds for anyone who could crack the longitude problem. And you won’t believe who stepped up to the plate—John Harrison, a self-taught carpenter and clockmaker. In 1735, Harrison unveiled his marine chronometer, a groundbreaking timekeeping gadget that got its power from the ship’s rocking motion rather than gravity. Thanks to Harrison’s invention, sailors could finally calculate their longitude while sailing the open seas, making the world a little smaller and a lot safer.

16. Airplane

For as long as people have been looking up at the sky, the idea of human flight has been a tantalizing fantasy. The first real taste of it came in 1783 when the Montgolfier brothers, Joseph-Michael and Jacques-Ètienne, soared into the sky in a hot air balloon. Fast forward to 1853, and George Cayley, a British engineer, managed to design a glider that actually flew. But let’s be real, the game-changer came in 1903.

Enter the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur. Inspired by watching birds glide effortlessly through the air, they decided to build something that could do the same but carry humans. And they pulled it off! In Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, their plane didn’t just take off; it flew and landed in one piece, which was a huge deal back then. And get this—their glider’s wingspan was a whopping 32 feet! So, thanks to a pair of bird-watching brothers, the sky was no longer the limit.

17. Refrigerator

People have been trying to keep their food cool for ages. Back in the day, depending on where you lived, you’d use ice or cold water to do the job. But the real game-changer in the world of refrigeration came in 1748, thanks to a doctor named William Cullen. He was the first to show how evaporative cooling could work, basically making things cold without needing nature to lend a hand.

Fast forward to 1834, and an American engineer named Jacob Perkins steps onto the scene. He developed a vapor-compression system, which was a big leap forward. Then, in 1876, a German engineer named Carl von Linde took it a step further by figuring out how to liquefy gas, setting the stage for the commercial fridges we’re familiar with today.

But it didn’t stop there. In 1913, an American engineer named Fred Wolf invented the first fridge for home use. As people started wanting fresh produce all the time, fridges became a household staple. So, from ancient ice pits to high-tech cooling systems, we’ve come a long way in keeping our food fresh!

18. Nuclear Energy

Deal with nuclear energy: It all started back in the 1930s when an Italian physicist named Enrico Fermi figured out that if you shoot neutrons at atoms, they’ll split apart and release a ton of energy. He was so onto something that he actually managed to kick off the first nuclear chain reaction while he was at the University of Chicago.

Fast forward to the 1950s, and boom—we’ve got actual nuclear power plants! Idaho was the first in line, opening its Experimental Breeder Reactor I in 1951. Then, a few years later in 1954, the former Soviet Union got its Obninsk plant connected to the grid. By 1957, the U.S. had its first commercial nuclear plant up and running in Pennsylvania.

Nowadays, about 10% of the world’s energy comes from nuclear power. But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. The way we’ve been doing nuclear power is through fission, which is great for energy but not so great for the radioactive waste it leaves behind. Plus, let’s not forget about the disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima that show just how risky it can be.

That’s why scientists are super excited about the idea of nuclear fusion, which is like the dream version of nuclear energy: clean and practically limitless. Just last year, they even managed to get a fusion reactor to produce more energy than what was put into it. Sure, we’re still years away from actually using fusion reactors, but hey, it’s a start!

19. Vaccines

Scoop on vaccines: they’re a pretty big deal. The World Health Organization says they save between 2 to 3 million lives every year, which is mind-blowing if you think about it. We’re talking about preventing nasty stuff like diphtheria, tetanus, and measles from spreading like wildfire.

Now, let’s take a little trip down history lane. While the concept of vaccination might seem pretty modern, people were actually dabbling in it as far back as the 10th century in China. They’d scratch your skin a little and put in some smallpox material, hoping to give you a sort of shield against the disease. But the game-changer came in the late 1700s, thanks to an English doc named Edward Jenner.

Jenner noticed something super interesting: milkmaids were hardly ever getting smallpox. Why? Because they were getting a much milder disease called cowpox. So, Jenner thought, “Why not use cowpox to fight smallpox?” He tested this idea on an 8-year-old boy, giving him cowpox first and then exposing him to smallpox. Guess what? The kid was totally fine. That experiment pretty much kicked off the whole field of immunology, and eventually led to the smallpox vaccine. Oh, and did I mention smallpox is now extinct? Yep, WHO declared it eradicated in 1980.

Fast forward to today, and vaccines are still saving the day. Take the coronavirus vaccines, for example. They’ve been a game-changer in battling the pandemic. So yeah, vaccines? Totally the superheroes of public health.

20. X-rays

You know how sometimes the best discoveries happen totally by accident? Well, that’s exactly what went down with the invention of the X-ray. Picture this: it’s 1895, and a German physicist named Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen is deep into some experiments on radiation. He’s messing around to see if cathode rays can pass through glass, right? But then something wild happens. He notices that the radiation doesn’t just stop at the glass—it goes right through other barriers, even casting shadows of solid objects.

So, Röntgen gets curious and starts testing if these rays can pass through human tissue. And voila! It turns out they can. The X-rays give a crystal-clear image of bones and organs, which is basically like a window into the human body. Fast-forward a year, and doctors are already using these bad boys on actual patients.

Long story short, that accidental discovery became the cornerstone of radiology. Nowadays, X-rays are a go-to tool for spotting everything from broken bones and tumors to issues with your internal organs. So, next time you’re at the hospital getting an X-ray, you can thank Röntgen’s happy accident for making it all possible.