The most important inventors in history
The top 3 according to 170 votes from people: Johannes Gutenberg · Thomas Edison · Nikola Tesla. (Updated Oct 9, 2024.)
The inventors who appear most in popular-science lists, with the invention they are remembered for and its date. Plus a few Spanish inventors who usually get left out.
Automatically translated (original in Español). See the original
Top 20
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1
Johannes Gutenberg
Germany, c. 1400-1468. Printing with movable type, around 1440.
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2
Thomas Edison
United States, 1847-1931. Over 1,000 patents: the practical light bulb, the phonograph and the kinetoscope.
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3
Nikola Tesla
Serbia and the US, 1856-1943. Alternating current and the induction motor.
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4
Wright brothers
US. The first controlled powered flight, at Kitty Hawk in 1903.
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5
Alexander Graham Bell
Scotland and the US, 1847-1922. Patented the telephone in 1876.
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6
Karl Benz
Germany, 1844-1929. The first petrol-engined car, patented in 1886.
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7
James Watt
Scotland, 1736-1819. The steam engine with a separate condenser (1769), the engine of the Industrial Revolution.
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8
Samuel Morse
US, 1791-1872. The electric telegraph and Morse code.
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9
Leonardo da Vinci
Italy, 1452-1519. Flying machines and devices drawn centuries before they could be built.
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10
Isaac Peral
Spain, 1851-1895. The Peral electric submarine, launched in 1888.
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11
Benjamin Franklin
US, 1706-1790. The lightning rod and bifocal glasses.
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12
Guglielmo Marconi
Italy, 1874-1937. Wireless telegraphy; Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909.
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13
George Stephenson
England, 1781-1848. The Rocket locomotive (1829) and the first public railway.
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14
Alfred Nobel
Sweden, 1833-1896. Dynamite (1867); his fortune founded the Nobel Prizes.
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15
Lumière brothers
France. The cinématographe and the first public film screening, in Paris in 1895.
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16
Hedy Lamarr
Austria and the US, 1914-2000. Actress and co-inventor of frequency hopping, a basis of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
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17
Tim Berners-Lee
UK, born 1955. Invented the World Wide Web at CERN in 1989.
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18
Juan de la Cierva
Spain, 1895-1936. The autogyro, which first flew in 1923.
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19
Louis Braille
France, 1809-1852. The reading system for the blind, which he devised at 15.
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20
Leonardo Torres Quevedo
Spain, 1852-1936. The Telekino, one of the first remote controls, and El Ajedrecista chess automaton.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 20… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
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21
Narcís Monturiol
Spain, 1819-1885. The Ictíneo, one of the first submarines, in 1859.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (9)
Leonardo inventó cosas que no se podían construir en su época, eso es ser un genio.
Y Juan de la Cierva con el autogiro, también español.
Karl Benz y el primer coche, enorme.
Buena lista, aunque se nota que es muy eurocéntrica.
Gutenberg el primero, sin imprenta no hay nada de lo demás.
Marconi y la radio, cambió el mundo.
Los hermanos Lumière, sin ellos no hay cine.
Falta Isaac Peral, que inventó el submarino eléctrico.
Tesla por encima de Edison, justicia poética.