# The most important inventions in history

The breakthroughs that most shaped modern life since the wheel, in the order chosen by The Atlantic's panel of 12 scientists, historians, engineers and entrepreneurs (James Fallows, 2013). Top 40 of their 50.

- 106 votes · 40 items
- Apr 16, 2021 · Amy
- https://even.best/en/l/182/the-most-important-inventions-in-history

## Top 25

1. **The printing press** (8 · ▲8 ▼0) — Gutenberg's movable-type press (c. 1440) spread books, literacy and ideas across Europe; the panel's number one.
2. **Electricity** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Harnessed in the 19th century by Faraday, Edison, Tesla and others, it powers almost everything else on this list.
3. **Penicillin** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, the first antibiotic has saved millions of lives.
4. **Semiconductor electronics** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — From the 1947 transistor to the microchip: the basis of every computer and phone.
5. **Optical lenses** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Glasses, then microscopes and telescopes, let us see the very small and the very far.
6. **Paper** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — Invented in China (traditionally credited to Cai Lun, c. 105 AD), it made writing cheap.
7. **Vaccination** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine (1796) began the fight that eradicated smallpox in 1980.
8. **The steam engine** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — James Watt's improved engine (1770s) drove the Industrial Revolution.
9. **Sanitation systems** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Sewers and clean water, one of the great reasons life expectancy soared.
10. **The compass** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — The magnetic compass, first used in China, made ocean navigation possible.
11. **Refrigeration** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Keeping food cold changed diets, cities and medicine.
12. **The telephone** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Patented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876.
13. **The telegraph** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Samuel Morse's 1844 line made messages travel faster than people.
14. **Oil drilling** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Edwin Drake's 1859 well in Pennsylvania began the oil age.
15. **Nitrogen fixation** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — The Haber-Bosch process (1909-1913) makes the fertiliser that feeds billions.
16. **The internal combustion engine** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — The engine that turned fuel into motion for cars, ships and planes.
17. **Gunpowder** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — A Chinese invention of the 9th century that transformed warfare.
18. **The pill** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — The oral contraceptive, approved in the US in 1960, changed women's lives.
19. **Archimedes' screw** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — The ancient Greek device for raising water, still used today.
20. **Cement** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — From Roman concrete to Portland cement (1824), the material of modern cities.
21. **Alphabetization** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Putting information in alphabetical order: the first great way to organise knowledge.
22. **The mechanized clock** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Medieval mechanical clocks put society on a shared schedule.
23. **The Internet** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — From ARPANET (1969) to the World Wide Web (1989), the network that connects the planet.
24. **The airplane** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — The Wright brothers' first powered flight was at Kitty Hawk in 1903.
25. **Nuclear fission** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Discovered in 1938: nuclear power and the atomic bomb.
26. **The Green Revolution** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Norman Borlaug's high-yield crops of the mid-20th century averted famines.
27. **The sextant** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — The 18th-century instrument for measuring latitude at sea.
28. **Radio** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Marconi's wireless (1890s) brought news and music into every home.
29. **The cotton gin** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Eli Whitney's 1793 machine for separating cotton fibres from seeds.
30. **Pasteurization** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Louis Pasteur's 1860s heating method makes milk and other foods safe.
31. **The steam turbine** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Charles Parsons' 1884 turbine still generates much of the world's electricity.
32. **The personal computer** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — From the late 1970s, computing moved from labs to homes and desks.
33. **Industrial steelmaking** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — The Bessemer process (1856) made steel cheap enough for railways and skyscrapers.
34. **Photography** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — From Niépce's first photograph (1826-27) to the daguerreotype of 1839.
35. **Oil refining** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Turning crude oil into fuels and chemicals.
36. **Scientific plant breeding** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Breeding crops scientifically, building on Mendel's laws of heredity.
37. **The automobile** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Karl Benz's 1885-86 motorwagen and Ford's mass production put the world on wheels.
38. **The moldboard plow** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The plough that turns the soil over, opening heavy farmland to cultivation.
39. **The sailboat** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Sailing ships made long-distance trade and exploration possible.
40. **The Gregorian calendar** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, it's the calendar most of the world uses.

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.