The most important inventions in history
The top 3 according to 106 votes from people: The printing press · Electricity · Penicillin. (Updated Apr 16, 2021.)
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.
Top 25
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1
The printing press
Gutenberg's movable-type press (c. 1440) spread books, literacy and ideas across Europe; the panel's number one.
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2
Electricity
Harnessed in the 19th century by Faraday, Edison, Tesla and others, it powers almost everything else on this list.
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3
Penicillin
Discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, the first antibiotic has saved millions of lives.
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4
Semiconductor electronics
From the 1947 transistor to the microchip: the basis of every computer and phone.
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5
Optical lenses
Glasses, then microscopes and telescopes, let us see the very small and the very far.
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6
Paper
Invented in China (traditionally credited to Cai Lun, c. 105 AD), it made writing cheap.
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7
Vaccination
Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine (1796) began the fight that eradicated smallpox in 1980.
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8
The steam engine
James Watt's improved engine (1770s) drove the Industrial Revolution.
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9
Sanitation systems
Sewers and clean water, one of the great reasons life expectancy soared.
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10
The compass
The magnetic compass, first used in China, made ocean navigation possible.
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11
Refrigeration
Keeping food cold changed diets, cities and medicine.
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12
The telephone
Patented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876.
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13
The telegraph
Samuel Morse's 1844 line made messages travel faster than people.
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14
Oil drilling
Edwin Drake's 1859 well in Pennsylvania began the oil age.
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15
Nitrogen fixation
The Haber-Bosch process (1909-1913) makes the fertiliser that feeds billions.
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16
The internal combustion engine
The engine that turned fuel into motion for cars, ships and planes.
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17
Gunpowder
A Chinese invention of the 9th century that transformed warfare.
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18
The pill
The oral contraceptive, approved in the US in 1960, changed women's lives.
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19
Archimedes' screw
The ancient Greek device for raising water, still used today.
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20
Cement
From Roman concrete to Portland cement (1824), the material of modern cities.
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21
Alphabetization
Putting information in alphabetical order: the first great way to organise knowledge.
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22
The mechanized clock
Medieval mechanical clocks put society on a shared schedule.
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23
The Internet
From ARPANET (1969) to the World Wide Web (1989), the network that connects the planet.
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24
The airplane
The Wright brothers' first powered flight was at Kitty Hawk in 1903.
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25
Nuclear fission
Discovered in 1938: nuclear power and the atomic bomb.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 25… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
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26
The Green Revolution
Norman Borlaug's high-yield crops of the mid-20th century averted famines.
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27
The sextant
The 18th-century instrument for measuring latitude at sea.
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28
Radio
Marconi's wireless (1890s) brought news and music into every home.
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29
The cotton gin
Eli Whitney's 1793 machine for separating cotton fibres from seeds.
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30
Pasteurization
Louis Pasteur's 1860s heating method makes milk and other foods safe.
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31
The steam turbine
Charles Parsons' 1884 turbine still generates much of the world's electricity.
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32
The personal computer
From the late 1970s, computing moved from labs to homes and desks.
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33
Industrial steelmaking
The Bessemer process (1856) made steel cheap enough for railways and skyscrapers.
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34
Photography
From Niépce's first photograph (1826-27) to the daguerreotype of 1839.
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35
Oil refining
Turning crude oil into fuels and chemicals.
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36
Scientific plant breeding
Breeding crops scientifically, building on Mendel's laws of heredity.
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37
The automobile
Karl Benz's 1885-86 motorwagen and Ford's mass production put the world on wheels.
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38
The moldboard plow
The plough that turns the soil over, opening heavy farmland to cultivation.
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39
The sailboat
Sailing ships made long-distance trade and exploration possible.
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40
The Gregorian calendar
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.
Is something missing?
Comments (10)
Nitrogen fixation at #11 is too low. The Haber-Bosch process feeds about half the world.
Archimedes' screw still used today in pumps, amazing that it's 2,000+ years old
Penicillin #3, Fleming's accident saved hundreds of millions of lives
Printing press at #1, Gutenberg changed everything. Hard to argue.
The Internet at #9? It's changed the world more than the steam engine imo
Give it another century, the steam engine kicked off the whole industrial revolution.
Where's the wheel?
The wheel is prehistoric, most of these rankings focus on things with a known inventor or period.
The Gregorian calendar as an invention is an interesting pick
Love that sanitation is here. Clean water and sewers saved more lives than almost anything.