View source for Civilisation/Inventions

Disclaimer: Many inventions are disputed. It is possible that other lists will have different inventors for some of the inventions listed here.
{| class="wikitable"
|Year
|Inventor
|Invention
|Notes
|-
|1454
|Johannes Gutenberg
|Printing press
|
|-
|1571
|Leonard Digges
|Theodolite
|
|-
|1577
|Jost Burgi
|Minute hand
|Burgi's invention was part of a clock made for Tycho Brahe
|-
|1590
|Antonie van Leeuwenhoef
|Microscope
|
|-
|1596
|John Harrington
|Flush toilet
|NOT invented by Thomas Crapper
|-
|1608
|Hans Lippershey 
|Refracting telescope
|
|-
|1614
|John Napier
|Logarithms
|
|-
|1620
|Cornelius van Drebel
|Submarine
|
|-
|1630
|Wiliam Oughtred
|Slide rule
|
|-
|1643
|Evangelista Torricelli
|Barometer
|
|-
|1650
|Otto van Guericke
|Vacuum pump
|
|-
|1656
|Christian Huygens
|Pendulum clock
|
|-
|1670
|Dom Perignon
|Champagne
|
|-
|1679
|Denis Papin
|Pressure cooker
|
|-
|1671
|Isaac Newton
|Reflecting telescope
|Isaac Newton did not 'invent' the cat flap. He may have made a hole in a  door for his cat to get out
|-
|1698
|Thomas Savery
|Steam powered engine
|Known as the 'fire engine'
|-
|1700
|Bartolomeo Cristofori 
|Piano
|
|-
|1701
|Jethro Tull
|Seed drill
|Jethro Tull improved the seed drill, but didn't invent it
|-
|1704
|George Graham
|Orrery
|Named after Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery
|-
|1711
|John Shore
|Tuning fork
|
|-
|1712
|Thomas Newcomen
|Atmospheric engine
|First operational and practical industrial engine
|-
|1714
|Gabriel Fahrenheit
|Mercury thermometer
|
|-
|1733
|John Kay
|Flying shuttle
|
|-
|1749
|Philip Vaughan
|Ball bearings
|
|-
|1750
|Benjamin Beale
|Bathing machine
|First used at Margate
|-
|1752
|Benjamin Franklin
|Lightning rod
|Franklin also invented bifocal glasses, glass armonica, and the flexible  urinary catheter
|-
|1760
|James Heath
|Bath chair
|Named after city of Bath
|-
|1760
|John Merlin
|Roller skate
|Merlin was born in Belgium
|-
|1761
|John Harrison
|Marine chronometer
|
|-
|1762
|Earl of Sandwich
|Sandwich
|John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, wanted a snack whilst gambling
|-
|1764
|John Hargreaves
|Spinning jenny
|
|-
|1767
|Joseph Priestley
|Soda water
|
|-
|1767
|John Spilsbury
|Jigsaw puzzle
|
|-
|1769
|Richard Arkwright
|Spinning frame
|Later renamed the water frame. Powered the world's first water-powered  cotton mill at Cromford, Derbyshire
|-
|1769
|Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot
|Steam wagon
|
|-
|1775
|James Watt
|Steam engine with separate condensor
|Led to development of engines by Boulton and Watt
|-
|1779
|Samuel Crompton
|Spinning mule
|Hybrid of Arkwright's water frame and Hargreaves's Spinning jenny
|-
|1780
|William Addis
|Mass-produced toothbrush
|
|-
|1783
|Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier
|Hot air balloon
|
|-
|1783
|Henry Cort
|Puddling furnace
|Steam rolling machine used for refining iron ore
|-
|1790
|Johann Jacob Schweppe
|Process of artificially carbonating water
|Founded the Schweppes Company of Geneva in 1783
|-
|1791
|Marie Harel
|Camembert
|
|-
|1792
|William Murdoch
|Gas lighting
|Also invented the oscillating steam engine
|-
|1792
|Claude Chappe
|Semaphore telegraph
|First practical telecommunications system
|-
|1792
|Dominique-Jean Larrey
|Ambulance
|
|-
|1793
|Eli Whitney
|Cotton gin
|Short for 'cotton engine'. Separates cotton fibres from seeds
|-
|1793
|George Dunnage
|Silk top hat
|The invention of the top hat is often erroneously credited to a  haberdasher named John Hetherington
|-
|1795
|Nicholas Conte
|Modern pencil
|
|-
|1795
|Samuel Henshall
|Corkscrew
|
|-
|1796
|Alois Senefelder 
|Lithography
|
|-
|1797
|Andre-Jacques Garnerin
|Frameless parachute
|
|-
|1799
|Alessandro Volta
|Battery
|Known as the Voltaic pile
|-
|1801
|Joseph Marie Jacquard 
|Jacquard loom
|The loom is controlled by punched  cards with punched holes
|-
|1804
|Richard Trevithick
|Steam locomotive
|First railway journey at the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil
|-
|1804
|George Cayley
|Glider
|
|-
|1806
|Ralph Wedgwood
|Carbon paper
|
|-
|1807
|George Manby
|Breeches buoy
|Originally known as the Manby Mortar
|-
|1809
|Nicolas Appert
|Canning
|May also have invented Chicken Kiev
|-
|1816
|Rene Laennec
|Stethoscope
|
|-
|1815
|Humphrey Davy
|Miner's lamp
|
|-
|1816
|David Brewster
|Kaleidoscope
|
|-
|1816
|Joseph Maelzel
|Metronome
|
|-
|1818
|Seth Boyden
|Patent leather
|
|-
|1819
|Joseph van Fraunhofer
|Spectroscope
|
|-
|1821
|Christian Buschmann 
|Harmonica
|
|-
|1822
|Nicephore Niepce
|Photoetching
|First photographic images
|-
|1823
|Charles Babbage
|Difference Engine
|Designed to calculate tables of logarithms
|-
|1823
|Charles Macintosh
|Waterproof clothing
|
|-
|1824
|William Sturgeon
|Electromagnet
|
|-
|1824
|Joseph Aspdin
|Portland cement
|Name is derived from its similarity to Portland stone
|-
|1825
|Robert Foulis
|Foghorn
|
|-
|1826
|John Walker
|Friction match
|
|-
|1827
|Louis Braille
|Braille
|Developed from a French military code
|-
|1830
|Edwin Budding
|Lawnmower
|
|-
|1831
|Michael Faraday
|Electric generator
|
|-
|1833
|Charles Babbage
|Analytical Engine
|Used punched cards
|-
|1834
|George Horner
|Zoetrope
|A device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of  static pictures
|-
|1834
|Jacob Perkins
|Refrigeration
|
|-
|1834
|Cyrus McCormick
|Mechanical reaper
|
|-
|1834
|Hiram Moore
|Combine harvester
|
|-
|1834
|Joseph Hamson
|Hamson cab
|Originally called the Hansom safety cab. Designed in York
|-
|1836
|Samuel Morse
|Morse code
|First message - "What hath God wrought"
|-
|1837
|William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone
|Electric telegraph
|
|-
|1837
|Alfred Bird
|Egg-free custard
|
|-
|1838
|Chester Carlson
|Electrophotography
|Process was subsequently renamed to xerography
|-
|1838
|Charles Babbage
|Cow catcher
|Also known as a pilot
|-
|1839
|Louid Daguerre
|Daguerrotype
|First practical photographic process
|-
|1839
|Charles Goodyear
|Vulcanisation
|Rubber heated with sulphur
|-
|1840
|George Elkington
|Electroplating
|
|-
|1840
|Rowland Hill
|Postage stamp
|First stamps were Penny Black and Two penny Blue
|-
|1841
|William Henry Fox Talbot
|Calotype process
|Photographic process using paper coated with silver iodide
|-
|1842
|Joseph Groll
|Pilsener beer
|
|-
|1843
|Charles Wheatstone
|Wheatstone bridge
|Also invented the English concertina, the stereoscope, and the Playfair  cipher 
|-
|1843
|Alexander Bain
|Fax machine
|
|-
|1845
|Henry James
|Self-raising flour
|
|-
|1845
|William Morton
|Anaesthesia
|Used ether as the anaesthetic
|-
|1845
|Robert Thomson
|Pneumatic tyre
|Design improved by John Dunlop in 1888
|-
|1846
|Elias Howe
|Sewing machine
|
|-
|1846
|Ascanio Sobrero
|Nitroglycerine
|
|-
|1846
|Abraham Gesner 
|Kerosene
|
|-
|1848
|James Bogardus
|Skyscraper
|Built the Cast Iron building in New York
|-
|1849
|William Hunt
|Safety pin
|
|-
|1852
|Samuel Fox
|Steel-ribbed umbrella
|
|-
|1852
|Elisha Otis
|Safety lift
|
|-
|1852
|Jean Foucault
|Gyroscope
|Foucault experimented with a giant pendulum
|-
|1853
|Ignacy Lukasiewicz
|Modern street lamp
|Also invented the kerosene lamp and built the world's first oil refinery
|-
|1853
|George Crum
|Potato crisp
|
|-
|1855
|Henry Bessemer
|Bessemer converter
|Converts pig iron into steel by blowing air through it
|-
|1856
|William Henry Perkin
|Synthetic dyes
|Accidentally discovered mauveine, the first aniline dye
|-
|1857
|Joseph Gayetty
|Toilet paper
|
|-
|1857
|Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville
|Phonautograph
|Earliest known device for recording sound
|-
|1858
|Etienne Lenoir
|Internal combustion engine
|
|-
|1861
|Francis Galton
|Weather map
|
|-
|1866
|Georges Leclanche
|Dry cell battery
|
|-
|1866
|Thomas Allbutt
|Clinical thermometer
|
|-
|1866
|Robert Whitehead
|Torpedo
|
|-
|1867
|George Pullman
|Sleeping car
|
|-
|1867
|Joseph Monier
|Reinforced concrete
|
|-
|1868
|J.P. Knight
|Traffic lights
|First used outside Houses of Parliament
|-
|1869
|Thomas Edison
|Stock ticker
|
|-
|1870
|Alexander Parkes
|Celluloid
|First created as Parkesine by Alexander Parkes and as Xylonite before  being registered as Celluloid
|-
|1870
|William Lyman
|Rotating wheel can opener
|
|-
|1871
|Thomas Adams
|Modern chewing gum
|
|-
|1873
|Christopher Latham Sholes
|Qwerty Typewriter
|Marketed by the Remington Arms company 
|-
|1874
|Joseph Glidden
|Barbed wire
|
|-
|1875
|Daniel Peter
|Milk chocolate
|Made in Vevey, Switzerland
|-
|1876
|Alexander Graham Bell
|Telephone
|Elisha Grey is considered by many to be the true inventor of the variable  resistance telephone
|-
|1876
|Nickolas Otto
|Atmospheric gas engine
|First internal combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a  piston chamber
|-
|1876
|Francis Galton
|Dog whistle
|
|-
|1876
|Samuel Plimsoll
|Plimsoll line
|
|-
|1836
|Melville Bissell
|Carpet sweeper
|
|-
|1877
|Thomas Edison
|Phonograph
|First words recorded were “Mary had a little lamb”
|-
|1878
|Lazarus Zamenhof
|Esperanto
|First 'planned language'
|-
|1879
|Joseph Swan
|Light bulb
|Edison developed a light bulb with a filament later in 1879
|-
|1879
|James Ritty
|Cash register
|
|-
|1880
|Charles Philips
|Milk of Magnesia
|
|-
|1881
|Alexander Graham Bell
|Metal detector
|
|-
|1884
|Hiram Maxim
|Maxim gun
|First self-powered machine gun
|-
|1884
|Paul Nipkow
|Nipkow disc
|A fundamental component in mechanical television
|-
|1884
|Francis Galton
|Fingerprint forensics
|
|-
|1885
|LaMarcus Adna Thompson 
|Roller coaster
|
|-
|1885
|Karl Benz
|Automobile powered by internal combustion engine
|
|-
|1885
|Gottlieb Daimler
|Motorcycle
|
|-
|1887
|Charles Parsons
|Steam turbine
|
|-
|1887
|Adolf Fick
|Contact lens
|
|-
|1887
|Emile Berliner
|Gramaphone record
|Also invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice  transmitter 
|-
|1888
|Marvin Stone
|Paper drinking straws
|
|-
|1889
|John Brodie
|Football goal net
|
|-
|1891
|Karl Elsener
|Swiss Army knife
|
|-
|1891
|Jesse Reno
|Escalator
|
|-
|1892
|Alexander Grant
|Digestive biscuit
|Invented by McVities in Edinburgh
|-
|1892
|James Dewar
|Vacuum flask
|
|-
|1893
|Henry Perky
|Shredded Wheat
|
|-
|1893
|Whitcomb Judson
|Zipper
|
|-
|1894
|William Hooker
|Mouse trap
|James Atkinson, a British inventor, invented a prototype called the  ‘Little Nipper’ in 1897
|-
|1894
|john Harvey Kellogg
|Cornflakes
|Brother of W.K. Kellogg
|-
|1895
|Johann Vaaler
|Paper clip
|
|-
|1895
|Guglielmo Marconi
|Radio
|Invented independently by Alexander Popov
|-
|1896
|Neville Bertie-Clay 
|Dum dum bullet
|
|-
|1897
|Karl Braun
|Cathode ray tube
|
|-
|1899
|Leo Baekeland 
|Velox photographic paper
|Baekeland sold his patent to the president of Kodak, George Eastman, for  $1 million 
|-
|1901
|King Camp Gillette
|Disposable razor blade
|
|-
|1901
|Hubert Booth
|Powered vacuum cleaner
|Vacuum cleaner was known as 'Puffing Billy'
|-
|1902
|George Ransome
|Powered lawnmower
|
|-
|1903
|Edouard Benedictus
|Laminated glass
|
|-
|1903
|Albert Parkhouse
|Wire coat hanger
|
|-
|1904
|John Ambrose Fleming
|Diode
|
|-
|1904
|Auguste and Louis Lumiere
|Colour photography
|
|-
|1904
|Thomas Sullivan
|Tea bag
|
|-
|1906
|Lee De Forest
|Triode
|Known as an Audion
|-
|1907
|Paul Cornu
|Twin-rotor helicopter
|
|-
|1907
|Alva Fisher
|Electric washing machine
|
|-
|1908
|Jacques Brandenberger
|Cellophane
|
|-
|1910
|William Allen
|Hex key
|
|-
|1910
|George Claude
|Neon tube lighting
|
|-
|1913
|Harry Brearley
|Stainless steel
|
|-
|1913
|Mary Phelps Jacob
|Modern brassiere
|She sold the patent for the ‘backless brassiere’ to the Warner Brothers  corset company for $1500
|-
|1913
|Franz Schneider
|Interrupter gear
|Design improved by Fokker in 1915
|-
|1913
|Arthur Wynne
|Crossword puzzle
|Published in New York World
|-
|1914
|Stefan Banic
|Parachute
|
|-
|1915
|Maurice Levy
|Metal lipstick cylinder
|
|-
|1915
|William Mills
|Mills bomb grenade
|
|-
|1916
|Earle Dickson
|Sticking plaster
|Marketed as Band-Aid
|-
|1920
|George Owen Squier
|Technical basis for Muzak
|
|-
|1920
|John Thompson
|Submachine gun
|Known as the Tommy gun
|-
|1922
|Gustaf Dalen
|Aga cooker
|
|-
|1924
|Hans Berger
|Electroencephalogram 
|
|-
|1924
|Clarence Birdseye
|Frozen food
|
|-
|1925
|Vladimir Zworykin
|Television system
|Television transmitting and receiving system employing cathode ray tube
|-
|1926
|John Logie Baird
|Television
|
|-
|1926
|Robert Goddard
|Liquid-fuel rocket
|
|-
|1926
|Erik Rotheim
|Aerosol
|
|-
|1927
|Pjilo Farnsworth
|Image dissector camera tube
|First electronic television demonstration
|-
|1928
|Otto Rohwedder 
|Bread slicer
|
|-
|1928
|Joseph Schick
|Electric razor
|
|-
|1928
|Philip Drinker
|Iron lung
|
|-
|1929
|Gyorgy Jendrassik
|Turboprop engine
|
|-
|1929
|Ernest Lawrence
|Cyclotron
|
|-
|1930
|Thomas Midgley
|Freon gas
|
|-
|1930
|Frank Whittle
|Jet engine
|
|-
|1932
|George Carwardine
|Anglepoise lamp
|
|-
|1932
|Karl Jansky
|Radio telescope
|
|-
|1933
|Ernst Ruska
|Electron microscope
|
|-
|1934
|Edwin Armstrong
|FM radio
|
|-
|1934
|Percy Shaw
|Catseyes
|
|-
|1935
|Robert Watson-Watt
|Radar
|
|-
|1935
|Wallace Carothers
|Nylon
|Invented at DuPont Experimental Station laboratory
|-
|1936
|George Nissen and Larry Griswold
|Trampoline
|
|-
|1936
|Max Factor
|Foundation (cosmetics)
|Known as Pan-Cake
|-
|1937
|Otto Bayer
|Polyurethane
|Invented at IG Farben in Leverkusen
|-
|1938
|Laszlo Biro
|Ballpoint pen
|
|-
|1938
|Fred Morrison
|Frisbee
|Registered trademaek of the Wham-O toy company
|-
|1943
|Jacques Cousteau
|Aqualung
|
|-
|1944
|Ruben Rausing
|Tetra Pak
|
|-
|1946
|Percy Spencer
|Microwave oven
|Invented at Raytheon
|-
|1946
|Louis Reard
|Bikini
|
|-
|1947
|Dennis Gabor
|Holography
|
|-
|1947
|Ed Lowe
|Cat litter
|Sold as 'kitty litter'
|-
|1947
|Shockley, Bardeen, and Brattain
|Transistor
|Invented at AT&T's Bell Telephone Laboratories
|-
|1947
|Marion Donovan
|Disposable nappy
|
|-
|1948
|Edwin Land
|Polaroid camera
|
|-
|1948
|George de Mestral
|Velcro
|
|-
|1949
|Frank Zamboni
|Ice resurfacer
|
|-
|1949
|Al Gross
|Telephone pager
|Also patented the first walkie-talkie, CB radio, and the cordless  telephone
|-
|1950
|Hubert Schlafly 
|Teleprompter (autocue)
|
|-
|1950
|Howard Head
|Lamimate skis
|Also invented the oversized tennis racket
|-
|1950
|Ralph Schneider
|Credit card
|Diners Club card
|-
|1951
|Carl Djerassi 
|Oral contreaceptive pill
|
|-
|1952
|Gregory Pincus
|Combined oral contraceptive pill
|
|-
|1952
|Buckminster Fuller
|Geodesic dome
|
|-
|1952
|Bernard Silver and Joseph Woodland 
|Barcode
|
|-
|1953
|John Hetrick
|Airbag
|
|-
|1953
|Townes, Gordon, and Zeiger
|Maser
|Invented at Columbia University
|-
|1955
|Louis Essen
|Atomic clock
|At UK National Physical Laboratory
|-
|1955
|Christopher Cockerell
|Hovercraft
|
|-
|1955
|Jonas Salk
|Polio vaccine
|
|-
|1956
|Robert Adler
|TV remote control
|Device was known as 'Lazy Bones'
|-
|1957
|Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes 
|Bubble wrap
|Invented at Sealed Air Corporation
|-
|1958
|Momofuku Ando 
|Instant noodles
|
|-
|1958
|Jack Kilby
|Integrated circuit
|Invented at Texas Instruments. Also invented the handheld calculator and  thermal printer
|-
|1960
|Theodore Maiman 
|Laser
|Invented at Hughes Research Laboratories
|-
|1960
|Wilson Greatbatch
|Cardiac pacemaker
|
|-
|1962
|Alex Moulton
|Folding bicycle
|
|-
|1962
|Ermal Fraze 
|Ring pull
|
|-
|1963
|Douglas Englebart 
|Computer mouse
|
|-
|1963
|Edward Craven-Walker 
|Lava lamp
|Also known as Astro lamp
|-
|1964
|Rudi Gernreich 
|Monokini
|
|-
|1964
|Bitzer, Slottow, and Willson
|Plasma display
|Invented at University of Illinois for   the PLATO Computer System
|-
|1965
|Stephanie Kwolek
|Kevlar
|Invented at DuPont
|-
|1965
|James Russell
|Optical disc
|
|-
|1965
|Owen Maclaren
|Baby buggy
|
|-
|1969
|Willard Boyle and George E. Smith
|Charge-coupled device
|Invented at AT&T's Bell Labs
|-
|1971
|Steve Chmelar 
|Foam hand (finger)
|
|-
|1971
|Clayton Jacobsen 
|Jet ski
|
|-
|1974
|Arthur Fry
|Post-it note
|Invented at 3M. Originally known as Press ‘n Peel
|-
|1977
|Patrick Steptoe
|In vitro fertilisation
|Louise Brown was first 'test tube baby'
|-
|1977
|Raymond Damadian
|MRI scanner
|
|-
|1980
|Bill Carlton
|Cyclops
|System uses infra-red to decide whether tennis balls are in or out
|-
|1984
|Friedhelm Hillebrand 
|SMS (Short Message Service)
|
|-
|1984
|Alec Jeffreys
|DNA fingerprinting
|
|-
|1991
|Trevor Baylis
|Clockwork radio
|
|-
|2001
|Dean Kamen
|Segway
|
|-
|2001
|Paul Hawkins
|Hawk-Eye
|First used on television at cricket matches
|}