Civilisation/Inventions

Disclaimer: Many inventions are disputed. It is possible that other lists will have different inventors for some of the inventions listed here.

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