The 100 inventions that built us

From fire and the wheel to the World Wide Web: a timeline of the 100 inventions that shaped human civilization.

• Stone Tools (~2.5M BC)
• Control of Fire (~1M BC)
• Animal Hide Clothing (~170k BC)
• The Bone Sewing Needle (~50k BC)
• The Spearpoint (~500k BC)
• The Hafted Axe (~40k BC)
• The Bow and Arrow (~64k BC)
• Boats & Navigation (~50k BC)
• The Wheel (~3500 BC)
• The Wheel-and-Axle (~3000 BC)
• Pottery & Kilns (~25k BC)
• Copper Smelting (~5000 BC)
• Bronze (~3300 BC)
• Iron Smelting & Blast Furnace (~1200 BC)
• The Nail (~3400 BC)
• The Lever (~3000 BC)
• The Pulley (~1500 BC)
• The Screw (~250 BC)
• The Ramp (~2600 BC)
• Writing Systems (Cuneiform) (~3200 BC)
• Papermaking (~100 BC)
• Ink (~2500 BC)
• The Codex (~1st century AD)
• Domestication of the Horse (~3500 BC)
• The Chariot (~2000 BC)
• The Stirrup (~4th century)
• Horseshoes (~900 AD)
• Rigid Horse Collar (~5th century)
• Heavy Wheeled Plough (~600 AD)
• Three-Field Crop Rotation (~800 AD)
• Roman Aqueducts (~312 BC)
• Roman Concrete (~200 BC)
• Sanitary Sewers & Toilets (1850s)
• Water Chlorination (1908)
• Soap & Hand Hygiene (1840s)
• Pasteurization (1864)
• Blood Groups & Transfusions (1901)
• Surgical Anesthesia (1846)
• Penicillin & Antibiotics (1928)
• Smallpox Vaccine (1796)
• The Bifurcated Needle (1961)
• Measles Vaccine (1963)
• Polio Vaccine (1955)
• Synthetic Insulin (1921)
• Artificial Pacemaker (1958)
• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) (1960)
• Oral Rehydration Therapy (1960s)
• Balloon Angioplasty (1977)
• X-Rays & Medical Imaging (1895)
• Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizer (1909)
• High-Yield Wheat (Green Revolution) (1960s)
• Plumpy'Nut (1996)
• The Magnetic Compass (~1100 AD)
• The Astrolabe (~150 BC)
• Sternpost-Mounted Rudder (~1100 AD)
• The Lateen Sail (~200 AD)
• Standardized Shipping Container (1956)
• The Steam Engine (1769)
• Internal Combustion Engine (1876)
• The Automobile (1886)
• The Airplane (1903)
• The Jet Engine (1939)
• The Locomotive (1804)
• Three-Point Seat Belt (1959)
• Spacecraft & Satellites (1957)
• The Mechanical Clock (~1300 AD)
• Interchangeable Parts (~1800)
• The Assembly Line (1913)
• The Cotton Gin (1793)
• Fractional Distillation of Crude Oil (1855)
• Bessemer Process for Steel (1856)
• Vulcanized Rubber (1839)
• Synthetic Plastics (1907)
• Dynamite (1867)
• Electrification (1880s)
• Alternating Current (AC) (1888)
• Incandescent Light Bulb (1879)
• Air Conditioning & Refrigeration (1902)
• Rechargeable Battery (1859)
• Lithium-Ion Batteries (1991)
• Solar (Photovoltaic) Cells (1954)
• The Nuclear Reactor (1942)
• Zero & Hindu-Arabic Numerals (~5th century)
• Double-Entry Bookkeeping (1494)
• Paper Currency (~7th century)
• The Printing Press (1440)
• Spectacles & Eyeglasses (~1286 AD)
• Magnifying Lenses & Microscopes (1590)
• Photography (1826)
• The Telegraph (1837)
• The Telephone (1876)
• Radio (1895)
• Television (1927)
• The Transistor (1947)
• The Integrated Circuit (1958)
• The Personal Computer (1977)
• The Hard Disk Drive (1956)
• Optical Fiber (1970)
• Packet Switching / The Internet (1969)
• The World Wide Web (1989)