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bandaid
In 1920, Johnson & Johnson employee, Earle Dickson, invented the adhesive bandage for his wife Josephine, who often cut herself while cooking in the kitchen. They are still used to this day. -
airplane
The Wright brothers invented the airplane and were able to have it fully flying with someone in it. It was a very monumental invention as it is now the face of traveling cross continental. -
instant camera
Samuel Shlafrock invented the instant camera in 1923. It is used for taking photos and was able to print them out onto a polaroid to keep forever. they were invented in 1923 but only in store in 1948. -
television
The television was created by Philo Taylor Farnsworth, John Logie Baird, and Charles Francis Jenkins. It is used for entertainment and is still being used up to today. -
jukebox
The jukebox was created by inventor Louis Glass and is used in bars or pubs for music. You can put in money and choose a song to play. this was the first jukebox where you could choose the song. -
scotch tape
In 1930 Richard Drew invented Scotch Masking Tape, which marked its entry into tape manufacturing. Five years later Drew invented Scotch Transparent Tape, the first waterproof, clear adhesive tape. -
First color and sound cartoon
The creator of the first sound and photo cartoon is Ub Iwerks. He made a cartoon called fiddlesticks and it was made in 1930. It is the first complete sound cartoon to be photographed in color. -
high speed photography
Harold Edgerton created the first form of high speed photography which would later become slow motion photography. This is now a very well know and used technology. -
photocopier
Inventor Chester Carlson used static electricity created with a handkerchief, light and dry powder to make the first copy in 1938. The copier didn't get on to the market until 1959. -
Nylon bristle toothbrush
Wallace Carothers created “nylon,” the world's first synthetic fiber, in the late 1930s. While that may seem quite a long time ago, this is relatively recent in the timeline of toothbrushes. -
the atomic bomb
Julius Robert Oppenheimer was an American physicist of Jewish descent. He is known as the scientific director of the Manhattan Project. In World War II, the project built the first nuclear weapons. That is why Oppenheimer is called "the father of the atomic bomb". -
aerosol spray can
Aerosol spray cans invented by American inventors, Lyle David Goodloe and W.N. Sullivan. This includes pretty much any can that sprays something. For example, deodorant, spray paint etc. -
tv in colour
In 1945 The world's first public colour TV service began in the USA. Colour television was available to the public shortly after that and is now advanced. -
vinyl records
In 1948, we were introduced to the world’s first Long Play vinyl record. Created by Peter Goldmark, this vinyl record had around 21 minutes per side of play time and was 12 inches wide. A major breakthrough in the history of the music industry. -
credit card
Frank mcnamara created the first credit card in 1950. In 1949 when McNamara was at a business dinner, he stood up to pay and then realized that he was not with any notes; even his wallet was empty. This pushed him to design something that could allow him to not carry around bills to every place he went. -
video tape recorder
Charles ginsburg invented the video tape recorder in 1951. When the VTR was invented, programs were recorded on tapes and would be edited; it became the order of the day as most live broadcasts were replaced. -
computer HDD
In 1956 IBM and reynolds johnson created the first computer hard disk. In 1953, there arose a need for a storage device in the computer. IBM invented and patented the first hard disk in their California lab in 1956. It originally was super large and had small storage capacity but now they have become small and portable with large storage capacity. -
the laser
Gordon Gould invented the laser in 1958. Richard Gordon Gould was an American physicist who is sometimes credited with the invention of the laser. Gould is best known for his thirty-year fight with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to obtain patents for the laser and related technologies. His invention of the laser is still in use today and is being learned about more. -
the sattelite
The first satellite was invented by nasa in 1960. It was used to transfer info about the earth down to the nasa stations. Now there are thousands of satellites in space and a lot of them are made by nasa. The satellite was a big step towards the first person on the moon and is also a big step for space exploration in general. -
the LED
john G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz were the original creators of the LED. they were used for lighting on machines and computers, still used today in many forms. They were such a big breakthrough because it was a completely different type of light from incandescent lightbulbs and doesn't create as much heat. -
the ATM
The first ATM started dispensing cash in 1969. Don Wetzel is generally credited with the idea for the modern ATM machine. The idea for an automated teller machine came to Wetzel while standing in a long line at a bank in Dallas. He decided there had to be another way to get your money quicker. -
spaceship to the moon
Credit for the first space ship goes to nasa. Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon. In 1968, Apollo 8 was originally designed to perform testing in orbit of earth, but production failures were found. Instead, engineers proposed the idea to attempt to fly a man to the moon. -
LED calculator
In 1970 the calculator featured a state-of-the-art integrated circuit and LED display, bringing the power of calculation to everyone’s pocket. The aim of this calculator was to make math easier for generations of people in the office and at school. However, the first calculator was not cheap, costing $395. -
email
Ray Tomlinson sent the first email in 1971, an invention that you probably used today at some point. However, there is some controversy in this story. Shiva Ayyadurai built an electronic messaging platform in 1978 when he was 14 years old, basing it on the internal communication system at his high school. Though the young inventor was eventually awarded the copyright for being email, people still argue about who really owns it. -
first video game
Nolan Bushnell created the first video game in 1972. Pong was a huge breakthrough for video games because an idea like this was never thought of before this. Pong was the first commercially successful video game, and it helped to establish the video game industry. -
first 3d videogame
In the decades-long history of video games, the first game to use 3D graphics is Battlezone. Battlezone is the classic tank game commonly played in the arcade. It places players in the first-person shooter point-of-view, sending them on a mission to attack or shoot at multiple enemies. Battlezone uses bright green graphics against a black backdrop, one of the most iconic things about the game. -
the CD
In the early to mid 1980s the cd was invented by a group of engineers. At the time not many people had options for music unless if they had a record player and even at that, vinyl records were very fragile and easy to break. Once a newer music form that is easier to use, stronger and better than vinyl, everyone ran right to it. It was used by almost everyone from the 90s to 2010s. -
text messages
While cellular phones have been around since the '70s, it wasn’t until the late 90’s that they truly started to go mainstream, evolving from a brick-sized luxury that only the very rich people could afford to a portable pocket essential for the everyday person. Phones at that point were only used for calling, but sometimes you cant always call so they knew someone had to fix that. The way to fix it was with texting. -
amazon
Amazon officially opened for business as an online book shop on the 16th July 1995. Within a month, the little-known retailer had shipped books to all 50 US states plus 45 countries in the wider world. Founder Jeff Bezos’s motto was get big fast and he definitely did. Nowadays Amazon is a big company selling almost everything. -
google
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin met in 1995 at Stanford University. In 1996 the two were writing a program for a search engine called Backrub and after the success of this platform they changed the name to google. They continued to develop what would become the largest search engine. -
usb flash drive
Invented by Dov Moran and M-Systems. USB flash drives allow the storage of data outside of a computer. They have enhanced our lives by creating a smaller and more efficient way of storing data off a computer than hard disk drives. They may not be as fast as a locally stored drive but are very effective in the fact of transferring data from one device to another. -
bluetooth
Bluetooth 1.0 was initially launched in 1999, however it wasn't until 2000 when manufacturers and major mobile carriers began incorporating it into their products. The Ericsson T36 (phone) was one of the first Bluetooth phones to come to the market in the year 2000. -
iphone
The iPhone 1 is the first iPhone model and the first smartphone designed and marketed by Apple After years of rumors it was officially announced in early 2007 and was released in the U.S. late 2007. The iphone is one of the most popular options for mobile phones and most likely will be for many more years. -
virtual reality
Virtual Reality is a technology that has inspired gamers for a very long time. in the 2010s this futuristic tech very developed, with the arrival of the Oculus Rift in the first half of the decade. Quickly, other companies started to produce their own VR headsets, such as Sony’s PlayStation VR or Samsung Gear VR. This tech is now very popular in the video games industry but is also used in other fields. -
autonomous cars
Human mobility had a huge breakthrough with self-driving cars. Tesla’s Autopilot technology has rolled out to nearly 800,000 electric cars across the globe, while companies like Uber have driven their autonomous vehicles millions of miles. But the road to autonomy still has major road blocks that have left people scared of trusting their lives to their cars. The technology is still quite new, and requires a stronger handle on human-like behavior. -
reusable rocket
Elon musk (owner of space x) started the project for the reusable rocket in the 2010s. SpaceX spent much of the last decade developing its reusable rocket system. In 2015, when its Falcon 9 rocket launched, delivered a payload into orbit, and then landed at Cape Canaveral, it ushered in a new era of space travel. And it could also come in handy if we ever need to move to mars.