The Twelve Most Important Inventions

By hannahowens
  • Jan 1, 1450

    The Printing Press

    The Printing Press
    Invented by Johannes Gutenburg of Germany, the printing press played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution.

  • The Pascaline

    The Pascaline
    French inventor, Blaise Pascal is credited with inventing an early calculator, amazingly advanced for its time, called the Pascaline.

  • The Thermometer

    The Thermometer
    Daniel Fahrenheit, a German physicist, invented the first practical thermometers and had a temperature scale named after him. Fahrenheit first developed the alcohol thermometer in 1709 and then the mercury thermometer in 1714.

  • The Cotton Gin

    The Cotton Gin
    Invented during the Industrial Revolution by Eli Whitney, the cotton gin made it remarkably faster to get the seeds out cotton, making it faster and more efficient to make clothes for the rising populations.

  • The Telephone

    The Telephone
    Invented by Alexander Graham Bell, the telephone improved how we communicate to each other.

  • The Assembly Line

    The Assembly Line
    The Assembly line--invented by Ransom E. Olds--changed the way people created things. It made mass production faster, simpler, and more economical. (Henry Ford improved the assembly line by adding conveyer belts later on.)

  • The Airplane

    The Airplane
    The first Airplane was invented by Orville and Wilbur Wright. Airplanes have helped things and people travel faster and easier.

  • The Television

    The Television
    Although the development of television was the result of work by many inventors (including Baird, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow and Boris Rosing), John Logie Baird is one of its foremost pioneers.

  • The Pacemaker

    The Pacemaker
    John Hopps invented the first cardiac pacemaker. It helped people with heart troubles and made a great advancement in the medical field.

  • First Personal Computer

    First Personal Computer
    Ed Roberts coined the term "personal computer", when he introduced the Altair 8800 in 1975. It has changed the way people do EVERYTHING since then.

  • The Internet

    The Internet
    In 1992 internet access was available for common public and its use exploded, changing how people found information forever

  • The iPhone

    The iPhone
    On June 29, 2007, Apple Computers released its new touch screen smart phone called the iPhone. It was the world's first smart phone!