Timeline of historic inventions

The timeline of historic inventions is a chronological list of particularly important or significant technological inventions and the people who created the inventions.

Note: Dates for inventions are often controversial. Inventions are often invented by several inventors around the same time, or may be invented in an impractical form many years before another inventor improves the invention into a more practical form. Where there is ambiguity, the date of the first known working version of the invention is used here.

Earliest inventions

Further information: Outline of prehistoric technology

The dates listed in this section refer to the earliest evidence of an invention found and dated by archaeologists (or in a few cases, suggested by indirect evidence). Dates are often approximate and change as more research is done, reported and seen. Older examples of any given technology are found often. The locations listed are for the site where the earliest solid evidence has been found, but especially for the earlier inventions, there is little certainty how close that may be to where the invention took place.

Pre-Paleolithic

• 23.5 million years ago (Ma): Beds, composed of a sleeping platform including wooden pillows

Paleolithic

A few non-invention dates are included in italics, for context. This time period is characterized as an ice age with regular periodic warmer periods – interglacial episodes – initially every 41,000 years slowing to

• 3.3-2.6 million years ago (Ma): Stone tools – found in present-day Kenya, they are so old that only a pre-human species could have invented them. The otherwise earliest known stone tools (Oldowan) were found in Ethiopia developed perhaps by Australopithecus garhi or Homo habilis
• 2.3 Ma: Earliest likely control of fire and cooking, by Homo habilis
• 1.76 Ma: Advanced (Acheulean) stone tools in Kenya by Homo erectus
• 900-40 thousand years ago (ka): Boats
• 790 ka: Hearths, at Gesher Benot Ya'akov, in Israel (latest possible invention of cooking)
• 400 ka: Pigments in Zambia
• 400-300 ka: Spears in Germany likely by Homo heidelbergensis
• 350-150 ka: Estimated origin of language
• 300 ka: Anatomically modern humans
• 200 ka: Glue in Italy
• 170-83 ka: Clothing
• 164 ka: Heat treating of stone blades.
• 135-100 ka: Beads in Israel and Algeria
• ~130-115 ka: Eemian interglacial period begins and ends, followed by the last glacial period
• 115–11 ka: Calendar by hunter-gatherers during last glacial period
• 100 ka: Burial in Israel
• 90 ka: Harpoons in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• 77 ka: Bug-repellent bedding in South Africa
• 64–61 ka: Bone tool technology in South Africa, evidenced by the find of a spearhead along with what may be an arrowhead, suggesting bow and arrow, and a sewing needle
• 49-30 ka: Ground stone tools – fragments of an axe in Australia date to 49-45 ka, more appear in Japan closer to 30 ka, and elsewhere closer to the Neolithic.
• 40-50+ ka: Behavioral modernity
• 44–42 ka: Tally sticks (see Lebombo bone) in Swaziland
• 40–20 ka: Cremation in Australia
• 40 ka: Cave painting in Spain and Indonesia
• 37 ka: Mortar and pestle in Southwest Asia.
• 36–9 ka: Weaving – Indirect evidence supports earlier end in Georgia and/or Moravia. The earliest actual piece of woven cloth was found in Çatalhöyük, Turkey
• 35 ka: Flute in Germany
• 28 ka: Spun rope
• 28 ka: Phallus in Germany
• 16 ka: Pottery in China
• 15 ka: Bullroarer in Ukraine
• 14.5 ka: Bread in Jordan
• 14 ka: Dentistry in northern Italy
• 13–12 ka: Agriculture in the Fertile Crescent
• 13–11 ka: Domestication of sheep in Southwest Asia (followed shortly by pigs, goats and cattle)

Neolithic

Note the shift from Ma and ka to BC and AD – 8000 BC is approximately the same as 10 ka.

• 11.7 ka: Last glacial period ends, followed by the Holocene
• 11-8 ka: Domestication of rice in China
• 11 ka: Constructed stone monument – Göbekli Tepe, in Turkey
• 8000–7500 BC: Proto-city – large permanent settlements, such as Jericho and Çatalhöyük, in the ancient Near East
• 7000 BC: Alcohol fermentation – specifically mead, in China
• 6500 BC: Evidence of lead smelting in Çatalhöyük in Turkey
• 6000 BC: Kiln in Mesopotamia (Iraq)
• 5000 BC: Copper smelting in Serbia
• 5th millennium BC: Lacquer in China
• 5000–4500 BC: Rowing oars in China
• 4500–3500 BC: Lost-wax casting in Israel
• 4400 BC: Copper Sewing needle in Naqada, Egypt
• 4000–3500 BC: Wheel (potter's wheel) in Mesopotamia
• 3500 BC: Domestication of the horse
• 4000–3500 BC: Wheeled vehicles in Mesopotamia (Sumerian civilization), Northern Caucasus (Maykop culture) and Central Europe (Cucuteni–Trypillia culture).
• 3630 BC: Silk garments (sericulture) in China
• 3400 BC: Opium in Sumer, Mesopotamia
• 3200 BC: Sailing in Ancient Egypt

3rd millennium BC

• 3000 BC: Writing – Cuneiform in Sumer, Mesopotamia (Iraq) (also see proto-writing)
• 3000 BC: Tin extraction in Central Asia
• 3000 BC: Bronze in Mesopotamia
• 3000 BC: Papyrus in Egypt
• 3000 BC: Comb in Persia.
• 3000 BC: Star chart in Korea.
• 2700–2300 BC: Abacus in Sumer, Mesopotamia
• 2500 BC: Docks in Ancient Egypt
• 3rd millennium BC: Sewage system with flush toilets in the Indus Valley Civilization cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (modern Pakistan)

2nd millennium BC

• 2000 BC: Musical notation in Sumer, Mesopotamia (Iraq)
• 2000 BC: Chariot in Indo-Iranian Sintashta culture of Asian Steppe (modern Kazakhstan and Russia)
• 2000 BC: Fraction in Ancient Egypt
• 2000 BC: Glass in Ancient Egypt
• 2000 BC: Positional notation (sexagesimal) originates from Babylonian numerals in Mesopotamiaref name="Chrisomalis">Stephen Chrisomalis (2010). Numerical Notation: A Comparative History. p. 247.</ref>
• 1700 BC: Alphabet in Phoenicia (modern Lebanon)
• 1600 BC: Water clock by Amenemhet in Ancient Egypt
• 1500 BC: Sundial at Valley of the Kings during Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt
• 1500 BC: Seed drill in Babylonia, Mesopotamia
• 1500 BC: Coins in Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) or Lydia
• 1500 BC: Scissors in Ancient Egypt
• 1300 BC: Lathe in Ancient Egypt
• 1000 BC: Qanat in Iran

1st millennium BC

8th century BC

• 8th century BC: Sugar in the Indian subcontinent
• 704 BC to 681 BC: Screw pump at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or Nineveh in Mesopotamia

7th century BC

• 700 BC: Chain pump in Babylonia, Mesopotamia
• 600 BC Lighthouse in Egypt
• Late 7th or early 6th century BC: Wagonway called Diolkos across the Isthmus of Corinth in Ancient Greece

6th century BC

With the Greco-Roman trispastos ("three-pulley-crane"), the simplest ancient crane, a single man tripled the weight he could lift than with his muscular strength alone.

• 6th century BC: Crucible steel (wootz steel) in South India and Sri Lanka
• Late 6th century BC: Crank motion (rotary quern) in Carthage or 5th century BC Celtiberian Spain
• c. 515 BC: Crane in Ancient Greece

5th century BC

• 5th century BC: Cast iron in Ancient China: Confirmed by archaeological evidence, the earliest cast iron is developed in China by the early 5th century BC during the Zhou Dynasty (1122–256 BC), the oldest specimens found in a tomb of Luhe County in Jiangsu province.
• 5th century BC: Crossbow in Ancient China and Ancient Greece: In Ancient China, the earliest evidence of bronze crossbow bolts dates as early as the mid-5th century BC in Yutaishan, Hubei. In Ancient Greece, the terminus ante quem of the gastraphetes is 421 BC.
• 5th–4th century BC: Traction trebuchet in Ancient China; appeared in the Mediterranean by the 6th century AD.
• Before 421 BC: Catapult in Ancient Greece (incl. Sicily) or Phoenician Carthage
• c. 480 BC: Spiral stairs (Temple A) in Selinunte, Sicily (see also List of ancient spiral stairs)

4th century BC

• 375–350 BC: Animal-driven rotary mill in Carthage.
• 4th century BC: Gears in Ancient China
• 4th century BC: Water wheel in ancient Near East
• 4th century BC: Noria in Ancient Egypt
• 4th century BC: Watermill in Persian Empire
• Approximately 350 BC: Greek hydraulic semaphore system, a communication system developed by Aeneas Tacticus.

3rd century BC

An illustration depicting the papermaking process in Han Dynasty China.

• By at least the 3rd century BC: Archimedes screw in Ancient Greece
• Early 3rd century BC: Canal lock in Ancient Suez Canal under Ptolemy II (283–246 BC) in Hellenistic Egypt
• 3rd century BC: Cam in Hellenistic world, used in water-driven automata.
• 3rd century BC: Liquid-driven escapement in Hellenistic kingdoms described by Philo of Byzantium (c. 280 – 220 BC)
• 3rd century BC: Gimbal described Philo of Byzantium
• 3rd century BC: Sakia in Egypt
• 3rd–2nd century BC: Blast furnace in Ancient China: The earliest discovered blast furnaces in China date to the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, although most sites are from the later Han Dynasty.

2nd century BC

The earliest fore-and-aft rigs, spritsails, appeared in the 2nd century BC in the Aegean Sea on small Greek craft. Here a spritsail used on a Roman merchant ship (3rd century AD).

• 2nd century BC: Paper in Han Dynasty China: Although it is recorded that the Han Dynasty (202 BC – AD 220) court eunuch Cai Lun (born c. 50–121 AD) invented the pulp papermaking process and established the use of new raw materials used in making paper, ancient padding and wrapping paper artifacts dating to the 2nd century BC have been found in China, the oldest example of pulp papermaking being a map from Fangmatan, Gansu.
• 150 BC: Astrolabe invented in the Hellenistic world.

1st century BC

• 1st century BC: Glass blowing discovered on the Lebanese coast.
• 1st century BC: Segmental arch bridge (e.g. Pont-Saint-Martin or Ponte San Lorenzo) in Italy, Roman Republic
• 1st century BC: Arch dam (Glanum Dam) in Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Republic (see also List of Roman dams)
• Before 40 BC: Trip hammer in China
• Before 25 BC: Reverse overshot water-wheel by Roman engineers in Rio Tinto, Spain

1st millennium AD

1st century

• 1st century: The aeolipile, a simple steam turbine recorded by Hero of Alexandria in Roman Egypt
• 1st century: Vending machines invented by Hero of Alexandria in Roman Egypt
• 1st century: Automatic doors invented by Hero of Alexandria in Roman Egypt

2nd century

• 118 AD: Wheelbarrow was found in a tomb at Chengdu, Sichuan province during Han Dynasty China
• 132: Seismometer and pendulum in Han Dynasty China, built by Zhang Heng. It is a large metal urn-shaped instrument which employed either a suspended pendulum or inverted pendulum acting on inertia, like the ground tremors from earthquakes, to dislodge a metal ball by a lever trip device.

3rd century

Schematic of the Hierapolis sawmill. Dated to the 3rd century AD, it is the earliest known machine to incorporate a crank and connecting rod mechanism.

• Early 3rd century: Woodblock printing is invented in Han Dynasty China at sometime before 220 AD. This made China become the world first print culture.
• Late 3rd century: Crank and connecting rod mechanism (Hierapolis sawmill) in Asia Minor, Roman Empire
• Late 3rd–early 4th century: Turbine in Africa (province), Roman Empire

4th century

• 4th century: Fishing reel in Ancient China: In literary records, the earliest evidence of the fishing reel comes from a 4th-century AD work entitled Lives of Famous Immortals'.
• 347 AD: Oil Wells and Borehole drilling in China. Such wells could reach depths of up to 240 m (790 ft).
• 4th century: Stirrups in Ancient China: The first dependable representation of a rider with paired stirrups was found in China in a Jin dynasty tomb of about AD 322. The stirrup appeared to be in widespread use across China by AD 477.
• 4th–5th century: Paddle wheel boat (in De rebus bellicis) in Roman Empire

5th century

• 5th century: Horse collar in Southern and Northern Dynasties China: The horse collar as a fully developed collar harness is developed in Southern and Northern Dynasties China during the 5th century AD. The earliest depiction of it is a Dunhuang cave mural from the Chinese Northern Wei Dynasty, the painting dated to 477–499.
• 500: Cotton gin in Ajanta Caves of western India
• 5th/6th century: Pointed arch bridge (Karamagara Bridge) in Cappadocia, Asia Minor, Byzantine Empire

6th century

• 6th century: Chess (chaturanga) in Gupta India
• 563 AD: Pendentive dome (Hagia Sophia) in Constantinople, Eastern Roman Empire
• 577 AD: Sulfur matches exist in China.
• 589 AD: Toilet paper in Sui Dynasty China, first mentioned by the official Yan Zhitui (531–591), with full evidence of continual use in subsequent dynasties.

7th century

• 650 AD: Windmill in Islamic Persia
• 672 AD: Greek fire in Constantinople, Byzantine Empire; an incendiary weapon likely based on petroleum or naphtha, invented by Kallinikos, a Byzantine Lebanese refugee from Baalbek, as described by Theophanes. However, the historicity and exact chronology of this account is dubious, and it could be that Kallinikos merely introduced an improved version of an established weapon.
• 7th century: Banknote in Tang Dynasty China; the banknote is first developed in China during the Tang and Song dynasties, starting in the 7th century. Its roots are in merchant receipts of deposit during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), as merchants and wholesalers desire to avoid the heavy bulk of copper coinage in large commercial transactions.
• 7th century: Porcelain in Tang Dynasty China; true porcelain is manufactured in northern China from roughly the beginning of the Tang Dynasty in the 7th century, while true porcelain was not manufactured in southern China until about 300 years later, during the early 10th century.
• 700: Indian-Arabic numeral system (positional decimal numerals) originates from Indian numerals in the Indian subcontinent

8th century

• 8th century: Bowed string instrument (rebab) in Islamic world
• 8th century: Damascus steel in Syria
• 8th century: Lute (oud) in Islamic world
• 8th century: Mobile hospital (ambulance) in Abbasid Caliphate
• 8th century: Pulp mill in Samarkand
• 8th century: Rib vault in Islamic architecture
• 8th century: Soft drink (sharbat) in the Islamic world
• 794–795: Paper mill in Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
• 8th century: Paper bookbinding in Islamic world
• 8th century: Paper cheque in Islamic world
• 717–786: Probability and statistics by Al-Khalil
• 8th century to 9th century: Cryptography by Arab mathematicians

9th century

A Mongol bomb thrown against a charging Japanese samurai during the Mongol invasions of Japan after founding the Yuan Dynasty, 1281.

• 801–873: Alcohol distillation by Al-Kindi
• 820: Algebra by Al-Khwarizmi
• 9th century: Anasthetic compound by Islamic physicians
• 9th century: Gunpowder in Tang Dynasty China; gunpowder is, according to prevailing academic consensus, discovered in the 9th century by Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality. Evidence of gunpowder's first use in China comes from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (618–907). The earliest known recorded recipes for gunpowder are written by Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du, and Yang Weide in the Wujing Zongyao, a military manuscript compiled in 1044 during the Song Dynasty (960–1279).
• 9th century: Numerical zero in the Indian subcontinent; the concept of zero as a number, and not merely a symbol for separation is attributed to India. In India, practical calculations are carried out using zero, which is treated like any other number by the 9th century, even in case of division.
• 9th century: Sugar mill in Islamic world
• 9th century: Syringe by Ammar al-Mawsili
• 9th century: Windpump in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan
• 850: Conical valve by Banu Musa brothers
• 850: Gas mask by Banu Musa brothers
• 850: Grab by Banu Musa brothers
• 850: Music sequencer by Banu Musa brothers
• 859: University (Al-Karaouine) by Fatima al-Fihri in Morocco
• 854–925: Antiseptic alcohol by Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi
• 854–925: Bar soap by Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi
• 854–925: Petroleum distillation by Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi
• 854–925: Kerosene by Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi
• 854–925: Sulfuric acid by Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi

10th century

• 10th century: Arabic numerals (Western Arabic numeral symbols) in Islamic North Africa
• 10th century: Decimal fractions by Abu'l-Hasan al-Uqlidisi
• 10th century: Fire lance in Song Dynasty China, developed in the 10th century with a tube of first bamboo and later on metal that shot a weak gunpowder blast of flame and shrapnel, its earliest depiction is a painting found at Dunhuang. Fire lance is the earliest firearm in the world and one of the earliest gunpowder weapons.
• 10th century: Fireworks in Song Dynasty China; fireworks first appear in China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279), in the early age of gunpowder. Fireworks could be purchased from market vendors; these were made of sticks of bamboo packed with gunpowder.
• 10th century: Dry docks in Song Dynasty China
• 10th century: Kebab in medieval kitchens of Persia and Turkey, described in Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's 10th-century Baghdadi cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh.
• 931–974: Fountain pen in Fatimid Caliphate during reign of Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah
• 994: Mural sextant constructed in Ray, Iran, by Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi.
• 1000: Dental extraction and replantation by Al-Zahrawi
• 1000: Migraine surgery by Al-Zahrawi
• 1000: Surgical needle by Al-Zahrawi

2nd millennium

11th century

A Nepali Charkha in action

• 1010: Novel (Tale of Genji) by Lady Murasaki
• 1021: Camera obscura by Ibn al-Haytham
• 1021: Magnifying glass (convex lens) by Ibn al-Haytham
• 1021: Scientific method by Ibn al-Haytham
• 1030: Paper packaging in Cairo, Egypt
• 1030: Spinning wheel in the Islamic world
• 11th century: Disinfectant by Arab physicians
• 11th century: Double-entry bookkeeping system by Jewish community in the medieval Middle East.
• 11th century: Early versions of the Bessemer process are developed in East Asia
• 11th century: Endless power-transmitting chain drive by Su Song for the development an astronomical clock (the Cosmic Engine)
• 11th century: Geared clock by Al-Muradi
• 11th century: Weight-driven clock by Arabic engineers in Al-Andalus
• 1029–1087: Equatorium by Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī
• 1038–1075: Mechanical flywheel by Ibn Bassal in Al-Andalus
• 1088: Movable type printing in Song Dynasty China; the first record of a movable type system is in the Dream Pool Essays, which attributes the invention of the movable type to Bi Sheng.

12th century

• 1119: Mariner's compass (wet compass) in Song Dynasty China: The earliest recorded use of magnetized needle for navigational purposes at sea is found in Zhu Yu's book Pingzhou Table Talks of 1119 (written from 1111 to 1117). The typical Chinese navigational compass was in the form of a magnetic needle floating in a bowl of water. The familiar mariner's dry compass which uses a pivoting needle suspended above a compass-card in a glass box is invented in medieval Europe no later than 1300.
• 1100–1150: Torquetum by Jabir ibn Aflah
• 1187: Counterweight trebuchet by Mardi ibn Ali al-Tarsusi
• 1200: Guitar (guitarra morisca and guitarra latina) in Spain
• 1188–1248: Essential oil by Ibn al-Baitar

13th century

• 1206: Two-cylinder reciprocating piston pump with double-action piston mechanism by Ismail al-Jazari
• 1206: Bayonet mount by Ismail al-Jazari
• 1206: The camshaft, a shaft to which cams are attached, first described by Ismail al-Jazari
• 1206: Crankshaft by Ismail al-Jazari
• 1206: Crank-slider mechanism by Ismail al-Jazari
• 1206: Programmable humanoid robots by Al-Jazari
• 1234: Metal movable type printing in Korea
• 13th century: Rocket for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th century China.
• 13th century: The earliest form of mechanical escapement, the verge escapement in Europe.
• 1275: Torpedo by Hasan al-Rammah
• 1277: Land mine in Song Dynasty China: Textual evidence suggests that the first use of a land mine in history is by a Song Dynasty brigadier general known as Lou Qianxia, who uses an 'enormous bomb' (huo pao) to kill Mongol soldiers invading Guangxi in 1277.
• 1286: Eyeglasses in Italy
• 13th century: Explosive bomb in Jin dynasty Manchuria: Explosive bombs are used in 1221 by the Jin dynasty against a Song Dynasty city. The first accounts of bombs made of cast iron shells packed with explosive gunpowder are documented in the 13th century in China and are called "thunder-crash bombs", coined during a Jin dynasty naval battle in 1231.
• 13th century: Hand cannon in Yuan Dynasty China; the earliest hand cannon dates to the 13th century based on archaeological evidence from a Heilongjiang excavation. There is also written evidence in the Yuanshi (1370) on Li Tang, an ethnic Jurchen commander under the Yuan Dynasty who in 1288 suppresses the rebellion of the Christian prince Nayan with his "gun-soldiers" or chongzu, this being the earliest known event where this phrase is used.
• 13th century: Sitar by Amir Khusrow in India's Delhi Sultanate

14th century

• 13th century to 14th century: Cotton gin with worm gear in India's Delhi Sultanate
• 13th century to 1540: Draw bar in Delhi, India, during the Delhi Sultanate or Mughal Empire
• Early to mid-1300s: Multistage rocket in Ming Dynasty China described in Huolongjing by Jiao Yu.
• By at least 1326: Cannon in Ming Dynasty China
• 1378: Naval artillery in Korea
• 14th century: Jacob's staff invented by Levi ben Gerson
• 14th century: Naval mine in Ming Dynasty China: Mentioned in the Huolongjing military manuscript written by Jiao Yu (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and Liu Bowen (1311–1375), describing naval mines used at sea or on rivers and lakes, made of wrought iron and enclosed in an ox bladder. A later model is documented in Song Yingxing's encyclopedia written in 1637.
• 14th century to 16th century: Cotton gin with crank handle in northern India during the late Delhi Sultanate or the early Mughal Empire

15th century

The 15th-century invention of the printing press with movable type by the German Johannes Gutenberg is widely regarded as the most influential event of the modern era.

• Early 15th century: Coil spring in Europe
• Early 15th century: Matchlock arquebus in Ottoman Empire
• 15th century: Mainspring in Europe
• 15th century: Rifle in Europe
• 1420s: Brace in Flandres, Holy Roman Empire
• 1439: Printing press in Mainz, Germany: The printing press is invented in the Holy Roman Empire by Johannes Gutenberg before 1440, based on existing screw presses. The first confirmed record of a press appeared in a 1439 lawsuit against Gutenberg.
• Mid-15th century: Coffee in Sufi monasteries of Yemen, Southern Arabia.
• 1465: Musket in Ottoman Empire
• 1480s: Mariner's astrolabe in Portuguese circumnavigation of Africa

16th century

• 1551: Taqi ad-Din describes a steam turbine used in steam jacks.
• 1551: Rag-and-chain pump by Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf
• 1551: Six-cylinder pump by Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf
• 16th century: Marching band (Ottoman military band) in the Ottoman Empire
• 1560: Floating Dry Dock in Venice, Venetian Republic
• 1569: Mercator Projection map created by Gerardus Mercator
• 1577: Newspaper in Korea
• 1577–1580: Parallel rulers by [[Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf at the Constantinople Observatory of Taqi ad-Din
• 1582: A rapid-fire multi-barrel volley gun with a matchlock trigger is invented by Fathullah Shirazi for Akbar the Great in Mughal India.
• 1589: Stocking frame: Invented by William Lee.
• 1594: Backstaff: Invented by Captain John Davis.
• By at least 1597: Revolver: Invented by Hans Stopler.
• 1542-1605: Hookah water pipe by Irfan Shaikh at the court of Akbar the Great in Mughal India
• 1542-1605: Metal-cylinder rocket deployed by Akbar the Great in Mughal India.

17th century

A 1609 title page of the German Relation, the world's first newspaper (first published in 1605)

• 1605: Newspaper (Relation): Johann Carolus in Strassburg, Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (see also List of the oldest newspapers)
• 1608: Telescope: Patent applied for by Hans Lippershey in the Netherlands. Actual inventor unknown since it seemed to already be a common item being offered by the spectacle makers in the Netherlands with Jacob Metius also applying for patent and the son of Zacharias Janssen making a claim 47 years later that his father invented it.
• c. 1620: Compound microscopes, which combine an objective lens with an eyepiece to view a real image, first appear in Europe. Apparently derived from the telescope, actual inventor unknown, variously attributed to Zacharias Janssen (his son claiming it was invented in 1590), Cornelis Drebbel, and Galileo Galilei.
• 1621: Rack-and-pinion mechanism in Turkish muskets of the Ottoman Empire
• 1630: Slide rule: invented by William Oughtred
• 1633: Rocket flight by Lagâri Hasan Çelebi
• 1642: Mechanical calculator. The Pascaline is built by Blaise Pascal
• 1643: Barometer: invented by Evangelista Torricelli, or possibly up to three years earlier by Gasparo Berti.
• 1650: Vacuum pump: Invented by Otto von Guericke.
• 1656: Pendulum clock: Invented by Christiaan Huygens. It was first conceptulized in 1637 by Galileo Galilei but he was unable to create a working model.
• 1663: Friction machine: Invented by Otto von Guericke.
• 1680: Christiaan Huygens provides the first known description of a piston engine.
• 17th century: Banjo in West Africa
• 17th century: Flush deck in Bengal Subah, Mughal India (modern Bangladesh)
• 17th century: Roller mill in Mughal India

18th century

1700s

• c. 1709: Bartolomeo Cristofori crafts the first piano.
• 1709: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invents the alcohol thermometer.

1710s

• 1712: Thomas Newcomen builds the first commercial steam engine to pump water out of mines. Newcomen's engine, unlike Thomas Savery's, uses a piston.

1730s

• c. 1730: Thomas Godfrey and John Hadley independently develop the octant
• 1733: John Kay enables one person to operate a loom with the flying shuttle
• 1736: John Harrison tests his first Sea Clock, H1.
• 1738: Lewis Paul and John Wyatt invent the first mechanized cotton spinning machine.

1740s

• 1745: Musschenbroek and Kleist independently develop the Leyden jar, an early form of capacitor.
• 1746: John Roebuck invents the lead chamber process.

1750s

• 1755: William Cullen invents the first artificial refrigeration machine.

1760s

• 1764: James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny.
• 1765: James Watt invents the improved steam engine utilizing a separate condenser.
• 1767: Joseph Priestley invents a method for the production of carbonated water.
• 1769: Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot invents the first steam-powered vehicle capable of carrying passengers, an early car.

1770s

• 1770: Richard Salter invents the earliest known design for a weighing scale.
• 1774: John Wilkinson invents his boring machine, considered by some to be the first machine tool.
• 1775: Jesse Ramsden invents the modern screw-cutting lathe.
• 1776: John Wilkinson invents a mechanical air compressor that would become the prototype for all later mechanical compressors.

1780s

• 1780: The Mysorean rockets, the first iron-cased rockets and the first missiles, is deployed by the Mysore Sultanate's Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan against the British at the Battle of Pollilur in South India. They later inspired the Congreve rockets.
• 1783: Claude de Jouffroy builds the first steamboat.
• 1783: Joseph-Ralf and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier build the first manned hot air balloon.
• 1785: Martinus van Marum is the first to use the electrolysis technique.
• 1786: Andrew Meikle invents the threshing machine.
• 1789: Edmund Cartwright invents the power loom.

1790s

• 1790: Thomas Saint invents the sewing machine.
• 1792: Claude Chappe invents the modern semaphore telegraph.
• 1793: Eli Whitney invents the modern cotton gin.
• 1795: Joseph Bramah invents the hydraulic press.
• 1796: Alois Senefelder invents the lithography printing technique.
• 1797: Samuel Bentham invents plywood.
• 1798: Edward Jenner develops the first successful vaccine, the smallpox vaccine.
• 1799: George Medhurst invents the first motorized air compressor.
• 1799: The first paper machine is invented by Louis-Nicolas Robert.

19th century

1800s

• 1800: Alessandro Volta invents the voltaic pile, an early form of battery in Italy, based on previous works by Luigi Galvani.
• 1802: Humphry Davy invents the arc lamp (exact date unclear; not practical as a light source until the invention of efficient electric generators).
• 1804: Friedrich Sertürner discovers morphine as the first active alkaloid extracted from the opium poppy plant.
• 1804: Richard Trevithick invents the steam locomotive.
• 1804: Hanaoka Seishū creates tsūsensan, the first modern general anesthetic.
• 1807: Nicéphore Niépce invents the first internal combustion engine capable of doing useful work.
• 1807: François Isaac de Rivaz designs the first automobile powered by an internal combustion engine fuelled by hydrogen.
• 1807: Robert Fulton expands water transportation and trade with the workable steamboat.

1810s

• 1810: Nicolas Appert invents the canning process for food.
• 1811: Friedrich Koenig invents the first powered printing press, which was also the first to use a cylinder.
• 1812: William Reid Clanny pioneered the invention of the safety lamp which he improved in later years. Safety lamps based on Clanny's improved design were used until the adoption of electric lamps.
• 1814: James Fox invents the modern planing machine, though Matthew Murray of Leeds and Richard Roberts of Manchester have also been credited at times with its invention.
• 1816: Francis Ronalds builds the first working electric telegraph using electrostatic means.
• 1816: Robert Stirling invents the Stirling engine.
• 1817: Baron Karl von Drais invents the dandy horse, an early velocipede and precursor to the modern bicycle.
• 1818: Marc Isambard Brunel invents the tunnelling shield.

1820s

• 1822: Thomas Blanchard invents the pattern-tracing lathe (actually more like a shaper) and was completed by for the U.S. Ordnance Dept. The lathe can copy symmetrical shapes and is used for making gun stocks, and later, ax handles. The lathe's patent is in force for 42 years, the record for any U.S. patent.
• 1822: Nicéphore Niépce invents Heliography, the first photographic process.
• 1822: Charles Babbage, considered the "father of the computer", begins building the first programmable mechanical computer.
• 1823: Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner invents the first lighter.
• 1824: Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse invents the bolt-action rifle.
• 1825: William Sturgeon invents the electromagnet.
• 1826: John Walker invents the friction match.
• 1828: James Beaumont Neilson develops the hot blast process.
• 1828: Patrick Bell invents the reaping machine.
• 1828: Hungarian physicist Ányos Jedlik invents the first commutated rotary electromechanical machine with electromagnets.
• 1829: William Mann invents the compound air compressor.

1830s

• 1830: Edwin Budding invents the lawn mower.
• 1831: Michael Faraday invents a method of electromagnetic induction. It would be independently invented by Joseph Henry the following year.
• 1834: Moritz von Jacobi, a German-born Russian, invents the first practical electric motor.
• 1835: Joseph Henry invents the electromechanical relay.
• 1837: Samuel Morse invents Morse code.
• 1838: Moritz von Jacobi invents Electrotyping.
• 1839: William Otis invents the steam shovel.
• 1839: James Nasmyth invents the steam hammer.
• 1839: Edmond Becquerel invents a method for the photovoltaic effect, effectively producing the first solar cell.

1840s

• 1841: Alexander Bain devises a printing telegraph.
• 1842: William Robert Grove invents the first fuel cell.
• 1842: John Bennet Lawes invents superphosphate, the first man-made fertilizer.
• 1844: Friedrich Gottlob Keller and, independently, Charles Fenerty come up with the wood pulp method of paper production.
• 1845: Isaac Charles Johnson invents Modern Portland cement.
• 1846: Henri-Joseph Maus invents the Tunnel boring machine.
• 1847: Ascanio Sobrero invents Nitroglycerin, the first explosive made that was stronger than black powder.
• 1848: Jonathan J. Couch invents the pneumatic drill.
• 1849: Walter Hunt invents the first repeating rifle to use metallic cartridges (of his own design) and a spring-fed magazine.
• 1849: James B. Francis invents the Francis turbine.
• 1840s: Vertical rotisserie in the Ottoman Empire

1850s

• 1850: Sir William Armstrong invents the hydraulic accumulator.
• 1852: Robert Bunsen is the first to use a chemical vapor deposition technique.
• 1852: Elisha Otis invents the safety brake elevator.
• 1852: Henri Giffard becomes the first person to make a manned, controlled and powered flight using a dirigible.
• 1853: François Coignet invents reinforced concrete.
• 1855: James Clerk Maxwell invents the first practical method for color photography, whether chemical or electronic.
• 1855: Sir. Henry Bessemer patents the Bessemer process for making steel, with improvements made by others over the following years.
• 1856: James Harrison produces the world's first practical ice making machine and refrigerator using the principle of vapour compression in Geelong, Australia.
• 1856: William Henry Perkin invents Mauveine, the first synthetic dye.
• 1857: Heinrich Geissler invents the Geissler tube.
• 1859: Gaston Planté invents the lead acid battery, the first rechargeable battery.

1860s

• 1860: Joseph Swan produces carbon fibers.
• 1862: Alexander Parkes invents parkesine, also known as celluloid, the first man-made plastic.
• 1864: Louis Pasteur invents the pasteurization process.
• 1865: Carl Wilhelm Siemens and Pierre-Émile Martin invented the Siemens-Martin process for making steel.
• 1865: Gregor Mendel publishes 'Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden' ("Experiments on Plant Hybridization"), effectively founding the science of genetics, though the importance of his work would not be appreciated until later on.
• 1867: Alfred Nobel invents Dynamite, the first safely manageable explosive stronger than black powder.

1870s

• 1872: J.E.T. Woods and J. Clark invented Stainless steel. Harry Brearley was the first to commercialize it.
• 1873: Frederick Ransome invents the rotary kiln.
• 1873: Sir William Crookes, a chemist, invents the Crookes radiometer as the by-product of some chemical research.
• 1873: Zénobe Gramme invents the first commercial electrical generator, the Gramme machine.
• 1874: Gustave Trouvé invents the first metal detector.
• 1876: Nikolaus August Otto invents the Four-stroke cycle.
• 1876: Alexander Graham Bell has a patent granted for the telephone. However, other inventors before Bell had worked on the development of the telephone and the invention had several pioneers.
• 1877: Thomas Edison invents the first working phonograph.
• 1878: Henry Fleuss is granted a patent for the first practical rebreather.
• 1878: Lester Allan Pelton invents the Pelton wheel.
• 1879: Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison both patent a functional Incandescent light bulb. Some two dozen inventors had experimented with electric incandescent lighting over the first three-quarters of the 19th century but never came up with a practical design. Swan's, which he had been working on his since the 1860s, had a low resistance so was only suited for small installations. Edison designed a high-resistance bulb as part of a large-scale commercial electric lighting utility.

1880s

• 1881: Nikolay Benardos presents carbon arc welding, the first practical arc welding method.
• 1884: Hiram Maxim invents the recoil-operated Maxim gun, ushering in the age of semi- and fully automatic firearms.
• 1884: Paul Vieille invents Poudre B, the first smokeless powder for firearms.
• 1884: Sir Charles Parsons invents the modern steam turbine.
• 1884: Hungarian engineers Károly Zipernowsky, Ottó Bláthy and Miksa Déri intvent the closed core high efficiency transformer and the AC parallel power distribution.
• 1885: John Kemp Starley invents the modern bicycle.
• 1886: Carl Gassner invents the zinc-carbon battery, the first dry cell battery, making portable electronics practical.
• 1886: Charles Martin Hall and independently Paul Héroult invent the Hall–Héroult process for economically producing aluminum in 1886.
• 1886: Karl Benz invents the first petrol or gasoline powered auto-mobile (car).
• 1887: Carl Josef Bayer invents the Bayer process for the production of alumina.
• 1887: James Blyth invents the first wind turbine used for generating electricity.
• 1887: John Stewart MacArthur, working in collaboration with brothers Dr. Robert and Dr. William Forrest develops the process of gold cyanidation.
• 1888: John J. Loud invents the ballpoint pen.
• 1888: Heinrich Hertz publishes a conclusive proof of James Clerk Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in experiments that also demonstrate the existence of radio waves. The effects of electromagnetic waves had been observed by many people before this but no usable theory explaining them existed until Maxwell.

1890s

• 1890s: Frédéric Swarts invents the first chlorofluorocarbons to be applied as refrigerant.
• 1890: Clément Ader invents the first aircraft, airplane, fly machine called Eole (aircraft) or Ader Éole
• 1891: Whitcomb Judson invents the zipper.
• 1892: Léon Bouly invents the cinematograph.
• 1893: Rudolf Diesel invents the diesel engine (although Herbert Akroyd Stuart had experimented with compression ignition before Diesel).
• 1895: Guglielmo Marconi invents a system of wireless communication using radio waves.
• 1895: Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen invented the first radiograph (xrays).
• 1898: Hans von Pechmann synthesizes polyethylene, now the most common plastic in the world.
• 1899: Waldemar Jungner invents the nickel–cadmium battery.

20th century

1900s

• 1900: The first Zeppelin is designed by Theodor Kober.
• 1901: The first motorized cleaner using suction, a powered "vacuum cleaner", is patented independently by British engineer Hubert Cecil Booth and American inventor David T. Kenney.
• 1903: The first successful gas turbine is invented by Ægidius Elling.
• 1903: Édouard Bénédictus invents laminated glass.
• 1903: First manually controlled, fixed wing, motorized aircraft flies at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina by Orville and Wilbur Wright. See Claims to the first powered flight.
• 1904: The Fleming valve, the first vacuum tube and diode, is invented by John Ambrose Fleming.
• 1907: The first free flight of a rotary-wing aircraft is carried out by Paul Cornu.
• 1907: Leo Baekeland invents bakelite.
• 1908: Cellophane is invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger.
• 1909: Fritz Haber invents the Haber process.
• 1909: The first instantaneous transmission of images, or television broadcast, is carried out by Georges Rignoux and A. Fournier.

1910s

• 1911: The cloud chamber, the first particle detector, is invented by Charles Thomson Rees Wilson.
• 1913: The Bergius process is developed by Friedrich Bergius.
• 1913: The Kaplan turbine is invented by Viktor Kaplan.
• 1915: The tank is invented by Ernest Swinton, although the British Royal Commission on Awards recognised a South Australian named Lance de Mole who had submitted a proposal to the British War Office, for a 'chain-rail vehicle which could be easily steered and carry heavy loads over rough ground and trenches' complete with extensive drawings in 1912. Additionally, an Austrian by the name of Günther Burstyn designed a tank in 1911 and a Captain Levavasseur of the French army proposed a design in 1903.
• 1916: The Czochralski process, widely used for the production of single crystal silicon, is invented by Jan Czochralski.
• 1917: The crystal oscillator is invented by Alexander M. Nicholson using a crystal of Rochelle Salt although his priority was disputed by Walter Guyton Cady

1920s

• 1925: The Fischer–Tropsch process is developed by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Kohlenforschung.
• 1926: The Yagi-Uda Antenna or simply Yagi Antenna is invented by Shintaro Uda of Tohoku Imperial University, Japan, assisted by his colleague Hidetsugu Yagi. The Yagi Antenna was widely used by the US, British, and Germans during World War II. After the war they saw extensive development as home television antennas.
• 1926: Robert H. Goddard launches the first liquid fueled rocket.
• 1926: Kenjiro Takayanagi invents the first electronic television.
• 1927: The quartz clock is invented by Warren Marrison and J.W. Horton at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
• 1928: Penicillin is first observed to exude antibiotic substances by Nobel laureate Alexander Fleming. Development of medicinal penicillin is attributed to a team of medics and scientists including Howard Walter Florey, Ernst Chain and Norman Heatley.
• 1928: Frank Whittle formally submitted his ideas for a turbo-jet engine. In October 1929, he developed his ideas further. On 16 January 1930 in England, Whittle submitted his first patent (granted in 1932).
• 1928: KS steel by Kotaro Honda
• 1929: The ball screw is invented by Rudolph G. Boehm.

1930s

• 1930: The Phase-contrast microscopy is invented by Frits Zernike.
• 1931: The electron microscope is invented by Ernst Ruska.
• 1931: MKM steel Tokuhichi Mishima
• 1933: FM radio is patented by inventor Edwin H. Armstrong.
• 1934: Switching circuit theory is introduced by Akira Nakashima, laying the foundations for digital circuit design, in digital computers and other areas of modern technology.
• 1935: Nylon, the first fully synthetic fiber is produced by Wallace Carothers while working at DuPont.
• 1938: Z1 built by Konrad Zuse is the first freely programmable computer in the world.
• 1938, December: Nuclear fission discovered in experiment by Otto Hahn (Nazi Germany), coined by Lise Meitner (fled to Sweden from Nazi-occupied Austria) and Fritz Strassman (Sweden). The Manhattan Project, and consequently the Soviet atomic bomb project were begun based on this research, as well as the German nuclear energy project, although the latter one declined as its physicists were drafted into Germany's war effort.
• 1939: G. S. Yunyev or Naum Gurvich invented the electric current defibrillator

1940s

• 1941: Polyester is invented by British scientists John Whinfield and James Dickson.
• 1942: The V-2 rocket, the world's first long range ballistic missile, developed in Nazi Germany during World War II.
• 1942: The earliest electroacoustic tape music recording by Halim El-Dabh in Cairo, Egypt.
• July 1945: The atomic bomb is first successfully developed by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada as a part of the Manhattan Project and swiftly deployed in August 1945 in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively terminating World War II.
• 1946: Sir James Martin invents the ejector seat, inspired by the death of his friend and test pilot Captain Valentine Baker in an aeroplane crash in 1942.
• 1947: Holography is invented by Dennis Gabor.
• December 1947: The transistor, used in almost all modern electronic products, is invented in December 1947 by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain under the supervision of William Shockley. Subsequent transistors became steadily smaller, faster, more reliable, and cheaper to manufacture, leading to a revolution in computers, controls and communication.
• 1947: Floyd Farris and J.B. Clark (Stanolind Oil and Gas Corporation) invents hydraulic fracturing technology.
• 1948: The first atomic clock is developed at the United States's National Bureau of Standards.
• 1948: Basic oxygen steelmaking is developed by Robert Durrer. The vast majority of steel manufactured in the world is produced using the basic oxygen furnace; in 2000, it accounted for 60% of global steel output.

1950s

• 1950: The PIN photodiode is invented by Jun-ichi Nishizawa.
• 1950: The static induction transistor, a type of JFET, is invented by Jun-ichi Nishizawa and Y. Watanabe.
• 1952: The float glass process is developed by Alastair Pilkington.
• December 20, 1951: First use of nuclear power to produce electricity for households in Arco, Idaho
• 1952: The first thermonuclear weapon is developed by the United States of America.
• 1952: The avalanche photodiode is invented by Jun-ichi Nishizawa.
• 1953: The first video tape recorder, a helical scan recorder, is invented by Norikazu Sawazaki.
• 1953: The optical fiber is invented by Narinder Singh Kapany and Harold Hopkins.
• 1954: Invention of Solar Battery by Bell Telephone scientists, Calvin Souther Fuller, Daryl Chapin and Gerald Pearson capturing the sun's power. First practical means of collecting energy from the sun and turning it into a current of electricity.
• 1955: The hovercraft is patented by Christopher Cockerell.
• 1955: The intermodal container is developed by Malcom McLean.
• 1956: The hard disk drive is invented by IBM.
• 1957: The first PC used by one person and controlled by a keyboard, the IBM 610 is invented in 1957 by IBM.
• 1957: The first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, is built and launched by the Soviet Union. Its lead architects were Sergei Korolev and Kerim Kerimov.
• 1957: The semiconductor laser is invented by Jun-ichi Nishizawa.
• 1958–59: Independent invention of the integrated circuit by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce.
• 1959: The gas laser is invented by Ali Javan.

1960s

• 1961: The first human spaceflight, Yuri Gagarin's 108-minute trip around the globe aboard the Vostok 1, is conducted by the Soviet Union's Sergei Korolev and Kerim Kerimov.
• 1963: The first electronic cigarette is created by Herbert A. Gilbert. Hon Lik is often credited with its invention as he developed the modern electronic cigarette and was the first to commercialize it.
• 1963: The tube structural system is invented by Fazlur Rahman Khan.
• 1963: Fiber-optic communication is invented by Jun-ichi Nishizawa.
• 1965: Kevlar is invented by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont.
• 1965: Tactile paving invented by Seiichi Miyake.
• 1966: The first automated teller machine (ATM), the Computer Loan Machine developed in Japan, is released.
• Late 1960s: The first digital fax machine, the Dacom Rapidfax, is released.
• 1967: The first fully automated space docking, of Cosmos 186 and Cosmos 188, is conducted by the Soviet Union and led by Kerim Kerimov.
• 1967: The first PCM (pulse-code modulation) digital audio recorder is developed by NHK's research facilities.
• 1968: The first phaser effects pedal, the Uni-Vibe, is invented by Fumio Mieda of Shin-ei.
• 1968: The aperture grille CRT display techology is introduced by Sony with their Trinitron television.
• 1968: The first text-to-speech synthesis system is developed by Noriko Umeda's team at the Electrotechnical Laboratory.
• 1969: ARPANET first deployed via UCLA, SRI, UCSB, and The University of Utah.
• 1969: Direct-drive turntable (Technics SP-10) invented by Shuichi Obata of Matsushita. based in Osaka.

1970s

• 1970: The pocket calculator is invented in Japan.
• 1970: Panasonic releases the first handheld television, the Panasonic IC TV MODEL TR-001.
• 1970s: The first widescreen HDTV format, MUSE format, is developed by NHK. was a hybrid system with analog and digital features.
• 1971: Email is invented by Ray Tomlinson.
• 1971: The first commercial microprocessor, the Intel 4004, is released, and was invented by Masatoshi Shima, Marcian Hoff and Federico Faggin.
• 1971: Karaoke invented by Daisuke Inoue.
• 1971: The first space station, the Salyut 1, is launched by the Soviet Union, with its development led by Kerim Kerimov.
• 1972: The first video game console, used primarily for playing video games on a TV, is the Magnavox Odyssey.
• 1972: The first microcomputer, the SMP80/08, is developed by Sord Computer Corporation.
• 1973: The first commercial graphical user interface is introduced in 1973 on the Xerox Alto. The modern GUI is later popularized by the Xerox Star and Apple Lisa.
• 1973: The first capacitive touchscreen is developed at CERN.
• 1973: The VHS (Video Home System) format is invented by Yuma Shiraishi and Shizuo Takano, who worked for JVC.
• 1975: Altair 8800 is the spark that ignited the microcomputer revolution.
• 1973–75: The Internet protocol suite is developed by Vinton Cerf and Robert E. Kahn for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ARPANET, creating the basis for the modern Internet.
• 1976: The first digital audio optical disc (compact disc) is demonstrated by Sony.
• 1978: The Walkman is developed by Nobutoshi Kihara in 1978, and released by Sony in 1979.

1980s

• 1980: Flash memory (both NOR and NAND types) is invented in Japan by Fujio Masuoka while working for Toshiba. It is formally introduced to the public in 1984.
• 1980: The Roland TR-808, the first fully programmable drum machine, is introduced by Roland Corporation.
• 1980: The first laptop is invented by Suwa Seikosha employee Yukio Yokozawa in 1980, and is released by Seiko as the HC-20 in 1981.
• 1980-1982: The first LCD televisions were developed by Hattori Seiko's R&D group from 1980. In 1982, Seiko Epson released the first LCD television, the Epson TV Watch.
• 1980-1985: The lithium-iron battery was developed from the research of Rachid Yazami and John B. Goodenough in 1980, and further developed by Tokio Yamabe and Shizukuni Yata in 1981, and found that it was very effective for the anode in the conventional liquid electrolyte. which led to Akira Yoshino of Asahi Chemical building the first lithium-ion battery in 1985.
• 1981: 3D printing is invented by Hideo Kodama of Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute.
• 1982: The first CD player (Sony CDP-101) is released by Sony.
• 1982: The neodymium magnet is invented independently by [General Motors]] (GM) and Sumitomo Special Metals.
• 1982: A CD-ROM contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. It is first demonstrated by Denon in 1982. The Yellow Book standard is later developed by Sony and Philips in 1985.
• 1983: Stereolithography is invented by Chuck Hull
• 1984: The first commercially available cell phone, the DynaTAC 8000X, is created by Motorola.
• 1985: Lithium-ion battery invented by Akira Yoshino.
• 1986: The first digital single-lens reflex camera, the Nikon SVC, revealed by Nikon.
• 1986: The first PC virus (Brain) is created by Basit Farooq Alvi and Amjad Farooq Alvi.
• 1989: The first color LCD video projector, Epson's VPJ-700, based on their 3LCD technology, is released.
• 1989: The first color plasma display, produced by Fujitsu, is released.

1990s

• 1990: The World Wide Web is first introduced to the public by English engineer and computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
• 1992: Blue laser by Shuji Nakamura
• 1993: Mosaic, the first popular web browser is introduced
• 1994: QR code by Denso Wave
• 1994: Stanford Federal Credit Union becomes the first financial institution to offer online internet banking services to all of its members in October 1994.
• 1995: DVD is an optical disc storage format, invented and developed by Panasonic, Philips, Sony and Toshiba in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.
• 1995: The first web-based commercial online auction (eBay) is founded by Pierre Omidyar.
• 1999: Camera phone (VP-210) by Kyocera

See also

• Accelerating change
• List of emerging technologies
• List of inventors
• Outline of prehistoric technology
• Timeline of electrical and electronic engineering
• Timeline of human prehistory

References

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External links

• U.S. National Academy of Engineering's Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century Timeline