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Inventions Through Time

Who invented what, and roughly when, from the wheel to the World Wide Web.

78 cardsGrades 3–5, Grades 6–8#inventions#timeline#inventors

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78 cards
  • Fire controlInvention
    Early humans used fire for warmth and cooking, hundreds of thousands of years ago
  • WheelInvention
    Mesopotamia, about 3500 BCE
  • WritingInvention
    Sumer's cuneiform and Egypt's hieroglyphs, about 3200 BCE
  • PlowInvention
    Early farmers in Mesopotamia and Egypt
  • BronzeInvention
    Metal alloy of copper and tin, about 3300 BCE
  • PaperInvention
    China, improved by Cai Lun about 105 CE
  • PapyrusInvention
    Egyptian writing material from a river plant
  • AlphabetInvention
    Developed by Phoenician traders, about 1050 BCE
  • CoinsInvention
    Lydia (in modern Turkey), about 600 BCE
  • AqueductInvention
    Romans perfected water-carrying bridges
  • ConcreteInvention
    Romans widely used it in building
  • CompassInvention
    China, used for navigation by about 1100 CE
  • GunpowderInvention
    China, about 900 CE
  • Woodblock printingInvention
    China, by the 600s-700s CE
  • Movable typeInvention
    Bi Sheng in China (about 1040); Gutenberg in Europe (about 1450)
  • EyeglassesInvention
    Italy, late 1200s
  • Mechanical clockInvention
    Europe, 1200s-1300s
  • Printing pressInvention
    Johannes Gutenberg, about 1450
  • TelescopeInvention
    Dutch lens makers, about 1608; Galileo improved it
  • MicroscopeInvention
    Dutch makers around 1590s; Leeuwenhoek used one to see microbes
  • ThermometerInvention
    Galileo and others in the early 1600s; Fahrenheit's mercury version in 1714
  • BarometerInvention
    Evangelista Torricelli, 1643
  • Steam engineInvention
    Newcomen 1712; Watt improved it in the 1770s
  • Lightning rodInvention
    Benjamin Franklin, 1752
  • Hot air balloonInvention
    Montgolfier brothers, 1783
  • VaccineInvention
    Edward Jenner, smallpox vaccine, 1796
  • BatteryInvention
    Alessandro Volta, 1800
  • Cotton ginInvention
    Eli Whitney, 1793
  • SteamboatInvention
    Robert Fulton, 1807
  • LocomotiveInvention
    George Stephenson built practical steam locomotives in the 1810s-1820s
  • PhotographyInvention
    Daguerreotype process announced in 1839
  • TelegraphInvention
    Samuel Morse, 1830s-1840s
  • Sewing machineInvention
    Elias Howe, 1846, improved by Isaac Singer
  • Safety elevatorInvention
    Elisha Otis, 1850s
  • PasteurizationInvention
    Louis Pasteur, 1860s
  • DynamiteInvention
    Alfred Nobel, 1867
  • TypewriterInvention
    Christopher Sholes, 1868
  • TelephoneInvention
    Alexander Graham Bell, 1876
  • PhonographInvention
    Thomas Edison, 1877
  • Light bulbInvention
    Thomas Edison and others, 1879
  • AutomobileInvention
    Karl Benz, 1885-86
  • Pneumatic tireInvention
    John Boyd Dunlop, 1888
  • Motion picturesInvention
    Lumiere brothers, 1895
  • RadioInvention
    Guglielmo Marconi's wireless telegraph, 1890s
  • X-raysInvention
    Wilhelm Rontgen, 1895
  • AirplaneInvention
    Wright brothers, 1903
  • Model TInvention
    Henry Ford, 1908
  • ZipperInvention
    Gideon Sundback improved it in 1913
  • TelevisionInvention
    Philo Farnsworth demonstrated all-electronic TV in 1927
  • PenicillinInvention
    Alexander Fleming, 1928
  • Jet engineInvention
    Frank Whittle and Hans von Ohain, 1930s
  • HelicopterInvention
    Igor Sikorsky's practical helicopter, 1939-1940
  • Computer (ENIAC)Invention
    First large general-purpose electronic computer, 1945
  • TransistorInvention
    Bell Labs, 1947
  • Microwave ovenInvention
    Percy Spencer, 1945-47
  • Polio vaccineInvention
    Jonas Salk, 1955
  • SatelliteInvention
    Sputnik 1, 1957
  • Integrated circuitInvention
    Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce, late 1950s
  • LaserInvention
    Theodore Maiman built the first working laser in 1960
  • Moon landingInvention
    Apollo 11, 1969
  • ARPANETInvention
    Early network that led to the Internet, 1969
  • EmailInvention
    Ray Tomlinson sent the first network email in 1971
  • Personal computerInvention
    Altair 8800 (1975); Apple II (1977)
  • Cell phoneInvention
    Martin Cooper made the first handheld mobile phone call in 1973
  • Compact discInvention
    Introduced in 1982
  • World Wide WebInvention
    Tim Berners-Lee, 1989-1991
  • Web browserInvention
    Mosaic in 1993 helped the Web take off
  • GPSInvention
    US satellite navigation system fully operational in the 1990s
  • SmartphoneInvention
    Early models in the 1990s; iPhone in 2007
  • 3D printingInvention
    Chuck Hull invented stereolithography in 1984
  • Inventor of the safety pinInvention
    Walter Hunt, 1849
  • Inventor of the Braille systemInvention
    Louis Braille, 1820s
  • Inventor of the stethoscopeInvention
    Rene Laennec, 1816
  • Inventor of the bifocal lensInvention
    Benjamin Franklin, around 1784
  • Inventor of the crayonInvention
    Binney & Smith began making Crayola crayons in 1903
  • Inventor of basketballInvention
    James Naismith, 1891
  • Inventor of the traffic light signalInvention
    Garrett Morgan patented an improved signal in 1923
  • Inventor of the Super SoakerInvention
    Lonnie Johnson, 1980s

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