Uploaded September 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Today we will be looking at some inventions that changed our world and how life as we know it wouldn’t be possible without them.
The first of these inventions are stone tools. A stone tool in general is any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. The earliest known human-made stone tools date back about 2.6 million years. They were crafted and used by Homo habilis, an early human ancestor, and marked the first in a series of major toolmaking advances among early human hunter-gatherer societies.
The second invention on our list is the wheel. The invention of the wheel is often known as the most important invention of all time. By definition, a wheel is a circular object that revolves on an axle and is fixed below a vehicle or other object to enable it to move easily over the ground.
Paper is a thin nonwoven material traditionally made by pressing together cellulose fibers extracted from plants and trees. Papyrus paper is the first paper in history which was found in the tombs and temples of Ancient Egyptians as far back as 2700 B.C. It was made by Ancient Egyptians from papyrus plants. However, the invention of paper as we know it is generally associated with Ts’ai Lun, a Chinese scholar and a government official under the Han dynasty around 100 A.D since he was the first to have been officially recorded. Ts’ai Lun seems to have made his paper by mixing finely chopped mulberry bark and hemp rags with water, mashing it flat, and then pressing out the water and letting it dry in the sun.
A clock is a device used to measure time. Some of the oldest known clocks are the sundials along with the hourglass, and water clocks. However, it wasn’t until 725 A.D when the first mechanical clock was invented by Yi Xing, a monk and a mathematician in China. Earlier clocks like Xing's lasted only a few years before the water in the mechanism caused the metal to corrode. Later clocks used mercury, which was better to use with iron and bronze mechanisms since it did not cause any corrosion in these metals.
Invented more than 2000 years ago, the compass is an instrument for navigation and orientation. It is said to have been invented during the Han Dynasty of China around 300 and 200 BC. At first, it was used for fortune-telling, and other related matters, however, people soon discovered its navigational capabilities during the Song Dynasty.
Telephone revolutionized communications around the world. While Italian innovator Antonio Meucci is credited with inventing the first basic phone in 1849, and Frenchman Charles Bourseul for devising a phone in 1854, it is Alexander Graham Bell who is widely credited as the inventor of the telephone.
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. It uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This movement of the piston is then used to power a machine or perform other tasks. One of the first steam engines was invented by Thomas Savery in 1698. It wasn't very useful, but other inventors made improvements over time which lead to the first useful steam engine invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712.
A computer is a machine that can be instructed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically through computer programming. Modern computers have the ability to follow generalized sets of operations, called programs. Early computers were only thought of as calculating devices so we could say that the first computer was actually the abacus. However, the first computer resembling today's modern machines was the Analytical Engine, a device conceived and designed by British mathematician Charles Babbage between 1833 and 1871.
A refrigerator consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment. Refrigeration is an essential food storage technique since lower temperatures slow the rate of reproduction of bacteria and reduce the rate of food spoilage. The first vapor-compression refrigeration cycle was put forward by Jacob Perkins, who is also known as the father of refrigeration.
Electric light is a device that produces visible light from an electric current. Thomas Edison is often credited with creating the light bulb in 1879, however, he was not the only one who contributed to the development of this revolutionary technology. It happened over many decades with many great inventors making small improvements on previous ideas and trying to better understand the properties of electricity. The invention of lightbulbs liberated humanity from the dependence on just daylight.
These are some of the inventions that changed the world! Do you agree with our choices? Let us know in the comment section below!
Today we will be looking at some inventions that changed our world and how life as we know it wouldn’t be possible without them.
The first of these inventions are stone tools. A stone tool in general is any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. The earliest known human-made stone tools date back about 2.6 million years. They were crafted and used by Homo habilis, an early human ancestor, and marked the first in a series of major toolmaking advances among early human hunter-gatherer societies.
The second invention on our list is the wheel. The invention of the wheel is often known as the most important invention of all time. By definition, a wheel is a circular object that revolves on an axle and is fixed below a vehicle or other object to enable it to move easily over the ground.
Paper is a thin nonwoven material traditionally made by pressing together cellulose fibers extracted from plants and trees. Papyrus paper is the first paper in history which was found in the tombs and temples of Ancient Egyptians as far back as 2700 B.C. It was made by Ancient Egyptians from papyrus plants. However, the invention of paper as we know it is generally associated with Ts’ai Lun, a Chinese scholar and a government official under the Han dynasty around 100 A.D since he was the first to have been officially recorded. Ts’ai Lun seems to have made his paper by mixing finely chopped mulberry bark and hemp rags with water, mashing it flat, and then pressing out the water and letting it dry in the sun.
A clock is a device used to measure time. Some of the oldest known clocks are the sundials along with the hourglass, and water clocks. However, it wasn’t until 725 A.D when the first mechanical clock was invented by Yi Xing, a monk and a mathematician in China. Earlier clocks like Xing's lasted only a few years before the water in the mechanism caused the metal to corrode. Later clocks used mercury, which was better to use with iron and bronze mechanisms since it did not cause any corrosion in these metals.
Invented more than 2000 years ago, the compass is an instrument for navigation and orientation. It is said to have been invented during the Han Dynasty of China around 300 and 200 BC. At first, it was used for fortune-telling, and other related matters, however, people soon discovered its navigational capabilities during the Song Dynasty.
Telephone revolutionized communications around the world. While Italian innovator Antonio Meucci is credited with inventing the first basic phone in 1849, and Frenchman Charles Bourseul for devising a phone in 1854, it is Alexander Graham Bell who is widely credited as the inventor of the telephone.
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. It uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This movement of the piston is then used to power a machine or perform other tasks. One of the first steam engines was invented by Thomas Savery in 1698. It wasn't very useful, but other inventors made improvements over time which lead to the first useful steam engine invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712.
A computer is a machine that can be instructed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically through computer programming. Modern computers have the ability to follow generalized sets of operations, called programs. Early computers were only thought of as calculating devices so we could say that the first computer was actually the abacus. However, the first computer resembling today's modern machines was the Analytical Engine, a device conceived and designed by British mathematician Charles Babbage between 1833 and 1871.
A refrigerator consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment. Refrigeration is an essential food storage technique since lower temperatures slow the rate of reproduction of bacteria and reduce the rate of food spoilage. The first vapor-compression refrigeration cycle was put forward by Jacob Perkins, who is also known as the father of refrigeration.
Electric light is a device that produces visible light from an electric current. Thomas Edison is often credited with creating the light bulb in 1879, however, he was not the only one who contributed to the development of this revolutionary technology. It happened over many decades with many great inventors making small improvements on previous ideas and trying to better understand the properties of electricity. The invention of lightbulbs liberated humanity from the dependence on just daylight.
These are some of the inventions that changed the world! Do you agree with our choices? Let us know in the comment section below!
