Refrigeration 1850s

“Discovering how to make cold would change the way we eat—and live—almost as profoundly as discovering how to cook.” — George Dyson

Colben Mae L. Solomon

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.H3HjsaJ4.dpuf

Vaccination, 1796

The British doctor Edward Jenner used the cowpox virus to protect against smallpox in 1796, but it wasn’t until Louis Pasteur developed a rabies vaccine in 1885 that medicine—and government—began to accept the idea that making someone sick could prevent further sickness.

Colben Mae L. Solomon

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.H3HjsaJ4.dpuf

The nail, second millennium b.c.

“Extended lives by enabling people to have shelter.” — Leslie Berlin

Colben Mae L. Solomon

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.H3HjsaJ4.dpuf

Anesthesia, 1846

In response to the first public demonstration of ether, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wrote: “The fierce extremity of suffering has been steeped in the waters of forgetfulness, and the deepest furrow in the knotted brow of agony has been smoothed for ever.”

Colben Mae L. Solomon

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.H3HjsaJ4.dpuf

money, 11th century

The abstraction at the core of the modern economy

Colben Mae L. Solomon

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.H3HjsaJ4.dpuf

Rocketry, 1926

“Our only way off the planet—so far.” — George Dyson

Colben Mae L. Solomon

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.H3HjsaJ4.dpuf

Scientific plant breeding, 1920s

Humans have been manipulating plant species for nearly as long as we’ve grown them, but it wasn’t until early-20th-century scientists discovered a forgotten 1866 paper by the Austrian botanist Gregor Mendel that we figured out how plant breeding—and, later on, human genetics—worked.

Colben Mae L. Solomon


http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.H3HjsaJ4.dpuf

Photography, early 19th century

Changed journalism, art, culture, and how we see ourselves

Colben Mae L. Solomon

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.H3HjsaJ4.dpuf

The moldboard plow, 18th century

The first plow that not only dug soil up but turned it over, allowing for the cultivation of harder ground. Without it, agriculture as we know it would not exist in northern Europe or the American Midwest.

Colben Mae L. Solomon

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.H3HjsaJ4.dpuf

Pasteurization, 1863

One of the first practical applications of Louis Pasteur’s germ theory, this method for using heat to sterilize wine, beer, and milk is widely considered to be one of history’s most effective public-health interventions.

Colben Mae L. Solomon

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.H3HjsaJ4.dpuf

The Gregorian calendar, 1582

Debugged the Julian calendar, jumping ahead 10 days to synchronize the world with the seasons

-Colben Solomon

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.H3HjsaJ4.dpuf

The airplane, 1903

The inventors of the first airplane were Orville and Wilbur Wright. On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made the first successful experiment in which a machine (aka airplane) carrying a man rose by its own power, flew naturally and at even speed, and descended without damage. We only have to look up into the sky to see an airplane, and most of us have traveled by airplane to places that would have taken much longer by any other means of transportation.

An airplane by definition is an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets. However, before the first airplane was invented by the Wright Brothers, inventors made numerous attempts to make like the birds and fly. These early inventions included kites, hot air balloons, airships, gliders, and other devices. However it was with the modern innovation by the Wright brothers that the world very quickly got accessible and smaller. 

http://blog.bearing-consulting.com/2013/11/03/breakthrough-innovations/ - Patricia Basconcillo

Penicillin, 1928

In 1928, bacteriologist Alexander Fleming made a chance discovery from an already discarded, contaminated Petri dish. The mold that had contaminated the experiment turned out to contain a powerful antibiotic, penicillin. However, though Fleming was credited with the discovery, it was over a decade before someone else turned penicillin into the miracle drug for the 20th century.

http://history1900s.about.com/od/medicaladvancesissues/a/penicillin.htm - Patricia Basconcillo

Semiconductor electronics, mid-20th century

Semiconductors are present in most of the modern electronic devices that you use. In fact, if you happen to be reading this article on a computer, semiconductors are part of what makes that possible.

Semiconductors are exactly what the name implies. They have the properties of a conductor, such as metal wiring, and the properties of an insulator in one substance. To understand how this is possible, you would have to get down to the level of quantum physics and there is a great deal of complexity involved in the actual workings of these materials. However complex these materials may be in their workings, however, they make life a lot simpler than it used to be. 

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/generalDisplay.html?id=infozone&file=eletronics/how-did-semiconductors-change-our-lives - Patricia Basconcillo

The Internet, 1960s

 The Internet was the result of some visionary thinking by people in the early 1960's who saw great potential value in allowing computers to share information on research and development in scientific and military fields. J.C.R Licklider of MIT first proposed a global network of computers in 1962, and moved over to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in late 1962 to head the work to develop it. 

http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/history.html - Patricia Basconcillo 

Nitrogen fixation, 1918

Living organisms need nitrogen to form nucleic acids, proteins, and other molecules. However, the nitrogen gas, N2, in the atmosphere is unavailable for use by most organisms because of the difficulty breaking the triple bond between nitrogen atoms. Nitrogen has to be 'fixed' or bound into another form for animals and plants to use it. Here is a look at what fixed nitrogen is and an explanation of different fixation processes. 

Fixed nitrogen is nitrogen gas, N2, that has been converted to ammonia (NH3, an ammonium ion (NH4, nitrate (NO3, or another nitrogen oxide so that it can be used as a nutrient by living organisms. Nitrogen fixation is a key component of the nitrogen cycle. 

http://chemistry.about.com/od/nitrogen/f/What-Is-Fixed-Nitrogen-Or-Nitrogen-Fixation.htm - Patricia Basconcillo 

The personal computer, 1970s

In the last few decades, computers have made huge strides in improving and making the world more accessible to the general population. In the 1970s, few people had no idea what their computer technology would lead to. Even fewer of them probably had the vision that they would have been made into what they are now. But in the 1970s, the popularity of computers was just beginning to take hold. As a result, several companies were expanding and improving on computer technology to increase the income potential and by making personal home computers more accessible and fun to use for everybody.  

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/70scomputers.html - Patricia Basconcillo 

The pill, 1960

As the feminist movement evolved in the late 1960s, women started challenging their exclusion from politics and the workplace. They also began to question traditional sexual roles. 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/e_revolution.html - Patricia Basconcillo

Nuclear fission, 1939

When nuclear fission was discovered near the end of 1938, it was a totally unanticipated phenomenon. It had been known for decades that an enormous energy was bound up in the atomic nucleus, but there were no clear paths toward gaining experimental, let alone practical, access to that energy. However, the nucleus had already been under intense study throughout the 1930s, as physicists and chemists catalogued the various radioactive elements and their behaviors, came to understand the sources of stability of the nuclei of various isotopes, and transmuted elements by bomarbing them with the newly-discovered neutron and with alpha particles (helium nuclei). Once the initial discovery had been made, the basic outline of the fission process was quickly established, and it did not take long to develop a substantial body of experimental measurement and theory surrounding it. 

As an astonishing new development in the physics of the nucleus, fission garned widespread attention, which was further augmented by the implication that fission might be exploited to design new weapons and new sources of power. However, the unprecedented application-oriented research program that developed a few years later can only be understood by taking into account the political context: the 1933 rise to power of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party in Germany, and the consequent rise of German militarism and anti-Semitic persecution. Much of the research would be done by scientists who had fled fascist Europe, and the funding, institutional support, and access to personnel that made that research possible was only acquired out of the fear that the Nazis might develop their own fission-based weapon. 

http://www.aip.org/history/acap/topics/fission.jsp - Patricia Basconcillo

The green revolution, mid-20th century

Throughout history there have been many revolutions that have occurred and changed human lives, such as the American Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. In the mid- and late-20th century a revolution occurred that dramatically changed the field of agriculture, and this revolution was known as the Green Revolution.

The Green Revolution was a period when the productivity of global agriculture increased drastically as a result of new advances. During this time period, new chemical fertilizers and synthetic herbicides and pesticides were created. The chemical fertilizers made it possible to supply crops with extra nutrients and, therefore, increase yield. The newly developed synthetic herbicides and pesticides controlled weeds, deterred or kill insects, and prevented diseases, which also resulted in higher productivity. 

In addition to the chemical advances utilized during this time period, high-yield crops were also developed and introduced. High-yield crops are crops that are specifically designed to produce more overall yield. A method known as multiple cropping was also implemented during the Green Revolution and lead to higher productivity. Multiple cropping is when a field is used to grow two or more crops throughout the year, so that the field constantly has something growing on it. These new farming techniques and advances in agricultural technology were utilized by farmers all over the world, and when combined, intensified the results of the Green Revolution. 

http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-the-green-revolution-definition-benefits-and-issues.html - Patricia Basconcillo

Scientific plant breeding, 1920s

Plant breeding is the art and science of changing the genetics of plants for the benefit of humankind. Plant breeding can be accomplished through many different techniques ranging from simply selecting plants with desirable characteristics for propagation, to more complex molecular techniques.

Plant breeding has been practiced for thousands of years, since near the beginning of human civilization. It is now practiced worldwide by individuals such as gardeners and farmers, or by professional plant breeders employed by organizations such as government institutions, universities, crop-specific industry associations or research centers. 

International development agencies believe that breeding new crops is important for ensuring food security by developing new varieties that are higher-yielding, resistant to pests and diseases, drought-resistant or regionally adapted to different environments and growing conditions.

Plant breeding in certain situations may lead the domestication of wild plants. Domestication of plants is an artificial selection process conducted by humans to produce plants that have more desirable traits than wild plants, and which renders them dependent on artificial (usually enhanced) environments for their continued existence. The practice is estimated to date back 9,000-11,000 years. Many crops in present day cultivation are the result of domestication in ancient times, about 5,000 years ago in the Old World and 3,000 years ago in the New World. 

In the Neolithic period, domestication took a minimum of 1,000 years and a maximum of 7,000 years. Today, all of our principal food crops come from domesticated varieties. Almost all the domesticated plants used today for food and agriculture were domesticated in the centers of origin. In these centers there is still a great diversity of closely related wild plants, the so called crop wild relatives that can also be used for improving modern cultivars by plant breeding.

A plant whose origin or selection is due primarily to intentional human activity is called a cultigen, and a cultivated crop species that has evolved from wild populations due to selective pressures from traditional farmers is called a landrace. Landraces, which can be the result of natural forces or domestication, are plants (or animals) that are ideally suited to a particular region or environment. An example are the landraces of rice, Oryza sativa subspecies indica, which was developed in South Asia, and Oryza sativa subspecies japonica, which was developed in China. 

http://www.crystalinks.com/plantbreeding.html - Patricia Basconcillo

Rocketry, 1926

Robert H. Goddard, the American father of modern rocketry, built and tested the world's first liquid-fuel rocket in 1926. His achievement is considered as significant as the Wright Brothers' first flight. Over the course of his career, Goddard not only developed the theoretical calculations for rocket flight but also made practical advances in rocket design and construction. 

Goddard's initial study of rockets was undertaken at his own expense. He began by experimenting with gunpowder, and launched his first powder rocket at Clark University in 1915, this time outside of the building. But powdered rockets were inefficient; only 2 percent of the available energy was being converted into motion.

The press immediately seized hold of the idea. Many people shot down the idea that a thrust was possible in the vacuum of space. Goddard found himself receiving a great deal of attention, much of it negative. The New York Times published an editorial scoffing at the idea; in 1969, after the launch of Apollo 11, the newspaper published a correction. 

On March 16, 1926, Goddard fired his first liquid-fueled rocket. It burned for about 20 seconds before taking off, melting part of the nozzle. In 2.5 seconds, it traveled to a height of 41 feet, leveled off, and hit the ground, averaging about 60 miles per hour. 

http://www.space.com/19944-robert-goddard.html - Patricia Basconcillo

Photography, early 19th century

Although photography as we know it today had its roots in the early 19^th century, people have used cameras since the Renaissance. The camera obscura was used to project images onto paper, which allowed them to be traced. No one was able to secure a fixed image, however, until the 1820s, when Joseph Nicéphore Niépce performed the first photomechanical process. He reproduced an engraving using bitumen dissolved in lavender oil, which, when exposed to light, becomes insoluble. He also took the first semi-permanent photograph in 1827 using a process he called heliography. Niépce eventually teamed up with Louis Daguerre, who modified and improved Niépce’s technique. Daguerre became known for developing the daguerreotype, the first widely used photographic process.

http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/Portrait_Exhibit/notes.html - Raecelynn Besa

11. Apple iPod (2001)

Portable MP3 players had been around for many years before Apple launched its version in 2001, but the iPod – together with Apple's iTunes software – was the technology that really transformed the way people listened to music. The device's large internal storage capacity meant it was no longer necessary to carry around CDs or cassette tapes, and the sleek design made it a desirable item to own.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/picture-galleries/11298840/Most-important-inventions-of-the-21st-Century-in-pictures.html

Rivera, Therenz

Scientific Plant Breeding, 1920s

For several thousand years, farmers have been altering the genetic makeup of the crops they grow. Human selection for features such as faster growth, larger seeds or sweeter fruits has dramatically changed domesticated plant species compared to their wild relatives. Remarkably, many of our modern crops were developed by people who lacked an understanding of the scientific basis of plant breeding.

In the late 1920s, researchers discovered that they could greatly increase the number of these variations or mutations by exposing plants to X-rays. "Mutation breeding" accelerated after World War II, when the techniques of the nuclear age became widely available. Plants were exposed to gamma rays, protons, neutrons, alpha particles, and beta particles to see if these would induce useful mutations. Chemicals, too, such as sodium azide and ethyl methanesulphonate, were used to cause mutations.

http://cls.casa.colostate.edu/transgeniccrops/history.html - Raecelynn Besa

10. The combine harvester, 1930s

Mechanized the farm, freeing people to do new types of work. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.OPO28ePN.dpuf

Rivera, Therenz

9. The assembly line, 1913

Turned a craft-based economy into a mass-market one. The most significant piece of Ford’s efficiency crusade was the assembly line. Inspired by the continuous-flow production methods used by flour mills, breweries, canneries and industrial bakeries, along with the disassembly of animal carcasses in Chicago’s meat-packing plants, Ford installed moving lines for bits and pieces of the manufacturing process: For instance, workers built motors and transmissions on rope-and-pulley–powered conveyor belts. 

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fords-assembly-line-starts-rolling

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.OPO28ePN.dpuf

Rivera, Therenz

8. Television, early 20th century

Brought the world into people’s homes. American TV programs, like American popular culture in general in the 20th and early 21st centuries, have spread far beyond the boundaries of the United States and have had a pervasive influence on global popular culture.

http://www.britannica.com/art/television-in-the-United-States

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.OPO28ePN.dpuf

Rivera, Therenz

Nuclear Fission, 1938–1942

When nuclear fission was discovered near the end of 1938, it was a totally unanticipated phenomenon. It had been known for decades that an enormous energy was bound up in the atomic nucleus, but there were no clear paths toward gaining experimental, let alone practical, access to that energy. However, the nucleus had already been under intense study throughout the 1930s, as physicists and chemists catalogued the various radioactive elements and their behaviors, came to understand the sources of stability of the nuclei of various isotopes, and transmuted elements by bomarbing them with the newly-discovered neutron and with alpha particles.

http://www.aip.org/history/acap/topics/fission.jsp - Raecelynn Besa

7. Radio, 1906

The first demonstration of electronic mass media’s power to spread ideas and homogenize culture.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.OPO28ePN.dpuf

Rivera, Therenz

6. Nuclear fission, 1939

Gave humans new power for destruction, and creation.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.OPO28ePN.dpuf

Rivera, Therenz

5. The pill, 1960

Launched a social revolution.  The first oral contraceptive, Enovid, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as contraception.

https://www.google.com.ph/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=use%20of%20the%20pill%201960

Rivera, Therenz

4. The airplane, 1903

Transformed travel, warfare, and our view of the world.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.OPO28ePN.dpuf

Rivera, Therenz

3. Nitrogen fixation, 1918

The German chemist Fritz Haber, also the father of chemical weapons, won a Nobel Prize for his development of the ammonia-synthesis process, which was used to create a new class of fertilizers central to the green revolution 

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.OPO28ePN.dpuf

Rivera, Therenz

2. The Internet, 1960s

The infrastructure of the digital age.  Internet has been the most useful technology of the modern times which helps us not only in our daily lives, but also our personal and professional lives developments. The internet helps us achieve this in several different ways.

http://www.yourmaindomain.com/web-articles/use-of-internet.asp
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.OPO28ePN.dpuf

Rivera, Therenz

Sanitation, Mid-19th Century

Nothing occupies a nation's mind with the subject of health like a general contagion. In the 1830s and the 1840s there were three massive waves of contagious disease: the first, from 1831 to 1833, included two influenza epidemics and the initial appearance of cholera; the second, from 1836 to 1842, encompassed major epidemics of influenza, typhus,typhoid, and cholera. As F. H. Garrison has observed, epidemic eruptions in the eighteenth century had been "more scattered and isolated" than theretofore; and in the early decades of the nineteenth century there had been a marked decline in such illnesses as diphtheria and influenza. Smallpox, the scourge of the eighteenth century, appeared to be controllable by the new practice of vaccination. Then, in the mid-twenties, England saw serious outbursts of smallpox and typhus, anticipating the pestilential turbulence of the next two decades. 

http://www.victorianweb.org/science/health/health10.html - Raecelynn Besa

1. Penicillin, 1928

Accidentally discovered in 1928, though antibiotics were not widely distributed until after World War II, when they became the silver bullet for any number of formerly deadly diseases

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/#sthash.OPO28ePN.dpuf

Rivera, Therenz

Radio, 1906

Guglielmo Marconi successfully sent the first radio message across the Atlantic Ocean in December 1901 from England to Newfoundland. Marconi's radio did not receive voice or music. Rather, it received buzzing sounds created by a spark gap transmitter sending a signal using Morse code.

The radio got its voice on Christmas Eve 1906. As dozens of ship and amateur radio operators listened for the evening's traffic messages, they were amazed to hear a man's voice calling "CQ, CQ" (which means calling all stations, I have messages) instead of the customary dits and dahs of Morse code. The message was transmitted by Professor Reginald Aubrey Fessenden from a small radio station in Brant Rock, Massachusetts. 

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/radio.aspx - Raecelynn Besa

Green Eevolution, Mid-20th Century

In the mid- and late-20th century a revolution occurred that dramatically changed the field of agriculture, and this revolution was known as the Green Revolution.

The Green Revolution was a period when the productivity of global agriculture increased drastically as a result of new advances. During this time period, new chemical fertilizers and synthetic herbicides and pesticides were created. The chemical fertilizers made it possible to supply crops with extra nutrients and, therefore, increase yield. The newly developed synthetic herbicides and pesticides controlled weeds, deterred or kill insects, and prevented diseases, which also resulted in higher productivity.

http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-the-green-revolution-definition-benefits-and-issues.html - Raecelynn Besa

Personal Computer, 1970s

Personal computers first appeared in the late 1970s. One of the first and most popular personal computers was the Apple II, introduced in 1977 by Apple Computer. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, new models and competing operating systems seemed to appear daily. Then, in 1981, IBM entered the fray with its first personal computer, known as the IBM PC. The IBM PC quickly became the personal computer of choice, and most other personal computer manufacturers fell by the wayside. One of the few companies to survive IBM's onslaught was Apple Computer, which remains a major player in the personal computer marketplace.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/personal_computer.html - Raecelynn Besa

Semiconductor, Mid-20th Century

Semiconductors are very basic components of many different electronic devices. There are too many to list in a single article. To get an idea of the range of devices that semiconductors make possible, consider that the range would include everything from extremely sophisticated medical equipment to the most inexpensive transistor radio. Televisions contain semiconductors, computer monitors contain semiconductors and the videogame consoles that many people hook up to those devices also contain semiconductors.

In reality, it would be more difficult to find an electrical component or product that doesn’t contain a semiconductor among its workings than it would be to find one that does.

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/generalDisplay.html?id=infozone&file=eletronics/how-did-semiconductors-change-our-lives - Raecelynn Besa

Penicillin, 1928

It all started with a mold that developed on a staphylococcus culture plate. Since then, the discovery of penicillin changed the course of medicine and has enabled physicians to treat formerly severe and life-threatening illnesses such as bacterial endocarditis, meningitis, pneumococcal pneumonia, gonorrhea and syphilis.

The discovery of penicillin changed the world of medicine enormously. With its development, infections that were previously severe and often fatal, like bacterial endocarditis, bacterial meningitis and pneumococcal pneumonia, could be easily treated. Even dating all the way back to World War II and today with the war in Iraq, soldiers experienced injuries that would have been fatal without penicillin and other antibiotics that were developed subsequently.

http://www.healio.com/endocrinology/news/print/endocrine-today/%7B15afd2a1-2084-4ca6-a4e6-7185f5c4cfb0%7D/penicillin-an-accidental-discovery-changed-the-course-of-medicine - Raecelynn Besa

Electricity, Late 19th & 20th Century

So, what is electricity? The truth is that electricity, like natural resources, has always been around because it naturally exists in the world. Lightning, for instance, is simply a flow of electrons between the ground and the clouds in the form of static electricity. When you touch something and get a shock, that is really static electricity moving toward you.


In the late 19th Century electricity was a new marvel. People had known about electricity for many years. Benjamin Franklin first achieved world renown for his experiments with electricity, including work with his famous kite and key.

http://www.electricityforum.com/history-of-electricity.html - Raecelynn Besa

Nitrogen fixation, 1918

Nitrogen fixation, any natural or industrial process that causes free nitrogen (N2), which is a relatively inert gas plentiful in air, to combine chemically with other elements to form more-reactive nitrogen compounds such as ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites.

During the first decade of the 20th century, intensive research efforts culminated in the development of several commercial nitrogen-fixation processes. The three most-productive approaches were the direct combination of nitrogen withoxygen, the reaction of nitrogen with calcium carbide, and the direct combination of nitrogen with hydrogen.

http://www.britannica.com/science/nitrogen-fixation - Raecelynn Besa