Physical principles in the history of technology
253 inventos por año: de qué evolucionó cada uno y a qué llevó.
Cómo se conectan los inventos
- Ballestilla → Cuadrante de Davis → Octante → Sextante
- Magnetismo → Electromagnetismo → Inducción electromagnética → Ecuaciones de Maxwell
- Lupa → Microscopio → Microscopio electrónico
- Brújula china → Brújula → Girocompás
- Sistema heliocéntrico → Leyes de Kepler → Gravitación universal
- Máquina electrostática → Generador de Van de Graaff → Acelerador de partículas
| Año | Invento | Qué es | Evolucionó de | Llevó a |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000000 a. C. | Cuña | A simple machine: an inclined plane that pushes material apart. | ||
| 6000 a. C. | Espejo | A reflecting surface. | ||
| 3000 a. C. | Balanza | Scales based on an equal-armed lever. | Báscula electrónica | |
| 2650 a. C. | Regla | A measuring strip with graduations. | Cinta métrica, Calibre vernier | |
| 1900 a. C. | Criptografía | Encrypting messages. | ||
| 1500 a. C. | Reloj de agua | Measuring time by the outflow of water. | Reloj mecánico | |
| 1500 a. C. | Reloj de sol | Telling time by the shadow of a gnomon. | ||
| 600 a. C. | Magnetismo | The attraction and repulsion of magnets; the Earth’s magnetic field. | Electromagnetismo | |
| 600 a. C. | Mapa | A scaled picture of an area. | Globo terráqueo, GPS, Mapas en línea | |
| 600 a. C. | Electricidad estática | Charging by friction (Thales, amber). | ||
| 500 a. C. | Compás | A tool for drawing circles. | ||
| 500 a. C. | Vibración de cuerdas | Pitch depends on length and tension (Pythagoras, Mersenne). | ||
| 400 a. C. | Cámara oscura | A dark chamber with a hole that forms an inverted image. | Cámara fotográfica | |
| 300 a. C. | Geometría euclidiana | Euclid’s Elements. | Trigonometría | |
| 250 a. C. | Palanca | A simple machine that multiplies force through leverage. Described by Archimedes. | ||
| 250 a. C. | Principio de Arquímedes | A submerged body is pushed up by a buoyant force. | ||
| 200 a. C. | Brújula china | A lodestone spoon that points south. | Brújula | |
| 200 a. C. | Esfera armilar | A model of the celestial sphere made of rings. | ||
| 150 a. C. | Astrolabio | An angle-measuring instrument and analogue calculator of celestial positions. | Cuadrante | |
| 150 a. C. | Trigonometría | The relations between angles and sides (Hipparchus). | Geometría euclidiana | |
| 132 | Sismoscopio de Zhang Heng | A bronze vessel with balls that showed the direction of an earthquake. | Sismógrafo | |
| 150 | Cuadrante | An angle gauge for measuring the altitude of celestial bodies. | Astrolabio | |
| 400 | Hidrómetro | A float with a scale: the denser the liquid, the higher it floats. It is used to measure the density of milk, syrup or battery acid. | ||
| 500 | Numerales arábigos | The decimal positional system. | Sistema binario | |
| 820 | Algoritmo | A finite sequence of steps; named after al-Khwarizmi. | ||
| 1100 | Brújula | A magnetic needle that points north. | Brújula china | Girocompás |
| 1250 | Lupa Ibn al-Haytham | A magnifying lens. | Gafas, Microscopio | |
| 1280 | Lente | A transparent body that focuses light by refraction. | ||
| 1300 | Reloj de arena | Measuring time with pouring sand. | ||
| 1342 | Ballestilla Яков бен-Махир ибн-Тиббон, Gersonides | A navigational angle gauge. | Cuadrante de Davis | |
| 1441 | Pluviómetro | A precipitation meter (Korea). | ||
| 1450 | Higrómetro | Measures air humidity. | ||
| 1450 | Anemómetro | Measures wind speed (Alberti; the cup anemometer — Robinson). | ||
| 1492 | Globo terráqueo | A model of the Earth (Behaim). | Mapa | |
| 1543 | Sistema heliocéntrico | The Earth goes around the Sun (Copernicus). | Leyes de Kepler | |
| 1569 | Proyección de Mercator Gerardus Mercator | A map projection that preserves angles for navigation. | ||
| 1590 | Microscopio Zaccarias Janssen, Hans Janssen | An optical instrument for looking at small objects (Janssen, Leeuwenhoek). | Gafas, Lupa | Microscopio electrónico |
| 1594 | Cuadrante de Davis John Davis | An angle gauge that let the navigator avoid looking at the Sun. | Ballestilla | Octante |
| 1600 | Electroscopio | A charge indicator (Gilbert). | ||
| 1602 | Péndulo | A weight on a suspension with a constant period of swing (Galileo). | ||
| 1602 | Resonancia | A sharp rise in oscillations when frequencies match. | ||
| 1608 | Telescopio Hans Lippershay, Juan Roget | An optical instrument for observing distant objects (Lipperhey, Galileo). | Gafas | Prismáticos |
| 1609 | Leyes de Kepler | The laws of planetary motion. | Sistema heliocéntrico | Gravitación universal |
| 1615 | Triangulación | Surveying with a network of triangles (Snellius). | ||
| 1631 | Calibre vernier | An instrument for measuring dimensions precisely with a vernier scale (Vernier). | Regla | Micrómetro |
| 1637 | Coordenadas cartesianas | Numbers as points on a plane (Descartes). | ||
| 1643 | Barómetro Evangelista Torricelli | Torricelli’s instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure. | Altímetro | |
| 1647 | Presión | Force per unit area; Torricelli measured atmospheric pressure. | ||
| 1650 | Bomba de vacío | Otto von Guericke’s pump for evacuating air. | Bomba de pistón | Bomba de aire de Boyle |
| 1653 | Hidráulica | Pressure in a liquid is transmitted equally in all directions. | ||
| 1654 | Vacío | A rarefied space; Guericke’s experiments with the Magdeburg hemispheres. | ||
| 1654 | Estación meteorológica | A set of weather instruments (the Medici network). | ||
| 1654 | Teoría de la probabilidad | Pascal and Fermat; later Kolmogorov. | Dado | |
| 1656 | Reloj de péndulo Christiaan Huygens | Huygens’s clock, in which a pendulum sets the pace. | Reloj mecánico | Reloj de cuarzo |
| 1659 | Fuerza centrífuga | The tendency of a rotating body to move away from the axis. | ||
| 1659 | Bomba de aire de Boyle | Boyle and Hooke’s pump for experiments with vacuum. | Bomba de vacío | |
| 1660 | Elasticidad | The ability of a body to regain its shape; Hooke’s law. | ||
| 1661 | Manómetro | An instrument that measures the pressure of a gas or liquid: a U-shaped tube of liquid or a Bourdon tube with a needle. | Esfigmomanómetro | |
| 1662 | Estadística | Analysing data (Graunt). | ||
| 1662 | Ley de Boyle | The pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to its volume. | ||
| 1663 | Máquina electrostática | A generator of static electricity (Guericke, Wimshurst). | Generador de Van de Graaff | |
| 1666 | Prisma | A glass body that splits light into a spectrum (Newton). | ||
| 1666 | Dispersión de la luz | Refraction depending on colour. | ||
| 1668 | Telescopio reflector James Gregory | A telescope with a mirror instead of an objective lens (Newton). | Óptica corpuscular y ondulatoria | |
| 1676 | Ley de Hooke | Deformation is proportional to force. | ||
| 1676 | Velocidad de la luz Ole Rømer | The finite speed of light (Rømer). | ||
| 1684 | Cálculo Isaac Newton, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz | Differential and integral calculus (Newton, Leibniz). | ||
| 1687 | Gravitación universal Robert Hooke | Newton’s law of gravitation. | Leyes de Kepler | |
| 1687 | Leyes de Newton Isaac Newton | The basic laws of mechanics. | ||
| 1687 | Fuerza de reacción Isaac Newton | Throwing mass one way pushes a body the other way (Newton’s third law). | ||
| 1687 | Movimiento orbital | A body moving around another under gravity. | ||
| 1703 | Sistema binario | Numbers made of zeros and ones (Leibniz). | Numerales arábigos | |
| 1711 | Diapasón John Shore | A standard of sound frequency (Shore). | ||
| 1712 | Planetario mecánico | A mechanical model of the Solar System. | Planetario | |
| 1714 | Termómetro Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, Hero of Alexandria | An instrument for measuring temperature (Fahrenheit, mercury). | ||
| 1729 | Conducción eléctrica | A substance’s ability to conduct current (Gray). | ||
| 1731 | Sextante John Bird, Abu-Mahmud Khujandi | An instrument for measuring the altitude of celestial bodies. | Octante | |
| 1731 | Octante John Hadley, Thomas Godfrey | Hadley’s reflecting angle gauge — the forerunner of the sextant. | Cuadrante de Davis | Sextante |
| 1736 | Teoría de grafos Leonhard Euler | The mathematics of vertices and edges; the Königsberg bridge problem (Euler). | ||
| 1738 | Sustentación | The force created when air flows around a wing. | ||
| 1738 | Efecto Venturi | A flow’s pressure drops where its speed rises. | ||
| 1745 | Capacitancia | The ability of conductors to store charge; the capacitor is based on it. | ||
| 1759 | Lámina bimetálica | Two strips of metal that bend when heated (Harrison). | ||
| 1760 | Fotómetro | A light meter. | ||
| 1761 | Calor latente | Heat is absorbed during evaporation and released during condensation (Black). | ||
| 1761 | Cronómetro marino John Harrison | Harrison’s precise clock for finding longitude. | Reloj de bolsillo | |
| 1777 | Balanza de torsión | Measuring tiny forces (Coulomb, Cavendish). | ||
| 1779 | Fotosíntesis | Plants turn light into chemical energy (Ingenhousz). | ||
| 1785 | Red de difracción | Splitting light into a spectrum with fine lines (Fraunhofer). | ||
| 1788 | Control por retroalimentación | A controller compares the result with the goal and corrects the process. | ||
| 1800 | Reacción electroquímica | A chemical reaction in which electrons flow through an external circuit — the basis of batteries. | ||
| 1800 | Radiación infrarroja William Herschel | Invisible heat radiation (Herschel). | ||
| 1800 | Corriente continua | A current flowing in one direction. | ||
| 1801 | Ultravioleta | Radiation shorter than violet (Ritter). | ||
| 1801 | Interferencia de ondas | Waves adding up to reinforce or cancel each other (Young). | ||
| 1802 | Arco eléctrico | A discharge in a gas between electrodes (Petrov, Davy). | ||
| 1808 | Teoría atómica | Matter is made of atoms (Dalton). | Electrón, Núcleo atómico | |
| 1808 | Polarización de la luz | The orientation of a light wave’s oscillations (Malus). | ||
| 1814 | Espectroscopio Joseph von Fraunhofer | An instrument for splitting light into a spectrum (Fraunhofer, 1814); spectral analysis — Kirchhoff and Bunsen (1859). | ||
| 1814 | Planímetro | An instrument for measuring areas. | ||
| 1814 | Líneas espectrales William Hyde Wollaston | Fraunhofer lines; the “fingerprints” of elements. | ||
| 1820 | Electromagnetismo | An electric current creates a magnetic field (Ørsted’s experiment), and a field acts on a current. | Magnetismo | Inducción electromagnética |
| 1820 | Galvanómetro | An instrument that detects current by the deflection of a needle. | Multímetro, Amperímetro, Voltímetro, Electrocardiógrafo | |
| 1821 | Termopar | A junction of different metals that produces a voltage when heated (Seebeck). | ||
| 1821 | Cronómetro | A watch for timing intervals. | ||
| 1822 | Transformada de Fourier | Breaking a signal down into harmonics. | Transformada de coseno discreta | |
| 1824 | Termodinámica | The science of turning heat into work; the Carnot cycle. | Máquina de vapor de Watt | |
| 1824 | Efecto invernadero | A shell transparent to light traps heat radiation (Fourier). | ||
| 1824 | Persistencia de la visión | The illusion of motion when frames change quickly. | ||
| 1827 | Resistencia eléctrica | A conductor opposes current; Ohm’s law relates current and voltage. | ||
| 1831 | Inducción electromagnética Michael Faraday | A changing magnetic field induces a current in a conductor (Faraday). | Electromagnetismo | Ondas electromagnéticas, Ecuaciones de Maxwell |
| 1834 | Ciclo de compresión de vapor | A refrigerant evaporates, absorbing heat, and condenses under pressure (Perkins). | ||
| 1838 | Estereoscopio | A device for a 3D image from two pictures (Wheatstone). | Visor de realidad virtual | |
| 1839 | Efecto fotovoltaico Antoine César Becquerel | A current arising in a material under light. | ||
| 1839 | Cámara fotográfica | A device that captures an image through a lens onto a light-sensitive medium. | Cámara oscura | Cámara del smartphone, Fotolitografía, Cámara digital |
| 1839 | Daguerrotipo Louis Daguerre | The first practical photographic process, on a silvered plate. | ||
| 1839 | Teoría celular Matthias Jacob Schleiden, Theodor Schwann | All organisms are made of cells (Schleiden, Schwann). | ||
| 1841 | Efecto Joule | A current passing through a resistance releases heat. | ||
| 1842 | Efecto Doppler Christian Dopplerr | A change in wave frequency when the source moves. | ||
| 1847 | Conservación de la energía | Energy is neither created nor destroyed; it changes from one form to another. | ||
| 1848 | Micrómetro William Gascoigne, Christiaan Huygens | A measuring tool built on a precise screw (Palmer). | Calibre vernier | |
| 1848 | Cero absoluto Guillaume Amontons | The lower limit of temperature (Kelvin). | ||
| 1851 | Corrientes de Foucault | Currents induced in a conductor by an alternating magnetic field (Foucault). | ||
| 1852 | Giroscopio Léon Foucault | A fast-spinning rotor that keeps the orientation of its axis (Foucault). | ||
| 1854 | Álgebra de Boole | The algebra of logic over true/false values; the basis of digital circuits. | ||
| 1854 | Prismáticos | A double telescope with prisms (Porro). | Telescopio | |
| 1855 | Mechero Bunsen Robert Bunsen, Peter Desaga | A laboratory gas burner. | ||
| 1857 | Teoría cinética | Heat is the motion of molecules (Clausius, Maxwell, Boltzmann). | ||
| 1861 | Pronóstico del tiempo | Storm warnings (FitzRoy); numerical forecasting in 1950. | ||
| 1864 | Centrífuga | Separating mixtures by spinning. | ||
| 1865 | Ecuaciones de Maxwell | A unified theory of electromagnetism. | Inducción electromagnética | |
| 1865 | Entropía | A measure of irreversibility (Clausius). | ||
| 1865 | Leyes de la herencia | Mendel’s laws. | Doble hélice del ADN | |
| 1877 | Criogenia | Producing low temperatures; liquefying gases (Cailletet, Pictet). | ||
| 1880 | Efecto piezoeléctrico Пьер Кюри, Jacques Curie | A crystal under pressure produces a voltage and vice versa (the Curie brothers). | ||
| 1880 | Obturador | A mechanism that lets in light for a set time. | ||
| 1880 | Ultrasonido | Sound above the threshold of hearing. | ||
| 1881 | Interferómetro | An instrument based on the interference of light (Michelson). | Teoría de la relatividad | |
| 1885 | Película fotográfica | A flexible film with a light-sensitive emulsion (Eastman). | ||
| 1886 | Corriente alterna | A current that periodically reverses direction; the Tesla–Westinghouse system. | ||
| 1887 | Placa de Petri Julius Richard Petri | A flat dish for growing microbes. | ||
| 1887 | Efecto fotoeléctrico | Light knocking out electrons (Hertz, Stoletov; explained by Einstein). | Mecánica cuántica | |
| 1888 | Ondas electromagnéticas Heinrich Hertz | Propagating oscillations of the electromagnetic field; proved experimentally by Hertz. | Inducción electromagnética | |
| 1889 | Kilogramo patrón | A platinum–iridium cylinder; since 2019 defined through the Planck constant. | ||
| 1892 | Vaso de Dewar | A vacuum vessel for liquefied gases. | Termo | |
| 1895 | Rayos X Wilhelm Röntgen | Penetrating radiation (Röntgen). | ||
| 1896 | Radiactividad | The spontaneous decay of nuclei (Becquerel, the Curies). | Fisión nuclear | |
| 1896 | Globo meteorológico | A balloon with instruments (Molchanov’s radiosonde, 1930). | ||
| 1897 | Electrón Joseph John Thomson | An elementary negatively charged particle (Thomson). | Teoría atómica, Tubo de rayos catódicos | |
| 1903 | Ecuación de Tsiolkovski | Relates a rocket’s speed to its fuel mass. | ||
| 1905 | Teoría de la relatividad Albert Einstein | Einstein’s special (1905) and general (1915) theories. | Interferómetro | |
| 1905 | E = mc² Albert Einstein | The equivalence of mass and energy. | ||
| 1906 | Girocompás | A compass built on a gyroscope (Anschütz). | Brújula | |
| 1906 | Modulación AM/FM | Ways of putting a signal onto a carrier wave (Fessenden, Armstrong). | ||
| 1907 | Electroluminiscencia | A substance glowing under an electric current. | ||
| 1911 | Cámara de niebla Charles Thomson Rees Wilson | Particle tracks in supersaturated vapour. | Cámara de burbujas | |
| 1911 | Núcleo atómico | Rutherford’s experiment. | Teoría atómica | |
| 1911 | Superconductividad | The disappearance of resistance at low temperature (Kamerlingh Onnes). | ||
| 1912 | Cristalografía de rayos X | Determining structure from X-ray diffraction (Laue, the Braggs). | ||
| 1913 | Isótopos | Atoms of one element with different masses (Soddy). | ||
| 1913 | Ecosonda | Measuring depth with sound (Behm). | Sonar | |
| 1914 | Hidrófono | A microphone for water. | ||
| 1915 | Sonar Walter Guyton Cady, Paul Langevin | Detecting objects by reflected sound (Langevin). | Ecosonda | |
| 1917 | Emisión estimulada | A photon triggers the emission of an identical photon (Einstein). | ||
| 1919 | Espectrómetro de masas | Separating ions by mass (Aston). | ||
| 1920 | Acelerómetro | An acceleration sensor; MEMS versions are found in phones and airbags. | ||
| 1920 | Radionavegación | Finding a position from radio beacons (LORAN). | GPS | |
| 1920 | Efecto suelo | A wing gaining lift near a surface. | ||
| 1923 | Planetario | A projector of the starry sky (Zeiss). | Planetario mecánico | |
| 1925 | Mecánica cuántica | The theory of how particles behave at small scales. | Efecto fotoeléctrico | |
| 1928 | Plasma | An ionized gas. | ||
| 1928 | Contador Geiger Walther Müller, Hans Geiger | Detects ionizing radiation. | ||
| 1929 | Generador de Van de Graaff Robert J. Van de Graaff | A high-voltage generator with a belt. | Máquina electrostática | Acelerador de partículas |
| 1929 | Filtro polarizador | Polaroid (Land). | ||
| 1930 | Retrorreflector | Reflects light back towards its source. | ||
| 1930 | Calentamiento dieléctrico | Heating water molecules with an alternating electric field. | ||
| 1931 | Flash fotográfico | A pulsed gas-discharge lamp (Edgerton). | ||
| 1931 | Microscopio electrónico Ernst Ruska, Макс Кнолль | A microscope that uses a beam of electrons (Ruska). | Microscopio | |
| 1931 | Fotómetro | A light meter for photography. | ||
| 1931 | Teoría de bandas | Explains conductors, insulators and semiconductors. | ||
| 1932 | Acelerador de partículas | Accelerates particles with electromagnetic fields (Lawrence’s cyclotron). | Generador de Van de Graaff | World Wide Web |
| 1932 | Ciclotrón | An accelerator on a spiral in a magnetic field (Lawrence). | Gran Colisionador de Hadrones | |
| 1932 | Neutrón James Chadwick | A neutral particle of the nucleus (Chadwick). | ||
| 1935 | Radar Christian Hülsmeyer | Detecting objects by reflected radio waves. | Horno de microondas | |
| 1937 | Radiotelescopio | An antenna for receiving cosmic radio emission (Reber). | ||
| 1938 | Galga extensométrica | A sensor of deformation by a change in resistance. | ||
| 1938 | Fisión nuclear | A uranium nucleus splits, releasing energy and neutrons (Hahn, Meitner). | Radiactividad | |
| 1938 | Resonancia magnética nuclear | Nuclei absorbing radio waves in a magnetic field (Rabi). | ||
| 1940 | Unión p-n | The boundary between semiconductors of different conductivity types. | ||
| 1942 | Reacción en cadena | Fission neutrons cause new fissions. | ||
| 1945 | Órbita geoestacionaria | An orbit where a satellite hangs over one point (Clarke). | ||
| 1948 | Bit y teoría de la información | A quantitative measure of information (Shannon). | ||
| 1950 | Radar Doppler | A radar that measures speed from the Doppler shift. | ||
| 1952 | Cámara de burbujas Donald Arthur Glaser | Particle tracks in a superheated liquid (Glaser). | Cámara de niebla | |
| 1953 | Doble hélice del ADN James Watson, Francis Crick | The model of DNA’s structure (Watson, Crick, Franklin). | Leyes de la herencia | |
| 1954 | Maser Charles Hard Townes, James Power Gordon | The microwave forerunner of the laser. | Laser | |
| 1955 | Reloj atómico | A clock paced by transitions in caesium atoms. | Reloj de cuarzo | |
| 1960 | Laser | A source of coherent light (Maiman; Basov, Prokhorov, Townes). | Maser | |
| 1960 | Termómetro infrarrojo | A non-contact IR thermometer. | ||
| 1961 | Imán superconductor | An electromagnet with a superconducting winding. | ||
| 1961 | Lidar Hughes Aircraft Company | A rangefinder that measures distances with laser pulses. | ||
| 1963 | Tubo de calor | A tube with an evaporating liquid that carries heat (Grover). | ||
| 1972 | Transformada de coseno discreta | The basis of image and video compression (Ahmed). | Transformada de Fourier | |
| 2008 | Gran Colisionador de Hadrones | The largest accelerator (CERN). | Ciclotrón | |
| 2015 | LIGO | A laser interferometer that detects gravitational waves. | ||
| Fricción | A force that resists the relative motion of surfaces. | |||
| Reflexión de la luz | The angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection. | |||
| Transferencia de calor | Moving heat by conduction, convection and radiation. | |||
| Flujo por gravedad | The movement of a liquid under the force of gravity. | |||
| Aire comprimido | Air under pressure as a carrier of energy. | |||
| Onda sonora | Pressure oscillations in a medium. | |||
| Capilaridad | A liquid rising in narrow channels. | |||
| Momento angular | A rotating body conserves its angular momentum. | |||
| Par motor | A measure of the turning effect of a force. | |||
| Convección | Heat carried by currents of a heated medium. | |||
| Contrapeso | A weight that balances a load or stores potential energy. | |||
| Refracción de la luz | A change in the direction of light at the boundary between media. | |||
| Resistencia aerodinámica | A force that resists a body’s motion through a medium. | |||
| Plano inclinado | A simple machine that trades a longer path for less force. | Tornillo | ||
| Dilatación térmica | Bodies expand when heated. |