20th-century inventions
780 inventions and discoveries: year, what it is, what it evolved from and what it led to.
How the inventions are connected
- Holt tracked tractor → Tank → Armoured personnel carrier → Infantry fighting vehicle
- Vacuum tube → Diode → Triode
- Time-sharing → Unix → Linux
- V-2 rocket → R-7 rocket → Soyuz
- Mechanical television → Television → Digital television
- Minicomputer → Personal computer → Laptop
| Year | Invention | What it is | Evolved from | Led to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | Shock absorber | Damps the oscillations of the suspension. | ||
| 1901 | Vacuum cleaner Hubert Cecil Booth | Cleaning by sucking up dust (Booth; the electric one — Spangler). | Carpet sweeper | Robot vacuum |
| 1902 | Air conditioner | Carrier’s unit for cooling and drying air. | ||
| 1902 | Car brake | A disc or drum brake that sheds speed through friction. | ||
| 1902 | Air separation | Producing oxygen and nitrogen by liquefaction (Linde). | ||
| 1903 | Aeroplane | A powered heavier-than-air aircraft; the Wright brothers’ Flyer. | Glider | Jet airliner |
| 1903 | Wright Flyer | The first controlled powered aeroplane flight. | Bicycle | |
| 1903 | Electrocardiograph | Recording the electrical activity of the heart (Einthoven). | Galvanometer | Holter monitor |
| 1903 | Biplane | An aircraft with two wings, one above the other. | ||
| 1903 | Landing gear | An aircraft’s supports for takeoff and landing. | ||
| 1904 | Vacuum tube | A device that controls a flow of electrons in a vacuum; the basis of the first computers. | Transistor, Diode | |
| 1904 | Diode Jagadish Chandra Bose | Lets current pass in one direction. | Vacuum tube | Triode, Thyristor |
| 1904 | Continuous track | A closed loop of track links driven by a sprocket; spreads the vehicle’s weight. | ||
| 1904 | Mortar (weapon) | A gun for high-angle fire (Gobyato). | Howitzer | |
| 1905 | Turbocharger | A turbine driven by exhaust gases turns a compressor (Büchi). | ||
| 1905 | Theory of relativity Albert Einstein | Einstein’s special (1905) and general (1915) theories. | Interferometer | |
| 1905 | Nichrome | A nickel–chromium alloy with high resistance and resistance to oxidation. | ||
| 1906 | Amplifier | Increases the power of a signal. | ||
| 1906 | Triode Lee de Forest, Robert von Lieben | A tube with an amplifying grid (Lee de Forest). | Diode | |
| 1906 | Hydrofoil | Foils lift the hull out of the water (Alekseyev’s Raketa). | ||
| 1906 | Coil spring | A helical spring in a car’s suspension. | ||
| 1906 | Freeze-drying | Drying a frozen product in a vacuum. | Food drying | |
| 1907 | Plastic | A synthetic mouldable material. | ||
| 1907 | Bakelite Leo Baekeland | The first fully synthetic plastic (Baekeland). | ||
| 1908 | Washing machine | An electric machine for washing clothes. | Mangle | |
| 1908 | Tyre tread | The pattern on a tyre for grip. | ||
| 1909 | Tuned mass damper | A pendulum counterweight in a skyscraper (Taipei 101). | ||
| 1910 | Headphones Ernest Mercadier | Miniature loudspeakers at the ears. | Wireless earbuds | |
| 1910 | Titanium William Gregor, Martin Heinrich Klaproth | A strong, light metal for aviation and medicine. | ||
| 1910 | Respirator | A filtering mask (the anti-plague mask — Wu Lien-teh). | Surgical mask | Gas mask |
| 1910 | Sports car | A light, fast car. | Racing car | |
| 1911 | Starter motor | An electric motor for starting a combustion engine (Kettering). | Crank | |
| 1911 | Cloud chamber Charles Thomson Rees Wilson | Particle tracks in supersaturated vapour. | Bubble chamber | |
| 1912 | Oscillator | A circuit that produces a periodic signal. | ||
| 1912 | Car battery | A lead–acid starter battery. | ||
| 1913 | Stainless steel Harry Brearley | Steel with chromium that does not rust (Brearley). | ||
| 1913 | Refrigerator | A household refrigerator with a compressor. | Ice house, Ice machine | |
| 1913 | Zip Whitcomb L. Judson | A fastener of teeth joined by a slider (Sundback). | Hook and eye | |
| 1913 | Isotopes | Atoms of one element with different masses (Soddy). | ||
| 1914 | Sewage treatment plant | Biological treatment of waste water (activated sludge). | ||
| 1914 | Hydrophone | A microphone for water. | ||
| 1914 | Anti-aircraft gun | A gun for firing at aircraft. | ||
| 1915 | Sonar Walter Guyton Cady, Paul Langevin | Detecting objects by reflected sound (Langevin). | Echo sounder | |
| 1916 | Tank | An armoured tracked combat vehicle; the first in battle was the British Mark I. | Holt tracked tractor, Armoured car | Armoured personnel carrier |
| 1916 | Armour | Steel or composite plates that protect the crew. | Plate armour | |
| 1917 | Cipher machine | Rotor machines (Hebern, Fialka). | ||
| 1919 | Mass spectrometer | Separating ions by mass (Aston). | ||
| 1920 | Accelerometer | An acceleration sensor; MEMS versions are found in phones and airbags. | ||
| 1921 | Operating microscope | A microscope for microsurgery. | ||
| 1923 | Autogyro | A craft with an autorotating rotor (de la Cierva). | Helicopter | |
| 1925 | Loudspeaker Edward Washburn Kellogg, Chester Williams Rice | Turns an electrical signal into sound: a coil in a magnetic field moves a diaphragm. | ||
| 1925 | Inverter | Converts direct current into alternating current. | ||
| 1925 | Quantum mechanics | The theory of how particles behave at small scales. | Photoelectric effect | |
| 1925 | Pallet | A platform for stacking goods. | ||
| 1925 | Fuel injection | Delivering fuel through injectors under pressure. | Carburettor | |
| 1926 | Liquid-propellant rocket engine | An engine on liquid fuel and oxidizer (Goddard; Tsiolkovsky’s idea). | Rocket | |
| 1926 | Joystick | A control lever. | Gamepad | |
| 1926 | Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) | A plastic for pipes, cables and records. | ||
| 1927 | Aerosol can | A pressurized can with a sprayer (Rotheim). | ||
| 1927 | Quartz clock | A clock paced by the vibrations of a quartz crystal. | Pendulum clock, Mechanical clock | Atomic clock |
| 1928 | Plasma | An ionized gas. | ||
| 1928 | Magnetic tape | A tape with a magnetic layer for recording sound and data (Pfleumer). | ||
| 1928 | Television set | A receiver of the television signal. | Flat-screen TV | |
| 1928 | Ventilator | Mechanical ventilation of the lungs (the “iron lung”). | ||
| 1929 | Van de Graaff generator Robert J. Van de Graaff | A high-voltage generator with a belt. | Electrostatic machine | Particle accelerator |
| 1929 | Polarizing filter | Polaroid (Land). | ||
| 1929 | Thermal camera | An image in infrared light. | ||
| 1930 | Thermistor Michael Faraday | A resistor whose resistance depends on temperature. | ||
| 1931 | Photographic flash | A pulsed gas-discharge lamp (Edgerton). | ||
| 1931 | Pinball | A machine with a ball and flippers. | Arcade machine | |
| 1931 | Iconoscope Vladimir K. Zworykin | A television camera tube (Zworykin). | ||
| 1932 | Particle accelerator | Accelerates particles with electromagnetic fields (Lawrence’s cyclotron). | Van de Graaff generator | World Wide Web |
| 1932 | Cyclotron | An accelerator on a spiral in a magnetic field (Lawrence). | Large Hadron Collider | |
| 1933 | Polyethylene | The most widely used plastic (ICI). | ||
| 1934 | pH meter | An electronic acidity meter (Beckman). | Litmus | |
| 1935 | Nylon | The first fully synthetic fibre (Carothers). | Polyester, Kevlar | |
| 1935 | Radar Christian Hülsmeyer | Detecting objects by reflected radio waves. | Microwave oven | |
| 1935 | Tape recorder | Recording sound on magnetic tape (AEG Magnetophon). | Sampler | |
| 1936 | Fibreglass | A composite of glass fibre and resin. | ||
| 1936 | Printed circuit board | A board with conductors laid on an insulator (Eisler). | ||
| 1937 | Logic gate | A circuit that performs a logical operation (Shannon). | ||
| 1937 | Radio telescope | An antenna for receiving cosmic radio emission (Reber). | ||
| 1938 | Strain gauge | A sensor of deformation by a change in resistance. | ||
| 1938 | Nuclear fission | A uranium nucleus splits, releasing energy and neutrons (Hahn, Meitner). | Radioactivity | |
| 1938 | Teflon | Low-friction polytetrafluoroethylene (Plunkett). | ||
| 1939 | Turbojet engine | An engine that produces thrust with a jet (Whittle, von Ohain). | ||
| 1939 | Gas turbine | A turbine driven by combustion products. | ||
| 1939 | Helicopter | An aircraft with a main rotor (Sikorsky). | Autogyro | Tiltrotor |
| 1939 | Main rotor | A helicopter’s rotating wing. | ||
| 1940 | Servomotor | A motor with position feedback. | ||
| 1940 | Freezer | A deep-freeze compartment. | ||
| 1940 | Magnetron University of Birmingham | A microwave generator; the key part of radars and microwave ovens. | ||
| 1940 | P–n junction | The boundary between semiconductors of different conductivity types. | ||
| 1941 | Polyester | A synthetic fibre. | Nylon | |
| 1941 | PET | Polyethylene terephthalate — bottles and fibre. | ||
| 1941 | Operational amplifier | A general-purpose differential amplifier. | ||
| 1942 | Nuclear reactor | A facility for a controlled chain reaction (Chicago Pile-1). | ||
| 1942 | Solid rocket motor | An engine running on solid propellant. | Rocket | |
| 1942 | V-2 rocket | The first long-range ballistic missile. | R-7 rocket, Saturn V | |
| 1942 | Control rod | Absorbs neutrons and controls a reactor’s power. | ||
| 1943 | Afterburner | Burning extra fuel behind the turbine. | ||
| 1945 | Computer Charles Babbage | A programmable machine for processing information. | Smartphone | |
| 1945 | Turboprop | A gas turbine that turns a propeller. | ||
| 1945 | Convection oven | An oven with a fan. | Air fryer | |
| 1947 | Transistor | A semiconductor device for amplifying and switching signals. | Vacuum tube | |
| 1947 | Defibrillator | An electric shock to restore the heart’s rhythm. | Implantable defibrillator | |
| 1948 | Bit and information theory | A quantitative measure of information (Shannon). | ||
| 1950 | Photodiode | A diode that turns light into current. | ||
| 1950 | Payment card | A card for payments; with a magnetic stripe since the 1960s. | Paper money | Mobile payments |
| 1950 | Analog-to-digital converter | Turns an analogue signal into numbers. | ||
| 1950 | Doppler radar | A radar that measures speed from the Doppler shift. | ||
| 1950 | Heat sink | A metal heat spreader with fins. | ||
| 1950 | Remote control Nikola Tesla, Robert Adler | Operating a device from a distance; infrared remotes date from the 1980s. | ||
| 1951 | Magnetic-core memory | Bits are stored in the magnetization of rings. | RAM | |
| 1952 | CNC machine | A machine tool controlled by a program. | Milling machine | |
| 1952 | Barcode | A machine-readable code of bars. | QR code | |
| 1952 | Bubble chamber Donald Arthur Glaser | Particle tracks in a superheated liquid (Glaser). | Cloud chamber | |
| 1953 | Printer | A device for printing on paper. | ||
| 1953 | Medical linear accelerator | A linear accelerator for radiation therapy. | ||
| 1954 | Solar panel | A panel of photocells that turns light into current. | ||
| 1954 | Maser Charles Hard Townes, James Power Gordon | The microwave forerunner of the laser. | Laser | |
| 1955 | Atomic clock | A clock paced by transitions in caesium atoms. | Quartz clock | |
| 1956 | Shipping container | A standard steel box (McLean). | ||
| 1956 | Hard disk drive | Magnetic platters with heads (IBM 350). | Solid-state drive | |
| 1956 | Video recorder | Recording video on tape (Ampex; VHS in 1976). | DVD | |
| 1957 | Multistage rocket | A rocket that drops its spent stages (R-7). | Reusable rocket | |
| 1957 | R-7 rocket | Korolev’s Soviet rocket that launched the first satellite and Gagarin. | V-2 rocket | Soyuz |
| 1957 | Artificial satellite | A spacecraft in orbit around the Earth. | ||
| 1957 | Launch complex | A structure for launching rockets. | ||
| 1958 | Integrated circuit | Many transistors and connections on a single chip. | ||
| 1958 | Carbon fibre | A super-strong, light fibre made of carbon. | ||
| 1958 | Modem | Transmits data over a telephone line by modulating a signal. | ||
| 1958 | Artificial neural network | A model of connected “neurons”; Rosenblatt’s perceptron. | ||
| 1959 | Dijkstra’s algorithm Edsger W. Dijkstra | Finding the shortest path in a weighted graph. | A* algorithm | |
| 1959 | MOSFET Martin “John” M. Atalla, Dawon Kahng | A field-effect transistor with an insulated gate (Atalla, Kahng). | ||
| 1960 | Laser | A source of coherent light (Maiman; Basov, Prokhorov, Townes). | Maser | |
| 1960 | Server | A computer that serves requests from other computers. | ||
| 1960 | Power supply | Converts mains voltage for electronics. | ||
| 1961 | Industrial robot | A programmable manipulator; the first was Unimate at a GM plant. | Surgical robot | |
| 1961 | Superconducting magnet | An electromagnet with a superconducting winding. | ||
| 1961 | Electronic calculator | A calculator built on electronics (ANITA; pocket ones in the 1970s). | Arithmometer | Microprocessor |
| 1961 | Spacesuit | A suit for space (SK-1). | Diving suit | |
| 1961 | Lidar Hughes Aircraft Company | A rangefinder that measures distances with laser pulses. | ||
| 1962 | LED H. J. Round, Oleg Losev | A semiconductor diode that emits light (Holonyak; Losev observed it in the 1920s). | ||
| 1962 | Laser diode | A semiconductor laser. | ||
| 1962 | Communications satellite | A relay in orbit; Clarke proposed the geostationary orbit. | ||
| 1962 | Chemically strengthened glass | Glass strengthened by ion exchange (Corning). | ||
| 1964 | Mainframe | A large computer for organizations (IBM System/360). | Hollerith tabulator | |
| 1964 | Supercomputer | A computing system of the highest performance (CDC 6600). | ||
| 1964 | Face recognition | Identifying a person from an image of their face. | ||
| 1964 | Computer mouse Douglas Engelbart | Engelbart’s pointing device. | Trackball | |
| 1964 | Packet switching | Data is split into packets that travel across the network independently. | ||
| 1965 | Touch layer (capacitive) | A grid of transparent electrodes that registers a finger’s touch by a change in capacitance. | ||
| 1965 | Kevlar | A super-strong aramid fibre (Kwolek). | Nylon | |
| 1965 | Snowboard | A board for riding down snow. | Surfboard, Skis | |
| 1966 | Reaction wheel | A flywheel for turning a satellite. | ||
| 1966 | Rear wing | An inverted wing that presses the car onto the road. | ||
| 1968 | Liquid-crystal display | A screen built on liquid crystals. | Display | |
| 1968 | Programmable logic controller | An industrial controller (Modicon). | Relay | |
| 1968 | RAM | Fast memory for current data (Dennard’s DRAM). | Magnetic-core memory | |
| 1968 | Engine control unit | A microcomputer that controls the engine. | ||
| 1968 | Display | A smartphone screen: a pixel matrix under protective glass with a touch layer. | Liquid-crystal display | |
| 1969 | Image sensor | An array of photocells that turn light into an electrical signal (CCD, CMOS). | ||
| 1969 | Router | Forwards packets between networks; the IMP in ARPANET. | ||
| 1969 | ARPANET | The first large packet-switched network, linking university computers in the US. | Internet | |
| 1969 | Gallium nitride | The semiconductor of blue LEDs and power electronics. | ||
| 1970 | Monitor | A computer’s image output device. | ||
| 1970 | Optical fibre | A glass fibre that carries light (Kao). | ||
| 1970 | Database | An organized store of data; Codd’s relational model. | Hollerith tabulator, Library catalogue | |
| 1970 | Lunokhod | A self-propelled vehicle on the Moon (Lunokhod 1). | Mars rover | |
| 1970 | MEMS | Microelectromechanical systems — mechanics on a silicon chip. | ||
| 1970 | Star tracker | A camera that finds orientation from the stars. | ||
| 1971 | Microprocessor | A computer’s central processor on a single chip; the first commercial one was the Intel 4004. | Electronic calculator | Microcontroller |
| 1971 | Microcontroller | A processor, memory and peripherals on one chip (TMS1000). | Microprocessor | |
| 1971 | Laser printer | A printer based on xerography (Xerox). | ||
| 1973 | Radio module and antenna | The unit that sends and receives cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth data. | ||
| 1973 | Airbag | An inflatable cushion that deploys in a crash. | ||
| 1973 | Mobile phone Martin Cooper | A telephone that connects to the network by radio. | Telephone, Radio, Walkie-talkie | |
| 1973 | Recombinant DNA | Genetic engineering (Cohen, Boyer). | CRISPR | |
| 1974 | System on a chip (SoC) | A single chip that combines the processor, graphics, modem and controllers. | ||
| 1974 | Pulse oximeter | Measures blood oxygen saturation with light (Aoyagi). | ||
| 1974 | TCP/IP | A suite of protocols for joining different networks into one. | ||
| 1975 | Personal computer | A computer for one person (Altair, Apple II, IBM PC). | Minicomputer | Laptop |
| 1975 | Digital camera | A camera with an electronic sensor (Sasson, Kodak). | Camera | Smartphone camera |
| 1976 | Inkjet printer | Printing with droplets of ink. | ||
| 1977 | DNA sequencing | Reading the sequence of DNA (Sanger). | ||
| 1977 | Pregnancy test | An immunochromatographic strip. | Rapid test | |
| 1978 | GPS (satellite navigation) | Finding a position from satellite signals. | Map, Radio navigation | |
| 1978 | Digital signal processor | A processor for handling signals. | ||
| 1978 | Anti-lock braking system (ABS) | Keeps the wheels from locking up during braking. | Air brake | |
| 1979 | Base station | A cellular tower. | ||
| 1979 | Cellular network | Covering an area with cells served by base stations. | ||
| 1979 | Walkman | Sony’s portable cassette player. | MP3 player | |
| 1980 | Security hologram | A hologram on cards and banknotes. | ||
| 1980 | CPU cooler | A fan with a heat sink for cooling the processor. | ||
| 1981 | Laptop | A portable computer. | Personal computer | |
| 1982 | Neodymium magnet | The strongest permanent magnet (Sagawa). | ||
| 1982 | IGBT | A power transistor for inverters and electric drives. | ||
| 1982 | Solar power station | A field of solar panels or mirrors. | ||
| 1982 | Optical disc (CD/DVD) | Data is read by a laser. | ||
| 1982 | Compact disc Sony Group, Koninklijke Philips NV | Digital sound recording on an optical disc. | Vinyl record | |
| 1983 | Internet Vint Cerf, Bob Kahn | A global network of networks joined by the TCP/IP protocols. | ARPANET | |
| 1984 | Flash memory | Non-volatile memory built on floating-gate transistors (Fujio Masuoka). | EPROM | |
| 1984 | Maglev | A train on magnetic levitation. | Hyperloop (concept) | |
| 1986 | Bread machine | Automatic bread baking. | ||
| 1987 | Pixel matrix (OLED) | An array of light-emitting organic diodes, each driven by its own transistor. | MicroLED | |
| 1989 | World Wide Web Tim Berners-Lee, Robert Cailliau | A system of linked hypertext documents on top of the Internet. | Particle accelerator | |
| 1990 | Data centre | A building with thousands of servers. | ||
| 1990 | Vibration motor | A tiny electric motor with an eccentric weight that vibrates as it spins. | ||
| 1991 | Lithium-ion battery | A rechargeable battery in which lithium ions move between the electrodes. | Lead–acid battery | Solid-state battery |
| 1993 | MP3 | Lossy audio compression based on psychoacoustics. | ||
| 1994 | Smartphone | A mobile phone with the functions of a computer. This is a typical modern smartphone as a class, not a specific model. | Computer, Car navigator, Alarm clock | Tablet computer |
| 1997 | Wi-Fi | The IEEE 802.11 wireless local network. | ||
| 1997 | Chess computer | Deep Blue beat Kasparov. | Expert system | |
| 1998 | Bluetooth Jaap Haartsen | Short-range wireless communication. | ||
| 1999 | Graphics processing unit | A processor for parallel computing of graphics and neural networks. | ||
| 1999 | Continuous glucose monitoring | A wearable sugar sensor. | Glucose meter | |
| 1999 | Internet of things | Connecting household and industrial devices to the network. | ||
| 2000 | Smartphone camera | A lens and a light-sensitive CMOS sensor. | Camera, Digital camera | |
| 2000 | Smart meter | A meter that transmits data. | Electricity meter |