Revolutionary Inventions?

Question

Hi, I'm having a really hard time thinking of a revolutionary invention or idea. It can be from any time period, and possibly something that change the way humans do things in a big way. There's so many to choose from, and I need one that's easy to find information on, yet interesting enough to present a report on to my class. I'm in grade 8, and please don't say things like "Do your own homework". I'm really having trouble thinking of something good. Thanks!

Answer 1

Here are some ideas for you.



The printing press and moveable type (the 1500's). Suddenly, information was going to be available to the masses and not just restricted to the rich and privileged. Governments and institutions could no longer plan on monopolizing information. People no longer had to rely solely on learning only what individual teachers could directly present.



1608

The telescope is invented in Holland.



1642

Blaise Pascal builds the first calculating machine.



1680

Denis Papin invents the pressure cooker.



1698

Thomas Savery patents the first practical steam engine.



1701

Jethro Tull invents the seed drill.



1733

John Kay invents the flying-shuttle loom.



1743

The first known elevator is installed in Versailles on the order of Louis XV.



1765

James Watt builds a model of his improved steam engine.



1770

Nicolas Cugnot builds first steam-driven car.



1783

The Montgolfier brothers invent hot-air balloons.



1792

William Murdock is the first to use coal gas for lighting.



1793

Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin.



1796

Edward Jenner invents vaccination.





The nineteenth century

1800

Alessandro Volta builds first chemical battery.



1804

Nicolas-François Appert invents canning as a means to preserve food.



1807

Robert Fulton builds the first commercially successful steamboat.



1808

Pellegrini Turri invents the typewriter.



1812

Bryan Donkin invents the tin can.



1814

Humphry Davy invents the safety lamp for miners.



1817

Carl von Drais invents the (pedal-less) bicycle.



1820

P.J. Pelletier and J.B. Caventon are the first to isolate the antipyretic quinine from the bark of the cinchona tree.



1822

Joseph N. Niepce produces the first photograph.



1823

Charles Macintosh invents the waterproof raincoat.



1825

George Stephenson builds the first steam-powered locomotive.



1829

Louis Braille develops a writing system for the blind.



1830

Barthélemy Thimonnier invents the sewing machine; Edwin Budding invents the lawn mower.



1831

Walter Hancock builds the first steam-driven bus.



1834

James Chalmers invents postage stamps.



1837

Samuel Morse patents the first commercially successful telegraph.



1839

Charles Goodyear invents vulcanization; Antoine Becquerel invents solar cells.



1846

Richard March Hoe invents the rotary printing press.



1847

Ascanio Sobrero invents nitro-glycerine; Ignaz Philipp Semmelweiss introduces disinfection in hospitals.



1853

Charles Gerhardt invents Aspirin.



1856

Henry Bessemer invents the Bessemer process for making steel.



1863

Henri Dunant founds the Red Cross.



1869

William Semple patents chewing gum.



1871

Zénobe Gramme invents the dynamo; J.B. Morrison patents the pedal-driven dentist’s drill.



1874

Thomas Cook invents the traveller’s check.



1875

Alfred Nobel invents dynamite.



1876

Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.



1877

Thomas Alva Edison invents the phonograph.



1878-1879

Joseph Swan and Thomas Alva Edison invent the light-bulb.



1879

James J. Ritty invents the cash register.



1885

Karl Benz builds the first gasoline-powered car; Louis Pasteur inoculates against rabies.



1886

William S. Burroughs develops the first commercially successful mechanical adding machine.



1888

First electric tram line built in Richmond, Virginia by Frank J. Sprague.



1891

Thomas Alva Edison patents the first film camera and projector; H.W. Seely invents the electric iron.



1892

R.E. Bell Crompton and H.J. Dowsing patent the first electric radiator.



1893

W.L. Judson invents the zip.



1895

Guglielmo Marconi invents the wireless telegraph; Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen takes the first X-ray picture.

Answer 2

There are so many to choose from perhaps the best approach is to think what inventions truly changed society;

here are the big ten from 1799 to 2008.



The Steam Engine.

The Steam Engine used as a Locomotive.

The Steam Engine used to propell ships.

The Elevator

The Iron Suspension Bridge.

Harnessing Electrical Energy for Lighting and similar Applications.

The Internal Combustion Engine.

Heavier than Air Flight.

Movies.

Television.

Personal Computers.



I would suggest harnessing oif electricity since it did both good & bad. Edison did more then conjur up a light he totally transformed the way that people lived and some of the effects were unfortunate. Up to the 1880 s a big building comlex might make its own power & light but once Edison introduced the concept of people 'needing' power then central power utilities emerged. People were literally blind sided. Now they rely on an outside source and fail to install metods that supply their own needs. I have to go but truly Electricity is a fascinating subject to explore.



Peace///\\\\\

Answer 3

How about the telephone? Look at how it's creation continues to change the world. Firstly, before the phone was invented there were three ways to get a message to someone, see them in person (or through a messenger who would see them in person), send them a letter, or send them a telegram.



Of course each had their own drawbacks. It's easier to deliver a message to someone in person when your fairly close, that is to say when you do not have to travel far.



When the distance becomes to great to make actually talking to the person unfeasible, then mail became the better option. But with mail it would take time for a letter to reach it's destination and then more time to get a reply, the length depending on the mode of transportation used for the mail. Plus someone had to pay for the mail to get through.



The telegraph offered an even faster means of delivering a message over long distances. But like the mail, it cost to send a telegram. And worse, where as anyone can write a letter only those trained to operate the telegraph could actually send the telegram. And they were also the ones to recieve and translate it. So you had to rely even more so on someone else for your message to get through.



Then along comes the telephone. You still have the drawbacks of the mail and telegram, needing a second party and having to pay. Put the second party patches your call through so that you deliver it to the person yourself over a long distance. And slowly it becomes a staple in homes across most of the world. It is suddenly like you are speaking to your next door neighbor over a fence.



Also, as the phone advances you start getting other advances. How many people's first experince getting on the net was through a modem connected to the phoneline (how many still use the phoneline for connecting to the net for that matter)? In the 1990s we suddenly saw the world wide web popping up in households across the world rapidly thanks to computer's and phone access. Faxes, which themselves use phonelines, made it possible to instantly send documents before the net became the popular item it is today. Phones moved away from requiring a line, letting us take our phones where ever we go. Answering machines were created for the phone so we could get a message even when we're not at home. And what of text messaging, had the phone not been invented would we even have text messages today?



The phone continues to change so as to keep up with the times, offering us new ways to communicate.

Answer 4

the Gatling gun and how it changed mankind forever.

everything after that except for nuclear weapons is directly related to the invention of the Gatling gun.



the computer, and how computers changed the world forever. (go back to the earliest electronic computer)



The internet



the self-propelled vehicle (aka automobile)

Answer 5

The most revolutionary idea was the scientific method.

Pretty much everything after it is based on it.