Inventions and Inventors (up to 20th century)

1590, Compound microscope, Zacharias Janssen, Dutch


1593, Water thermometer, Galileo, Italian


1608, Telescope, Hans Lippershey, Dutch


1625, Blood transfusion, Jean-Baptiste Denys, French


1629, Steam turbine, Giovanni Branca, Italian


1642, Adding machine, Blaise Pascal, French


1643, Barometer, Evangelista Torricelli, Italian


1656, Pendulum clock, Christiaan Huygens, Dutch


1668, Reflecting telescope, Isaac Newton, English


1671, Calculating machine, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German


1701, Seed drill, Jethro Tull, English


1705, Steam engine, Thomas Newcomen, British


1710, Piano, Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian


1714, Mercury thermometer, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, German


1745, Leyden jar (condenser), E.G. von Kleist, German


1752, Lightning rod, Benjamin Franklin, American


1764, Spinning jenny, James Hargreaves, British


1769, Steam engine (with separate condenser), James Watt, British


1770, Automobile, Nicholas Joseph Cugnot, French


1775, Submarine, David Bushnell, American


1796, Smallpox vaccination, Edward Jenner, British


1796, Lithography, Aloys Senefelder, German


1780, Bifocal lens, Benjamin Franklin, American


1783, Balloon, Joseph Michel Montgolfier and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier, French


1785, Power loom, Edmund Cartwright, British


1786, Steamboat, John Fitch, American


1791, Gas turbine, John Barber, British


1793, Cotton gin, Eli Whitney, American


1800, Jacquard Loom, Joseph Marie Jacquard, French


1800, Electric battery, Count Alessandro Volta, Italian


1804, Solid-fuel rocket, William Congreve, British


1804, Steam locomotive, Richard Trevithick, British


1805, Electroplating, Luigi Gasparo Brugnatelli, Italian


1810, Food preservation (by sterilization and exclusion of air), Francois Appert, French


1814, Railroad locomotive, George Stephenson, British


1816, Bicycle, Karl D. Sauerbronn, German


1821, Electric motor, Michael Faraday, British


1823, Electromagnet, William Sturgeon, British


1827, Friction match, John Walker, British


1829, Typewriter, W.A. Burt, American


1829, Braille printing, Louis Braille, French


1830, Sewing machine, Barthelemy Thimonnier, French


1831, Phosphorus match, Charles Sauria, French


1831, Reaper, Cyrus Hall McCormick, American


1831, Dynamo, Michael Faraday, British


1835, Pistol (revolver), Samuel Colt, American


1837, Telegraph, Samuel Finley Breese Morse Sir Charles Wheatstone, American British


1838, Morse code, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, American


1839, Photography, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre (French), Joseph Nicephore Niepce, William Henry Fox Talbot (British)


1839, Vulcanized rubber, Charles Goodyear, American


1840, Bicycle, Kirkpatrick MacMillan, British


1845, Pneumatic tire, Robert William Thompson, American


1846, Ether, Crawford Williamson Long, American


1849, Safety pin, Walter Hunt, American


1852, Nonrigid airship, Henri Giffard, French


1852, Elevator (with brake), Elisha Graves Otis, American


1852, Gyroscope, Jean Bernard Leon Foucault, French


1853, Milk condensation, Gail Borden, American


1855, Safety matches, J.E. Lundstrom, Swedish


1855, Gas burner, Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, German


1856, Bessemer converter (steel), Sir Henry Bessemer, British


1858, Harvester, Charles and William Marsh, American


1861, Electric furnace, Wilhelm Siemens, British


1861, Machine gun, Richard Jordan Gatling, American


1865, Antiseptic surgery, Joseph Lister, English


1866, Paper (from wood pulp, sulfite process) Benjamin Chew Tilghman, American


1866, Dynamite, Alfred Bernhard Nobel, Swedish


1868, Typewriter, Carlos Glidden and Christopher Latham Sholes, American


1868, Air brake, George Westinghouse, American


1876, Telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, American


1877, Internal-combustion engine (four-cycle), Nikolaus August Otto, German


1877, Talking machine (phonograph), Thomas Alva Edison, American


1877, Microphone, Emile Berliner, American


1877, Refrigerator car, G.F. Swift, American


1878, Cathode ray tube, Sir William Crookes, British


1879, Cash register, James J. Ritty, American


1879, Incandescent filament lamp, Thomas Alva Edison Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, American British


1879, Automobile engine (two-cycle), Karl Benz, German


1884, Fountain pen, Lewis Edson Waterman, American


1885, AC transformer, William Stanley, American


1888, Kodak camera, George Eastman, American


1892, AC motor, Nikola Tesla, American


1892, Three-color camera, Frederick Eugene Ives, American


1893, Diesel engine, Rudolf Diesel, German


1893, Gasoline automobile, Charles Edgar Duryea and J. Frank Duryea, American


1893, Motion picture machine, Thomas Alva Edison, American


1895, X-ray, Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen, German


1895, Rayon (acetate), Charles Frederick Cross, British


1896, Wireless telegraph, Marchese Guglielmo Marconi, Italian


1898, Sensitized photographic paper, Leo Hendrik Baekeland, American


1900, Rigid dirigible airship, Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German