Important Inventions and Discoveries

by | Mar 27, 2025 | Notes

Invention/DiscoveryInventor(s)Year
Printing PressJohannes Gutenberg1440
Heliocentric TheoryNicolaus Copernicus1543
TelescopeHans Lippershey1608
Laws of Planetary MotionJohannes Kepler1609
MicroscopeZacharias Janssenc. 1590
LogarithmsJohn Napier1614
CalculusIsaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm LeibnizLate 17th century
Reflecting TelescopeIsaac Newton1668
Laws of Motion and Universal GravitationIsaac Newton1687
Steam EngineThomas Newcomen1712
Lightning RodBenjamin Franklin1752
Smallpox VaccineEdward Jenner1796
Atomic TheoryJohn Dalton1803
ElectromagnetismHans Christian Ørsted1820
Electric MotorMichael Faraday1821
PhotographyNicéphore Niépce1826
Morse CodeSamuel Morse1838
TelephoneAlexander Graham Bell1876
PhonographThomas Edison1877
Incandescent Light BulbThomas Edison1879
RadioactivityHenri Becquerel1896
X-raysWilhelm Conrad Röntgen1895
Quantum TheoryMax Planck1900
Theory of RelativityAlbert Einstein1905
Model T AutomobileHenry Ford1908
PenicillinAlexander Fleming1928
Jet EngineFrank Whittle1937
Nuclear ReactorEnrico Fermi1942
TransistorJohn Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley1947
DNA Double Helix StructureJames Watson and Francis Crick1953
Polio VaccineJonas Salk1955
LaserTheodore Maiman1960
InternetVint Cerf and Bob Kahn1974
Personal ComputerIBM1981
World Wide WebTim Berners-Lee1989
Higgs Boson DiscoveryCERN2012
CRISPR Gene EditingJennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier2012
Gravitational Waves DetectionLIGO Collaboration2015
COVID-19 mRNA VaccineBioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna2020
Electric BatteryAlessandro Volta1800
Periodic TableDmitri Mendeleev1869
PasteurizationLouis Pasteur1864
Antiseptic SurgeryJoseph Lister1867
Electron DiscoveryJ.J. Thomson1897
InsulinFrederick Banting and Charles Best1921
TelevisionPhilo Farnsworth1927
Ballpoint PenLászló Bíró1938
Mobile PhoneMartin Cooper1973
Steam LocomotiveGeorge Stephenson1814
RadioGuglielmo Marconi1895