360Inventions that changed the world
From the steam engine to the smartphone. 27 moments, oldest first.
- 16982 July 1698
Thomas Savery patents a steam pump to drain mines
On 2 July 1698, the English engineer Thomas Savery received a patent for a machine that used steam to pump water out of mines, which he called 'the Miner's Friend'. It was one of the first practical uses of steam power. Improved by Thomas Newcomen and later James Watt, steam engines went on to power the Industrial Revolution.
- 17611761–1762
Harrison's sea clock solves the longitude problem
In 1761 and 1762, John Harrison's fourth sea clock, H4, sailed from England to Jamaica and lost only about five seconds over the voyage. Accurate time at sea let sailors calculate their longitude, their position east or west, for the first time. Harrison, a self-taught carpenter and clockmaker, had worked on the problem for decades.
- 17695 January 1769
James Watt patents his improved steam engine
In January 1769, the Scottish engineer James Watt patented a steam engine with a separate condenser. It used far less coal than earlier engines, and with his partner Matthew Boulton, Watt built engines that powered mines, mills and factories. His work drove the Industrial Revolution, and the unit of power, the watt, honours him.
- 180020 March 1800
Volta builds the first electric battery
In a letter dated 20 March 1800, the Italian scientist Alessandro Volta described his 'pile': a stack of zinc and copper discs separated by cloth soaked in salt water. It was the first battery, the first source of a steady electric current. It opened the age of electricity, and the unit of electric potential, the volt, is named after him.
- 180717 August 1807
Robert Fulton's steamboat opens a new era of travel
On 17 August 1807, Robert Fulton's steamboat, later known as the Clermont, set off up the Hudson River from New York to Albany. It covered about 240 km in 32 hours, far faster than sailing boats against the current. It became the first commercially successful steamboat service, and steam soon transformed river and ocean travel.
- 1826c. 1826–1827
Niépce takes the oldest surviving photograph from nature
Around 1826 or 1827, the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce captured the view from an upstairs window of his house in Burgundy on a metal plate coated with bitumen. The exposure took many hours, perhaps days. It is the oldest surviving camera photograph. His partner Louis Daguerre developed a faster process, announced to the world in 1839.
- 183129 August 1831
Faraday discovers how to make electricity from magnetism
On 29 August 1831, Michael Faraday showed in London that a changing magnetic field can create an electric current. This discovery, electromagnetic induction, is the principle behind every power-station generator and transformer today. Within weeks he built the first electric generator, a copper disc spinning between the poles of a magnet.
- 18406 May 1840
The Penny Black, the first postage stamp, comes into use
On 6 May 1840, the Penny Black became valid for postage in Britain, the world's first adhesive postage stamp. It showed the young Queen Victoria and paid for a letter anywhere in the country for one penny. The idea, from the reformer Rowland Hill, made sending letters cheap and simple, and other countries soon copied it.
- 18511 May 1851
The Great Exhibition opens in London's Crystal Palace
On 1 May 1851, the Great Exhibition opened in the Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park. The huge glass and iron hall held more than 100,000 exhibits from around the world, from steam engines to diamonds. About six million visitors came, and it inspired the world's fairs and expos that followed, including Expo 2030 in Riyadh.
- 18767 March 1876
Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone
On 7 March 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a US patent for the telephone. Three days later, he spoke the first words over it to his assistant: 'Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you.' Telephone exchanges soon spread to cities worldwide, beginning the age of instant voice communication.
- 1879October–December 1879
Edison's light bulb brings practical electric light
In late 1879, Thomas Edison's team in Menlo Park, New Jersey, tested a light bulb with a carbon filament that glowed for many hours. In England, Joseph Swan had developed a similar lamp. Edison also built power stations to supply electricity, and electric light soon replaced gas and candles.
- 188629 January 1886
Karl Benz patents the first practical motor car
On 29 January 1886, the German engineer Karl Benz patented his Motorwagen, a three-wheeled vehicle powered by a petrol engine. It is widely regarded as the first practical car. In 1888, Bertha Benz drove it about 100 kilometres, the first long-distance car journey, proving its value.
- 190112 December 1901
Marconi receives the first radio signal across the Atlantic
On 12 December 1901, at Signal Hill in Newfoundland, Guglielmo Marconi heard three faint clicks through his earphone: the Morse code letter S, sent by radio from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, about 3,500 km away. It showed that radio waves could cross an ocean, and it began the age of long-distance wireless communication.
- 19081 October 1908
Ford launches the Model T, the car for the many
On 1 October 1908, the Ford Motor Company in Detroit began selling the Model T, a simple, tough car priced at $850. In 1913, Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line, which cut production time and prices sharply. More than 15 million Model Ts were built by 1927, putting much of America on wheels.
- 1938March 1938
Oil is discovered at Dammam No. 7
In March 1938, after years of searching, the Dammam No. 7 well in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province struck oil in commercial quantities. Six earlier wells had disappointed, but geologist Max Steineke urged the team to keep drilling. The discovery transformed the Kingdom's future, and the well later earned the name Bir Al-Khair, the Prosperity Well.
- 194716 December 1947
Bell Labs scientists build the first transistor
On 16 December 1947, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, working in William Shockley's group at Bell Labs in New Jersey, built the first transistor, a tiny device that could amplify electrical signals. It replaced bulky vacuum tubes. Billions of transistors now fill every computer chip and phone, and the three men shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 196210 July 1962
Telstar relays the first live television across the Atlantic
On 10 July 1962, the satellite Telstar 1 was launched from Florida. Within weeks, it relayed the first live television pictures between the United States and Europe. Viewers saw each other's countries live for the first time. A pop instrumental named after it reached number one in Britain and America. Satellites now carry television and phone calls worldwide.
- 197115 November 1971
Intel launches the first commercial microprocessor
On 15 November 1971, Intel advertised the 4004, the first commercially available microprocessor: a whole computer processor on a single chip, smaller than a fingernail. It held about 2,300 transistors and was designed for a Japanese calculator company, Busicom. Microprocessors went on to power personal computers, phones and countless devices.
- 19733 April 1973
The first call from a handheld mobile phone
On 3 April 1973, Martin Cooper, an engineer at Motorola, made the first public call from a handheld mobile phone, on a street in New York. He called a rival at Bell Labs. The prototype weighed about 1.1 kg and its battery lasted about 20 minutes. Ten years later, the first handheld mobile phone went on sale.
- 198112 August 1981
IBM launches the Personal Computer
On 12 August 1981, IBM launched the IBM Personal Computer, model 5150, priced from $1,565. It used an Intel processor and Microsoft's operating system. Because its design was open, other companies could build compatible machines, and the 'PC' became the standard for business and home computing around the world.
- 1989March 1989
Tim Berners-Lee proposes the World Wide Web
In March 1989, the British scientist Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN in Switzerland, proposed a system for sharing information using linked documents. It became the World Wide Web. The first website went online in 1991, and in 1993 CERN made the technology free for all, letting the web grow to billions of users.
- 199711 May 1997
IBM's Deep Blue beats the world chess champion
On 11 May 1997, IBM's chess computer Deep Blue won the sixth and final game of a match against the world champion Garry Kasparov in New York, winning the match 3½ to 2½. It was the first time a computer had beaten a reigning world champion in a match under tournament conditions, a milestone for artificial intelligence.
- 20079 January 2007
The iPhone is unveiled and the smartphone age begins
On 9 January 2007, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, combining a phone, a music player and an internet device with a large touchscreen. It went on sale that June. With Android phones following in 2008, smartphones became the main way most people use the internet, changing how the world communicates, shops and works.
- 203129 August 2031 · Anniversary
200 years since Faraday learned to make electricity from magnetism
On 29 August 2031, it will be 200 years since Michael Faraday showed that a changing magnetic field creates an electric current. His discovery, electromagnetic induction, still powers the world: every generator in every power station works on the same principle.
- 203819 January 2038 · Predicted
The Year 2038 computer clock problem
At 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038, older computer systems that count time as seconds since 1970 in a signed 32-bit number will run out of space, a little like the Year 2000 bug. Engineers have been updating systems to 64-bit time, which will not run out for billions of years.
- 2038March 2038 · Anniversary
100 years since oil was discovered at Dammam
March 2038 marks 100 years since the Dammam No. 7 well, the Prosperity Well, struck oil in commercial quantities in 1938. The discovery transformed the Kingdom's future and made it one of the world's leading energy producers.
- 204716 December 2047 · Anniversary
The transistor turns 100
On 16 December 2047, it will be 100 years since the first transistor worked at Bell Labs in New Jersey. That small piece of germanium led to the computer chip. By its centenary, the world will have built more transistors than any other object in history.