The 7 most important inventions in history

Our daily lives depend on a series of tools and instruments that make our reality possible. It seems that they have always existed, and because of this we do not stop to reflect on its significance.

The entire structure of today’s society, what it has been and what it will be, depends on a series of inventions. At the time they represented a before and afterand today they are part of almost everyone’s routine.

We cannot include all the most important inventions in history in a single list. We have collected only a few of them, many of which are undervalued as they are taken for granted. Their dates of creation are referential, since there are intense debates about when and who invented them. We leave you with seven of them.

1. The wheel (3500 BC)

The Mesopotamians invented the wheel around 3500 BC. C. Despite this, signs of its creation have also been found in Eastern Europe, India and China. The first were used on potter’s wheelsand it was not until 300 years later that they were used for transportation.

The flute, sewing needles, ropes, woven cloth, basketry, and boats are just a few inventions that predate the invention of the wheel. However, the direct impact of these cannot be compared with their appearance. Civilizations and commerce were enhanced thanks to them and are an omnipresent invention in our daily lives..

It is estimated that the wheel is more than 5000 years old.

2. The compass (200 BC)

The Han Dynasty invented the compass around 200 BC. c. It was initially invented as a divination instrument, and it was not until the Song Dynasty, more than a thousand years later, that it was implemented as a navigation tool. It is part of what is known as the four great inventions of China.

The name by which it was known in China was fish pointing south. The Chinese discovered that if they suspended a lodestone so that it rotated freely, it always pointed toward the magnetic poles. It was once used to choose the site to build houses, select crop areas and locate rare gems..

3. Gunpowder (900 AD)

During the Tang Dynasty, gunpowder was invented around 900 AD. c. The first formula in history is found in Taishang Shengzu Jindan Mijuea text from 808. Despite this, there was already reference to an invention with the same properties long before. For example, the alchemist Wei Boyang mentioned a compound that is clearly about her, in 142 AD. c.

In any case, it was the alchemists who discovered the exact combination of ingredients. Far from being explosive, early gunpowder formulas were highly flammable.. In the beginning it was included in the arrows and the rest is known to everyone. Due to its significance, gunpowder is one of the most important inventions in history.

4. Paper money (900 AD)

Although it is true that the first paper money appeared during the Tang dynasty in the 7th century (then in the form of promissory notes), true paper money emerged in 960. By then, the Song government was short of copper to mint coins and opted to issue banknotes for general circulation.

Initially, this paper currency was issued by private companies, and it was not until 1120 that the central government produced its own paper money with the state seal. The uncontrolled issuance of paper money soon led to episodes of inflation. The idea came to Europe from explorers, including Marco Polo and William of Rubruck.

5. Magnifying glasses (1300 AD)

Despite doubts about its real existence, Fray Salvino D’Armate is credited with the invention of glasses around 1300 AD. c. Of course, it has a long history that goes from the invention of the magnifying glass to the first optics books. In any case, and although it may seem inconsequential, it is one of the most important inventions in history.

It allowed thousands of people to read, although the truth is that it was a luxury tool for aristocrats or religious people. His innovations caused a revolution that gave rise to the improvement of the telescope and the subsequent invention of the microscope..

You most likely know several people with glasses, and you may even have them yourself. Imagine what life would be like without them.

6. Electricity (1800 AD)

Electricity brings together a series of people responsible among whom we cannot fail to mention Humphry Davy, Warren de la Rue, Joseph Wilson Swan and Thomas Alva Edison. Alexander Lodygin patented a version of an incandescent light bulb in 1874, and that same year Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans obtained a Canadian patent for a lamp with carbon rods.

The entire structure of today’s society is governed by dependence on electricity. This dependency is less than 200 years old and, despite this, it seems that we have always lived together. A list of the most important inventions in history would be incomplete without mentioning it.

British chemist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan invented the light bulb.

7. Antibiotics (1900 AD)

As experts warn, the first antibiotic in history, Salvarsan, was implemented in 1910. Thanks to it, millions and millions of people are saved every year, and life expectancy has extended since its implementation by an average of 23 years. Until the mid-1950s, medicine lived through the golden age of antibiotics and, since then, there has been a reduction in the development of new alternatives.

As expected, an objective list of the most important inventions in history should integrate hundreds and hundreds of tools. Paper, the printing press, the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, the telephone, the automobile, the airplane, semiconductors and the Internet are just a few that marked a before and after in the history of civilization.

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