Discoveries and Inventions

Based on lists from The World Almanac and Encarta.

Scientific Discoveries and Theories

Aspirin, 1889, Heinrich Dresser, German

Atomic numbers, 1913, Henry Moseley, English

Atomic theory, 1803, John Dalton, English

Atom-smashing theory, 1919, Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand / English

Bacteria (described), 1676, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch

Blood, circulation, 1628, William Harvey, English

Calculus, 1670, Isaac Newton, English

Chlorine, 1774, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish

Chloroform, 1831, Samuel Guthrie, U.S.

Classification of plants and animals, 1735, Carl Linnaeus, Swedish

Combustion explained, 1777, Antoine Lavoisier, French

Conditioned reflex, 1914, Ivan Pavlov, Russian

Cortisone, 1936, Edward Calvin Kendall, U.S.

Deuterium, 1932, Urey, Ferdinand Brickwedde and George Murphy, U.S.

DNA (structure), 1951, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins (English), and James Watson (US)

Electric resistance (law), 1827, Georg Ohm, German

Electric waves, 1888, Heinrich Hertz, German

Electrolysis, 1852, Michael Faraday, English

Electromagnetism, 1819, Hans Christian Oersted, Danish

Electron, 1897, J.J. Thomson, English

Electron diffraction, 1936, J. J. Thomson (English) and Clinton Davisson (U.S.)

Evolution, natural selection, 1858, Charles Darwin, English

Falling bodies, law, 1590, Galileo Galilei, Italian

Gases, law of combining volumes, 1808, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French

Geometry, analytic, 1619, Rene Descartes, French

Gravitation, law, 1687, Isaac Newton, English

Human immunodeficiency virus identified, 1984, Luc Montagnier (French) and Robert Gallo (U.S.)

Induction, electric, 1830, Joseph Henry, U.S.

Insulin, 1922, Frederick Banting, Charles Best (Canadian), and John Macleod (Scottish)

Intelligence testing, 1905, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon, French

Isotopes, theory, 1912, Frederick Soddy, English

Light, velocity, 1675, Ole Roemer, Danish

Light, wave theory, 1690, Christiaan Huygens, Dutch

Logarithms, 1614, John Napier, Scottish

Mendelian laws of genetics, 1866, Gregor Mendel, Austrian

Mercator projection (map), 1568, Gerardus Mercator (Geert de Kremer), Flemish

Molecular hypothesis, 1811, Amedeo Avogadro, Italian

Motion, laws of, 1687, Isaac Newton, English

Neutron, 1932, James Chadwick, English

Nitric acid, 1648, Johann Rudolf Glauber, German

Nitric oxide, 1772, Joseph Priestley, English

Nitroglycerin, 1846, Ascanio Sobrero, Italian

Oxygen, 1774, Joseph Priestley, English

Ozone, 1840, Christian Friedrich Schonbein, German

Periodic law and table of elements, 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian

Planetary motion, laws, 1609, Johannes Kepler, German

Plutonium fission, 1940, Joseph W. Kennedy, Arthur Wahl, Glenn T. Seaborg, Emilio Segre, U.S.

Positron, 1932, Carl David Anderson, U.S.

Proton, 1919, Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand / English

Psychoanalysis, 1900, Sigmund Freud, Austrian

Quantum theory, 1900, Max Planck, German

Quasars, 1963, Matthews, Allan Sandage, U.S.

Radioactivity, 1896, Henri Becquerel, French

Radiocarbon dating, 1947, Willard Libby, U.S.

Radium, 1898, Pierre Curie (French) and Marie Curie (Polish-French)

Relativity theory, 1905, Albert Einstein, German

Silicon, 1823, Jons Jacob Berzelius, Swedish

Sulfuric acid, 1831, Peregrine Phillips, English

Uranium fission theory, 1939, Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, Fritz Strassmann (German), Niels Bohr (Danish), Enrico Fermi (Italian), Albert Einstein, George Pegram, John Wheeler (U.S.)

Van Allen belts, radiation, 1958, James Van Allen, U.S.

Inventions

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

1903, Airplane, Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright, American

1905, Diode rectifier tube (radio), Sir John Ambrose Fleming, British

1907, Triode amplifier tube (radio), Lee De Forest, American

1911, Air conditioning, W.H. Carrier, American

1916, Browning gun (automatic rifle), John Moses Browning, American

1916, Gas-filled incandescent lamp, Irving Langmuir, American

1916, X-ray tube, William David Coolidge, American

1922, Insulin, Sir Frederick Grant Banting, Canadian

1922-26, Sound motion pictures, T.W. Case, American

1923, Television iconoscope, Vladimir Kosma Zworykin, American

1925, Quick-frozen food, Clarence Birdseye, American

1925, Television image dissector tube, Philo Taylor Farnsworth, American

1926, Liquid-fuel rocket, Robert Hutchings Goddard, American

1928, Penicillin, Sir Alexander Fleming, British

1930, Nylon (fiber-forming synthetic polyamides), Wallace Hume Carothers, American

1930, Modern gas-turbine engine, Sir Frank Whittle, British

1931, Cyclotron, Ernest Orlando Lawrence, American

1931, Differential analyzer (analogue computer), Vannevar Bush, American

1932, Van de Graaff generator, Robert Jemison Van de Graaff, American

1933, Frequency modulation (FM), Edwin Howard Armstrong, American

1939, DDT, Paul Muller, Swiss

1939, Helicopter, Igor Sikorsky, American

1942, Guided missile, Wernher von Braun, German

1942, Nuclear reactor, Enrico Fermi, American

1942, Xerography, Chester Carlson, American

1946, Electronic digital computer, John Presper Eckert, Jr., and John W. Mauchly, American

1947, Holography, Dennis Gabon, English

1947, Microwave oven, Percy L. Spencer, American

1947, Holography, Dennis Gabon, English

1948, Transistor, John Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain, and William Shockley, American

1950, Color television, Peter Carl Goldmark, American

1955, Carbon dating, W.F. Libby, American

1955, Polio vaccine, polio, Salk, American, oral polio vaccine by Sabin, American

1956, Hovercraft, Christopher Cockerell, English

1959, Integrated circuit, Jack Kilby Robert Noyce, American

1960, Laser, Charles Hard Townes, Arthur L. Schawlow, and Gordon Gould, American

1964, Liquid-crystal display, George Heilmeier, American

1966, Artificial heart (left ventricle), Michael Ellis DeBakey, American

1967, Human heart transplant, Christiaan Neethling Barnard, South Africa

1976, Supercomputer, J.H. Van Tassel and Seymour Cray, American

1978, Jarvik-7 artificial heart, Robert K. Jarvik, American