Editing Timeline of historic inventions (section)

==Late modern period==
===19th century===

====1800s====
* '''1800:''' [[Alessandro Volta]] invents the [[voltaic pile]], an early form of [[Battery (electricity)|battery]] in [[Italy]], based on previous works by [[Luigi Galvani]].
* '''1802:''' [[Humphry Davy]] invents the [[arc lamp]] (exact date unclear; not practical as a light source until the invention of efficient electric generators).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archives.theiet.org/about/Arclamps/arclamps.htm |title=The Arc Lamp |access-date=29 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207170412/http://archives.theiet.org/about/Arclamps/arclamps.htm |archive-date=7 February 2011}}</ref>
* '''1804:''' [[Friedrich Sertürner]] discovers [[morphine]] as the first active alkaloid extracted from the opium poppy plant.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtOiLVWBn8cC&pg=PA20|page=20|title=Molecular, clinical and environmental toxicology|author=Andreas Luch|publisher=Springer|year=2009|isbn=978-3-7643-8335-0}}</ref>
* '''1804:''' [[Joseph Marie Jacquard]] develops his automated [[Jacquard loom]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Programming patterns: the story of the Jacquard loom |url=https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/jacquard-loom |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=Science and Industry Museum |language=en}}</ref>
* '''1804:''' [[Richard Trevithick]] invents the [[steam locomotive]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/rhagor/article/trevithic_loco/ |title=Richard Trevithick's steam locomotive &#124; Rhagor |access-date=3 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415125004/http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/rhagor/article/trevithic_loco |archive-date=15 April 2011}}</ref>
* '''1804:''' [[Hanaoka Seishū]] creates tsūsensan, the first modern [[general anesthetic]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Izuo|first1=M|title=Medical history: Seishu Hanaoka and his success in breast cancer surgery under general anesthesia two hundred years ago.|journal=Breast Cancer|date=2004|volume=11|issue=4|pages=319–324|pmid=15604985|location=Tokyo, Japan|doi=10.1007/bf02968037|s2cid=43428862}}</ref>
* '''1807:''' [[Nicéphore Niépce]] invents  an early [[internal combustion engine]] capable of doing useful work.
* '''1807:''' [[François Isaac de Rivaz]] designs the first automobile powered by an [[internal combustion engine]] fuelled by [[hydrogen]].
* '''1807:''' [[Robert Fulton]] expands water transportation and trade with the workable steamboat.

====1810s====
[[File:KarlVonDrais.jpg|thumb|Karl von Drais on his original Laufmaschine, the earliest two-wheeler, or hobbyhorse, in 1819]]
* '''1810:''' [[Nicolas Appert]] invents the [[canning]] process for food.<ref>''Applied Nutrition and Food Technology'', Jesse D. Dagoon, 1989; p. 2.</ref>
* '''1810:''' [[Abraham-Louis Breguet]] creates the first wristwatch.<ref>{{Cite web|title=First wristwatch {{!}} Breguet|url=https://www.breguet.com/en/history/inventions/first-wristwatch|access-date=14 June 2021|website=www.breguet.com}}</ref>
* '''1811:''' [[Friedrich Koenig]] invents the first powered [[printing press]], which was also the first to use a cylinder.
* '''1812:''' [[William Reid Clanny]] pioneered the invention of the [[safety lamp]] which he improved in later years. Safety lamps based on Clanny's improved design were used until the adoption of electric lamps.
* '''1814:''' [[James Fox (engineer)|James Fox]] invents the modern [[Planer (metalworking)|planing machine]], though [[Matthew Murray]] of [[Leeds]] and [[Richard Roberts (engineer)|Richard Roberts]] of [[Manchester]] have also been credited at times with its invention.
* '''1816:''' [[René Laennec]]  invents the first [[Stethoscope]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=1816-1882: Early Stethoscope |url=https://emsmuseum.org/collections/archives/stethoscopes/stethoscopes/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=EMS Museum |language=en-US}}</ref>
* '''1816:''' [[Francis Ronalds]] builds the first working [[electric telegraph]] using [[electrostatic]] means.
* '''1816:''' [[Robert Stirling]] invents the [[Stirling engine]].<ref>R. Sier (1999)</ref>
* '''1817:''' Baron [[Karl von Drais]] invents the [[dandy horse]], an early [[velocipede]] and precursor to the modern [[bicycle]].
* '''1818:''' [[Marc Isambard Brunel]] invents the [[tunnelling shield]].

====1820s====
* '''1822:''' [[Thomas Blanchard (inventor)|Thomas Blanchard]] invents the pattern-tracing lathe (actually more like a [[shaper]]). The lathe can copy symmetrical shapes and is used for making gun stocks, and later, ax handles.<ref name="Thomson 2009">{{cite book
|title= Structures of Change in the Mechanical Age: Technological Invention in the United States 1790-1865
|last= Thomson
|first= Ross
|year= 2009
|publisher= The Johns Hopkins University Press
|location= Baltimore, MD
|isbn= 978-0-8018-9141-0
|url-access= registration
|url= https://archive.org/details/structuresofchan0000thom
}}
</ref><ref name="Hounshell1984p35">{{Harvnb|Hounshell|1984|p=35}}</ref>
* '''1822:''' [[Nicéphore Niépce]] invents [[Heliography]], the first photographic process.
* '''1822:''' [[Charles Babbage]], considered the "[[computer pioneer|father of the computer]]",<ref>{{cite book | author=Halacy, Daniel Stephen | title = Charles Babbage, Father of the Computer | url=https://archive.org/details/charlesbabbagefa00hala | url-access=registration | year = 1970 | publisher=Crowell-Collier Press | isbn = 0-02-741370-5}}</ref> begins building the first programmable [[mechanical computer]].
* '''1823:''' [[Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner]] invents the [[Döbereiner's lamp|first lighter]].
* '''1824:''' [[Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse]] invents the [[bolt action|bolt-action rifle]].<ref>Flatnes, Oyvind. ''From Musket to Metallic Cartridge: A Practical History of Black Powder Firearms''. Crowood Press, 2013, pp. 125–130. {{ISBN|978-1847975935}}</ref>
* '''1824:''' [[William Sturgeon]] invents the [[electromagnet]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sturgeon |first=W. |year=1825 |title=Improved Electro Magnetic Apparatus |journal=Trans. Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures, & Commerce |volume=43 |pages=37–52}} cited in {{cite book |last=Miller |first=T.J.E |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E8VroIWyjB8C&pg=PA7 |title=Electronic Control of Switched Reluctance Machines |publisher=Newnes |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7506-5073-1 |pages=7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203032419/https://books.google.com/books?id=E8VroIWyjB8C&pg=PA7 |archive-date=2016-12-03 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Windelspecht, Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=hX1jPbJVSu4C&dq=%22William+Sturgeon%22+electromagnet+1825&pg=PR22 Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the 19th Century] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111015300/https://books.google.com/books?id=hX1jPbJVSu4C&pg=PR22&lpg=PR22&dq=%22William+Sturgeon%22+electromagnet+1825&source=web&ots=BhXj3j9j4t&sig=6gI6QNC-Yc5YMCY5RpEE43eIfgU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result|date=2017-01-11}}, xxii, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, {{ISBN|0-313-31969-3}}.</ref>
* '''1826:''' [[John Walker (inventor)|John Walker]] invents the friction [[match]].<ref name=BBCwalker>{{cite web |title=John Walker's Friction Light |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/hQR9oN5LTeCLcuKfPDMJ9A |access-date=25 August 2011}}</ref>
* '''1826:''' James Sharp invents and goes on to manufacture the first practical [[gas stove]].
* '''1828:''' [[James Beaumont Neilson]] develops the [[hot blast]] process.
* '''1828:''' [[Patrick Bell]] invents the [[reaping machine]].
* '''1828:''' Hungarian physicist [[Ányos Jedlik]] invents the first commutated rotary [[Timeline of the electric motor|electromechanical machine]] with electromagnets.
* '''1829:''' [[Louis Braille]] invents the [[Braille]] reading system for the blind.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Is Braille? |url=https://www.afb.org/blindness-and-low-vision/braille/what-braille |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=The American Foundation for the Blind |language=en-US}}</ref>
* '''1829:''' William Mann invents the compound [[air compressor]].
* '''1829:''' [[Henry Robinson Palmer]] is awarded a patent for [[corrugated galvanised iron]].

====1830s====
* '''1830:''' [[Edwin Budding]] invents the [[lawn mower]].
* '''1831:''' [[Michael Faraday]] invents a method of [[electromagnetic induction]]. It would be independently invented by [[Joseph Henry]] the following year. Faraday is credited with inventing the first [[electric generator]] called the [[Homopolar generator|Faraday disk]].
* '''1834:''' [[Moritz von Jacobi]] invents the first practical [[electric motor]].
* '''1835:''' [[Joseph Henry]] invents the electromechanical [[relay]].
* '''1837:''' [[Samuel Morse]] invents [[Morse code]].
* '''1838:''' [[Moritz von Jacobi]] invents [[electrotyping]].
* '''1839:''' [[William Otis]] invents the [[steam shovel]].
* '''1839:''' [[James Nasmyth]] invents the [[steam hammer]].
* '''1839:''' [[Edmond Becquerel]] invents a method for the [[photovoltaic effect]], effectively producing the first [[solar cell]].
* '''1839:''' [[Charles Goodyear]] invents [[Vulcanization|vulcanized rubber]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Robert M. |date=1969-09-01 |title=Early History of Butyl Rubber. Charles Goodyear Medal Address—1969 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5254/1.3539292 |journal=Rubber Chemistry and Technology |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=G90–G96 |doi=10.5254/1.3539292 |issn=1943-4804|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* '''1839:''' [[Louis Daguerre]] invents [[daguerreotype]] photography.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Daniel |first=Authors: Malcolm |title=Daguerre (1787–1851) and the Invention of Photography {{!}} Essay {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dagu/hd_dagu.htm |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |date=October 2004 |language=en}}</ref>

====1840s====
{{main list|1840s#Science and technology}}
* '''1840:''' [[John Herschel]] invents the [[blueprint]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=DCC |first=Blueprint |date=2013-04-05 |title=Blueprint data release - April 2013 |doi=10.6019/blueprint_20130405 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.6019/blueprint_20130405}}</ref>
* '''1841:''' [[Alexander Bain (inventor)|Alexander Bain]] devises a printing telegraph.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://distantwriting.co.uk/bain.html|title=Distant Writing – Bain|author=Steven Roberts}}</ref>
* '''1842:''' [[William Robert Grove]] invents the first [[fuel cell]].
* '''1842:''' [[John Bennet Lawes]] invents [[superphosphate]], the first man-made [[fertilizer]].
* '''1844:''' [[Friedrich Gottlob Keller]] and, independently, [[Charles Fenerty]] come up with the wood pulp method of paper production.
* '''1844:''' [[Francis Rynd]] invents the [[hypodermic needle]].
* '''1845:''' [[Isaac Charles Johnson]] invents modern [[Portland cement]].
* '''1846:''' Henri-Joseph Maus invents the [[tunnel boring machine]].
* '''1847:''' [[Ascanio Sobrero]] invents [[Nitroglycerin]], the first explosive made that was stronger than [[black powder]].
* '''1848:''' Jonathan J. Couch invents the [[jackhammer|pneumatic drill]].
* '''1848:''' [[Linus Yale Jr.|Linus Yale Sr.]] invents the first modern [[pin tumbler lock]].
* '''1849:''' [[Walter Hunt (inventor)|Walter Hunt]] invents the first [[repeating rifle]] to use metallic cartridges (of his own design) and a spring-fed magazine.
* '''1849:''' [[James B. Francis]] invents the [[Francis turbine]].
* '''1849:''' [[Walter Hunt (inventor)|Walter Hunt]] invents the [[Safety pin]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Walter Hunt {{!}} Lemelson |url=https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/walter-hunt |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=lemelson.mit.edu}}</ref>

====1850s ====
* '''1850:''' [[William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong|William Armstrong]] invents the [[hydraulic accumulator]].
* '''1851:''' [[George Jennings]] offers the first public flush toilets, accessible for a penny per visit, and in 1852 receives a UK patent for the single piece, free standing, earthenware, trap plumed, flushing, water-closet.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Model of Jenning's patent water closet {{!}} Science Museum Group Collection |url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co146940/model-of-jennings-patent-water-closet-model |access-date=12 March 2022 |website=collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk |language=en}}</ref>
* '''1852:''' [[Robert Bunsen]] is the first to use a [[chemical vapor deposition]] technique.
* '''1852:''' [[Elisha Otis]] invents the safety brake elevator.<ref>Goodwin, Jason OTIS GIVING RISE TO THE MODERN CITY, Chicago, 2001: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, pp. 5-21</ref>
* '''1852:''' [[Henri Giffard]] becomes the first person to make a manned, controlled and powered flight using a [[dirigible]].
* '''1853:''' François Coignet invents [[reinforced concrete]].
* '''1855:''' [[James Clerk Maxwell]] invents the first practical method for [[color photography]], whether chemical or electronic.
* '''1855:''' [[Henry Bessemer]] patents the [[Bessemer process]] for making steel, with improvements made by others over the following years.
* '''1856:''' [[Alexander Parkes]] invents [[parkesine]], also known as [[celluloid]], the first man-made [[plastic]].
* '''1856:''' [[James Harrison (engineer)|James Harrison]] produces the world's first practical ice making machine and refrigerator using the principle of vapour compression in Geelong, Australia.<ref>{{cite web|title=An Act to render valid a Patent heretofore granted to James Harrison for Manufacturing Ice|publisher=Flinders University, Adelaide|url=https://dspace.flinders.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2328/2352/1/PAct21862.pdf}}</ref>
* '''1856:''' [[William Henry Perkin]] invents [[mauveine]], the first [[synthetic dye]].
* '''1857:''' [[Heinrich Geissler]] invents the [[Geissler tube]].
* '''1857:''' The [[phonautograph]], the earliest known device for recording sound, is patented and invented by Frenchman [[Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville]].
* '''1859:''' [[Gaston Planté]] invents the [[lead-acid|lead acid battery]], the first [[rechargeable battery]].

====1860s====
* '''1860:''' [[Joseph Swan]] produces [[carbon fibers]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Deng|first1=Yuliang|title=CARBON FIBER ELECTRONIC INTERCONNECTS|url=http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/6997/umi-umd-4508.pdf;jsessionid=68F4C2E5ED25F0593891CE08553A7BF3?sequence=1}}</ref>
* '''1864:''' [[Louis Pasteur]] invents the [[pasteurization]] process.
* '''1865:''' [[Carl Wilhelm Siemens]] and [[Pierre-Émile Martin]] invented the Siemens-Martin process for making steel.
* '''1867:''' [[Alfred Nobel]] invents [[dynamite]], the first safely manageable explosive stronger than [[black powder]].
* '''1867:''' Lucien B. Smith invents [[barbed wire]], which [[Joseph F. Glidden]] will modify in 1874, leading to the taming of [[American frontier|the West]] and the end of the cowboys.

====1870s====
* '''1872:''' [[Polyvinyl chloride]], more commonly known as vinyl, is synthesized by German chemist [[Eugen Baumann]]
* '''1872:''' J.E.T. Woods and J. Clark invented [[stainless steel]]. [[Harry Brearley]] was the first to commercialize it.<ref>{{cite book|last1=M. Cobb|first1=Harold|title=The History of Stainless Steel|date=2010|publisher=ASM International|isbn=978-1615030118|pages=11|edition=illustrated|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E30rCBeM8nkC|access-date=23 February 2017|language=en|chapter=Chapter 2: The Early Discoveries}}</ref>
* '''1873:''' [[Frederick Ransome]] invents the [[rotary kiln]].
* '''1873:''' [[William Crookes]], a chemist, invents the [[Crookes radiometer]] as the by-product of some chemical research.
* '''1873:''' [[Zénobe Gramme]] invents the first commercial [[electrical generator]], the [[Gramme machine]].
* '''1874:''' [[Gustave Trouvé]] invents the first [[metal detector]].
* '''1875:''' [[Fyodor Pirotsky]] invents the first [[electric tram]] near [[Saint Petersburg, Russia]].
* '''1876:''' [[Nicolaus August Otto]] invents the [[four-stroke cycle]].
* '''1876:''' [[Alexander Graham Bell]] has a patent granted for the [[telephone]]. However, other inventors before Bell had worked on the development of the telephone and the invention had several pioneers.<ref name="Geisst">{{cite book|author=Charles R. Geisst|title=Encyclopedia of American Business History|date=1 January 2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0987-9|page=425}}</ref>
* '''1877:''' [[Thomas Edison]] invents the first working [[phonograph]].<ref>{{cite web|title= The History of the Edison Cylinder Phonograph|publisher=Library of Congress|url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edcyldr.html}}</ref>
* '''1878:''' [[Henry Fleuss]] is granted a patent for the first practical [[rebreather]].<ref name=rebreather_hx>{{cite journal |last=Quick |first=D. |title=A History Of Closed Circuit Oxygen Underwater Breathing Apparatus |journal=Royal Australian Navy, School of Underwater Medicine. |volume=RANSUM-1-70 |year=1970 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/4960 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509072728/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/4960 |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 May 2008 |access-date=25 August 2011 }}</ref>
* '''1878:''' [[Lester Allan Pelton]] invents the [[Pelton wheel]].
* '''1879:''' [[Joseph Swan]] and [[Thomas Edison]] both patent a functional [[incandescent light bulb]]. Some two dozen inventors had experimented with electric incandescent lighting over the first three-quarters of the 19th century but never came up with a practical design.<ref>Friedel, Robert, and Paul Palestine. 1986. ''Edison's electric light: biography of an invention''. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. pages 115–117</ref> Swan's, which he had been working on since the 1860s, had a low resistance so was only suited for small installations. Edison designed a high-resistance bulb as part of a large-scale commercial electric lighting utility.<ref>Kenneth E. Hendrickson III, The Encyclopedia of the Industrial Revolution in World History, Volume 3, Rowman & Littlefield – 2014, page 564</ref><ref>Maury Klein, The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America, Bloomsbury Publishing USA – 2010, Chapter 9 – The Cowbird, The Plugger, and the Dreamer</ref><ref>David O. Whitten, Bessie Emrick Whitten, Handbook of American Business History: Manufacturing, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990, pages 315-316</ref>

====1880s====
* '''1881:''' [[Nikolay Benardos]] presents [[carbon arc welding]], the first practical [[arc welding]] method.<ref>{{cite web | title= Beginnings of submerged arc welding | url= http://bulletin.is.gliwice.pl/PDF/2014/03/02_Turyk_Grobosz_Beginnings_of_submerged_arc_welding.pdf | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304070057/http://bulletin.is.gliwice.pl/PDF/2014/03/02_Turyk_Grobosz_Beginnings_of_submerged_arc_welding.pdf | archive-date= 4 March 2016}}</ref>
* '''1884:''' [[Hiram Maxim]] invents the [[recoil operation|recoil-operated]] [[Maxim gun]], ushering in the age of semi- and fully automatic firearms.
* '''1884:''' [[Paul Vieille]] invents [[Poudre B]], the first [[smokeless powder]] for firearms.
* '''1884:''' Sir [[Charles Algernon Parsons|Charles Parsons]] invents the modern [[steam turbine]].
* '''1884:''' Hungarian engineers [[Károly Zipernowsky]], [[Ottó Bláthy]] and [[Miksa Déri]] invent the closed core high efficiency transformer and the AC parallel power distribution.
* '''1885:''' [[John Kemp Starley]] invents the modern [[safety bicycle]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Bicycle Association leads birthday celebrations for JK Starley, creator of the Safety bicycle |url=http://www.bicycleassociation.org.uk/page6/files/3670931ce5bd420a443f9e5ff33bbbfd-2.html |website=bicycleassociation.org |publisher=Bicycle Association |access-date=4 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150104031640/http://www.bicycleassociation.org.uk/page6/files/3670931ce5bd420a443f9e5ff33bbbfd-2.html |archive-date=4 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Britannica Guide to Inventions That Changed the Modern World|publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing|isbn=978-1-61530-064-8|page=124|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mab-a3cBxDApg&q=john+kemp+starley+rover+safety+bicycle&pg=PA124}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* '''1886:''' [[Carl Gassner]] invents the [[zinc–carbon battery]], the first [[dry cell|dry cell battery]], making portable electronics practical.
* '''1886:''' [[Charles Martin Hall]] and independently [[Paul Héroult]] invent the [[Hall–Héroult process]] for economically producing aluminum in 1886.
* '''1886:''' [[Karl Benz]] invents the first petrol or gasoline powered auto-mobile (car).<ref>[http://home.arcor.de/carsten.popp/DE_00037435_A.pdf DRP's patent No. 37435] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204045616/http://home.arcor.de/carsten.popp/DE_00037435_A.pdf |date=4 February 2012}} ([[Portable Document Format|PDF]], 561 kB, [[German language|German]])</ref>
* '''1887:''' [[Carl Josef Bayer]] invents the [[Bayer process]] for the production of alumina.
* '''1887:''' [[James Blyth (engineer)|James Blyth]] invents the first [[wind turbine]] used for generating electricity.
* '''1887:''' [[John Stewart MacArthur]], working in collaboration with brothers Dr. Robert and Dr. William Forrest, develops the process of [[gold cyanidation]].
* '''1888:''' [[John J. Loud]] invents the [[ballpoint pen]].<ref>Great Britain Patent No. 15630, 30 October 2008</ref>
* '''1888:''' [[Thomas Edison]] and [[William Kennedy Dickson]] invent the [[Kinetoscope]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Today in History - August 31 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/august-31/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref>
* '''1888:''' [[Heinrich Hertz]] publishes a conclusive proof of [[James Clerk Maxwell]]'s electromagnetic theory in experiments that also demonstrate the existence of [[radio wave]]s. The effects of electromagnetic waves had been observed by many people before this but no usable theory explaining them existed until Maxwell.
* '''1888:''' The first practical [[pneumatic tire]] was made by Scotsman [[John Boyd Dunlop]], the patent was from 1847 by [[Robert William Thomson]]

====1890s====
* '''1890s:''' [[Frédéric Swarts]] invents the first [[chlorofluorocarbon]]s to be applied as refrigerant.<ref name=Sneader2005>{{cite book|title=Drug discovery: a history|chapter=Chapter 8: Systematic medicine|pages=74–87|author=Sneader W|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|location=Chichester, England|year=2005|isbn=978-0-471-89980-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mYQxRY9umjcC&q=Drug+Discovery+history|access-date=13 September 2010}}</ref>
* '''1890:''' [[Robert Gair]] would invent the pre-cut [[cardboard box]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kc0MSzFvrH8C&q=robert+gair|title=Cartons, Crates and Corrugated Board: Handbook of Paper and Wood Packaging Technology|first1=Diana|last1=Twede|first2=Susan E. M.|last2=Selke|date=15 August 2005|publisher=DESIGN HOUSE Incorporated|isbn=978-1-932078-42-8 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
* '''1891:''' [[Whitcomb Judson]] invents the [[zipper]].
* '''1892:''' [[Léon Bouly]] invents the [[cinematograph]].
* '''1892:''' [[Thomas Ahearn]] invents the [[Electric stove|electric oven]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Patent 39916 Summary |url=https://www.ic.gc.ca/opic-cipo/cpd/eng/patent/39916/summary.html?type=number_search&tabs1Index=tabs1_1 |website=Government of Canada |access-date=28 February 2022 |archive-date=28 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228192325/https://www.ic.gc.ca/opic-cipo/cpd/eng/patent/39916/summary.html?type=number_search&tabs1Index=tabs1_1 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* '''1893:''' [[Rudolf Diesel]] invents the [[diesel engine]] (although [[Herbert Akroyd Stuart]] had experimented with compression ignition before Diesel).
* '''1893:''' [[William Stewart Halsted]], invents the [[rubber glove]] for his wife [[Caroline Hampton]] as he noticed her hands were affected by the daily surgeries she had performed. The gloves were intended to prevent medical staff from developing [[dermatitis]] from surgical chemicals.<ref>{{cite book|title=Born in the USA: The Book of American Origins|year=2009|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing Inc.|url=https://archive.org/details/borninusabookofa0000home|url-access=registration|quote=William Halsted and rubber gloves.|page=[https://archive.org/details/borninusabookofa0000home/page/186 186]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Rubber Gloves: "Born" - and Now Banished - At Johns Hopkins - 01/14/2008|url=https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/rubber_gloves_born___and_now_banished___at_johns_hopkins|access-date=2021-07-03|website=www.hopkinsmedicine.org|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Leyden|first=John G.|date=1990-11-27|title=The Strange Story of Surgical Gloves|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/wellness/1990/11/27/the-strange-story-of-surgical-gloves/a4b63531-1b0a-4799-ae13-24ec3f2c33d1/|access-date=2021-07-03|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> The first modern disposable glove was created by Ansell Rubber Co. Pty. Ltd. in 1965.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brown|first=Walter|date=2016-12-12|title=The History of Disposable Gloves|url=https://blog.ammex.com/the-history-of-disposable-gloves/|access-date=2021-07-03|website=AMMEX|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ansell - Our history|url=https://www.ansell.com/us/en/about-us/our-history|access-date=2021-07-03|website=www.ansell.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite patent|title=Surgeon's glove having improved donning properties|gdate=1995-04-17|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US5570475A/en | status=expired | invent1=Jeffery G. Nile | invent2=Stanley J. Gromelski | invent3=Alan A. Brain | invent4=Steven T. Hardwick}}</ref>
* '''1895:''' [[Guglielmo Marconi]] invents a system of wireless communication using radio waves.
* '''1895:''' [[Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen]] invented the first radiograph ([[xrays|X-ray]]).
* '''1897:''' [[Surgical masks]] made of cloth were developed in Europe by physicians [[Jan Mikulicz-Radecki]] at the [[University of Breslau]] and [[Paul Berger (physician)|Paul Berger]] in Paris, as a result of increasing awareness of germ theory and the importance of antiseptic procedures in medicine.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Strasser BJ, Schlich T | title = A history of the medical mask and the rise of throwaway culture | journal = Lancet | volume = 396 | issue = 10243 | pages = 19–20 | date = July 2020 | pmid = 32450110 | pmc = 7255306 | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31207-1 }}</ref>
* '''1898:''' [[Hans von Pechmann]] synthesizes [[polyethylene]], now the most common [[plastic]] in the world.<ref>{{cite journal|author=von Pechmann, H. |year=1898|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k90751n/f312.image.langEN |title=Ueber Diazomethan und Nitrosoacylamine|journal=Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin|volume=31|issue=3|pages=2640–2646|quote= page 643: Erwähnt sei noch, dass aus einer ätherischen Diazomethanlösung sich beim Stehen manchmal minimale Quantitäten eines weissen, flockigen, aus Chloroform krystallisirenden Körpers abscheiden;&nbsp;... (It should be mentioned that from an ether solution of diazomethane, upon standing, sometimes small quantities of a white, flakey substance, which can be crystallized from chloroform, precipitate;&nbsp;... )|doi=10.1002/cber.18980310314}}</ref>
* '''1899:''' [[Waldemar Jungner]] invents the rechargeable [[nickel-cadmium battery]] (NiCd) as well as the [[nickel-iron battery|nickel-iron electric storage battery]] (NiFe) and the rechargeable alkaline [[silver-cadmium battery]] (AgCd)

===20th century===

====1900s====
* '''1900:''' The first [[Zeppelin]] is designed by [[Theodor Kober]].
* '''1901:''' The first motorized cleaner using suction, a powered "[[vacuum cleaner]]", is patented independently by [[Hubert Cecil Booth]] and [[David T. Kenney]].<ref>Gantz, Carroll (21 September 2012). The Vacuum Cleaner: A History. McFarland. p. 49</ref>
* '''1903:''' The first successful [[gas turbine]] is invented by [[Ægidius Elling]].
* '''1903:''' Édouard Bénédictus invents [[laminated glass]].
* '''1903:''' First sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight achieved by an [[airplane]] flown at [[Kitty Hawk, North Carolina]] by [[Orville and Wilbur Wright]]. See [[Claims to the first powered flight]].
* '''1904:''' The [[Fleming valve]], the first [[vacuum tube]] and [[diode]], is invented by [[John Ambrose Fleming]].
* '''1907:''' The first free flight of a rotary-wing aircraft is carried out by [[Paul Cornu]].
* '''1907:''' [[Leo Baekeland]] invents [[bakelite]],  the first [[plastic]] made from synthetic components.
* '''1907:''' The tuyères thermopropulsives<ref name="Peter">Peter O. K. Krehl (24 Sep 2008) [https://books.google.com/books?id=PmuqCHDC3pwC&q=patent+for+ramjet+1908+Lorin History of Shock Waves, Explosions and Impact: A Chronological and Biographical Reference], [https://books.google.com/books?id=PmuqCHDC3pwC&dq=patent+for+ramjet+1908+Lorin&pg=PA443 p.443], Springer Science & Business Media, {{ISBN|3540304215}}, {{ISBN|9783540304210}}, accessed 7 July 2019</ref> after 1945 ([[:fr:Maurice Roy (professeur)|Maurice Roy (fr)]]) known as the ''statoreacteur''<ref name="Peter" /><ref>[https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/personnage/Lorin/126530 Personnage] ''[[Grand Larousse encyclopédique|Larousse]]'', accessed 7 July 2019</ref> ''a combustion subsonique'' (the [[ramjet]])<ref>Anthony Roux (2 July 2009) [http://oatao.univ-toulouse.fr/7859/1/roux1.pdf Simulation aux Grandes Echelles d'un statoréacteur], p.15, [[University of Toulouse]], "...La propulsion par statoreacteur a été inventée par le francais [[:fr:René Lorin|René Lorin]] en 1907 et decrite pour la ´
premiere fois dans la revue ` [[L'Aérophile|l'aerophile]] ´ dans un article intitule "Propulseur par reaction directe"...", accessed 7 July 2019</ref> – [[René Lorin|R. Lorin]]<ref name="Lorin">[https://www.dmg-lib.org/dmglib/main/portal.jsp?mainNaviState=browsen.biogr.viewer&id=24306004 Lorin, René (1877–1933)], Digital Mechanism and Gear Library, [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hans-von-Ohain-Elegance-Library/dp/1563475200 first contact for: "1913 – Lorin" (Margaret Connor)] obtained via [[search criteria]] (google): [https://www.google.com/search?q=discovery+of+scramjet+Frank+Whittle&ei=0DUiXbqnB9yBhbIPh4uqIA&start=40&sa=N&ved=0ahUKEwi6z_uMtKPjAhXcQEEAHYeFCgQ4HhDw0wMIhwE&biw=1920&bih=969 "discovery of scramjet Frank Whittle"], accessed 7 July 2019</ref><ref>R. Lorin (15 May 1913) – [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6552332d/f237.image de la turbine a gaz au propulseur a reaction], pp.229–230, [[L'Aérophile]]; [[BnF|BnF Gallica]], accessed 7 July 2019</ref><ref>Michael G. Smith (1 December 2014) — [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xtm5BAAAQBAJ&q=type+of+engine+proposed+by+Lorin+in+1908 Rockets and Revolution: A Cultural History of Early Spaceflight], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xtm5BAAAQBAJ&dq=type+of+engine+proposed+by+Lorin+in+1908&pg=PT72 7th page of Chapter 3], [[University of Nebraska Press]], {{ISBN|0803286546}}, {{ISBN|9780803286542}}, accessed 7 July 2019</ref>
* '''1908:''' [[Cellophane]] is invented by [[Jacques E. Brandenberger]].
* '''1909:''' [[Fritz Haber]] invents the [[Haber process]].
* '''1909:''' The first instantaneous transmission of images, or [[television]] broadcast, is carried out by [[Georges Rignoux]] and A. Fournier.

====1910s====
[[File:BERy Articulated number 2 side view, 1913.jpg|thumb|BERy articulated streetcar no. 2 in 1913. The Boston Elevated Railway was the world's first street railway system to use articulated streetcars.]]
* '''1911:''' The [[cloud chamber]], the first [[particle detector]], is invented by [[Charles Thomson Rees Wilson]].
* '''1912:''' The first commercial slot cars or more accurately model electric racing cars operating under constant power were made by Lionel (USA) and appeared in their catalogues in 1912.
* '''1912:''' The first use of articulated [[tram]]s by [[Boston Elevated Railway]].
* '''1913:''' The [[Bergius process]] is developed by [[Friedrich Bergius]].
* '''1913:''' The [[Kaplan turbine]] is invented by [[Viktor Kaplan]].
* '''1915:''' [[Harry Brearley]] invents a process to create [[Martensitic stainless steel]], initially labelled Rustless Steel, later marketed as Staybrite, and AISI Type 420.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|date=31 January 1915|title=A non-rusting steel|work=The New York Times}}</ref>
* '''1915:''' The first operational military [[tanks]] are designed in Great Britain and France. They are used in battle from 1916 and 1917 respectively. The designers in Great Britain are [[Walter Gordon Wilson|Walter Wilson]] and [[William Tritton]] and in France, [[Eugène Brillié]]. (Although it is known that vehicles incorporating at least some of the features of the tank were designed in a number of countries from 1903 onward, none reached a practical form.)
* '''1916:''' The [[Czochralski process]], widely used for the production of single crystal [[silicon]], is invented by [[Jan Czochralski]].
* '''1917:''' The [[crystal oscillator]] is invented by [[Alexander M. Nicholson]] using a crystal of [[Rochelle Salt]] although his priority was disputed by [[Walter Guyton Cady]].

====1920s====
* '''1925:''' The [[Fischer–Tropsch process]] is developed by [[Franz Joseph Emil Fischer|Franz Fischer]] and [[Hans Tropsch]] at the [[Max Planck Institute for Coal Research|Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Kohlenforschung]].
* '''1926:''' The [[Yagi-Uda Antenna]] or simply Yagi Antenna is invented by [[Shintaro Uda]] of [[Tohoku Imperial University]], assisted by his colleague [[Hidetsugu Yagi]]. The Yagi Antenna was widely used during [[World War II]]. After the war they saw extensive development as home [[television antennas]].
* '''1926:''' [[Robert H. Goddard]] launches the first [[Bipropellant rocket|liquid fueled rocket]].
* '''1926:''' [[Harry Ferguson]], patents the [[Three-point hitch]] equipment linkage system for tractors.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TractorData.com - Three-Point Hitch |url=http://www.tractordata.com/articles/technical/threepoint.html |access-date=28 February 2022 |website=www.tractordata.com}}</ref>
* '''1926:''' [[John Logie Baird]] demonstrates the world's first live working [[Mechanical television|television]] system.<ref>[https://www.bairdtelevision.com/the-televisor-successful-test-of-new-apparatus-1926.html "The "Televisor" Successful Test of New Apparatus"], The Times (London), Thursday 28 January 1926, p. 9 column C.</ref><ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news |date=26 January 2016 |title=Who invented the television? How people reacted to John Logie Baird's creation 90 years ago |newspaper=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/google-doodle/12121474/Who-invented-the-television-John-Logie-Baird-created-the-TV-in-1926.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126005621/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/google-doodle/12121474/Who-invented-the-television-John-Logie-Baird-created-the-TV-in-1926.html |archive-date=26 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=26 January 2016 |title=Who invented the mechanical television? (John Logie Baird) |publisher=Google. |url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=43A_5kGJ2hw}}</ref>
* '''1927:''' The [[quartz clock]] is invented by Warren Marrison and J.W. Horton at [[Bell Telephone Laboratories]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Marrison |first=Warren |title=The Evolution of the Quartz Crystal Clock |year=1948 |journal=Bell System Technical Journal |publisher=AT&T |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=510–588 |url=http://www.ieee-uffc.org/freqcontrol/marrison/Marrison.html |doi=10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01343.x |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513175811/http://www.ieee-uffc.org/freqcontrol/marrison/Marrison.html |archive-date=13 May 2007|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* '''1928:''' [[Penicillin]] is first observed to exude antibiotic substances by Nobel laureate [[Alexander Fleming]]. Development of medicinal penicillin is attributed to a team of medics and scientists including [[Howard Walter Florey]], [[Ernst Chain]] and [[Norman Heatley]].
* '''1928:''' [[Frank Whittle]] formally submitted his ideas for a turbo-jet engine. In October 1929, he developed his ideas further.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/whittle_frank.shtml |title=History – Frank Whittle (1907–1996) |publisher=BBC |access-date=26 March 2010}}</ref> On 16 January 1930, Whittle submitted his first patent (granted in 1932).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=GB&NR=347206&KC=&FT=E|title=Espacenet - Original document|website=worldwide.espacenet.com}}</ref>
* '''1928:''' [[Philo Farnsworth]] demonstrates the first practical [[electronic television]] to the press.
* '''1929:''' The [[ball screw]] is invented by Rudolph G. Boehm.

====1930s====
* '''1930:''' The [[Supersonic combusting ramjet]] — [[Frank Whittle]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}
* '''1930:''' The [[Phase-contrast microscopy]] is invented by [[Frits Zernike]].
* '''1931:''' The [[electron microscope]] is invented by [[Ernst Ruska]].
* '''1933:''' [[FM radio]] is patented by inventor [[Edwin H. Armstrong]].
* '''1933:''' [[Everest and Jennings|Harry C. Jennings Sr. and Herbert Everest]], both [[mechanical engineer]]s, invented the first lightweight, steel, folding, portable [[wheelchair]] with their "X-brace" design.<ref>Everest, Herbert A., Jennings, Harry C. Sr., "Folding wheel chair", US Patent 2095411, 1937</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2618319A/en|title=X-brace construction for collapsible invalids' wheel chairs}}</ref>
* '''1935:''' [[Nylon]], the first fully [[synthetic fiber]] is produced by [[Wallace Carothers]] while working at [[DuPont]].<ref name=Carothers>{{cite web|title=Wallace Hume Carothers|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/wallace-hume-carothers|website=[[Science History Institute]]|date=June 2016|access-date=20 March 2018}}</ref>
* '''1938:''' [[Z1 (computer)|Z1]], built by [[Konrad Zuse]], is the first freely programmable [[computer]] in the world.
* '''1938:''' [[Nuclear fission]] discovered in experiment by chemists [[Otto Hahn]] and [[Fritz Strassmann]] and physicists [[Lise Meitner]] and [[Otto Robert Frisch]]. The [[German nuclear energy project]] was based on this research. The [[Tube Alloys]] project and, subsequently, the [[Manhattan Project]] and the [[Soviet atomic bomb project]] were influenced by this research.
* '''1939:''' G. S. Yunyev or [[Naum Gurvich]] invented the electric current [[Defibrillation#Direct current method|defibrillator]]

====1940-1944====
* '''1940:''' [[Isotopes of plutonium#Notable isotopes|Pu-239 isotope]] (isotope of [[plutonium]])<ref name=t2>[https://www.armscontrol.org/act/1997-11/features/technology-nuclear-weapons The Technology of Nuclear Weapons], [[Arms Control Association]], accessed 9 January 2020</ref><ref name="t3">[http://www.radioactivity.eu.com/site/pages/Plutonium_239.htm Plutonium 239] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118091017/http://www.radioactivity.eu.com/site/pages/Plutonium_239.htm |date=18 January 2020 }}, EDP-Sciences (EDITIONS DE PHYSIQUE) (& the Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et Physique des Particules (IN2P3) accessed 9 January 2020</ref> a form of matter existing with the capacity for use as a destructive element<ref>[https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/plutonium Plutonium], published by the [[Atomic Heritage Foundation]] & the [[National Museum of Nuclear Science & History]] (of the [[United States]]) 5 June 2014 – accessed 2020-1-9, re-accessed due to an error in application during 9, 10 January 2020</ref> (because the isotope has an exponentially increasing<ref name=t2 /> spontaneous<ref>{{Cite book | publisher=Springer | location=Berlin, Heidelberg | chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-55764-4_8 | title=Nuclides.net | doi=10.1007/978-3-642-55764-4_8 | isbn=978-3-642-62817-7 | chapter=Fission Products and Yields ϒ | date=2003 | last1=Magill | first1=Joseph | pages=187–196 }}</ref> [[spontaneous fission|fissile]] decay<ref>[[Emilio Segre|Segre, Emilio]] — [https://escholarship.org/content/qt8v41m1pb/qt8v41m1pb.pdf Spontaneous Fission] p.13 "From this we deduce a spontaneous fission decay constant of 2.1 x l0<sup>3</sup> fissions per gram per second". published [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], University of California, 22 November 1950 (this source represents a re-application of sourcing due to an [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_discoveries_by_disciplines&oldid=934934652#Technological error in application of sourcing to the inclusion " fission" (+) "decay" during the 1st inclusion made 2020-1-9])</ref>) within [[nuclear devices]] — [[Glenn Seaborg]].<ref name=t3 />
* '''1940:''' [[John Randall (physicist)|John Randall]] and [[Harry Boot]] would develop the high power, microwave generating, [[cavity magnetron]], later applied to commercial [[Radar]] and [[Microwave oven]] appliances.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Magnetron |url=http://histru.bournemouth.ac.uk/Oral_History/Talking_About_Technology/radar_research/the_magnetron.html |access-date=28 February 2022 |website=histru.bournemouth.ac.uk}}</ref>
* '''1941:''' [[Polyester]] is invented by [[John Rex Whinfield]] and James Dickson.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bellis|first1=Mary|title=The History of Polyester|url=http://inventors.about.com/od/famousinventions/fl/The-History-of-Polyester.htm|website=About.com|access-date=23 February 2017}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* '''1942:''' The [[V-2 rocket]], the world's first long range [[ballistic missile]], developed by engineer [[Wernher von Braun]].
* '''1944:''' The non-infectious viral vaccine is perfected by Dr. Jonas Salk and Thomas Francis.<ref>Bookchin, Debbie and Schumacher, Jim. The Virus and the Vaccine. MacMillan 2005</ref>