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Timeline of Innovation

Timeline of Innovation

This is a general timeline of landmark innovations throughout history:

  • 10,000 BC: Agriculture and domestication of animals
  • 3,500 BC: Wheel and plow
  • 2,500 BC: Writing and record keeping
  • 1,700 BC: Iron smelting
  • 1,100 BC: Water-powered mills
  • 500 BC: Steam power (Heron of Alexandria)
  • 100 AD: Papermaking (China)
  • 1450 AD: Printing press (Johannes Gutenberg)
  • 1712 AD: Steam engine (Thomas Newcomen)
  • 1775 AD: Spinning machine (Richard Arkwright)
  • 1804 AD: Steam locomotive (George Stephenson)
  • 1866 AD: Dynamite (Alfred Nobel)
  • 1876 AD: Telephone (Alexander Graham Bell)
  • 1879 AD: Lightbulb (Thomas Edison)
  • 1885 AD: Automobile (Karl Benz)
  • 1903 AD: The Wright Brothers' successful powered flight in their airplane, the Wright Flyer.
  • 1908 AD: Model T (Henry Ford)
  • 1913 AD: Henry Ford's development of the assembly line for mass production of automobiles.
  • 1922 AD: The discovery of insulin by Frederick Banting, Charles Best and John Macleod, which revolutionized the treatment of diabetes.
  • 1927 AD: The first successful transatlantic telephone call, made by Bell Labs.
  • 1929 AD: The launch of the first all-electronic television by Philo Farnsworth.
  • 1939 AD: Nuclear fission was discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, and Fritz Strassmann, which led to the development of nuclear power and atomic weapons.
  • 1942 AD: The first successful self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved by Enrico Fermi and his team at the University of Chicago, which marked the beginning of the atomic age.
  • 1945 AD: Atomic bomb (Manhattan Project)
  • 1947 AD: The invention of the transistor by William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain, which revolutionized the electronics industry and led to the development of computers, radios, and televisions.
  • 1953 AD: The discovery of the structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick, which revolutionized the field of genetics and led to the development of genetic engineering.
  • 1957 AD: The launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, by the Soviet Union, which marked the beginning of the space age.
  • 1961 AD: The first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, orbited the Earth aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft.
  • 1962 AD: The invention of the first numerically controlled machine tool, the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine, which uses computer technology to control the movement of machine tools.
  • 1968 AD: The invention of the first 3D printer, the STL system, which was developed by Chuck Hull, which paved the way for the development of 3D printing technology.
  • 1969 AD: Internet (ARPANET)
  • 1969 AD: The launch of the first successful test flight of the Concorde supersonic jet, which made transatlantic travel faster than ever before.
  • 1969 AD: The launch of the first successful test flight of the Boeing 747, which revolutionized air travel with its large capacity and high speed.
  • 1971 AD: The launch of the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, which paved the way for the development of personal computers.
  • 1973 AD: The launch of the first mobile phone, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, which revolutionized communication and made it possible for people to make phone calls from anywhere.
  • 1976 AD: Apple I (Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak)
  • 1981 AD: The launch of the first IBM PC, which marked the beginning of the personal computer revolution.
  • 1984 AD: The invention of the first commercial laser cutter, which allowed for the precise cutting and shaping of materials, revolutionizing the manufacturing of products.
  • 1989 AD: The launch of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee, which revolutionized communication and information sharing.
  • 1998 AD: Google (Larry Page and Sergey Brin)
  • 2000 AD: The first draft of the Human Genome Project is published, providing a map of the entire human genetic code.
  • 2000 AD: The invention of the first commercial 3D printer based on Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology by Stratasys, which allowed for the rapid prototyping and production of products.
  • 2006 AD: The launch of the first successful privately-funded spacecraft, SpaceShipOne, by the company Virgin Galactic.
  • 2007 AD: The launch of the first iPhone by Apple, which revolutionized the mobile phone industry and introduced the concept of smartphones.
  • 2008 AD: Bitcoin (Satoshi Nakamoto)
  • 2008 AD: The launch of the first Android operating system by Google, which later became the most popular mobile operating system in the world.
  • 2010 AD: The launch of the iPad by Apple, which popularized tablet computing.
  • 2010 AD: The invention of the first 3D printer that can print in multiple materials and colors, the Stratasys Objet Connex, which allowed for more complex and detailed prints.
  • 2011 AD: Siri (Apple)
  • 2011 AD: The launch of the Raspberry Pi, a low-cost, credit-card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and uses a standard keyboard and mouse, which is aimed to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools.
  • 2012 AD: The launch of the Google Glass, a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display that was designed as an augmented reality device.
  • 2013 AD: The launch of the first commercial drone, the DJI Phantom, which led to the widespread use of drones for a variety of purposes such as aerial photography, surveying, and package delivery.
  • 2015 AD: The launch of the first self-driving car, the Google self-driving car, which demonstrated the feasibility of autonomous vehicles.
  • 2015 AD: AlphaGo (Google DeepMind)
  • 2016 AD: The launch of the first commercial quantum computer, the D-Wave 2X, which has the potential to perform certain computations much faster than classical computers.
  • 2018 AD: The launch of the first foldable smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Fold, which opens up new possibilities for mobile device design.
  • 2019 AD: GPT-2 (OpenAI)
  • 2020 AD: The launch of the first 5G networks, which offers faster internet speeds and lower latency, enabling new applications such as remote surgery and self-driving cars.

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