STS
HOW SCIENCE AFFECTS TECHNOLOGY
SCIENCE EXPLORE FOR THE PURPOSES OF KNOWING, WHILE TECHNOLOGY EXPLORES
FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING SOMETHING USEFUL OF THE KNOWLEDGE.
WITHOUT SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY COULD NOT PROCEED
WITHOUT TECHNOLOGY, SOME SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE
SCIENCE DRIVES TECHNOLOGY BY MAKING NEW TECHNOLOGY POSSIBLE THROUGH
SCIENTIFI BREAK THROUGHS
“SCIENCE IS A WAY OF KNOWING WHILE TECHNOLOGY IS WAY OF DOING”
SCIENCE CONTRIBUTIONS:
NEW KNOWLEDGE WHICH SERVES AS A DIRECT SOURCCE OF IDEAS FOR NEW
TECHNOLOGICAL POSIBILITIES
SOURCE OF TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR MORE EFFICIENT ENGINEERING DESIGN AND
A KNOWDLEGE BASE FOR EVALUATION OF FEASIBILITY OF DESIGN
RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION, LABORATORY TECHNIQUES AND ANALYTICAL
METHODDS USED IN RESEARCH THAT EVENTUALLY FIND THEIR WAY INTO DESIGN AND
INDUSTRIAL PRACTICES, OFTEN THROUGH INTERMEDIATE DISCIPLINES.
PRACTICE OF RESEARCH AS A SOURCE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ASSIMILATION OF NEW
HUMAN SKILLS AND CAPABILITIES EVENTUALLY USEFUL FOR TECHNOLOGY
CREATION OF KNOWDLEGE BASE THAT BECOMES INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT IN THE
ASSESSMENT OF TECHNOLOGY IN TERMS OF ITS WIDER SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACTS.
KNOWLEDGE BASE THAT ENABLES MORE EFFIFICIENT STRATEGIES OF APPLIED
RESEARCY, DEVELOPMENT, AND REFINEMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES
THE CONVERSE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON SCIENCE IS AT LEAST EQUAL IMPORTANCE
1. THROUGH PROVIDING A FERTILE SOURCE OF NOVEL SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS AND
THEREBY ALSO HELPING TO JUSTICE THE ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES NEEDED TO ADDRESS
THE QUESTIONS IN AN EFFICIENT AND TIMELY MANNER, EXTENDING THE AGENDA OF
SCIENCE.
2. AS A SOURCE OF OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE INSTRUMENTATION AND TECHNIQUES
UNAVAILABLE INSTRUMENTATION AND TECHNIQUES NEEDED TO ADDRESS AND MORE
DIFFICULAT SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS MORE EFFICIENTLY
HOW TECHNOLOGY AFFECTS SOCIETY
TECHNOLOGY AFFECTS THE WAY INDIVIDUALS COMMUNICATE , LEARN AND THINK
HELPS SOCIETY AND DETERMINES HOW PEOPLE INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER ON DAILY
BASIS
IT HELPS PEOPLE / SOCIETY TO HAVE AN EASIER WAY OF LIVING. SINCE TODAY
TECHNOLOGIES ADVANCES AND NEW DISCOVERIES ARE BEING DEVELOPED THAT HELPS
THE SOCIETY FEEL AT EASE BECAUSE OF THESE DISCOVERIES.
TECHNOLOGY HELPED CHANGE HUMAN SOCIETAL BEHAVIOR AND PERHAPS EVOLUTION
IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF STONE TOOLS AND THE ABILITY TO HARNESS FIRE.
MADE LIFE EASIER FOR MULTITUDES AND HAVE GIFTED MANY WITH RESOURCES,
EDUCATION, AND TOOLS
MECHANIZATION OF AGRICULTURE
IMPROVEMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
IMPROVEMENT OF COMMUNICATION
IMPROVED THE EDUCATION AND LEARNING PROCESS
IMPORTANT PEOPLE OF STS
PHILIPPINES
FE DEL MUNDO IMPROVED INCUBATOR AND JAUNDICE RELIEVING DEVICE (MEDICINE)
GREGORIO ZARA INVENTED VIDEOPHONE(COMMUNICATION)
JOSE RODRIGUEZ DISCOVERED THE METHODS OF CONTROLING LEPROSY (MEDICINE)
BENJAMIN ALMEDA INVENTED FOOD PROCESSING MACHINE (AGRICULTURE)
PABLO CAMPOS ( FIRST RADIOSCOPE LABORATORY ( PHYSICS)
PEDRO FLORES INVENTED YOYO IN USA
DIOSDADO BANATAO INVENTED THE SINGLE CHIP GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE
COMPUTER MICROSHIPS
FRANCISCO FRONDA IMPROVED METHODS OF PRODUCTION FOR THE POULTRY AND
LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY
JULIA BANZON MADE ALTERNATIVE FUEL (ETHYL ESTER FUEL FROM SUGARCANE AND
COCONUTE)
ANGEL ALCALA CREATED ARTIFICAL CORAL REEFS
BENJAMIN CABRERA DEVELOP DRUG TREATMENTS AGAINSTS DISEASES CAUSED BY
MOSQUITO
FELIX MARAMBA BUILT A COCONUTE OIL FUELED POWER GENERATOR
DAMIEL DINGEL INVENTED WATER POWERED CAR
ROLANDO DELA CRUZ DEVELOPED ANTI CANCER SKIN CREAM
EDUARDO SANJUAN INVENTED LUNAR ROVER/ MOON BUGGY
FRANCISCO QUISUMBING INVENTED QUICK INK
ANALECTO DEL ROSARIO INVENTE A FORMULA OF A PURE BIND OF ALCOHOL FROM
TUBA OF A NIPA PALM
PEDRO ESCURO MADE ISOLATION OF NINE RICE VARIETIES
ROBERTO DEL ROSARIO INVENTED KARAOKE SING ALONG SYSTEM
RAMON BARBA – TECHNIQUES TO PROMOTE CROP FLOWERING (FLOWER INDUCTION
TREATMENT)
AGAPITO FLORES INVENTED FLUORESCENT LAMP
ATOY LLAVE INVENTED FIRST SALAMANDER AMPHIBOUS TRICYCLE
CARMENT VELASQUES DISCOVERED 32 SPECIES AND ONE NEW GENUS OF PARASITE
NARCISO MOSUELA INVENTED SUPERLCALAN (ENERGY AND TRANSPO)
SOFRONIO H. PASOLA – GAMES OF GENERAL (SPORTS AND RECREATION)
HISTORY STS IN PHILIPPINES
STONE AGE Around 50,000 years ago the modern men (homo sapiens) first came over-
land across narrow channels. They lived in Palawan and Batangas. It took 10,000
years before they have discovered how to made simple tools or weapons. They also
formed settlements in the major Philippine islands. By about 3,000 B.C., they were
producing adzes ornaments of seashells and pottery of various designs. It became well
developed and flourished for about 2,000 years and it came into competition with
imported Chinese porcelain.
IRON AGE The early Filipinos learned to make metal tools and implements—copper,
gold, bronze and later iron. Considered to have lasted from the second or third
century B.C. to the tenth century A.D. William Henry Scott in Prehispanic Source
Materials for the Study of Philippine History(Rev. ed.; Quezon City: New Day Publishers,
1984), points out questionable documents which have been the basis for information
about this period and which were popularized in Philippines History textbooks, that
Filipinos during this period engaged in the actual extraction of iron from ore, smelting
and refining. But it appears that the iron industry, like the manufact ure of pottery, did
not survive the competition with imported cast iron from Sarawak and much later, from
China.
By the first century A.D., Filipinos were weaving cotton, smelting iro n, making pottery
and glass ornaments and were also engaged in agriculture. Lowlan d rice was cultivated
in diked fields, and in the interior mountain regions as in the Cordillera, in terraced fields
which utilized spring water. Filipinos had also learned to build boats for the coastal
trade.
By the 10th century A.D., this had become a highly developed technology. In fact, the
early Spanish chroniclers took note of the refined plank- built warship called caracoa.
These boats were well suited for inter- island trade raids. By the 10th century A.D., the
inhabitants of Butuan were trading with Champa (Vietnam); those of Ma-i (Mindoro)
with China.
PRE-SPANISH PERIOD Even before the colonization by the Spaniards in the Philippine
islands, the natives of the archipelago already had practices linked to science and
technology. Filipinos were already aware of the medicinal and therapeutic properties of
plants and the methods of extracting medicine from herbs. They already had an
alphabet, number system, a weighing and measuring system and a calendar. Filipinos
were already engaged in farming, shipbuilding, mining and weaving. The Banaue Rice
Terraces are among the sophisticated products of engineering by pre-Spanish era
Filipinos.[2]
SPANISH COLONIAL PERIOD The Spanish introduced formal education and founded
scientific institution. Parish schools were established where religion, reading, writing,
arithmetic and music was taught. Later the Spanish established colleges and
universities in the archipelago including the University of Santo Tomas. Biology is given
focus. Contributors to science in the archipelago during the 19th century were botanists,
Fr. Ignacio Mercado., Dr. Trinidad Pardo de Tavera and Dr. Leon Ma Guerrero, chemist
Anaclento del Rosario, and medicine scholars Dr. Manuel Guerrero, Dr, Jose Montes and
SPANISH COLONIAL PERIOD The Spanish also contributed to the field of engineering in
the islands by constructing government buildings, churches, roads, bridges and forts.
Trade was given more focus by the Spaniard colonial authorities due to the prospects of
big profits.
HISTORY OF STS WORLDWIDE (https://www.explainthatstuff.com/timeline.html)
~3.5 million years ago
Humans make the first tools from stone, wood, antlers, and bones.
Tools and machines
1–2 million years ago
Humans discover fire.
Biofuels
Candles
Car engines
Jet engines
10,000 BCE
Earliest boats are constructed.
Ships and boats
8000– 9000 BCE
Beginnings of human settlements and agriculture.
Biofuels
Water
6000– 7000 BCE
Hand-made bricks first used for construction in the Middle East.
Brick (ceramics)
Ancient times
4000 BCE
Iron used for the first time in decorative ornaments.
Iron and steel
3500– 5000 BCE
Glass is made by people for the first time.
Glass
3500 BCE
Humans invent the wheel.
Tools and machines
Wheels and axles
3000 BCE
First written languages are developed by the Sumerian people of southern Mesopotamia (part
of modern Iraq). Digital pens
Typewriters
~2500 BCE Ancient Egyptians produce papyrus, a crude early version of paper. Paper
3000– 600BCE Bronze Age: Widespread use of copper and its important alloy bronze. Copper
Alloys
Metals
2000 BCE Water-raising and irrigation devices like the shaduf (shadoof), invented by the
Ancient Egyptians, introduce the idea of lifting things using counterweights. Elevators
Tools and machines
Water
c1700 BCE
Semites of the Mediterranean develop the alphabet.
Digital pens
1000 BCE
Iron Age begins: iron is widely used for making tools and weapons in many parts of the world.
Iron and steel
600 BCE
Thales of Miletus discovers static electricity.
Electricity
Static electricity
500BCE– 900CE Nazca people of Peru are believed to have experimented with balloon
flight. Hot-air balloons
400BCE– 300BCE Chinese experiment with flying kites.Airplanes
~250 BCE
Ancient Egyptians invent lighthouses, including the huge Lighthouse of Alexandria.
Fresnel lenses
~300– 200 BCE
Chinese invent early magnetic direction finders.
Compasses
~250 BCE
Archimedes invents the screw pump for moving water and other materials.
Tools and machines
c.150– 100 BCE
Gear-driven, precision clockwork machines (such as the Antikythera mechanism) are in
existence. Clockwork
c.50 BCE
Roman engineer Vitruvius perfects the modern, vertical water wheel.
Turbines
62 CE
Hero of Alexandria, a Greek scientist, pioneers steam power.
Steam engines
Steam turbines
105 CE
Ts'ai Lun makes the first paper in China.
Paper
27 BCE–395 CE
Romans develop the first, basic concrete called pozzolana.
Steel and concrete
Middle Ages
~600 CE
Windmills are invented in the Middle East.
Wind turbines
700–900 CE
Chinese invent gunpowder and fireworks.
Bullets
Fireworks
Space rockets
800–1300 CE
Thanks to inventors such as the Banū Mūsā brothers and al-Jazari, the Islamic "Golden Age"
sees the development of a wide range of technologies, including ingenious clocks and feedback
mechanisms that are the ancestors of modern automated factory machines. Clockwork
Cams and cranks
Robots
1000 CE ??
Chinese develop eyeglasses by fixing lenses to frames that fit onto people's faces.
Lenses
1206
Arabic engineer al-Jazari invents a flushing hand-washing machine, one of the ancestors of the
modern toilet.
Toilets
1232 CE
Chinese repel Mongol invaders using early rockets.
Space rockets
1450
Johannes Gutenberg pioneers the modern printing press, using rearrangeable metal letters
called movable type.
Printing
1470s
The first parachute is sketched on paper by an unknown inventor. Parachutes
16th century
1530s Gerardus Mercator helps to revolutionize navigation with better mapmaking.
Satellite navigation
1590
A Dutch spectacle maker named Zacharias Janssen makes the first compound microscope.
Microscopes
Electron microscopes
1596
Sir John Harington describes one of the first modern flush toilets. Toilets
17th century
~1600
Galileo Galilei designs a basic thermometer.
Thermometer
1600
William Gilbert publishes his great book De Magnete describing how Earth behaves like a giant
magnet. It's the beginning of the scientific study of magnetism. Magnetism
1609
Galileo Galilei builds a practical telescope and makes new astronomical discoveries.
Space telescopes
mid-17th century
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek and Robert Hooke independently develop microscopes.
Microscopes
Electron microscopes
1643 Galileo's pupil Evangelista Torricelli builds the first mercury barometer for measuring air
pressure.
Barometers
1650s Christiaan Huygens develops the pendulum clock (using Galileo's earlier discovery that a
swinging pendulum can be used to keep time). Pendulum clocks
1687
Isaac Newton formulates his three laws of motion.
Motion
1700s
Bartolomeo Cristofori invents the piano.
Pianos
18th century
1701
English farmer Jethro Tull begins the mechanization of agriculture by inventing the horse-drawn
seed drill. Tractors
1703
Gottfried Leibniz pioneers the binary number system now used in virtually all computers.
How computers work
History of computers
1712
Thomas Newcomen builds the first practical (but stationary) steam engine.
Steam engines
1700s Christiaan Huygens conceives the internal combustion engine, but never actually builds
one.
Car engines
1737 William Champion develops a commercially viable process for extracting zinc on a large
scale. Metals
1757 John Campbell invents the sextant, an improved navigational device that enables sailors
to measure latitude.
Satellite navigation
1730s– 1770s John Harrison develops reliable chronometers (seafaring clocks) that allow
sailors to measure longitude accurately for the first time.
Quartz clocks and watches
Satellite navigation
1756 Axel Cronstedt notices steam when he boils a rock—and discovers zeolites.
Zeolites
1769 Wolfgang von Kempelen develops a mechanical speaking machine: the world's first
speech synthesizer. Speech synthesizers
1770s
Abraham Darby III builds a pioneering iron bridge at a place now called Ironbridge in England.
Bridges
~1780
Josiah Wedgwood (or Thomas Massey) invents the pyrometer. Pyrometers
1783 French Brothers Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier make the
first practical hot-air balloon. Hot-air balloons
1791 Reverend William Gregor, a British clergyman and amateur geologist, discovers a
mysterious mineral that he calls menachite. Four years later, Martin Klaproth gives it its modern
name, titanium. Titanium
19th century
1800
Italian Alessandro Volta makes the first battery (known as a Voltaic pile).
Electricity
Batteries
1801
Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents the automated cloth-weaving loom. The punched cards it uses
to store patterns help to inspire programmable computers.
History of computers
1803
Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier develop the papermaking machine.
Paper
1806
Humphry Davy develops electrolysis into an important chemical technique and uses it to
identify a number of new elements. Electrolyzers
1806
Sir William Congreve develops long-range military rockets, based on an earlier Indian
technology known as the Mysore rocket. Space rockets
1807
Humphry Davy develops the electric arc lamp. Xenon lamps
1814
George Stephenson builds the first practical steam locomotive.
Steam engines
1816
Robert Stirling invents the efficient Stirling engine.
Stirling engines
1820s– 1830s
Michael Faraday builds primitive electric generators and motors.
Electricity generators
Electric motors
Hub motors
1824
Nicolas Sadi Carnot sets out his hugely influential theory of engine efficiency.
Heat engines
1827
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce makes the first modern photograph.
Photography
Digital cameras
1830s
William Sturgeon develops the first practical electric motor.
Electric motors
Hub motors
1830s
Louis Daguerre invents a practical method of taking pin-sharp photographs called
Daguerreotypes.
Digital cameras
Photography
1830s
William Henry Fox Talbot develops a way of making and printing photographs using reverse
images called negatives.
Digital cameras
Photography
1830s– 1840s
Charles Wheatstone and William Cooke, in England, and Samuel Morse, in the United States,
develop the electric telegraph (a forerunner of the telephone).
Telephones
1836
Englishman Francis Petit-Smith and Swedish-American John Ericsson independently develop
propellers with blades for ships. Propellers
1839
Charles Goodyear finally perfects a durable form of rubber (vulcanized rubber) after many years
of unsuccessful experimenting.
Rubber
1840s
Scottish physicist James Prescott Joule outlines the theory of the conservation of energy.
Energy
Great physics experiments
1840s
Scotsman Alexander Bain invents a primitive fax machine based on chemical technology.
Fax machines
1849
James Francis invents a water turbine now used in many of the world's hydropower plants.
Turbines
Water
1850s
Henry Bessemer pioneers a new method of making steel in large quantities.
Iron and steel
1850s
Louis Pasteur develops pasteurization: a way of preserving food by heating it to kill off bacteria.
Pasteurization
1850s
Italian Giovanni Caselli develops a mechanical fax machine called the pantelegraph.
Fax machines
1860s
Frenchman Étienne Lenoir and German Nikolaus Otto pioneer the internal combustion engine.
Car engines
Cars, history of
1860s
James Clerk Maxwell figures out that radio waves must exist and sets out basic laws of
electromagnetism.
Radio
1860s
Fire extinguishers are invented.
Fire extinguisher
1861
Elisha Graves Otis invents the elevator with built-in safety brake.
Elevators
1867
Joseph Monier invents reinforced concrete.
Reinforced concrete
1868
Christopher Latham Sholes invents the modern typewriter and QWERTY keyboard.
Typewriters
1871
Frank Wenham, a British aeronautical engineer, invents the wind tunnel.
Wind tunnels
Aerodynamics
1876
Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone, though the true ownership of the invention
remains controversial even today.
Telephones
1870s
Thomas Edison develops the phonograph, the first practical method of recording and playing
back sound on metal foil.
CD players
MP3 players
1870s
Lester Pelton invents a useful new kind of water turbine known as a Pelton wheel.
Turbines
1877
Thomas Edison invents his sound-recording machine or phonograph—a forerunner of the
record player and CD player.
Record players
Sound
1877
Edward Very invents the flare gun (Very pistol) for sending distress flares at sea.
Flares
1880
Thomas Edison patents the modern incandescent electric lamp.
Incandescent lamps
1880
Pierre and Paul-Jacques Curie discover the piezoelectric effect.
Piezoelectricity
1880s
Thomas Edison opens the world's first power plants.
Power plants
1880s
Charles Chamberland invents the autoclave (steam sterilizing machine).
Autoclaves
1880s
Charles and Julia Hall and Paul Heroult independently develop an affordable way of making
aluminum.
Aluminum
1880s
Carrie Everson invents new ways of mining silver, gold, and copper.
Copper
1881 Jacques d'Arsonval suggests heat energy could be extracted from the oceans.
OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion)
1883
George Eastman invents plastic photographic film.
Digital cameras
Plastics
1884
Charles Parsons develops the steam turbine.
Steam turbines
Turbines
1885
Karl Benz builds a gasoline-engined car.
Car engines
1886
Josephine Cochran invents the dishwasher.
Dishwashers
1888
Friedrich Reinitzer discovers liquid crystals. LCD screens and displays
1888
John Boyd Dunlop patents air-filled (pneumatic) tires.
Pneumatics
1888
Nikola Tesla patents the alternating current (AC) electric induction motor and, in opposition to
Thomas Edison, becomes a staunch advocate of AC power.
Electricity
Electric motors
Induction motors
Power plants
1899
Everett F. Morse invents the optical pyrometer for measuring temperatures at a safe distance.
Pyrometers
1890s
French brothers Joseph and Louis Lumiere invent movie projectors and open the first movie
theater.
Projection TV
1890s
German engineer Rudolf Diesel develops his diesel engine—a more efficient internal
combustion engine without a sparking plug.
Diesel engines
1890s
Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky figures out the theory of space rockets. Space rockets
1894
Physicist Sir Oliver Lodge sends the first ever message by radio wave in Oxford, England.
Radio
1895
German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovers X rays.
X rays
1895
American Ogden Bolton, Jr. invents the electric bicycle.
Electric bikes
1884
Charles G. Curtis develops the compound, impulse steam turbine.
Steam turbines
1898
Nikola Tesla invents remote, radio control.
Remote control
20th century
1901
Guglielmo Marconi sends radio-wave signals across the Atlantic Ocean from England to Canada
Radio
1901
The first electric vacuum cleaner is developed.
Vacuum cleaners
1903
Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright build the first engine-powered airplane.
Airplanes
Jet engines
1905
Albert Einstein explains the photoelectric effect. Photoelectric cells
1905
Samuel J. Bens invents the chainsaw.Chainsaws
1906
Willis Carrier pioneers the air conditioner.
Air conditioners
1906
Mikhail Tswett discovers chromatography.
Chromatography
1907
Leo Baekeland develops Bakelite, the first popular synthetic plastic.
Plastics
1907
Alva Fisher invents the electric clothes washer.
Clothes washer
1906-8
Frederick Gardner Cottrell develops the electrostatic smoke precipitator (smokestack pollution
scrubber).
Air pollution
Electrostatic smoke precipitators
1908
American industrialist and engineer Henry Ford launches the Ford Model T, the world's first
truly affordable car.
Car engines
Cars, history of
1909
German chemists Fritz Haber and Zygmunt Klemensiewicz develop the glass electrode, enabling
very precise measurements of acidity.
pH meters
1910
Romanian-born Henri-Marie Coandă builds a simple jet plane, but it never actually flies.
Jet engines
1912
American chemist Gilbert Lewis describes the basic chemistry that leads to practical, lithium-ion
rechargeable batteries (though they don't appear in a practical, commercial form until the
1990s).
Lithium-ion batteries
1912 Hans Geiger develops the Geiger counter, a detector for radioactivity. Geiger
counters
1916 Robert Hutchings Goddard, an American physicist, publishes influential ideas on building
space rockets. Space rockets
1919 Francis Aston pioneers the mass spectrometer and uses it to discover many isotopes.
Mass spectrometers
1920s
John Logie Baird develops mechanical television.
Television
LCD TV
1920s
Philo T. Farnsworth invents modern electronic television. Television
LCD TV
1920s
Robert H. Goddard develops the principle of the modern, liquid-fueled space rocket.
Bullets
Space rockets
1920s
German engineer Gustav Tauschek and American Paul Handel independently develop primitive
optical character recognition (OCR) scanning systems. OCR
1920s
Albert W. Hull invents the magnetron, a device that can generate microwaves from electricity.
Magnetrons
Microwave ovens
1921
Karel Capek and his brother coin the word "robot" in a play about artificial humans.
Robots
1921
John Larson develops the polygraph ("lie detector") machine. Forensic science
1928
Thomas Midgley, Jr. invents coolant chemicals for air conditioners and refrigerators.
Air conditioners
Refrigerators
1928
The electric refrigerator is invented.
Refrigerators
1920s– 1930s Frank Whittle of England and Hans Pabst von Ohain of Germany develop rival jet
engines. Jet engine
1930s
Peter Goldmark pioneers color television.
Television
LCD TV
1930s
Laszlo and Georg Biro pioneer the modern ballpoint pen.
Digital pens
1930s
Maria Telkes creates the first solar-powered house.
Passive solar
Solar cells
1930s
Wallace Carothers develops neoprene (synthetic rubber used in wetsuits) and nylon, the first
popular synthetic clothing material. Kevlar
Nomex
Nylon
Wetsuits
1930s
Robert Watson Watt oversees the development of radar.
Radar
1930s
Arnold Beckman develops the electronic pH meter.
pH meters
1931
Harold E. Edgerton invents the xenon flash lamp for high-speed photography.
Xenon lamps
1932
Arne Olander discovers the shape memory effect in a gold-cadmium alloy.
Shape memory alloys
1936
W.B. Elwood invents the magnetic reed switch.
Reed switches
1938
Chester Carlson invents the principle of photocopying (xerography).
Photocopiers
1938
Roy Plunkett accidentally invents a nonstick plastic coating called Teflon®.
GORE-TEX®
Nonstick pans
1939
Igor Sikorsky builds the first truly practical helicopter.
Helicopters
1940s
English physicists John Randall and Harry Boot develop a compact magnetron for use in airplane
radar navigation systems.
Magnetrons
Radar
1942
Enrico Fermi builds the first nuclear chain reactor at the University of Chicago.
Nuclear power
1945 US government scientist Vannevar Bush proposes a kind of desk-sized memory store
called Memex, which has some of the features later incorporated into electronic books and the
World Wide Web (WWW). Electronic books
World Wide Web
1945 Arthur C. Clarke conceives the idea of the communications satellite, a space-based signal
"mirror" that can bounce radio waves from one side of Earth to the other. Satellites
1947
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley invent the transistor, which allows
electronic equipment to made much smaller and leads to the modern computer revolution.
Amplifiers
Electronics
History of computers
Transistors
1949 Bernard Silver and N. Joseph Woodland patent barcodes—striped patterns that are
initially developed for marking products in grocery stores. Barcodes and barcode scanners
1950s
Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow invent the maser (microwave laser). Gordon Gould coins
the word "laser" and builds the first optical laser in 1958.
Lasers
1950s
Stanford Ovshinksy develops various technologies that make renewable energy more practical,
including practical solar cells and improved rechargeable batteries.
Batteries
Electric bicycles
Electric cars
Solar cells
1950s
European bus companies experiment with using flywheels as regenerative brakes
Flywheels
1950s
Percy Spencer accidentally discovers how to cook with microwaves, inadvertently inventing the
microwave oven.
Microwave ovens
1952
American John W. Hetrick and German Walter Linderer independently invent the automobile
airbag.
Airbags
1954
Indian physicist Narinder Kapany pioneers fiber optics.
Fiber optics
Endoscopes
1955
US electrical engineer Eugene Polley invents the TV remote control.
Remote control
1956
First commercial nuclear power is produced at Calder Hall, Cumbria, England.
Nuclear power plants
1957
Soviet Union (Russia and her allies) launch the Sputnik space satellite.
Satellites
1957
Lawrence Curtiss, Basil Hirschowitz, and Wilbur Peters build the first fiber-optic gastroscope.
Endoscopes
1958
Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce, working independently, develop the integrated circuit.
History of computers
integrated circuits
Transistors
1959
IBM and General Motors develop Design Augmented by Computers-1 (DAC-1), the first
computer-aided design (CAD) system. Computer graphics
1960s Joseph-Armand Bombardier perfects his Ski-Doo® snowmobile. Snowmobiles
1960 Theodore Maiman invents the ruby laser.
Lasers
1962 William Armistead and S. Donald Stookey of Corning Glass Works invent light-sensitive
(photochromic) glass. Photochromic lenses
1962 Nick Holonyak invents the LED (light-emitting diode) while working at General Electric.
Diodes and LEDs
1963 Ivan Sutherland develops Sketchpad, one of the first computer-aided design programs.
Computer graphics
1964
IBM helps to pioneer e-commerce with an airline ticket reservation system called SABRE.
E-commerce
1965
Frank Pantridge develops the portable defibrillator for treating cardiac arrest patients.
Defibrillators
1966
Stephanie Kwolek patents a super-strong plastic called Kevlar.
Kevlar
1966
Robert H. Dennard of IBM invents dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
Computer memory
1967
Japanese company Noritake invents the vacuum fluorescent display (VFD). Vacuum
fluorescent displays
1968
Alfred Y. Cho and John R. Arthur, Jr invent a precise way of making single crystals called
molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).
Molecular beam epitaxy
1969
World's first solar power station opened in France.
Solar cells
Energy
1969
Robert W. Gore develops an ingenious waterproof material called GORE-TEX® by stretching
slippery, nonstick PTFE (Teflon®). GORE-TEX®
1969
Long before computers become portable, Alan Kay imagines building an electronic book, which
he nicknames the Dynabook.
Electronic books
1969
Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith invent the CCD (charge-coupled device): the light-sensitive
chip used in digital cameras, webcams, and other modern optical equipment.
CCDs
Digital cameras
1969
Astronauts walk on the Moon.
Space rockets
1960s
Douglas Engelbart develops the computer mouse.
Computer mouse
1960s
James Russell invents compact discs.
CD players
1971
Electronic ink is pioneered by Nick Sheridon at Xerox PARC. Electronic ink and paper
1971
Ted Hoff builds the first single-chip computer or microprocessor.
History of computers
1973
Martin Cooper develops the first handheld cellphone (mobile phone).
Cellphones
1973
Robert Metcalfe figures out a simple way of linking computers together that he names
Ethernet. Most computers hooked up to the Internet now use it.
Computer networks
Internet
1974 First grocery-store purchase of an item coded with a barcode. Barcodes and
barcode scanners
1975
Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman invent public-key cryptography. Encryption
1975
Pico Electronics develops X-10 home automation system. Smart homes
1976
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs launch the Apple I: one of the world's first personal home
computers
History of computers
1970s– 1980s
James Dyson invents the bagless, cyclonic vacuum cleaner.
Vacuum cleaners
1970s– 1980s
Scientists including Charles Bennett, Paul Benioff, Richard Feynman, and David Deutsch sketch
out how quantum computers might work. Quantum computers
1980s
Japanese electrical pioneer Akio Morita develops the Sony Walkman, the first truly portable
player for recorded music.
CD players
MP3 players
1981
Stung by Apple's success, IBM releases its own affordable personal computer (PC).
History of computers
1981
The Space Shuttle makes its maiden voyage.
Space Shuttle
1981
Patricia Bath develops laser eye surgery for removing cataracts.
Lasers
1981
Fujio Masuoka files a patent for flash memory—a type of reusable computer memory that can
store information even when the power is off. Flash memory
1981– 1982
Alexei Ekimov and Louis E. Brus (independently) discover quantum dots.
Quantum dots
1983
Compact discs (CDs) are launched as a new way to store music by the Sony and Philips
corporations.
CD players
1987
Larry Hornbeck, working at Texas Instruments, develops DLP® projection—now used in many
projection TV systems. DLP® projectors
1989
Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web.
Internet
World Wide Web
1990
German watchmaking company Junghans introduces the MEGA 1, believed to be the world's
first radio-controlled wristwatch.
Radio-controlled clocks
Quartz clocks and watches
1991
Linus Torvalds creates the first version of Linux, a collaboratively written computer operating
system.
Computers
Linux
1994
American-born mathematician John Daugman perfects the mathematics that make iris scanning
systems possible.
Iris scans
1994
Israeli computer scientists Alon Cohen and Lior Haramaty invent VoIP for sending telephone
calls over the Internet.
VoIP
1995
Broadcast.com becomes one of the world's first online radio stations.
Streaming media
1995
Pierre Omidyar launches the eBay auction website.
E-commerce
1996
WRAL-HD broadcasts the first high-definition television (HDTV) signal in the United States.
HDTV
1997
Electronics companies agree to make Wi-Fi a worldwide standard for wireless Internet.
Wireless Internet
21st century
2001 Apple revolutionizes music listening by unveiling its iPod MP3 music player. MP3
players
2001
Richard Palmer develops energy-absorbing D3O plastic.
Energy-absorbing materials
2001
The Wikipedia online encyclopedia is founded by Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales.
Electronic books
2001
Bram Cohen develops BitTorrent file-sharing.
BitTorrent
Internet
2001 Scott White, Nancy Sottos, and colleagues develop self-healing materials. Self-healing
materials
2002
iRobot Corporation releases the first version of its Roomba® vacuum cleaning robot.
Roomba
Robots
2004
Electronic voting plays a major part in a controversial US Presidential Election.
Touchscreens
2004
Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov discover graphene. Graphene
2005
A pioneering low-cost laptop for developing countries called OLPC is announced by MIT
computing pioneer Nicholas Negroponte.
Computers
2007
Amazon.com launches its Kindle electronic book (e-book) reader.
Electronic books
2007
Apple introduces a touchscreen cellphone called the iPhone.
Cellphones
Touchscreens
2010
Apple releases its touchscreen tablet computer, the iPad.
Computers
Touchscreens
2010
3D TV starts to become more widely available.
3D Television
Television
2013
Elon Musk announces "hyperloop"—a giant, pneumatic tube transport system. Pneumatics
Pneumatic transport tube
2015
Supercomputers (the world's fastest computers) are now a mere 30 times less powerful than
human brains. Supercomputers
2016 Three nanotechnologists win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for building miniature
machines out of molecules. Nanotechnology
2019 Google claims to have achieved "quantum supremacy"—with a quantum computer that
calculates faster than a conventional one. Quantum computers
2020 DeepMind, Google/Alphabet's artificial intelligence computer program, cracks the
classic problem of protein folding. Neural networks
