Top 10 Greatest Modern Inventions

We live in a world of rapid technological advancement. Technology rules our everyday lives. With diverse fields of engineering studies and medicine like nuclear physics, relativity, information technology, gadgets and techs, automobiles, power plants, pharmacology, or any medical science field, science movie fiction is slowly becoming a reality. We have our human workforce getting replaced by all of our inventions. A slight concept or a gimmick that worked perfectly fine with the experiments and redesigning of the same mixed together with colossal effort, dedication, study, and coping with failures, gave birth to some great and weird inventions that make us different today.

We, humans, are ingenious groups in this world. From the moment someone rubbed two stones to light a fire or bashed a rock to make the first tool to the development of the Internet and Mars rovers, we have already made some revolutionary advancements in several areas of science and technology. Beginning from a nail or a wheel to a compass and to millions of new things that were never seen or felt before is pure magic with their ability to improve the quality of life and advancement in human lives. Let us look at the top 10 greatest modern inventions.

10. The Printing press

Invented in 1440 by German scientist and engineer Johannes Gutenberg, the printing press is one of the finest modern-day inventions that has dramatically impacted people. However, the concept comes from ancient Chinese inventions. Hand-inked books were regarded as luxurious and of great grandeur and generally could not be afforded by lower-class people at the beginning of the modern era. This wooden blocked machine gave a new and quick way of spreading information to a vast audience at a lower price. Sooner academic institutions utilized it to print books, novels, and plays. Politicians could now then make pamphlets and papers in printed form. However, the printing press is one of the isolated regions of the decline of Latin, as other languages got their fame through different books from the printing press. The classical wooden blocked machine was replaced with movable metals later for more efficiency and durability.

9. The Light Bulb

Thomas Alba Edison’s mastermind guided this fantastic invention that changed the world. With the electrification of the modern world, the light bulb invented in 1879 profoundly changed human life by illuminating the night. The first electric bulb allowed all human lives to be hospitable to many modern-day activities. However, it is assumed that the idea behind the light bulb came from Humphrey Davy in 1800, when he invented an electric battery and connected carbon with wires which glowed and produced an electric arc. Edison improvised the concept of Joseph Wilson Swan and Charles Francis Brush, experimenting with different filaments that could last longer. Edison started with a 40-hour life light bulb and finally made a bulb lasting 1500 hours. The incandescent bulb has been revolutionizing human lives since then.

8. Penicillin

It is one of the most famous accidental inventions of all time. Scottish scientist Fleming who forgot to close the lid of his Petri dish filled with bacteria noticed that the sample got contaminated with a mold and all the bacteria was dead. In 1928, he found the fungus Penicillium, which was purified and developed for fighting bacterial infections in humans without harming the host. Penicillin was widely used and advertised in World War II as it helped service members eliminate different venereal diseases. Penicillin is still used to cure diseases like gonorrhea, pneumonia, syphilis, cellulitis, etc.

7. Camera

I would personally call cameras a time machine. It has helped people capture any moments in history and the present. The invention of the camera is also controversial as it is assumed that Alexander Walcott invented the first camera in 1840, while photographed pictures were seen around 1826 by Joseph Niepce. However, before the camera was made, all events were like he-say-she-say. The improvement in camera technology has helped bring motion pictures which are growing larger every year. Today, we enjoy our collection of images and get time to interact with our past. Imagine the best night you spent or the childhood moments shared in pictures! This is one of the most amazing inventions in this modernized world.

6. Automobile, Airplane

Henry Ford of the USA pioneered the idea of combustion engines to replace wagon wheels and modernize transportation. The automobiles became an interest for rich people, and 425 of the first mass-made automobiles were sold in 1901. Automobiles made transport faster and easier, which helped maintain a good economy. It radically changed city life by expanding the suburbs’ population. It provided a boon for the farmers to carry large loads to move for industries.

Right brothers then had an astounding dream to fly like birds and mitigate the distance, which finally became a reality after their first airplane made a flight. Traveling in the air and floating around the clouds like birds to move from place to place within an instant helped people save precious time. The long and tiring journey that took months could complete in just a few hours. It also became one of the safest means of travel to revolutionize modern travel.

5. Calculator, Telephone, and Smartphone

Blaise Pascal implemented the traditional calculating machine called Abacus into a number-patterned device that he called the ‘Calculator.’ Calculators allowed every person who knew numbers to perform essential addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division during their development. Today modern-day calculators are one of the basic requirements of every student and professional. This mechanical machine gave ideas for analytic and differential engines on which the foundations of modern-day computing are based.

The modernization of modern-day communication started with the invention of the telephone by Graham Bell. It drastically reduced the amount of time it took for communication with letters. It almost took ages for a message to reach a place through letters. The telephone made it instant to share voices in all areas. Mobile phones, invented in 1977, made communication more accessible and comfortable. Improved versions of smartphones are available today due to the ever-advancing technology. Smartphones even provide features of computers, cameras, video recorders, televisions, and music players. Not just that, running WhatsApp for PC shows that the cross-platform boundary also has no limits. Further, smartphones are also cost-effective and handy. Amazingly, almost half the people in the world own a smartphone today.

 

4. Radio, Television, and Internet

The radio is regarded as one of the remarkable inventions of the 20th century. Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi invented the radio in 2001 by sending the first radiotelegraph message from England to Canada. It made one-way communication easier and spread wide over to the world in no time. It became popular because it provided news bulletins, music, as well as game commentary, which still made its presence unaffected by the television, which dazed the world.

Life without television is not imaginable for half the world’s population. Invented in 1926, J.L. Baird made the first television broadcast. Television utilized the concept of radio and gave a visual outlook. Television can be a great source of amusement and knowledge as well as a great way of communication in a real-time visualized way. However, it has also caused several psychiatric disorders as well.

The internet is another finest invention of modern days. It is like the brain at the fingertip. Anything required for work, music, or fun is available online. Exchanging emails, photos, documents, and online conferencing has made communication even faster and more efficient with minimal restrictions. It has made people in rural areas as informed as that in the cities, long-distance people can communicate easily, and studies and fun have reached the acme. It has changed the way we live and if you can prove me wrong, name anything that is as widespread as the internet is.

3. Robots, Artificial Intelligence

What could be more inspiring than Hollywood fiction movies about inventing robots? Robotics has been one of the most researched and worked areas in engineering. Regarded to appear similar to humans with the capability to perform every possible work without anxiety or tiredness is what makes a robot. On the other hand, Artificial technology has already started showing its pathway in modern-day robots. AI is related to making excellent machines that use ultra-technology to perform their tasks. Inspired by the war machines and robots in films like the Terminator, Star Wars, and similar movies, engineers have spent a lot of their time, technology, and budget in creating such intelligence useful for several household purposes, carpentry, fire-fighting, military applications, and even more promising applications like to perform several disaster operations during floods, landslides, bomb diffusions, etc. The UAVs and Drones robots are used to perform home jobs and secure borders by several countries like Japan and the United States. Artificial intelligence also uses robotics to surpass humans’ intelligence, making it faster, more reliable, and more accurate than computers.

2. Banking, Credit Cards

Banking started its development in early renaissance Italy through a bank Monte Dei Paschi Di Siena, in Siena in 1472. Banking has helped people to get loans, deposit their money and gain good interest over the years to uplift their life standards economically. Banking allowed trade and business to flourish in the modern world. With the development of banking and the advancement of human settlement, credit cards evolved into electronic banking. Initially referred to as the ‘Charge-it” program by inventor John Biggins in 1946, it helped transactions between bank customers and merchants. Several hotels and restaurants kept an eye on it and rapidly increased using them as the payment method, for it was difficult and insecure to keep a lot of money with yourself. Credit cards today are widely used as they’ve simplified local and international banking.

1. Electricity

It was in the year 1570 when William Gilbert described the electric effect of Amber and the magnetic effect of lodestone to coin the term “Electricus.” After 200 years, Benjamin Franklin conducted his kite string and critical experiment that first gave an idea about electricity, which is one of the essential daily needs of the modern day. With the invention of cells by Volta and the derivation of different laws regarding electricity, the technology made rapid progress with dc and ac currents that helped transmissions of electricity to run various industries, light homes, etc. Electricity has laid the foundations for several development processes and given ideas for other inventions. Every gadget and most of our daily used appliances require electricity, which keeps it at the top of the list as the best modern-day invention.

Final Conclusion

There is no doubt that the modern-day world has made remarkable innovations in science and engineering, different from its unprecedented rate of scientific discoveries and technological advancements. There are still so many noteworthy inventions that have shown their effect on humankind in various positive and negative ways. Regardless, they significantly influence how this world will unfold over the upcoming generations.