Published in 2010 by Britannica Educational Publishing (a trademark of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.) in association with Rosen Educational Services, LLC 29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010. Copyright © 2010 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, and the Thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Rosen Educational Services materials copyright © 2010 Rosen Educational Services, LLC. All rights reserved. Distributed exclusively by Rosen Educational Services. For a listing of additional Britannica Educational Publishing titles, call toll free (800) 237-9932. First Edition Britannica Educational Publishing Michael I. Levy: Executive Editor Marilyn L. Barton: Senior Coordinator, Production Control Steven Bosco: Director, Editorial Technologies Lisa S. Braucher: Senior Producer and Data Editor Yvette Charboneau: Senior Copy Editor Kathy Nakamura: Manager, Media Acquisition Robert Curley: Manager, Science and Technology Rosen Educational Services Jeanne Nagle: Senior Editor Nelson Sá: Art Director Matthew Cauli: Designer Introduction by Jeri Freedman Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Britannica guide to inventions that changed the modern world / edited by Robert Curley.—1st ed. p. cm.—Turning points in history) “In association with Britannica Educational Publishing, Rosen Educational Services.” ISBN 978-1-61530-064-8 (eBook) 1. Inventions—History. 2. Technology—History. I. Curley, Robert, 1955– II. Title: Guide to inventions that changed the modern world. T15.B6827 2010 609—dc22 2009037539 On the cover: Wind turbines, like these near Palm Springs, Calif., are just one of several inventions that have changed energy generation and consumption around the world. David McNew/Getty Images CONTENTS Introduction 12 Chapter 1: Communication 21 Cuneiform 21 Origins in Sumaria 21 Akkadian Cuneiform 23 The Papyrus Scroll 25 In Ancient Egypt 25 In Ancient Greece 27 The Papyrus Plant 28 The Greek and Latin Alphabets 29 The Greek Alphabet 29 The Latin Alphabet 32 Parchment and Vellum 34 The Codex 36 Paper 37 The Printing Press 40 56 Origins in China 40 Reinvention in Europe 42 The Gutenberg Bible 44 Photography 46 Antecedents 47 Heliography 48 Daguerreotype 49 George Eastman 50 The Telegraph 51 Preelectric Telegraph Systems 51 The Morse System 52 The Telephone 54 Early Sound Transmitters 55 Gray and Bell: The Transmission of Speech 56 The AT&T Desk Phone 61 The Phonograph 62 Edison’s Phonograph 63 60 The Graphophone and Gramophone 63 65 The Race to Market 64 Coin Slots and Home Phonographs 66 Motion Pictures 68 Sequential Photographs 68 Edison’s Kinetograph and Kinetoscope 69 The Cinématographe 71 Radio 72 Hertz: Radio-Wave Experiments 72 Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph 73 The Fleming Diode and De Forest Audion 74 Transmission of Speech 75 Television 76 Mechanical Systems 76 Electronic Systems 79 Philo Farnsworth 81 The Transistor 82 Motivation and Early Radar Research 83 Innovation at Bell Labs 84 The Communications Satellite 87 The Personal Computer 90 The Apple II 94 The Internet 95 Virtual Communities 96 Chapter 2: Transportation 102 The Wheeled Chariot 102 Sailing Ships 104 From Rowed Vessels to Sails 104 Types of Sails 106 The Chinese Junk 108 The Compass 109 111 The Steamboat 113 Fulton’s Steamboat 114 136 The Railroad 116 The Plateway 117 The Stockton and Darlington Railway 117 The Liverpool and Manchester Railway 119 The Rocket 120 The Bicycle 121 From Velocipedes to Boneshakers 121 The Penny-Farthing 122 The Safety Bicycle 123 The Automobile 124 The Four-Stroke Gasoline Engine 125 Karl Benz 126 Gottlieb Daimler 127 The Airplane 128 Early Experiments 129 The Wright Brothers 130 The Wright Flyer of 1903 131 156 The Space Launcher 133 Tsiolkovsky, Goddard, and Oberth 134 From the V-2 to the ICBM 135 The First “All-Civilian” System 137 The Jetliner 137 GPS 141 Chapter 3: Power and Energy 144 Controlled Fire 144 The Water Wheel 146 The Noria 148 The Windmill 149 The Steam Engine 153 Thomas Newcomen 156 The Electric Battery 158 Galvani and Volta 158 Applications in Chemistry and Physics 160 The Electric Generator and Motor 161 The Incandescent Lightbulb 163 The Fluorescent Light 165 The Steam Turbine 167 Early Precursors 167 Modern Steam Turbines 168 The Gasoline Engine 170 The Jet Engine 173 Whittle, von Ohain, and the First Jet Aircraft 175 The Nuclear Reactor 178 The Laser 180 The Wind Turbine 184 165 The Solar Cell 187 The Fuel Cell 190 Chapter 4: Building 205 Construction and Civil Engineering 192 The Arch 192 Origins in the Post and Lintel 193 Development of the Arch 194 The Vault 195 Brick 196 Dams 198 The Romans 198 Early Dams of East Asia 199 The 15th to the 18th Century in Europe 200 The Aqueduct 201 The Roman Dome 204 The Pantheon 205 Plumbing 207 The Paved Road 209 215 Pierre-Marie-Jérôme Trésaguet 210 Thomas Telford 210 John Loudon McAdam 211 Reinforced Concrete 212 The Suspension Bridge 214 Dynamite 216 The Skyscraper 219 The Glass Curtain Wall 220 William Le Baron Jenney 224 The Elevator 225 Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning 227 Chapter 5: Medical Milestones 231 The Smallpox Vaccine 231 Edward Jenner and James Phipps 233 General Anesthesia 235 Pasteurization 237 247 X-ray Imaging 239 Ultrasound 240 Insulin 242 Antibiotics 244 Blood Transfusion 246 Charles Drew 248 Polio Vaccine 250 The Birth Control Pill 253 Heart Transplantation 256 The Artifical Heart 258 Genetic Engineering 262 Cloning 264 Early Cloning Experiments 265 Reproductive Cloning 266 A Sheep Named Dolly 268 Therapeutic Cloning 269 Chapter 6: Military Technology 272 The Spear 272 The Bow and Arrow 273 The Early Bow 274 The Crossbow 275 Arrows 277 Gunpowder 278 Rifled Muzzle-Loaders 280 Early Rifling 280 Minié Rifles 281 The Submarine 284 David Bushnell’s Turtle 285 The Machine Gun 288 Recoil 288 Gas Operation 290 Blowback 290 The Assault Rifle 291 309 The Tank 294 The Ballistic Missile 298 The V-2 298 The First ICBMs 300 The Titan 1 and Titan II 301 Nuclear Weapons 303 The First Atomic Bombs 303 The First Hydrogen Bombs 310 Chapter 7: Observation and Measurement 314 The Gregorian Calendar 314 The Clock 317 The Watch 319 The Telescope 322 The Hale Telescope 323 The Microscope 325 Radar 328 The Atomic Clock 331 318 Chapter 8: Agriculture and Industry 334 326 Bronze 334 Iron 337 The Plowshare 340 The Power Loom 344 The Basic Weaving Process 344 Automated and Power-Driven Looms 345 Canning 346 Refrigeration 348 Steel 350 The Bessemer Converter 352 Aluminum 354 Early Laboratory Extraction 354 Electrolytic Production 355 Sheet and Plate Glass 356 Rayon 359 Bakelite 361 Leo Baekeland 363 The Combine Harvester 364 Industrial Robots 366 Fullerenes 367 Glossary 371 For Further Reading 373 Index 375 341 Introduction 7 Introduction 7 he history of the human race can conceivably be T called the story of innovation. Since time immemorial, inventions have served as a demarcation of civilization’s advance. As humans have evolved, so, too, have the products of their ingenuity. From one of the first (fire) to several of the latest (the Internet, the fuel cell, genetic engineering), this book examines the inventions that have changed the world. The creation of revolutionary products or practices has no timetable. Great minds give birth to innovations as inspiration hits, necessity requires, or happenstance would have it. However, there have been a number of specifically fruitful periods of invention throughout history. The Renaissance, for instance, was a period of great intellectual exploration, an era of innovation in the arts, philosophy, medicine, engineering, and science. Inventions of the Renaissance include the printing press and movable type. It was also at this time that Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) drew the first plans for a flying machine, a precursor to planes and jets that would be devised and developed cen- turies later. The Industrial Revolution, which dates from the late 18th century through the early 19th century, was the great age of mechanization, characterized by the invention of machines for automating processes in manufacturing, mining, and agriculture. Automation made possible the creation of factories to mass-produce goods. Such goods could be sold at lower prices, which allowed ordinary people access to products they previously could not afford. Advances in transportation also allowed merchants to offer their goods and services over greater distances. Inventions within this timeframe include the power loom, the combine harvester, and the steam turbine, which powered the steamboats and train engines that delivered merchandise across countries and around the globe. 13 The Britannica Guide to Inventions 7 That Changed the Modern World 7 The Information Age, begun in the 20th century and bridging into the 21st, has changed the way people process information, conduct business, and communicate in general. It has had its share of important inventions as well. The computer, the cell phone, and the Internet have created the “Information Superhighway,” where information on anything is available instantaneously, and it is possible to be in contact with anyone at any time, anywhere in the world. An argument can be made that the Information Age could be extended to include inventions such as the telephone, the telegraph, the radio, and television—all of which made the dissemination of information more efficient and effective. This book details all of these inventions and more. What sets the included innovations apart and makes them noteworthy are the implications of their creation on cultures throughout the world. These are no flash-in-the- pan, fad items. Each profiled invention has had a potent and long-lasting impact on the way people live, work, and play—even their very survival. Energy is required to create products, heat homes, power equipment, and fuel a vast array of human activi- ties. The earliest form of energy that changed the world was fire—or, more accurately, the ability to control the use of fire.