Which inventions have changed the world?

Great inventions have changed our world forever. We show you which groundbreaking inventions have also changed your life.

There are plenty of inventions – in Austria alone, more than 2,400 patents were registered last year. An invention does not have to be revolutionary. For an invention is – according to the definition – a creative

a creative achievement that makes possible a new solution to a problem, i.e. the achievement of a new goal by known means or a known goal by new means or a new goal by new means.

The degree of novelty can differ from invention to invention. There are inventions that go relatively unnoticed by the public. And there are inventions without which the world and our everyday lives would be different today. Some inventions, even very old ones, have created the foundations of our life today.

Many inventions we can place in time and know the inventor or at least the country where they were invented. Often, however, these details have faded into the background and with them the often exciting and bizarre stories surrounding the idea. We have investigated which inventions really changed the world. In this collection, we make no claim to completeness, but rather to interesting details and exciting ideas. The effect of the inventions is also not always the same: some inventions bring about groundbreaking changes in a short time, while other ideas take a little time to catch on.

Small but mighty – the invention is in the detail
If you expected us to start with the really big inventions like the Otto engine, the steam engine, etc., you were wrong. These stories are well known and we have all heard them countless times. No, let’s start with the little things that make our lives easier. The masterminds behind these little aids are often forgotten, quite unjustly we think! cool inventions

Small inventions: The glue, the dowel and the Velcro fastener
The first invention that is taken for granted today is glue. And it was not invented by Mr UHU. The very first glue was made from birch bark thousands of years ago by Stone Age people. The first modern clear synthetic resin glue was invented in 1932 by the pharmacist August Fischer. He discovered that a 40% solution of polyvinyl acetate in acetone/methyl acetate made an excellent adhesive. The clever pharmacist then marketed this adhesive under the UHU brand.

For the do-it-yourselfer, just as useful as the glue is the screw. After the first wooden screws as early as the first century B.C., the first, albeit very expensive, metal screws appeared in Europe in the 15th century. It was not until industrialisation in the 18th century that mass production became possible.

Fittingly, but much later, Arthur Fischer, the maker of Fischer Technik toys, further developed the dowel. Screws that are screwed in spread the dowel, and the “dowel tails” prevent the dowel from turning when the screw is screwed in. Fischer registered his patent on 7 November 1958. This invention contributed significantly to the success of the Fischer company.

The story behind the invention of the Velcro fastener is particularly ingenious. The Swiss technician George de Mestral owes this invention to his curiosity. After a walk with his dog, both walkers were covered in burrs. The Swiss looked at a burdock under the microscope and discovered the small hooks with which the seeds attach themselves. George de Mestral used this principle for the invention of Velcro, which today is indispensable for sneakers, jackets and much more.

The hook of the burdock served as a model for the Velcro fastener (Image: By Christian Fischer, Wikimedia, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0).

The mirco wave – an ingenious coincidence
It is not only popular with the lazy cook: the microwave oven. Its invention was actually about something much more important than heating up meals. During the Second World War, the use and further development of radar was of enormous importance. The American engineer Percy Lebaron Spencer was working on magnetic field tubes to emit microwaves when he “incidentally” had the idea for the microwave oven. The engineer was standing next to a magnetron with a chocolate bar in his hand. You can guess what happened: the bar melted. This is how the inventor found out that the microwaves of the magnetron heated food – an ingenious coincidence!

When we don’t have any fresh food at home or we have to be quick, what do we do? We turn to canned food. Canned food is a great way to keep food fresh for years. But you probably don’t know who invented this technique. It was the French emperor and warlord Napoleon. He needed durable food for his soldiers. If you heat food and put it in an airtight can, it is protected from spoiling. Today’s cans are made of aluminium or tinplate.

Milestones in technology – they changed the world
There is no getting around these inventions – they have changed the world and made technical progress possible. Without inventions, we would probably still be at the level of the Middle Ages, and we’d rather not imagine that.

Joseph Cugnot’s steam wagon was the first self-propelled vehicle in the world.(Image: “Cugnot’s steam wagon, the second (1771) version” by Joe deSousa ) License: CC0 1.0 Universal)

Escaping the Middle Ages through inventions
There is no getting around these inventions – they have changed the world and made technical progress possible. Without inventions, we would probably still be at the level of the Middle Ages, and we’d rather not imagine that. The scholars of the 16th and 17th centuries also saw technical inventions as the reason why the dark times of the Middle Ages came to an end.

They held three inventions in particular responsible for this: the compass made it possible to navigate, discover the world and trade. The printing press, invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440, made texts and thus education accessible to the poorer classes. Gunpowder, the third invention, changed power constellations all over the world.

Revolutionary inventions of the 19th century
One and the same invention, simultaneously in two different countries? Sounds unbelievable, but this fun of history is really true. In 1832, the Briton William Ritchie and the Frenchman Antoine Pixii built the first generator completely independently of each other.

At that time, many physicists were trying to prove laws of nature by means of devices. With the generator, the inventors proved the principle of electromagnetic induction. This means that mechanical energy can be converted into electrical energy by means of a rotating magnet. This invention opened up completely new possibilities for the generation and use of electricity.

An invention that rather outraged and frightened the public was the automobile. Now the hobbyhorse of the Germans, the invention of Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler met with clear rejection at the beginning. Invented in 1886, the automobile aroused public suspicion. Too dangerous, too noisy and too fast, they said, were the motor carriages and motor-driven three-wheelers. If these people only knew how fast today’s cars are – they still wouldn’t be afraid. The history of the automobile cannot be imagined without the invention of the Otto engine by Nikolaus Otto in 1876. Even today, the term “Otto engine” is still in everyday use.

Indispensable inventions for the digital age
The 20th century brought with it inventions that still play a major role in our everyday lives today. Television was invented in this century, and many tinkerers have continued to improve it. The basis lies in the decomposition and reconstruction of images. For image scanning, the Braun tube – hence the term tube television – is used, which makes electrical currents visible. The start of a regulated TV programme was in 1935.

To save himself the trouble of calculating, he developed a machine that did it for him. His Z3 is the first functioning programmable calculator.

The invention of the 20th century par excellence is the computer – developed in 1941 by Konrad Zuse.

This invention marks the beginning of the digital age! But we will discuss these inventions in another list.

Conclusion
Some ideas are very difficult to realise and require a lot of effort from the inventors. As a thank-you, they often face an indignant, uncomprehending public – as with the automobile. Often it is such arduous developments that later become world-famous. Sometimes, however, the story goes quite differently and the basic idea emerges of its own accord – as happened with the Velcro fastener or the microwave oven.
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***