Just two decades ago, people could not even dream of such a level of technological development as exists today. Today, it takes only half a day to fly halfway around the globe, modern smartphones are 60,000 times lighter and thousands of times more productive than the first computers, today agricultural productivity and life expectancy are higher than ever in human history. Let's try to figure out which inventions became the most important and, in fact, changed the history of mankind.
1. Cyanide
Although cyanide seems controversial enough to be included on this list, the chemical has played an important role in human history. While the gaseous form of cyanide has been responsible for the deaths of millions of people, it is the substance that is the main factor in the extraction of gold and silver from ore. Since the world economy was tied to the gold standard, cyanide was an important factor in the development of international trade.
2. Airplane
Today, no one doubts that the invention of the "metal bird" had one of the greatest impacts on human history by radically reducing the time required to transport goods or people. The invention of the Wright brothers was enthusiastically received by the public.
3. Anesthesia
Before 1846, any surgical procedure was more like some kind of painful torture. Although anesthetics have been used for thousands of years, their earliest forms were alcohol or mandrake extract. The invention of modern anesthesia in the form of nitrous oxide and ether allowed doctors to calmly operate on patients without the slightest resistance on their part (after all, the patients did not feel anything).
4. Radio
The origins of radio history are highly controversial. Many claim that its inventor was Guglielmo Marconi. Others claim that it was Nikola Tesla. In any case, these two people did a lot to enable people to successfully transmit information through radio waves.
5. Telephone
The telephone has been one of the most important inventions in our modern world. As with all major inventions, who was the inventor is still debated. What is clear is that the US Patent Office issued the first telephone patent to Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. This patent served as the basis for future research and development of electronic sound transmission over long distances.
6. World Wide Web
Although everyone thinks of it as a completely recent invention, the Internet existed in an archaic form in 1969 when the United States military developed the ARPANET. But the Internet came into existence in its relatively modern form only thanks to Tim Berners-Lee, who created a network of hyperlinks to documents at the University of Illinois and created the first World Wide Web browser.
7. Transistor
Today it seems very easy to pick up the phone and call someone in Mali, the US or India, but this would not be possible without transistors. Semiconductor transistors, which amplify electrical signals, have made it possible to send information over long distances. The man who pioneered this research, William Shockley, is credited with creating Silicon Valley.
8. Atomic clock
Although this invention may not seem as revolutionary as many of the previous items, the invention of the atomic clock was crucial in the advancement of science. Using microwave signals emitted by changing energy levels of electrons, atomic clocks and their accuracy have made possible a wide range of modern modern inventions, including GPS, GLONASS, as well as the Internet.
9. Steam turbine
Charles Parsons' steam turbine literally changed the development of mankind, giving impetus to the industrialization of countries and making it possible for ships to quickly overcome the ocean. In 1996 alone, 90% of the electricity in the United States was generated by steam turbines.
10. Plastic
Despite the widespread use of plastic in our modern society, it only appeared in the last century. The waterproof and highly pliable material is used in virtually every industry, from food packaging to toys and even spacecraft. Although most modern plastics are made from petroleum, there are growing calls to return to the original version, which was partly organic.
11. Television
Television has had a long and storied history that dates back to the 1920s and continues to this day. This invention has become one of the most popular consumer products around the world - almost 80% of households own a television.
12. Oil
Most people don't think at all when they fill up their car's tank. Although people have been extracting oil for thousands of years, the modern oil and gas industry emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century. After industrialists saw all the benefits of oil products and the amount of energy generated by burning them, they raced to make wells for the extraction of “liquid gold.”
13. Internal combustion engine
Without the discovery of the efficiency of combustion of petroleum products, the modern internal combustion engine would have been impossible. Considering that it began to be used literally in everything from cars to agricultural combines and mining machines, these engines allowed people to replace backbreaking, painstaking and time-consuming work with machines that could do the work much faster. The internal combustion engine also gave people freedom of movement as it was used in cars.
14. Reinforced concrete
The boom in the construction of high-rise buildings only occurred in the mid-nineteenth century. By embedding steel reinforcing bars (rebar) into concrete before pouring it, people were able to build reinforced concrete man-made structures that were many times larger in weight and size than before.
There would be far fewer people living on planet Earth today if there were no penicillin. Officially discovered by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming in 1928, penicillin was one of the most important inventions/discoveries that made the modern world possible. Antibiotics were among the first drugs that were able to fight staphylococci, syphilis and tuberculosis.
16. Refrigerator
Harnessing heat was perhaps the most important discovery to date, but it took many millennia. Although people have long used ice for cooling, its practicality and availability were limited. In the nineteenth century, scientists invented artificial refrigeration using chemicals. By the early 1900s, almost every meat packing plant and major food distributor was using refrigeration to preserve food.
17. Pasteurization
Half a century before the discovery of penicillin, many lives were saved by a new process discovered by Louis Pasteur—pasteurization, or heating foods (originally beer, wine, and dairy products) to a temperature high enough to kill most spoilage bacteria. Unlike sterilization, which kills all bacteria, pasteurization only reduces the number of potential pathogens to a level that makes most foods safe to eat without risk of contamination, while still maintaining the flavor of the food.
18. Solar battery
Just as the oil industry sparked a boom in industry as a whole, the invention of the solar cell allowed people to use a renewable form of energy in a much more efficient way. The first practical solar cell was developed in 1954 by Bell Telephone scientists, and today the popularity and efficiency of solar cells has increased dramatically.
19. Microprocessor
Today people would have to forget about their laptop and smartphone if the microprocessor had not been invented. One of the most widely known supercomputers, ENIAC, was built in 1946 and weighed 27,215 tons. Intel engineer Ted Hoff created the first microprocessor in 1971, packing all the functions of a supercomputer into one tiny chip, making portable computers possible.
20. Laser
The stimulated emission amplifier, or laser, was invented in 1960 by Theodore Maiman. Modern lasers are used in a variety of inventions, including laser cutters, barcode scanners, and surgical equipment.
21. Nitrogen fixation
Although it may seem overly pompous, nitrogen fixation, or the fixation of molecular atmospheric nitrogen, is "responsible" for the explosion of the human population. By converting atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, it became possible to produce highly effective fertilizers, which increased agricultural production.
22. Conveyor
Today it is difficult to overestimate the importance of assembly lines. Before their invention, all products were made by hand. The assembly line, or assembly line, allowed the development of large-scale production of identical parts, greatly reducing the time it took to create a new product.
23. Oral contraceptives
Although tablets and pills have been one of the main methods of medicine that have existed for thousands of years, the invention of the oral contraceptive was one of the most significant innovations. It was this invention that became the impetus for the sexual revolution.
24. Mobile phone/smartphone
Now many people are probably reading this article from a smartphone. For this we must thank Motorola, which back in 1973 released the first wireless pocket mobile phone, which weighed as much as 2 kg and required as much as 10 hours to recharge. To make matters worse, at that time you could only chat quietly for 30 minutes.
25. Electricity
Most modern inventions would simply not be possible without electricity. Pioneers such as William Gilbert and Benjamin Franklin laid the initial foundation on which inventors such as Volt and Faraday began the Second Industrial Revolution.
Popov, Mendeleev, Mozhaisky, Lobachevsky, Korolev, Nartov - we have known all these names since childhood. The contribution of our compatriots to the development of world science and technology is truly great. Today we decided to tell you about some revolutionary discoveries and inventions of Russian scientists who changed the world for the better!
The applied scientific discipline, which became the theoretical basis for operative surgery, was introduced by the Russian surgeon, naturalist and teacher Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov.
In the 1840s, as head of the department of surgery at the Medical-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg, Pirogov studied the surgical methods used in those years. Thanks to his research, he radically changed a number of surgical methods and even developed several completely new ones. One of the surgical techniques today bears the name of Pirogov - “Pirogov’s Operation.”
In search of the most effective method of training surgeons, Pirogov began to use anatomical studies on frozen corpses. It was thanks to these studies that a new medical discipline was born - topographic anatomy. A few years later, Pirogov published the world's first anatomical atlas.
Periodic law and periodic table of chemical elements
In March 1869, at a meeting of the Russian Chemical Society, a report by the Russian encyclopedist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev was published: “The relationship between properties and the atomic weight of elements.” This report gave birth to the periodic table of chemical elements, which each of us remembers from school.
The revolutionary nature of Mendeleev's discovery lay in the fact that the place of an element in the periodic table was determined by the comparison of the totality of its properties with the properties of other elements. Mendeleev's periodic law gave scientists an understanding of a pattern that allows them not only to determine the place of chemical elements in a system, but also to predict the existence of new elements and even give them characteristics.
The discovery of the periodic law prompted researchers to study the structure of the atom.
Monument to D. Mendeleev in Bratislava. Photo: Guillaume Speurt
Russian biologist Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov devoted years of his life to research in the field of epidemiology of cholera, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.
In 1882, Mechnikov was one of the first in the world to discover the property of some blood cells (in particular, leukocytes) to dissolve foreign objects. Based on this discovery, the scientist developed the comparative pathology of inflammation and, subsequently, the phagocytic theory of immunity, which brought him worldwide recognition and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1908.
In addition, Mechnikov is one of the founders of evolutionary embryology.
Image: Wellcome Images
The founder of aerodynamics as a science is considered to be the Russian mechanic Nikolai Egorovich Zhukovsky.
In 1904, Zhukovsky discovered a law that allows one to determine the lifting force of an airplane wing, and then developed the vortex theory of a propeller. His report “On attached vortices” became a kind of impetus for the development of methods for determining the lifting force of an airplane wing.
Later, Zhukovsky headed the aerodynamic laboratory at the Moscow Higher Technical School and founded the Aeronautical Circle, whose members subsequently became such prominent aircraft designers and figures in Russian aviation as V.P. Vetchinkin, B.S. Stechkin, A.A. Arkhangelsky, G.M. Musinyants, B.N. Yuryev and others.
Photo: NASA
We owe the modern method of measuring blood pressure to a Russian doctor, employee of the Imperial Military Medical Academy, Nikolai Sergeevich Korotkov.
Saving the lives of wounded officers during the Russo-Japanese War, Korotkov was the first in world medical practice to use the sound method of measuring pressure. Previously, it was common to measure pressure using a device based on a mercury manometer. Korotkov noticed that by listening to blood vessels using a phonendoscope, it is possible to record sounds that alternate depending on the compression and loosening of the cuff of the device on the patient’s limb. This discovery allowed doctors to take readings using a revolutionary sound method.
By the way, the specific sounds that the doctor listens to and records when measuring blood pressure are called “Korotkoff sounds.”
Photo: jasleen_kaur
The discovery of “stem cells” and methods of using them for medical purposes was a truly revolutionary breakthrough in medicine. The rejuvenating and healing effect that these cells have on the body can safely be called miraculous.
Today, the phrase “stem cell” is familiar to many, but few people know that this term was proposed for widespread use by the Russian histologist Alexander Aleksandrovich Maksimov back in 1909. Maksimov not only introduced the term, but also described hematopoietic stem cells and proved their existence.
Thanks to this discovery, Maksimov became a pioneer in the field of cell biology and set this science a certain vector of development for many years, right up to the present day. Maksimov's works are considered world scientific classics.
Professor of the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology Boris Lvovich Rosing is rightfully considered one of the inventors of television.
The fact is that back in 1907, Rosing received a patent for the “Method of electrically transmitting images over distances,” which he invented. The scientist proved the possibility of converting an electrical signal into visible image points using a cathode ray tube.
Rosing did not limit himself to the theoretical part. A few years later, at a meeting of the Russian Technical Society, he was the first in the world to demonstrate the transmission, reception and reproduction of images of static geometric figures on a CRT screen.
Photo: Stephen Coles
Georgiy Gamow's research is often called the beginning of Big Bang cosmology. His “hot universe” model considers the evolution of the universe to begin with a phase of dense hot plasma consisting of protons, electrons and photons. Nuclear reactions occurred in this hot, dense substance, favoring the synthesis of light chemical elements.
In his theory, Gamow predicted the existence of a cosmic background radiation, which, according to his calculations, should have existed along with hot matter at the dawn of the Universe.
Image: J.Emerson
Talented Russian scientists are directly involved in the development and creation of a prototype of another revolutionary technology - an optical quantum generator, or laser.
The first prototype of a modern laser, called a “maser,” was created in the 1950s by Soviet scientists Nikolai Gennadievich Basov and Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov. Around the same years, American physicist Charles Townes was also developing a similar technology.
It is noteworthy that in 1964, all three developers - Basov, Prokhorov and Townes - received the Nobel Prize "for their seminal work in the field of quantum electronics, which made it possible to create oscillators and amplifiers based on the principle of the maser and laser."
Photo: Nikos Koutoulas
In conclusion, I would like to remind readers about one more thing - a little less significant from the point of view of world science, but certainly important and loved by millions of people - a Russian invention.
In 1985, Soviet programmer Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov invented the most famous and popular computer game in the world - Tetris.
Tetris first appeared on the Elektronika-60 microcomputer. At that time, Alexey Pajitnov was studying artificial intelligence and speech recognition. In his research, he used puzzles, in particular, the so-called “pentamino” - a puzzle in which figures consisting of five squares connected by sides must be placed into one rectangle.
Pajitnov automated the process of assembling the puzzle and transferred it to a computer, slightly modernizing it taking into account the computing power of the existing equipment. This is how “tetromino” appeared - the older brother of “Tetris”. Then the main idea of the game was born: falling figures form rows of rectangles, which subsequently disappear from the screen. Very soon the game became popular not only in Moscow, but throughout the world.
Photo: Aldo Gonzalez
We live in unique times! It only takes half a day to fly halfway around the Earth, our super-powerful smartphones are 60,000 times lighter than the original computers, and today's agricultural production and life expectancy are the highest in human history!
We owe these enormous achievements to a small number of great minds - scientists, inventors and artisans who conceived and developed the products and machines on which the modern world is built. Without these people and their incredible inventions, we would go to bed at sunset and be stuck in a time before cars and telephones.
In this list, we will talk about the most important and decisive recent inventions, their history and significance in the development of mankind. Can you guess which inventions we'll be talking about?
From methods for sanitizing food and making food safer, to a toxic gas that helped form the basis of international trade, to an invention that led to the sexual revolution and liberated people, each of these creations had a direct impact on people's lives. Find out about 25 outstanding inventions that changed our world!
25. Cyanide
While cyanide is a rather grim way to start this list, this chemical has played an important role in human history. While its gaseous form has caused the death of millions of people, cyanide serves as the main factor in extracting gold and silver from ore. And since the world economy was tied to the gold standard, cyanide served and continues to be an important factor in the development of international trade.
24. Airplane
There is no doubt in anyone's mind that the invention of the "iron bird" had one of the greatest influences on human history.
Radically reducing the time needed to transport people and cargo, the airplane was invented by the Wright brothers, who built on the work of previous inventors such as George Cayley and Otto Lilienthal.
Their invention was readily accepted by a significant part of society, after which the “golden age” of aviation began.
23. Anesthesia
Before 1846, there was little difference between surgical procedures and painful experimental torture.
Anesthetics have been used for thousands of years, although their early forms were much simplified versions, such as alcohol or mandrake extract.
The invention of modern anesthesia in the form of nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”) and ether allowed doctors to perform operations without fear of causing pain to patients. (Bonus fact: Cocaine is said to have become the first effective form of local anesthesia after it was used in eye surgery in 1884.)
22. Radio
The history of the invention of radio is not so clear: some claim that it was invented by Guglielmo Marconi, others insist that it was Nikola Tesla. In any case, these two men relied on the work of many famous predecessors before successfully transmitting information via radio waves.
And while this is commonplace today, try to imagine telling someone in 1896 that you could transmit information through the air. You would be mistaken for insane or possessed by demons!
21. Telephone
The telephone has become one of the most important inventions of the modern world. As with most great inventions, its inventor and the people who made significant contributions to its creation are hotly debated and debated to this day.
The only thing that is known for certain is that the first patent for a telephone was issued by the US Patent Office to Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. This patent served as the basis for further research and development of electronic sound transmission over long distances.
20. "World Wide Web, or WWW
Although most of us assume that this invention is recent, the Internet has actually existed in its outdated form since 1969, when the US military developed the ARPANET (Advanced Research Project Agency Network).
The first message that was planned to be sent over the Internet - "log in" ("log in") - crashed the system, so only "lo" could be sent. The World Wide Web as we know it today began when Tim Berners-Lee created the hypertext document network and the University of Illinois created the first Mosaic browser.
19. Transistor
It seems like there's nothing easier than picking up the phone and contacting someone in Bali, India or Iceland, but it wouldn't work without a transistor.
Thanks to this semiconductor triode, which amplifies electrical signals, it became possible to transmit information over vast distances. The man who co-invented the transistor, William Shockley, founded the laboratory that pioneered the creation of Silicon Valley.
18. Quantum clocks
While it may not seem as revolutionary as many of the things listed previously, the invention of quantum (atomic) clocks was crucial to the development of humanity.
Using microwave signals emitted by the changing energy levels of electrons, quantum clocks and their precision have made possible a wide range of modern inventions, including GPS, GLONASS and the Internet.
17. Steam turbine
Charles Parsons' steam turbine pushed the boundaries of human technological progress, powering industrialized nations and enabling ships to cross vast oceans.
The engines operate by rotating a shaft using compressed water steam, which generates electricity - one of the main differences between a steam turbine and a steam engine, which revolutionized the industry. In 1996 alone, 90% of all electricity generated in the United States was generated by steam turbines.
16. Plastic
Despite its widespread use in modern society, plastic is a relatively recent invention, appearing only over a hundred years ago.
This moisture-resistant and incredibly pliable material is used in almost every industry - from food packaging to toy production and even spacecraft.
Although most modern plastics are made from petroleum, there are growing calls for a return to the original version, which was partly natural and organic.
15. Television
Television has a long and storied history that began in the 1920s and is still evolving today, through to the advent of modern capabilities such as DVDs and plasma panels.
One of the most popular consumer products around the world (nearly 80% of households have at least one television), this invention was the cumulative result of numerous previous ones, resulting in a product that became a major influencer of public opinion in the mid-20th century.
14. Oil
Most of us don't think twice about filling up our car's gas tank. Although humanity has been producing oil for thousands of years, the modern gas and oil industry began its development in the second half of the 19th century - after modern streetlights appeared on the streets.
Having appreciated the enormous amount of energy that is generated by burning oil, industrialists rushed to build wells to extract “liquid gold.”
13. Internal combustion engine
Without productive oil, there would be no modern internal combustion engine.
Used in many areas of human activity - from cars to agricultural combines and excavators - internal combustion engines make it possible to replace people with machines that can perform back-breaking, painstaking and time-consuming work in a matter of time.
Also, thanks to these engines, people gained freedom of movement, as they were used in the original self-propelled vehicles (cars).
12. Reinforced concrete
Before the advent of reinforced concrete in the mid-19th century, humanity could safely erect buildings only up to a certain height.
Embedding steel reinforcing bars before pouring concrete strengthens it so that man-made structures can now support much more weight, allowing us to build larger and taller buildings and structures than ever before.
11. Penicillin
There would be far fewer people on our planet today if it were not for penicillin.
Officially discovered by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming in 1928, penicillin was one of the most significant inventions (or discoveries, to a large extent) that made our modern world possible.
Antibiotics were among the first drugs that could properly treat staphylococcus, syphilis and tuberculosis.
10. Cooling
Taming fire was perhaps humanity's most important discovery to date, but it would take millennia until we tamed cold.
Although humanity has long used ice for cooling, its practicality and availability have been limited for some time. In the 19th century, humanity made significant progress in its development after scientists invented artificial cooling using chemical elements that absorb heat.
By the early 1900s, nearly every meatpacking plant and large wholesaler used refrigeration to store food.
9. Pasteurization
Helping to save many lives half a century before the discovery of penicillin, Louis Pasteur invented the process of pasteurizing, or heating foods (originally beer, wine and dairy products) to a temperature high enough to kill most bacteria that cause putrefaction.
Unlike sterilization, which kills all bacteria, pasteurization, while preserving the taste of the product, reduces the number of potential pathogens only, reducing it to a level at which they are not capable of causing harm to health.
8. Solar battery
Just as oil fueled industry, the invention of the solar cell has allowed us to use renewable energy in a much more efficient way.
The first practical solar battery was developed in 1954 by specialists from the Bell Telephone laboratory based on silicon. Over the years, the efficiency of solar panels has increased dramatically along with their popularity.
7. Microprocessor
If the microprocessor had not been invented, we would never have known about laptops and smartphones.
One of the most widely known supercomputers, ENIAC, was created in 1946 and weighed 27,215 kg. Intel electronics engineer and global hero Ted Hoff developed the first microprocessor in 1971, packing the functions of a supercomputer into one small chip, making portable computers possible.
6. Laser
An acronym for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation", the laser was invented in 1960 by Theodore Maiman. The amplified light is anchored through spatial coherence, allowing the light to remain focused and concentrated over long distances.
In today's world, lasers are used almost everywhere, including laser cutting machines, barcode scanners and surgical equipment.
5. Nitrogen fixation (nitrogen fixation)
Although the term may seem overly scientific, nitrogen fixation is actually responsible for the dramatic increase in human population on Earth.
By converting atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, we have learned to produce highly effective fertilizers, which have made it possible to increase production on the same plots of land, significantly improving our agricultural products.
4. Assembly line
The impact of commonplace inventions in their time is rarely remembered, but the importance of the assembly line cannot be overstated.
Before his invention, all products were painstakingly made by hand. The assembly line made it possible to create mass production of identical components, significantly reducing the time to manufacture a new product.
3. Birth control pill
Although pills and tablets have been one of the main methods of taking medicine for thousands of years, the invention of the birth control pill was the most revolutionary of them all.
Approved for use in 1960 and now taken by more than 100 million women worldwide, this combined oral contraceptive was a major impetus for the sexual revolution and changed the conversation about fertility, largely shifting the responsibility of choice from men to women.
2. Mobile phone/smartphone
Chances are, you're reading or viewing this list on your smartphone right now.
Although the first widely known smartphone was the iPhone, which hit the market in 2007, we have Motorola, its “ancient” predecessor, to thank for that. In 1973, it was this company that released the first wireless pocket mobile phone, which weighed 2 kilograms and charged for 10 hours. To make matters worse, you could talk on it for only 30 minutes before the battery needed charging again.
1. Electricity
Most of the modern inventions on this list would not be even remotely possible if it were not for the greatest of them all: electricity. While some might think that the Internet or the airplane should top this list, both of these inventions have electricity to thank.
William Gilbert and Benjamin Franklin were the pioneers who laid the original foundation on which great minds such as Alessandro Volta, Michael Faraday and others built, sparking the Second Industrial Revolution and discovering era of lighting and power supply.
At all times, Russia has had enough inventors whose creations have been widely used throughout the world. It’s easier to just list our scientists and inventions and discoveries: Lomonosov, Kulibin, Mendeleev, Tsiolkovsky, Vernadsky, Pirogov, Mechnikov, Timiryazev, Pavlov, Zhukovsky, Kapitsa, Sechenov, Jacobi, Lodygin, Yablochkov, Zvorykin, Vavilov, Zelinsky, Lobachevsky, Dolivo-Dobrovolsky, Tamm, Tupolev, Polikarpov, Popov, Antonov, Chaplygin, Landau, Sikorsky, Chizhevsky, Kabalevsky, S. Kovalevskaya and many, many others. Such was the supposedly “bast-footed”, “backward”, “illiterate” Russian Empire, which learned and educated these wonderful scientists and engineers - the pride of all mankind.Let's remember some of the inventions of Russian inventors who helped make technical progress not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders.
Electrotype
We so often come across products that look like metal, but are actually made of plastic and only covered with a layer of metal, that we have stopped noticing them. There are also metal products coated with a layer of another metal - for example, nickel. And there are metal products that are actually a copy of a non-metallic base. We owe all these miracles to the genius of physics Boris Jacobi - by the way, the older brother of the great German mathematician Carl Gustav Jacobi. Jacobi's passion for physics resulted in the creation of the world's first electric motor with direct shaft rotation, but one of his most important discoveries was electroplating - the process of depositing metal on a mold, allowing the creation of perfect copies of the original object. In this way, for example, sculptures were created on the naves of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Galvanoplasty can be used even at home. The electroforming method and its derivatives have found numerous applications. With its help, everything has not been done and is still not being done, right down to the cliché of state banks. Jacobi received the Demidov Prize for this discovery in Russia, and a large gold medal in Paris. Possibly also made using this same method.
Electric car
In the last third of the 19th century, the world was gripped by a form of electrical fever. That's why electric cars were made by everyone. This was the golden age of electric cars. The cities were smaller, and a range of 60 km on a single charge was quite acceptable. One of the enthusiasts was engineer Ippolit Romanov, who by 1899 had created several models of electric cabs. But that’s not even the main thing. Romanov invented and created in metal an electric omnibus for 17 passengers, developed a scheme of city routes for these ancestors of modern trolleybuses and received permission to work. True, at your own personal commercial peril and risk. The inventor was unable to find the required amount, to the great joy of his competitors - owners of horse-drawn horses and numerous cab drivers. However, the working electric omnibus aroused great interest among other inventors and remained in the history of technology as an invention killed by the municipal bureaucracy.
Pipeline transport
It is difficult to say what is considered the first real pipeline. One can recall the proposal of Dmitry Mendeleev, dating back to 1863, when he proposed to deliver oil from the production sites to the seaport at the Baku oil fields not in barrels, but through pipes. Mendeleev's proposal was not accepted, and two years later the first pipeline was built by the Americans in Pennsylvania. As always, when something is done abroad, they begin to do it in Russia. Or at least allocate money. In 1877, Alexander Bari and his assistant Vladimir Shukhov again came up with the idea of pipeline transport, already relying on American experience and again on the authority of Mendeleev. As a result, Shukhov built the first oil pipeline in Russia in 1878, proving the convenience and practicality of pipeline transport. The example of Baku, which was then one of the two leaders in world oil production, became infectious, and “getting on the pipe” became the dream of any enterprising person. In the photo: a view of a three-furnace cube. Baku, 1887.
Arc welding
Nikolai Benardos comes from Novorossiysk Greeks who lived on the Black Sea coast. He is the author of more than a hundred inventions, but he went down in history thanks to the electric arc welding of metals, which he patented in 1882 in Germany, France, Russia, Italy, England, the USA and other countries, calling his method “electrohephaestus”. Benardos's method spread across the planet like wildfire. Instead of fiddling with rivets and bolts, it was enough to simply weld pieces of metal. However, it took about half a century for welding to finally take a dominant position among installation methods. A seemingly simple method is to create an electric arc between a consumable electrode in the welder’s hands and the pieces of metal that need to be welded. But the solution is elegant. True, it did not help the inventor meet old age with dignity; he died in poverty in 1905 in an almshouse.
Multi-engine aircraft "Ilya Muromets"
It’s hard to believe now, but just over a hundred years ago it was believed that a multi-engine aircraft would be extremely difficult and dangerous to fly. The absurdity of these statements was proved by Igor Sikorsky, who in the summer of 1913 took into the air a twin-engine aircraft called Le Grand, and then its four-engine version, the Russian Knight. On February 12, 1914, in Riga, at the training ground of the Russian-Baltic Plant, the four-engine Ilya Muromets took off. There were 16 passengers on board the four-engine plane - an absolute record at that time. The plane had a comfortable cabin, heating, a bath with toilet and... a promenade deck. In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the aircraft, in the summer of 1914, Igor Sikorsky flew on the Ilya Muromets from St. Petersburg to Kyiv and back, setting a world record. During World War I, these aircraft became the world's first heavy bombers.
ATV and helicopter
Igor Sikorsky also created the first production helicopter, the R-4, or S-47, which the Vought-Sikorsky company began producing in 1942. It was the first and only helicopter to serve in World War II, in the Pacific theater of operations, as a staff transport and for casualty evacuation. However, it is unlikely that the US military department would have allowed Igor Sikorsky to boldly experiment with helicopter technology if not for the amazing rotary-wing machine of George Botezat, who in 1922 began testing his helicopter, which the American military ordered him. The helicopter was the first to actually take off from the ground and be able to stay in the air. The possibility of vertical flight was thus proven. Botezat's helicopter was called the "flying octopus" because of its interesting design. It was a quadcopter: four propellers were placed at the ends of metal trusses, and the control system was located in the center - exactly like modern radio-controlled drones.
Color photo
Color photography appeared at the end of the 19th century, but photographs of that time were characterized by a shift to one or another part of the spectrum. Russian photographer Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky was one of the best in Russia and, like many of his colleagues around the world, dreamed of achieving the most natural color rendition. In 1902, Prokudin-Gorsky studied color photography in Germany with Adolf Miethe, who by that time was a worldwide star of color photography. Returning home, Prokudin-Gorsky began to improve the chemistry of the process and in 1905 he patented his own sensitizer, that is, a substance that increases the sensitivity of photographic plates. As a result, he was able to produce negatives of exceptional quality. Prokudin-Gorsky organized a number of expeditions across the territory of the Russian Empire, photographing famous people (for example, Leo Tolstoy), and peasants, temples, landscapes, factories, thus creating an amazing collection of colorful Russia. Prokudin-Gorsky's demonstrations aroused great interest in the world and pushed other specialists to develop new principles of color printing.
Parachute
As you know, the idea of a parachute was proposed by Leonardo da Vinci, and several centuries later, with the advent of aeronautics, regular jumps from balloons began: parachutes were suspended under them in a partially opened state. In 1912, the American Barry was able to leave the plane with such a parachute and, importantly, landed on the ground alive. The problem was solved in every possible way. For example, the American Stefan Banich made a parachute in the form of an umbrella with telescopic spokes that were attached around the pilot’s torso. This design worked, although it was still not very convenient. But engineer Gleb Kotelnikov decided that it was all about the material, and made his parachute from silk, packing it in a compact backpack. Kotelnikov patented his invention in France on the eve of the First World War. But besides the backpack parachute, he came up with another interesting thing. He tested the opening ability of the parachute by opening it while the car was moving, which literally stood rooted to the spot. So Kotelnikov came up with a braking parachute as an emergency braking system for aircraft.
Theremin
The history of this musical instrument, which produces strange “cosmic” sounds, began with the development of alarm systems. It was then that the descendant of the French Huguenots, Lev Theremin, in 1919, drew attention to the fact that changing the position of the body near the antennas of the oscillatory circuits affects the volume and tonality of the sound in the control speaker. Everything else was a matter of technique. And marketing: Theremin showed his musical instrument to the leader of the Soviet state, Vladimir Lenin, an enthusiast of the cultural revolution, and then demonstrated it in the States.
The life of Lev Theremin was difficult; he knew ups, glory, and camps. His musical instrument still lives today. The coolest version is the Moog Etherwave. The theremin can be heard among the most advanced and quite pop performers. This is truly an invention for all times.
Color television
Vladimir Zvorykin was born into a merchant family in the city of Murom. Since childhood, the boy had the opportunity to read a lot and carry out all sorts of experiments - his father encouraged this passion for science in every possible way. Having started studying in St. Petersburg, he learned about cathode ray tubes and came to the conclusion that the future of television lay in electronic circuits. Zvorykin was lucky; he left Russia on time in 1919. He worked for many years and in the early 30s he patented a transmitting television tube - an iconoscope. Even earlier, he designed one of the variants of the receiving tube - a kinescope. And then, already in the 1940s, he split the light beam into blue, red and green colors and got color TV. In addition, Zvorykin developed a night vision device, an electron microscope and many other interesting things. He invented throughout his long life and even in retirement continued to amaze with his new solutions.
Video recorder
The AMPEX company was created in 1944 by Russian emigrant Alexander Matveevich Ponyatov, who took three letters of his initials for the name and added EX - short for “excellent”. At first, Ponyatov produced sound recording equipment, but in the early 50s he focused on developing video recording. By that time, there had already been experiments in recording television images, but they required a huge amount of tape. Ponyatov and colleagues proposed recording the signal across the tape using a block of rotating heads. On November 30, 1956, the first previously recorded CBS News aired. And in 1960, the company, represented by its leader and founder, received an Oscar for its outstanding contribution to the technical equipment of the film and television industry. Fate brought Alexander Ponyatov together with interesting people. He was a competitor of Zvorykin, Ray Dolby, the creator of the famous noise reduction system, worked with him, and one of the first clients and investors was the famous Bing Crosby. And one more thing: by order of Ponyatov, birch trees were necessarily planted near any office - in memory of the Motherland.
Tetris
A long time ago, 30 years ago, the “Pentamino” puzzle was popular in the USSR: you had to place various figures consisting of five squares on a lined field. Even collections of problems were published, and the results were discussed. From a mathematical point of view, such a puzzle was an excellent test for a computer. And so, a researcher at the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Alexey Pajitnov, wrote such a program for his computer “Electronics 60”. But there wasn’t enough power, and Alexey removed one cube from the figures, that is, he made a “tetromino”. Well, then the idea came to have the figures fall into the “glass”. This is how Tetris was born. It was the first computer game from behind the Iron Curtain, and for many people the first computer game at all. And although many new toys have already appeared, Tetris still attracts with its apparent simplicity and real complexity.
As Plato said, science rests on sensations. The 10 random scientific discoveries given below are further confirmation of this. Of course, no one has canceled scientific schools, scientific work, and, in general, entire lives devoted to science, but luck and chance can sometimes also do their job.
Penicillin
The invention of penicillin - a whole group of antibiotics that makes it possible to treat many bacteriological infections - is one of the long-standing scientific legends, but in reality it is just a story about dirty dishes. Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming decided to interrupt his laboratory research on staphylococcus in the laboratory and took a month's leave. Upon arrival, he discovered strange mold on the abandoned dishes with bacteria - mold that killed all the bacteria.
Microwave
Sometimes a light snack is all it takes to make a scientific discovery. American engineer Percy Spencer, who worked for the Raytheon company, one day, walking past a magnetron (a vacuum tube that emitted microwaves), noticed that the chocolate in his pocket had melted. In 1945, after a series of experiments (including an exploding egg), Spencer invented the first microwave oven. The first microwave ovens, like the first computers, looked bulky and unrealistic, but in 1967, compact microwave ovens began to appear in American homes.
Velcro
Not only can snacks be beneficial for science, but so can a walk in the fresh air. While traveling through the mountains in 1941, Swiss engineer George Mestral noticed a burdock that had clung to his pants and the fur of his dog. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the burdock hooks clung to everything that had the shape of a loop. This is how the Velcro type fastener appeared. In English it sounds like "Velcro", which is a combination of the words "velvet" (corduroy) and "crochet" (crochet). The most notable user of Velcro in the 60s was NASA, which used it in astronaut suits and to secure objects in zero gravity.
The Big Bang Theory
The discovery of today's dominant theory of the origin of the Universe began with noise similar to radio interference. In 1964, while working with the Holmdel antenna (a large horn-shaped antenna that was used as a radio telescope in the 1960s), astronomers Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias heard a background noise that puzzled them greatly. Having rejected most of the existing causes of noise, they turned to Robert Dicke's theory, according to which the radiation residues from the Big Bang that formed the Universe became background cosmic radiation. 50 kilometers from Wilson and Penzias, at Princeton University, Dicke himself was searching for this background radiation, and when he heard about their discovery, he told his colleagues: “Guys, this looks like a sensation.” Wilson and Penzias later received the Nobel Prize.
Teflon
In 1938, scientist Roy Plunkett was working on ways to make refrigerators more suitable for the home by replacing the then-available refrigerant, which consisted primarily of ammonia, sulfur dioxide and propane. After he opened the container containing one of the samples he was working on, Plunkett discovered that the gas inside had evaporated, leaving behind a strange, slippery rosin-like substance that was resistant to high temperatures. In the 1940s, the material was used in a nuclear weapons project and a decade later in the automobile industry. It was only in the 60s that Teflon began to be used in the way that is familiar to us - for non-stick cookware.
Vulcanizate
In the 1830s, vegetable rubber was used to make water-repellent boots, but it had one big problem - instability to high and low temperatures. It was believed that rubber had no future, but Charles Goodyear disagreed with this. After years of trying to make rubber more durable, the scientist stumbled upon what would become his greatest discovery entirely by accident. In 1839, while demonstrating one of his last experiments, Goodyear accidentally dropped rubber on a hot stove. The result was a charred leather-like substance in an elastic rim. Thus, the rubber became resistant to temperatures. Goodyear made no profit from his invention, and died leaving huge debts. Already 40 years after his death, the still famous company “Goodyear” took his name.
Coca Cola
The inventor of Coca-Cola was not a businessman, a candy merchant, or anyone else who dreamed of getting rich. John Pemberton just wanted to invent a normal cure for headaches. A pharmacist by profession, he used two ingredients: coca leaves and kola nuts. When his laboratory assistant accidentally mixed them with carbonated water, the world saw the first Coca-Cola. Unfortunately, Pemberton died before his mixture became one of the most popular drinks on Earth.
Radioactivity
Bad weather can also lead to a scientific discovery. In 1896, French scientist Antoine Henri Becquerel conducted an experiment on a crystal enriched with uranium. He believed that sunlight was the reason the crystal burned its image onto the photographic plate. When the sun disappeared, Becquerel decided to pack his things to continue the experiment on another clear day. A few days later, he took the crystal out of his desk drawer, but the image on the photographic plate lying on top was, as he described, hazy. The crystal emitted rays that fogged the plate. Becquerel did not think about the name of this phenomenon and suggested continuing the experiment to two colleagues - Pierre and Marie Curie.
Viagra
Angina is a common name for chest pain, especially spasms in the coronary arteries. The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has developed a pill called UK92480 to narrow these arteries and relieve pain. However, the pill, which failed in its original purpose, had a very strong side effect (you can probably guess what it was) and was later renamed Viagra. Last year, Pfizer sold $288 million worth of those little blue pills.
