This is a list of inventions, listed in chronological order.

Note: Dates for inventions are often controversial. Inventions are often invented by several inventors around the same time, or may be invented in an impractical form many years before another inventor improves the invention into a practical form. Where there is ambiguity, the date of the first practical, fielded, version of the invention should be used here.

Paleolithic Era

• 2.4 MYA: Stone tools in Africa
• 1 MYA: Controlled fire in Africa
• 400 KYA: Pigments in Zambia
• 50 KYA: Bow and arrow in Tunisia
• 40 KYA: Language (This date is controversial)
• 30 KYA: Sewing
• 26 KYA: Ceramics in Moravia

10th millennium BC

• Pottery by Jomon in Japan

9th millennium BC

• Dugout boat in the Netherlands
• 8700 BC: Metalworking (copper pendant in Iraq)
• 8500 BC: Agriculture in the Fertile Crescent

8th millennium BC

• Animal husbandry in the Middle East

7th millennium BC

• 6200 BC: Map in Çatalhöyük
• Cloth woven from flax fiber

6th millennium BC

• Irrigation in the Fertile Crescent

4th millennium BC

• 3800s BC: Engineered roadway in England
• 3500 BC: Plywood in Egypt
• 3500 BC: Writing in Sumer
• 3500 BC: Carts in Sumer
• Bronze by the Maikops
• Silk in China
• Cement in Egypt
• River boats in Egypt
• the plough

3rd millennium BC

• 2800 BC: Soap in Babylonia
• sledges - Scandinavia
• the use of yeast for:
  • leavened bread
  • Fermentation to produce wine in Egypt and beer in Sumeria

2nd millennium BC

• Alphabet in Egypt
• Glass in Egypt
• Rubber in Mesoamerica
• Spoked wheel chariot in the Middle East
• Water clock in Egypt
• Bells in China

1st millennium BC

• Arch in Greece
• 600s BC: Coinage in Lydia
• 400s BC: Catapult in Syracuse
• 300s BC: Compass in China.
• 300s BC: Screw: Archytas
• 200s BC: Crossbow in China
• 200s BC: Compound pulley: Archimedes
• 150s BC: Astrolabe: Hipparchus
• 100s BC: Parchment in Pergamon
• 1st century BC: Glassblowing in Syria
• 87 BC: Clockwork (the Antikythera mechanism): Posidonius?

1st millennium

• 1st century: Aeolipile: Hero of Alexandria
• 105: Paper: Cai Lun
• 200s: Wheelbarrow: Zhuge Liang
• 200s: Horseshoes in Germany
• 300s: Stirrup in China
• 600s: Windmill in Persia
• 673: Greek fire: Kallinikos
• 800s: Gunpowder in China
• 852: Parachute: Armen Firman
• Woodblock printing in China
• Porcelain in China

2nd millennium

11th century

• 1040s: Moveable type printing: Bi Sheng

12th century

• 1128: Cannon in China

13th century

• 1234: First known, datable use of cast metal moveable type, in Korea

14th century

• 1335: Mechanical clock (Milan)

15th century

• Rifle in Europe
• 1450s: Alphabetic, movable type printing press: Johann Gutenberg
• 1480: Nautical astrolabe: Martin Behaim

16th century

• 1593: Thermometer: Galileo Galilei
• 1595: Microscope: Zacharias Janssen

17th century

• 1608: Refracting telescope: Hans Lippershey
• 1609: Telescope in astronomy: Galileo Galilei
• 1610: First unambiguous, documented microscope: Galileo Galilei
• 1620: Slide rule: William Oughtred
• 1623: Automatic Calculator: Wilhelm Schickard
• 1642: Adding machine: Blaise Pascal
• 1643: Barometer: Evangelista Torricelli
• 1645: Vacuum pump: Otto von Guericke
• 1657: Pendulum clock: Christiaan Huygens
• 1698: Steam engine: Thomas Savery

18th century

• 1701: Seed drill: Jethro Tull
• 1705: Steam piston engine: Thomas Newcomen
• 1709: Piano: Bartolomeo Cristofori
• 1710: Thermometer: René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
• 1711: Tuning fork: John Shore
• 1714: Mercury thermometer: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
• 1730: Mariner's quadrant: Thomas Godfrey
• 1731: Sextant: John Hadley
• 1733: Flying shuttle: John Kay (Flying Shuttle)
• 1742: Franklin stove: Benjamin Franklin
• 1750: Flatboat : Jacob Yoder
• 1752: Lightning rod: Benjamin Franklin
• 1762: Iron smelting process : Jared Eliot
• 1767: Spinning Jenny: James Hargreaves
• 1769: Steam engine: James Watt
• 1769: Water Frame: Richard Arkwright
• 1775: Submarine Turtle: David Bushnell
• 1777: Card making machine: Oliver Evans
• 1777: Circular saw: Samuel Miller
• 1779: Spinning Mule : Samuel Crompton
• 1785: Power loom: Edmund Cartwright
• 1785: Automatic flour mill : Oliver Evans
• 1783: Multitubular boiler engine : John Stevens
• 1783: Bifocals: Benjamin Franklin
• 1783: Hot air balloon: Montgolfier brothers
• 1784: Shrapnel shell: Henry Shrapnel
• 1785: Parachute: Jean Pierre Blanchard
• 1787: Non-condensing high pressure Engine: Oliver Evans
• 1790: Cut and head nail machine : Jacob Perkins
• 1791: Steamboat: John Fitch
• 1791: Artificial Teeth : Nicholas Dubois De Chemant
• 1793: Cotton gin: Eli Whitney
• 1793: Optical telegraph: Claude Chappe
• 1797: Cast iron plow : Charles Newbold
• 1798: Vaccination: Edward Jenner
• 1799: Seeding machine : Eliakim Spooner

19th century

1800s

• 1800: Electric battery: Alessandro Volta
• 1801: Jacquard loom: Joseph Marie Jacquard
• 1802: Screw propeller steamboat Phoenix : John Stevens
• 1802: gas stove: Zachäus Andreas Winzler
• 1805: Submarine Nautilus: Robert Fulton
• 1805: Refrigerator: Oliver Evans
• 1807: Steamboat Clermont: Robert Fulton
• 1808: Band saw: William Newberry

1810s

• 1811: Gun- Breechloader : Thornton (?)
• 1812: Metronome: Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel
• 1814: Steam Locomotive (Blucher): George Stephenson
• 1816: Miner's safety lamp: Humphry Davy
• 1816: Hand printing press : George Clymer
• 1816: Metronome: Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (reputed)
• 1816: Stirling engine: Robert Stirling
• 1817: Kaleidoscope: David Brewster
• 1819: Breech loading flintlock : John Hall
• 1819: Stethoscope: Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec

1820s

• 1821: Electric motor: Michael Faraday
• 1823: Electromagnet: William Sturgeon
• 1827: Insulated wire : Joseph Henry
• 1827: Friction match: John Walker
• 1826: Photography: Joseph Nicéphore Niépce
• 1826: internal combustion engine: Samuel Morey

1830s

• 1831: Multiple coil magnet: Joseph Henry
• 1831: Magnetic acoustic telegraph: Joseph Henry
• 1831: Reaper: Cyrus McCormick
• 1831: Electrical generator: Michael Faraday
• 1835: Photogenic Drawing : William Henry Fox Talbot
• 1835: Revolver: Samuel Colt
• 1835: Morse code: Samuel Morse
• 1835: Electromechanical Relay: Joseph Henry
• 1836: Improved screw propeller: John Ericsson
• 1837: Photography: Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre
• 1837: Steel plow: John Deere
• 1837: Standard diving dress: Augustus Siebe
• 1838: Electric telegraph: Charles Wheatstone
• 1839: Vulcanization of rubber: Charles Goodyear

1840s

• 1840: Frigate with submarine machinery SS Princeton : John Ericsson
• 1840: artificial fertilizer: Justus von Liebig
• 1842: Anaesthesia: Crawford Long
• 1843: Typewriter: Charles Thurber
• 1843: Fax machine: Alexander Bain
• 1844: Telegraph: Samuel Morse
• 1845: Portland cement: William Aspdin
• 1845: Double tube tire : Robert Thomson (inventor)
• 1846: Sewing machine: Elias Howe
• 1846: Rotary printing press: Richard M. Hoe
• 1849: Safety pin: Walter Hunt
• 1849: Francis turbine: James B. Francis

1850s

• 1852: Airship: Henri Giffard
• 1852: Passenger elevator: Elisha Otis
• 1852: Gyroscope: Léon Foucault
• 1853: Glider: Sir George Cayley
• 1855: Bunsen burner: Robert Bunsen
• 1856: First celluloids: Alexander Parkes, Steel process : Henry Bessemer
• 1858: Undersea telegraph cable: Fredrick Newton Gisborne
• 1858: Shoe sole sewing machine : Lyman R. Blake
• 1858: Mason jar: John L. Mason
• 1859: Oil drill: Edwin L. Drake
• 1860: Linoleum: Fredrick Walton

1860s

• 1860: Repeating rifle: Oliver F. Winchester, Christopher Spencer
• 1860: Self-propelled torpedo: Ivan Lupis-Vukić
• 1861: Ironclad USS Monitor: John Ericsson
• 1861: Furnace for steel : Wilhelm von Siemens
• 1862: Revolving machine gun: Richard J. Gatling
• 1862: Mechanical submarine: Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol
• 1863: Player piano: Henri Fourneaux
• 1864: Sleeping car: George Pullman
• 1865: Compression ice machine : Thaddeus Lowe
• 1866: Dynamite: Alfred Nobel
• 1867: Practical Typewriter: Christopher L. Sholes
• 1868: Typewriter: Carlos Glidden , James Densmore and Samuel Soule
• 1868: Air brake (rail): George Westinghouse
• 1868: Lawn mower: Hills Budding Ferrabee (???)
• 1868: Oleomargarine: Mege Mouries
• 1869: Vacuum cleaner: I.W. McGaffers

1870s

• 1870: Magic Lantern projector: Henry R. Heyl
• 1870: Stock ticker: Thomas Alva Edison
• 1870: Mobile Gasoline Engine, Automobile: Siegfried Marcus
• 1871: Cable car (railway): Andrew S. Hallidie
• 1871: Compressed air rock drill : Simon Ingersoll
• 1872: Celluloid (later development): John W. Hyatt
• 1872: Adding machine: Edmund D. Barbour
• 1873: Barbed wire: Joseph F. Glidden
• 1873: Railway knuckle coupler: Eli H. Janney
• 1873: Modern direct current electric motor: Zénobe Gramme
• 1874: Electric street car: Stephen Dudle Field
• 1875: Dynamo: William A. Anthony
• 1875: Gun- (magazine): Benjamin B. Hotchkiss
• 1876: Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell
• 1876: Telephone: Elisha Gray
• 1876: Carpet sweeper : Melville Bissell
• 1876: Gasoline carburettor: Daimler
• 1877: Stapler: Henry R. Heyl
• 1877: Induction motor: Nikola Tesla
• 1877: Phonograph: Thomas Alva Edison
• 1877: Electric welding : Elihu Thomson
• 1877: Twine Knotter : John Appleby
• 1878: Cathode ray tube: William Crookes
• 1878: Transparent film : Eastman Goodwin
• 1878: Rebreather: Henry Fleuss
• 1879: Pelton turbine : Lester Pelton
• 1879: Incandescent Light bulb: Thomas Alva Edison
• 1879: Automobile engine : Karl Benz
• 1879: Cash register: James Ritty
• 1879: Automobile (Patent): George B. Seldon ... note did NOT invent auto

1880s

• 1880: Photophone: Alexander Graham Bell
• 1880: Roll film: George Eastman
• 1880: Safety razor: Kampfe Brothers
• 1880: Seismograph: John Milne
• 1881: Electric welding machine : Elihu Thomson
• 1882: Electric fan: Schuyler Skatts Wheeler
• 1882: Electric flat iron : Henry W. Seely
• 1883: Auto engine - compression ignition : Gottlieb Daimler
• 1883: two-phase (alternating current) induction motor: Nikola Tesla
• 1884: Linotype machine: Ottmar Mergenthaler
• 1884: Fountain pen: Lewis Waterman NB: Did not invent fountain pen, nor even "first practical fountain pen". Started manufacture in 1883, too.
• 1884: Punched card accounting: Herman Hollerith
• 1884: Trolley car, (electric): Frank Sprague, Karel Van de Poele
• 1885: Automobile, differential gear : Karl Benz
• 1885: Maxim gun: Hiram Stevens Maxim
• 1885: Motor cycle: Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach
• 1885: Alternating current transformer: William Stanley
• 1886: Dishwasher: Josephine Cochrane
• 1886: Gasoline engine: Gottlieb Daimler
• 1886: Improved phonograph cylinder: Tainter & Bell
• 1887: Monotype machine : Tolbert Lanston
• 1887: Gramophone record: Emile Berliner
• 1887: Automobile, (gasoline): Gottlieb Daimler
• 1888: Polyphase AC Electric power system: Nikola Tesla (30 related patents.)
• 1888: Kodak hand camera : George Eastman
• 1888: Ballpoint pen: John Loud
• 1888: Pneumatic tube tire : John Boyd Dunlop
• 1888: Harvester-thresher: Matteson (?)
• 1888: Kinematograph: Augustin Le Prince
• 1889: Automobile, (steam): Sylvester Roper

1890s

• 1890: Pneumatic Hammer : Charles B. King
• 1891: Automobile Storage Battery : William Morrison
• 1891: Zipper: Whitcomb Judson
• 1891: Carborundum: Edward G. Acheson
• 1892: Color photography: Frederic E. Ives
• 1892: Automobile, (electric): William Morrison
• 1892: Automobile, (gasoline): Duryea Brothers
• 1892: Automatic telephone exchange (electromechanical): Almon Strowger - First in commercial service.
• 1893: Photographic gun : E.J. Marcy
• 1893: Half tone engraving : Frederick Ives
• 1893: Wireless communication: Nikola Tesla
• 1895: Phatoptiken projector : Woodville Latham
• 1895: Phantascope : C. Francis Jenkins
• 1895: Disposable blades: King C. Gillette
• 1895: Diesel engine: Rudolf Diesel
• 1895: Radio signals : Guglielmo Marconi
• 1896: Vitascope: Thomas Armat
• 1896: Steam turbine: Charles Curtis
• 1896: Electric stove: William S. Hadaway
• 1897: Automobile, magneto : Robert Bosch
• 1898: Remote control: Nikola Tesla
• 1899: Automobile self starter: Clyde J. Coleman
• 1899: Magnetic tape recorder: Valdemar Poulsen
• 1899: Gas turbine: Charles Curtis

20th century

1900s

• 1900: Rigid dirigible airship: Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin
• 1901: Improved wireless transmitter : Reginald Fessenden
• 1901: Mercury vapor lamp : Peter C. Hewitt
• 1901: paperclip: Johan Vaaler
• 1902: Radio magnetic detector : Guglielmo Marconi
• 1902: Radio telephone: Poulsen Reginald Fessenden
• 1902: Rayon cellulose ester: Arthur D. Little
• 1903: Electrocardiograph (EKG): Willem Einthoven
• 1903: Powered Airplane: Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright
• 1903: Bottle machine : Michael Owens
• 1904: Thermionic valve: John Ambrose Fleming
• 1904: Separable Attachment Plug: Harvey Hubbell
• 1905: Radio tube diode : John Ambrose Fleming
• 1906: Triode amplifier: Lee DeForest
• 1907: Radio amplifier : Lee DeForest
• 1907: Radio tube triode: Lee DeForest
• 1907: Vacuum cleaner, (electric): James Spangler
• 1907: Washing machine, (electric): Alva Fisher (Hurley Corporation )
• 1909: Monoplane: Henry W. Walden
• 1909: Bakelite: Leo Baekeland
• 1909: Gun silencer: Hiram Percy Maxim

1910s

• 1910: Thermojet engine: Henri Coandă
• 1911: Gyrocompass: Elmer A. Sperry
• 1911: Automobile self starter (perfected): Charles F. Kettering
• 1911: Air conditioner: Willis Haviland Carrier
• 1911: Cellophane: Jacques Brandenburger
• 1911: Hydroplane: Glenn Curtiss
• 1912: Regenerative radio circuit : Edwin H. Armstrong
• 1913: Crossword puzzle: Arthur Wynne
• 1913: Improved X-Ray: William D. Coolidge
• 1913: Double acting wrench : Robert Owen
• 1913: Cracking process for Gasoline: William M. Burten
• 1913: Gyroscope stabilizer : Elmer A. Sperry
• 1913: Geiger counter: Hans Geiger
• 1913: Radio receiver, cascade tuning: Ernst Alexanderson
• 1913: Radio receiver, heterodyne: Reginald Fessenden
• 1914: Radio transmitter triode mod.: Ernst Alexanderson
• 1914: Liquid fuel rocket: Robert Goddard
• 1914: Tank, military: Ernest Dunlop Swinton
• 1915: Tungsten Filament: Irving Langmuir
• 1915: Searchlight arc : Elmer A. Sperry
• 1915: Radio tube oscillator : Lee DeForest
• 1916: Browning Gun: John Browning
• 1916: Thompson submachine gun: John T. Thompson
• 1916: Incandescent gas lamp : Irving Langmuir
• 1917: Sonar echolocation: Paul Langevin
• 1918: Super heterodyne : Edwin H. Armstrong
• 1918: Interrupter gear: Anton Fokker
• 1918: Radio crystal oscillator: A.M. Nicolson
• 1918: Pop-up toaster: Charles Strite
• 1919: the Theremin: Leon Theremin
• 1919: First licensed radio station, KDKA AM, in Pennsylvania, USA

1920s

• mechanical potato peeler: Herman Lay
• 1922: Radar: Robert Watson-Watt, A. H. Taylor , L. C. Young , Gregory Breit , Merle Antony Tuve
• 1922: Technicolor: Herbert T. Kalmus
• 1922: Water skiing: Ralph Samuelson
• 1923: Arc tube : Ernst Alexanderson
• 1923: Sound film: Lee DeForest
• 1923: Television Electronic: Philo Farnsworth
• 1923: Wind tunnel: Max Munk
• 1923: Autogyro: Juan de la Cierva
• 1923: Xenon flash lamp: Harold Edgerton
• 1925: ultra-centrifuge: Theodor Svedberg - used to determine molecular weights
• 1925: Television Iconoscope: Vladimir Zworykin
• 1925: Television Nipkow System: C. Francis Jenkins
• 1925: Telephoto: C. Francis Jenkins
• 1926: Television Mechanical Scanner: John Logie Baird
• 1926: Aerosol spray: Rotheim
• 1927: Mechanical cotton picker: John Rust
• 1928: sliced bread: Otto Frederick Rohwedder
• 1928: Electric dry shaver: Jacob Schick
• 1929: Electroencephelograph (EEG): Hans Berger
• 1929: Antibiotics

1930s

• 1930: Neoprene: Wallace Carothers
• 1930: Nylon: Wallace Carothers
• 1931: the Radio telescope: Karl Jansky Grote Reber
• 1932: Polaroid glass: Edwin H. Land
• 1935: microwave radar: Robert Watson-Watt
• 1935: Trampoline: George Nissen and Larry Griswold
• 1935: Spectrophotometer: Arthur C. Hardy
• 1935: Casein fiber: Earl Whittier Stephen
• 1935: Hammond Organ: Laurens Hammond
• 1936: Pinsetter (bowling): Gottfried Schmidt
• 1937: Jet engine: Frank Whittle Hans von Ohain
• 1938: Fiberglass: Russell Games Slayter John H. Thomas
• 1938: Computer: Konrad Zuse
• 1939: FM radio: Edwin H. Armstrong
• 1939: Helicopter: Igor Sikorsky
• 1939: View-master: William Gruber

1940s

• 1942: Bazooka Rocket Gun: Leslie A. Skinner C. N. Hickman
• 1942: Undersea oil pipeline: Hartley, Anglo-Iranian, Siemens in Operation Pluto
• 1942: frequency hopping: Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil
• 1943: Aqua-Lung: Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan
• 1944: Electron spectrometer: Deutsch Elliot Evans
• 1944: the digital computer
• 1945: Nuclear weapons (but note: chain reaction theory: 1933)
• 1946: microwave oven: Percy Spencer
• 1947: Transistor: William Shockley, Walter Brattain, John Bardeen
• 1947: Polaroid camera: Edwin Land
• 1948: Long Playing Record: Peter Goldmark
• 1949: Atomic clocks

1950s

• 1951: Liquid Paper: Bette Nesmith Graham
• 1952: fusion bomb: Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam
• 1952: hovercraft: Christopher Cockerell
• 1953: maser: Charles Townes
• 1953: medical ultrasonography
• 1954: transistor radio (dated from the from Regency TR1 ) (USA)
• 1954: first nuclear power reactor
• 1954: geodesic dome: Buckminster Fuller
• 1955: Velcro: George de Mestral
• 1957: Jet Boat: William Hamilton
• 1957: EEG topography: Walter Grey Walter
• 1957: Bubble Wrap - Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes of Sealed Air
• 1958: the Integrated circuit: Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments, Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor
• 1959: snowmobile: Joseph-Armand Bombardier

1960s

• 1960s: Packet switching: Donald Davies and Paul Baran
• 1960: lasers: Theodore Maiman, at Hughes Aircraft
• 1962: Communications satellites: Arthur C. Clarke
• 1962: Light-emitting diode: Nick_Holonyak
• 1963: Computer mouse: Douglas Engelbart
• 1965: 8-track tapes: William Powell Lear
• 1969: the ARPANET, predecessor of the Internet

1970s

• 1970: Fiber optics
• 1971: E-mail: Ray Tomlinson
• 1971: the Microprocessor
• 1971: the Pocket calculator
• 1972: Computed Tomography: Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield
• 1973: Ethernet: Bob Metcalfe and David Boggs
• 1974: Scramjet: NASA and United States Navy -- first operational prototype flown in 2002
• 1976: Gore-Tex fabric: W. L. Gore
• 1977: the personal computer (dated from Commodore PET)
• 1978: Philips releases the laserdisc player
• 1978: Spring loaded camming device: Ray Jardine
• 1979: the Walkman: Akio Morita, Masaru Ibuka, Kozo Ohsone
• 1979: the cellular telephone (first commercially fielded version, NTT)
• 197x: Leaf blower (exact year unknown)
• 1970s: Tomahawk Cruise Missile (first computerized cruise missile)

1980s

• 1981: the Xerox Star is the first computer to feature a WIMP graphical user interface
• 1982: Sony and Philips release compact discs
• 1983: the Internet Protocol, which created the Internet as we know it
• 1983: Domain Name System: Paul Mockapetris
• 1985: polymerase chain reaction: Kary Mullis
• 1985: DNA fingerprinting: Alec Jeffreys
• 1985: Tetris: Alexey Pajitnov
• 1986: breadmaker
• 1989: the GPL, enabling the free software movement: Richard Stallman
• 1989: the World Wide Web: Tim Berners-Lee

1990s

• 1991: genetically modified, herbicide tolerant soybeans developed
• 1993: Global Positioning System
• 1995: wiki software: Ward Cunningham
• 1995: DVD standard devloped
• 1996: cloning of mammals: Ian Wilmut and others
• 1997: Self-heating can
• 1998: Portable digital audio player (MP3 player)
• 1998: TiVo
• 1999: IEEE 802.11b
• 1999: Bluetooth

3rd millennium

21st century

• 2001: Digital satellite radio
• 2001: Artificial heart.

See also

• diffusion of innovations
• diffusion (anthropology)
• innovation
• Invention
• List of inventors
• List of inventions named after people
• List of timelines
• List of technologies

Other technology timelines

• Timeline of agriculture and food technology
• Timeline of clothing and textiles technology
• Timeline of communication technology
• Timeline of lighting technology
• Timeline of low-temperature technology
• Timeline of materials technology
• Timeline of microscope technology
• Timeline of motor and engine technology
• Timeline of photography technology
• Timeline of rocket and missile technology
• Timeline of temperature and pressure measurement technology
• Timeline of time measurement technology
• Timeline of transportation technology
• Timeline of underwater technology