40 Greatest Modern Revolutionary Breakthroughs

 

From contraceptives to a device that could show us the stars, we count forty revolutionarybreakthroughs that have changed the world!40 Rocketry introduced a new frontier for man. It is currently our only way off the planet and symbolises the boundless depths of humaningenuity. 39 The combine harvester.  This handsome devilwas invented in the 1930s.  It mechanised farm labour, which freed people up to do new typesof work. 38 In levers we trust.  Created sometime in thethird millennium b. c. , the lever is thought to have revolutionised manual labour.  AncientEgyptians had not yet discovered the wheel when they built their pyramids; however, theyrelied heavily on levers. 37 This early 20th century invention killed theradio star and brought the world into people’s homes.  It revolutionised entertainment, givingus riveting viewing like Keeping up with the Kardashians and American Idol results shows. 36 Cement, invented in the first millennium b. c. ,was the literal foundation of civilisation.  You can’t pitch a tent into it, but it makesthunderstorms a whole lot less deadly. 35 The 1859 debut of oil drilling was a greatday – for capitalism; not the planet.  Oil drilling has gone on to fuel the modern economy,establish its geopolitics and change the climate. 34 The humble sailboat transformed sea traveland made visiting other nations seem less like a crazy pipe dream.  The first sailboatwas constructed sometime during the fourth millennium b. c. 33 Since their domestication some five-and-a-halfthousand years ago, horses have enabled us to travel great distances and trade or exchangeideas with other cultures.  Horses are also strong and agile enough to carry cargo, ploughfarmlands and even ride into war. 32 Since the early 19th century, photographyhas held a powerful mirror to the human condition.  It has had a profound influence on journalism,art and culture; although nowadays we mostly use it for selfies and to take pictures ofour food. 31 Before 1837, information could move no fasterthan a man on horseback.  Then came the telegraph.  Forget bullets; the expression should be ‘fasterthan a speeding telegraph’. 30 In 1903, the Wright brothers invented a crudeversion of the world’s first aeroplane.  This incredible invention literally allowedus to take to the skies.  It revolutionised how we get around and, unfortunately, howwe wage war. 29 Invented in the 1850s, refrigeration changedour eating and cooking habits so profoundly it was revolutionary.  Was also a good yearfor ice cream. 28 Taking to the streets in the late 19th century,people were initially frightened by the automobile’s roaring engine and phenomenal speed.  The vehiclewould go on to be widely accepted, and it has now transformed our daily lives, cultureand the ways in which we interact with our landscape. 27 Oil refineries, first built in the mid-19thcentury, refine and process crude oil, turning into various valuable commodities.  Withoutit, oil drilling would be pointless. 26 The Gregorian calendar debuted in 1582.  Itdebugged the previously used Julian calendar, allowing us to jump ahead ten days and synchronisethe world with the seasons. 25 In 1793, the cotton gin institutionalisedthe cotton industry in the American South.  Unfortunately, it was also linked to slavery. 24 Invented by all-around wizard Thomas Jefferson,the mouldboard plough was the first plough to simultaneously dig up soil and turn itover, allowing for the cultivation of harder ground.  Without it, agriculture as we knowit would not exist and we’d be working a lot harder come harvest time. 23 The first recorded usage of condoms was inChina in the 15th century.  These ‘glan’ condoms were thought to have been made ofsilk paper or lamb intestines, and were primarily linked to the upper classes.  Condoms wererevolutionary, allowing safe sex and assisting to control unwanted pregnancies. 22 Developed in 1863, pasteurisation was of thefirst practical applications of Louis Pasteur’s germ theory.  Using heat, the method sterilisedwine, beer, and milk, and was widely considered to be one of history’s most effective public-healthinterventions. 21 In 1906, radio made its crackly debut.  Bywielding electronic mass media’s power, it was used to spread news and ideas, andto shape culture.  Then came the shock-jocks …20 A relatively recent addition, smartphonesput the power of computers in the palm of our hands.  This has radically affected ourculture, relationships, professional conduct and research methods, and our ability to sustainfocus for long periods of … Bonus points if you’re viewing this on asmartphone!19 The mechanised clock, invented in the 15thcentury, made a huge difference to people’s lives.  Essentially, the invention quantifiedtime, meaning we no longer have to look at the sun and guess.  Imagine how lame time travelmovies would be without it. 18 Nuclear fission was a controversial processpioneered in 1939.  It gave humans new power for destruction, and creation. 17 In the mid-20th century, Norman Borlaug pioneeredthe green revolution.  This combined technologies like synthetic fertilisers and scientificplant breeding and greatly increased the world’s food output.  Borlaug has been credited withsaving more than a billion people from starvation. 16 Alphabetisation was believed to have beenconceived sometime in the first millennium b. c.  It made knowledge accessible and searchable,and may have contributed to the rise of phonetic letter usage over ideographic ones. 15 Galileo’s telescope was unveiled in 1609,with various others – notably Isaac Newton – imrpoving on the design over the followingcenturies.  Telescopes were invaluable for terrestial research and astronomy. 14 Gunpowder, invented in the 10th century, isone of history’s most influential inventions.  It permanently altered the way humans wagewar and brought an end to the Medieval Ages.  Gunpowder outsourced killing to a machine. It also gave us cowboys and first-person shooters. 13 The internet debuted in the 1960s, thoughit was radically different to the porn hub it is today.  It is the infrastructure of thedigital age and vastly reshaped our culture and revolutionised business operations.  Theinternet also makes Danger Dolan countdowns possible. 12 Optical lenses, developed sometime in the13th century, changed the world thanks to their ability to refract light through glass. However, it took centuries for the invention of eyeglasses to assist with sight problemsand raise the collective human IQ.  The invention that keeps on giving: optical lenses alsoled to the eventual creation of the microscope and telescope. 11 Although early societies made extensive useof bronze, stone and iron, steel fuelled the Industrial Revolution and was pivotal in theconstruction of our modern cities.  The alloy was not mass-produced until the inventionof the Bessemer Process in the 1850s.  Steel then became one of the biggest industrieson the planet, and was used to create everything from bridges and railroads to skyscrapersand engines. 10 German chemist and father of chemical weapons,Fritz Haber, won a Nobel Prize for his 1918 development of an ammonia-synthesis processcalled Nitrogen fixation.  He used this to create a new class of fertilisers, which wereessential to the green revolution. 9 Developed in the mid-19th century, sanitationsystems revolutionised our standard of hygiene and waste management.  They strongly contributedto us living forty years longer than we did in 1880.  Certainly beats going in the street. 8 Cars, planes, factories, trains, spacecraftwould not have been possible without the early 1712 breakthrough of the steam engine.  Theyfuelled one of the most momentous technological leaps in human history during the IndustrialRevolution. 7 A huge advancement in the field of medicine,antibiotics saved millions of lives by killing and preventing the growth of harmful bacteria. Alexander Fleming is credited with accidentally discovering the bacteria-inhibiting mouldknown as penicillin in 1928.  It went on to become a silver bullet for a number of formerlydeadly diseases. 6 The internal combustion engine, invented inthe late 19th century, made power out of air and fuel.  It eventually replaced the steamengine, and made the invention of cars and other advanced machines possible. 5 Before the 100 B. C.  invention of paper, peoplewrote on expensive parchment and papyrus.  Without paper, millions of ideas and discoverieswould have been lost.  Paper allowed us to record our thoughts and ideas with ease, andeventually led to the printing press, books, newspapers, toilet paper and, importantly,Penthouse magazine. 4 Before the wheel was invented in 3500 B. C. ,humans faced huge limitations when it came to transporting stuff over land.  Wheeled cartsfacilitated agriculture and commerce because they allowed people to transport goods toand from markets and eased the physical burdens of people travelling great distances.  Wheelsare now a vital part of our lives, and are found in everything from clocks to vehiclesto turbines. 3 While it’s easy to take it for granted,even a short power outage reminds us how ridiculously dependent our modern race is on electricity. Consider that electric lights liberated society from a near-total reliance on daylight.  Discoveredin the late 19th century, electricity has given us heat, energy and convenience andhas countless applications. 2 e-Reader fans might disagree but, prior tothe internet, no innovation did more for the spread and democratisation of knowledge thanthe printing press.  Invented in the 1430s, printing presses allowed streamlined productionof thousands of pages per day.  The machine was so influential it prompted revolutions,religious upheaval and much scientific discovery. 1 In 1796, British doctor Edward Jenner changedhistory when he used a cowpox virus to protect against smallpox.  However, it wasn’t untila rabies vaccine was developed in 1885 that the government and community began acceptingthe idea that making someone sick could prevent further sickness.  Vaccination went on to drasticallyimprove mortality rates and quality of life. If you'd like to read about 10 bonus revolutionary breakthroughs, then visit the danger dolanwebsite and the written version of this script, you'll find links for it down below.

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