Inventions and Discoveries have been central to the progress of human civilization. From simple tools to advanced machines, they have transformed transportation, communication, healthcare, and entertainment. Driven by curiosity, ingenuity, and problem-solving, these breakthroughs not only expand knowledge but also give rise to new industries, businesses, and job opportunities, fueling economic growth and societal development.
Inventions and Discoveries
Inventions and Discoveries have been pivotal in shaping human civilisation and advancing knowledge and technology. They range from simple tools and techniques to complex machines and systems that have transformed transportation, communication, healthcare, and entertainment. Driven by human curiosity, ingenuity, and problem-solving, these breakthroughs often lead to the creation of new industries, businesses, and job opportunities, fueling societal and economic development.
Difference Between Inventions and Discoveries
In the journey of human progress, both Inventions and Discoveries have played crucial roles. While inventions are human-made creations designed to solve problems, discoveries are revelations of pre-existing phenomena or knowledge. Understanding the Difference Between Inventions and Discoveries helps clarify their impact on science, technology, and society.
| Difference Between Inventions and Discoveries | ||
| Aspect | Invention | Discoveries |
|
Definition |
Creation of something new that did not exist before |
Finding or uncovering something that already exists in nature |
|
Origin |
Result of human creativity and ingenuity |
Result of observation, exploration, or analysis |
|
Purpose |
To solve a problem or fulfill a need |
To gain knowledge or understanding |
|
Examples |
Telephone, light bulb, printing press |
Gravity, electricity, planet Uranus |
|
Focus |
Practical application |
Knowledge and understanding |
|
Nature |
Human-made |
Found in nature |
List of Inventions and Discoveries
Throughout history, countless Inventions and Discoveries have transformed the course of human civilization. Some notable examples are listed below:
| List of Inventions and Discoveries | ||
|
Invention/Discovery |
Name of the Inventor |
Year of Invention |
|
Automatic Calculator |
Wilhelm Schickard |
1623 |
|
Air Conditioner |
Willis Carrier |
1902 |
|
Anemometer |
Leon Battista Alberti |
1450 |
|
Animation |
J. Stuart Blackton |
— |
|
Atom Bomb |
Julius Robert Oppenheimer |
1945 |
|
Aspirin |
Dr. Felix Hoffman |
1899 |
|
Airplane |
Wilber and Orville Wright |
1903 |
|
Adhesive tape |
Richard G. Drew |
1923 |
|
Bifocal Lens |
Benjamin Franklin |
1779 |
|
Barometer |
Evangelista Torricelli |
1643 |
|
Barbed Wire |
Joseph F. Glidden |
1873 |
|
Blood Group |
Karl Lansdsteiner |
1900s |
|
Ball Point Pen |
John Loud |
— |
|
Bicycle Tyres |
John Boyd Dunlop |
1888 |
|
Pedal Driven Bicycle |
Kirkpatrick Macmillan |
1839 |
|
Celluloid |
Alexander Parkes |
1861 |
|
Chloroform |
Sir James Young Simpson |
— |
|
Cine Camera |
Wm. Friese-Greene |
1889 |
|
Circulation of blood |
William Harvey |
1628 |
|
Clock Mechanical |
Hsing and Ling-Tsan |
1725 |
|
Diesel Engine |
Rudolf Diesel |
1892 |
|
Centigrade Scale |
Anders Celsius |
1742 |
|
Chlorine |
Carl Wilhelm Scheele |
1774 |
|
Dynamite |
Alfred B. Nobel |
1867 |
|
Diesel Engine |
Rudolf Diesel |
1895 |
|
Electric stove/cooker |
William S. Hadaway |
1896 |
|
Electroscope |
William Gilbert |
1600s |
|
Electric Fan |
Schuyler Wheeler |
1882 |
|
Electric Battery |
Volta |
1800 |
|
Elevator |
Elisha G. Otis |
1852 |
|
Electric Motor (DC) |
Thomas Davenport |
1873 |
|
Electromagnet |
William Sturgeon |
1824 |
|
Fountain Pen |
Petrache Poenaru |
1827 |
|
Fluorine |
André-Marie Ampère |
1810 |
|
Gramophone |
Thomas Edison |
1878 |
|
Hydrogen |
Henry Cavendish |
1766 |
|
Helicopter |
Igor Sikorsky |
1939 |
|
Hovercraft |
Christopher Cockerell |
1959 |
|
Hot Air Balloon |
Josef & Etienne Montgolfier |
1783 |
|
Helium |
Jules Janssen |
1868 |
|
Insulin |
Sir Frederick Banting |
1923 |
|
Jet Engine |
Hans Von Ohain |
1936 |
|
Lightning Conductor |
Benjamin Franklin |
1752 |
|
Locomotive |
George Stephenson |
1804 |
|
Laser |
Theodore Maiman |
1960 |
|
Light Bulb |
Thomas Edison |
1854 |
|
Motorcycle |
Gottlieb Daimler |
1885 |
|
Microscope |
Zacharis Janssen |
1590 |
|
Microphone |
Alexander Graham Bell |
1876 |
|
Machine Gun |
Richard Gatling |
1861 |
|
Neon Lamp |
Georges Claude |
1915 |
|
Oxygen |
Joseph Priestley |
1774 |
|
Ozone |
Christian Schonbein |
1839 |
|
Piano |
Bartolomeo Cristofori |
1700 |
|
Printing Press |
Johannes Gutenberg |
1440 |
|
Parachute |
Louis-Sebastien Lenormand |
1783 |
|
Polio Vaccine |
Jonas Edward Salk |
– |
|
Periodic Table |
Dmitri Mendeleev |
1869 |
|
Penicillin |
Alexander Fleming |
1928 |
|
Pacemaker |
Rune Elmqvist |
1952 |
|
Petrol for Motor Car |
Karl Benz |
1885 |
|
Refrigerator |
William Cullen |
1748 |
|
Radium |
Marie & Pierre Curie |
1898 |
|
Rubber (vulcanized) |
Charles Goodyear |
1841 |
|
Rocket Engine |
Robert H. Goddard |
1926 |
|
Radio |
Guglielmo Marconi |
1894 |
|
Richter Scale |
Charles Richter |
1935 |
|
Ship (Turbine) |
Charles Parsons |
1894 |
|
Steam Ship |
Robert Fulton |
1807 |
|
Steam Boat |
Robert Fulton |
1786 |
|
Submarine |
Cornelis Drebbel |
1620 |
|
Stethoscope |
Rene Laennec |
1816 |
|
Saxophone |
Adolphe Sax |
1846 |
|
Sewing Machine |
Elias Howe |
1846 |
|
Steam-Powered Airship |
Henri Giffard |
1852 |
|
Soft Contact lenses |
Otto Wichterle |
1961 |
|
Synthesizer |
Dr. Robert Arthur Moog |
1964 |
|
Thermometer |
Galileo |
1593 |
|
Theory of Evolution |
Charles Darwin |
1858 |
|
Typewriter |
Christopher Latham Sholes |
— |
|
Transistors |
John Bardeen, William Shockley & Walter Brattain |
1948 |
|
Telephone |
Graham Bell |
1874 |
|
Valve. Radio |
Sir J.A Fleming |
1904 |
|
Vacuum Cleaner |
Hubert Cecil Booth |
1901 |
|
Vitamin A |
Frederick Gowland Hpokins |
1912 |
|
Vitamin B |
Christiaan Eijkman |
1897 |
|
Vitamin C |
Albert Szent-Gyorgi |
– |
|
Vitamin K |
Henrik Dam |
1929 |
|
Vitamin E |
Herbert McLean Evans & Katherine Scott Bishop |
 |
|
Windshield wipers |
Mary Anderson |
1903 |
|
World Wide Web |
Tim Berners Lee with Robert Cailliau |
1989 |
|
X-ray |
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen |
1895 |
|
Xerox Machine |
Chester Carlson |
1928 |
List of Important Discoveries
Discoveries have expanded our understanding of the natural world, human behaviour, and the universe. By exploring, observing, and analysing phenomena, they have led to new theories, technologies, and ways of thinking.
| List of Important Discoveries | |||
|
S. No |
Discovery |
Discoverer |
Year of Discovery |
|
1 |
Structure of DNA |
James Watson and Francis Crick |
1953 |
|
2 |
Evolution by natural selection |
Charles Darwin |
1859 |
|
3 |
Laws of thermodynamics |
Sadi Carnot, James Prescott Joule, Rudolf Clausius |
1824-1865 |
|
4 |
Theory of relativity |
Albert Einstein |
1905-1915 |
|
5 |
Periodic table |
Dmitri Mendeleev |
1869 |
|
6 |
Plate tectonics |
Alfred Wegener |
1912 |
|
7 |
Big Bang theory |
Georges Lemaître |
1927 |
|
8 |
Quantum mechanics |
Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Paul Dirac |
1900-1930s |
|
9 |
Higgs Boson |
Peter Higgs and François Englert |
2012 |
|
10 |
Black holes |
John Michell and Albert Einstein |
1783, 1916 |
|
11 |
Exoplanets |
Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail |
1992 |
|
12 |
Continental Drift |
Alfred Wegener |
1912 |
|
13 |
Electron |
J.J. Thomson |
1897 |
|
14 |
Radioactivity |
Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel |
1896-1898 |
|
15 |
Neutron |
James Chadwick |
1932 |
|
16 |
Proton |
Ernest Rutherford |
1917 |
|
17 |
Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation |
Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson |
1965 |
|
18 |
Gravitational Waves |
LIGO Scientific Collaboration |
2015 |
|
19 |
Ozone Hole |
Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner, and Jonathan Shanklin |
1985 |
|
20 |
Greenhouse Effect |
Joseph Fourier, John Tyndall, and Svante Arrhenius |
1824, 1861, 1896 |
|
21 |
Dark Matter |
Fritz Zwicky |
1933 |
|
22 |
Dark Energy |
Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt, and Adam G. Riess |
1998 |
|
23 |
First Supermassive Black Hole |
Maarten Schmidt |
1963 |
|
24 |
First Black Hole Merger |
LIGO Scientific Collaboration |
2015 |
|
25 |
First Gravitational Lens |
J. H. Oort and F. Zwicky |
1937 |
Inventions and Discoveries FAQs
Q1: What are the 10 most important inventions and their inventors?
Ans: Wheel – unknown, Printing Press – Gutenberg, Telephone – Bell, Electric Bulb – Edison, Penicillin – Fleming, Internet – Berners-Lee, Airplane – Wright Brothers, Steam Engine – Watt, Computer – Babbage, Vaccination – Jenner.
Q2: What are the 20 most important inventions and their inventors?
Ans: Above ten plus: Radio – Marconi, Television – Baird, Automobile – Benz, Camera – Niépce, Refrigerator – Cullen, Compass – Chinese, Telescope – Lippershey, Ink – Gutenberg, Antibiotics – Fleming, Laser – Maiman.
Q3: What are discoveries and inventions?
Ans: A discovery finds something existing, like gravity; an invention creates something new, like the telephone or light bulb, for practical human use.
Q4: What are the top 100 inventions?
Ans: They include wheel, printing press, electricity, telephone, radio, airplane, internet, penicillin, computer, steam engine, vaccination, automobile, telescope, camera, television, laser, refrigerator, and many more.
Q5: Who is the biggest invention?
Ans: The most transformative inventions are the wheel, printing press, electricity, and internet, as they have profoundly changed human civilization.
