Printing press - Johannes Gutenberg: The printing press revolutionized the spread of information by making it possible to produce books quickly and inexpensively.
Telephone - Alexander Graham Bell: Bell invented the telephone, which allowed for the transmission of sound over distances.
Light bulb - Thomas Edison: Edison is credited with inventing the first practical incandescent light bulb, which changed the way we light our homes and cities.
Automobile - Karl Benz: Benz is credited with inventing the first practical gasoline-powered automobile, which revolutionized transportation.
Airplane - Orville and Wilbur Wright: The Wright brothers invented the first successful airplane, which enabled humans to fly for the first time.
Penicillin - Alexander Fleming: Fleming discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic, which revolutionized medicine by making it possible to treat bacterial infections.
Internet - Tim Berners-Lee: Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, which transformed the way we access and share information.
Antibiotics - Gerhard Domagk: Domagk discovered the first synthetic antibiotic, which saved countless lives by making it possible to treat bacterial infections.
Steam engine - James Watt: Watt is credited with developing the steam engine, which played a key role in the Industrial Revolution by powering factories and transportation.
Television - John Logie Baird: Baird is credited with inventing the first television, which revolutionized entertainment and information sharing.
| Rank | Invention | Inventor(s) | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Printing press (movable type) | Bi Sheng | 1040 |
| 2 | Printing press | Johannes Gutenberg | 1440 |
| 3 | Microscope | Zacharias Janssen | 1595 |
| 4 | Calculator | Blaise Pascal | 1642 |
| 5 | Barometer | Evangelista Torricelli | 1643 |
| 6 | Steam engine | James Watt | 1765 |
| 7 | Steam-powered loom | Edmund Cartwright | 1784 |
| 8 | Power loom | Edmund Cartwright | 1785 |
| 9 | Electric battery | Alessandro Volta | 1800 |
| 10 | Battery | Alessandro Volta | 1800 |
| 11 | Steamboat | Robert Fulton | 1807 |
| 12 | Steam-powered locomotive | George Stephenson | 1814 |
| 13 | Stethoscope | René Laennec | 1816 |
| 14 | Bicycle | Karl Drais | 1817 |
| 15 | Electric motor | Michael Faraday | 1821 |
| 16 | Electric generator | Michael Faraday | 1831 |
| 17 | Screw propeller | Francis Pettit Smith | 1836 |
| 18 | Photography | Louis Daguerre | 1837 |
| 19 | Computer | Charles Babbage | 1837 |
| 20 | Telegraph | Samuel Morse | 1837 |
| 21 | Dynamometer | Charles Babbage | 1838 |
| 22 | Synthetic rubber | Charles Goodyear | 1839 |
| 23 | Sewing machine | Elias Howe | 1846 |
| 24 | Steel production | Henry Bessemer | 1856 |
| 25 | Sewage system | Joseph Bazalgette | 1858 |
| 26 | Can opener | Ezra J. Warner | 1858 |
| 27 | Internal combustion engine | Étienne Lenoir | 1860 |
| 28 | Dynamite | Alfred Nobel | 1867 |
| 29 | Phonemic orthography | Sholes and Glidden | 1867 |
| 30 | Telephone | Alexander Graham Bell | 1876 |
| 31 | Refrigerator | Carl von Linde | 1876 |
| 32 | Refrigerated shipping | Carl von Linde | 1876 |
| 33 | Phonograph | Thomas Edison | 1877 |
| 34 | Telephone exchange | Tivadar Puskás | 1877 |
| 35 | Refrigerator car | Gustavus Swift | 1878 |
| 36 | Incandescent light bulb | Joseph Swan | 1878 |
| 37 | Lightbulb | Thomas Edison | 1879 |
| 38 | Light bulb | Thomas Edison | 1879 |
| 39 | Steam turbine | Charles Parsons | 1884 |
| 40 | Automobile | Karl Benz | 1885 |
| 41 | Gasoline-powered automobile | Carl Benz | 1885 |
| 42 | Aluminum production | Charles Hall | 1886 |
| 43 | Phonograph record | Emile Berliner | 1887 |
| 44 | Three-phase electric power | Nikola Tesla | 1887 |
| 45 | Camera | George Eastman | 1888 |
| 46 | Motion picture camera | Louis Le Prince | 1888 |
| 47 | Escalator | Jesse W. Reno | 1891 |
| 48 | Diesel engine | Rudolf Diesel | 1892 |
| 49 | Radio | Guglielmo Marconi | 1895 |
| 50 | X-ray machine | Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen | 1895 |
| 51 | X-ray | Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen | 1895 |
| 52 | Cathode ray tube | Ferdinand Braun | 1897 |
| 53 | Submarine | John Holland | 1898 |
| 54 | Assembly line | Ransom Olds and Henry Ford | 1901 |
| 55 | Air conditioning | Willis Carrier | 1902 |
| 56 | Air conditioning (modern) | Willis Carrier | 1902 |
| 57 | Airplane | Orville and Wilbur Wright | 1903 |
| 58 | Safety glass | Édouard Bénédictus | 1903 |
| 59 | Safety razor | King Camp Gillette | 1904 |
| 60 | Synthetic polymer | Leo Baekeland | 1907 |
| 61 | Plastic | Leo Baekeland | 1907 |
| 62 | Synthetic fertilizer | Fritz Haber | 1909 |
| 63 | Refrigerated air conditioning | Willis Carrier | 1911 |
| 64 | Diesel-electric locomotive | Rudolf Diesel | 1912 |
| 65 | Insulin | Frederick Banting and Charles Best | 1921 |
| 66 | Traffic light | Garrett Morgan | 1923 |
| 67 | Television | John Logie Baird | 1925 |
| 68 | Power steering | Francis W. Davis | 1926 |
| 69 | Penicillin | Alexander Fleming | 1928 |
| 70 | Sliced bread | Otto Frederick Rohwedder | 1928 |
| 71 | Polyethylene | Paul Hogan and Robert Banks | 1933 |
| 72 | Radar | Robert Watson-Watt | 1935 |
| 73 | Antibiotics | Gerhard Domagk | 1935 |
| 74 | Ballpoint pen | László Bíró | 1938 |
| 75 | NMR spectroscopy | Isidor Rabi | 1938 |
| 76 | Refrigerated trucks | Frederick McKinley Jones | 1938 |
| 77 | Helicopter | Igor Sikorsky | 1939 |
| 78 | Automobile air conditioning | Packard Motor Car Company | 1939 |
| 79 | Microwave oven | Percy Spencer | 1945 |
| 80 | Atomic bomb | J. Robert Oppenheimer and team | 1945 |
| 81 | Transistor | William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain | 1947 |
| 82 | Polaroid camera | Edwin Land | 1948 |
| 83 | Airbag | John W. Hetrick | 1951 |
| 84 | Hovercraft | Christopher Cockerell | 1955 |
| 85 | Integrated circuit | Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce | 1958 |
| 86 | Laser | Theodore Maiman | 1960 |
| 87 | Compact disc | James Russell | 1965 |
| 88 | Optical fiber | Charles Kao, George Hockham, and Narinder Singh Kapany | 1966 |
| 89 | ATM | John Shepherd-Barron | 1967 |
| 90 | Microprocessor | Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff, and Stanley Mazor | 1971 |
| 91 | CAT scanner | Godfrey Hounsfield | 1972 |
| 92 | Internet | Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn | 1974 |
| 93 | Photography (digital) | Steven Sasson | 1975 |
| 94 | Digital camera | Steven Sasson | 1975 |
| 95 | Cray supercomputer | Seymour Cray | 1976 |
| 96 | Personal computer | Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs | 1976 |
| 97 | Artificial heart | Robert Jarvik | 1982 |
| 98 | Internet search engine | Larry Page and Sergey Brin | 1998 |
| 99 | Ball bearing | Leonardo da Vinci | 1500s |
| 100 | Bicycle chain | Hans Renold | 1880s |
| 101 | Jet engine | Frank Whittle | 1930s |
| 102 | Catalytic converter | Eugene Houdry | 1950s |
| 103 | Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) | Raymond Damadian and Paul Lauterbur | 1970s |
| 104 | GPS | Ivan Getting and team | 1970s |
| 105 | Lithium-ion battery | John Goodenough, Akira Yoshino, and Stanley Whittingham | 1980s |