The wheel was voted as the most important invention in history, with the aeroplane in second place, the lightbulb third, the worldwide web fourth and computers fifth.
Other inventions to make the top ten included Graham Bell’s telephone in sixth place, followed by Sir Alexander Flemming’s discovery of Penicillin.
The iPhone came eighth, while Thomas Crapper’s flushing toilet was ninth. The internal combustion engine came tenth.
Central heating (13th), painkillers (15th) and the steam engine (16th) also made the grade, while spectacles finished off the top 20.
I’ve pasted the complete results below. What would you put at number 1? What would you add to the list of one hundred?
1. Wheel 2. Aeroplane 3. Light bulb 4. Internet 5. PCs 6. Telephone 7. Penicillin 8. iPhone 9. Flushing toilet 10. Combustion engine 11. Contraceptive pill 12. Washing machine 13. Central heating 14. Fridge 15. Pain killers 16. Steam engine 17. Freezer 18. Camera 19. Cars 20. Spectacles 21. Mobile phones 22. Toilet paper 23. Hoover 24. Trains 25. Google 26. Microwave 27. Email 28. The pen 29. Hot water 30. Shoe 31. Compass 32. Ibuprofen 33. Toothbrush 34. Hair straighteners 35. Laptops 36. Knife and fork 37. Scissors 38. Paper 39. Space travel 40. Kettle 41. Calculator 42. Bed 43. Remote control 44. Roof 45. Air conditioning 46. SAT NAV 47. Wi-Fi 48. Cats-eyes 49. Matches 50. Power steering 51. Tumble dryer 52. Bicycle 53. Sky+ 54. Tea bags 55. Umbrella 56. iPod 57. Taps 58. Crash helmet 59. Wristwatch 60. eBay 61. DVD player 62. Nappies 63. Ladder 64. Sun tan lotion 65. Lawnmower 66. Make-up 67. Chairs 68. Sunglasses 69. The game of football 70. Sliced bread 71. Sofa 72. Razor blades 73. Screwdriver 74. Motorways 75. Head/ear phones 76. Towels 77. Push-up bra 78. Binoculars 79. WD40 80. Mascara 81. Hair dryer 82. Facebook 83. Escalator 84. Hair dye 85. Wellington boots 86. Spell check 87. Calendars 88. Cheese grater 89. Buses 90. Post-it notes 91. Gloves 92. Satellite discs 93. Pedestrian crossing 94. Baby’s dummy 95. Curtains 96. Bottle opener 97. Food blender 98. Dustpan and brush 99. Desks 100. Clothes peg
1. Wheel 2. Printing Press 3. Light Bulb 4. Language
5. Automobile 6. Television 7. Paper 8. Harnessing electricity for use 9. Microscope 10. PC’s
Probably not in that exact order but fairly close…
iPhone ? You have got to be kidding
The most important inventions of all time are all related to four areas of concentration. First, transportation, Second, communication, Three, mechinization/power and Four, Medical
1 Wheel-wagon/ locomotive/ automobile/ airplane/ jets/ space tech/
2 Printing Press/ US Mail-post office/ telegraph/ telephone/ radio/ television/ internet-computer tech.
3 Steam power-Engines/ electicity- engines/ coal – engines/ gasoline- engines/ nuclear power/
4 Medical- Medicine- antibiotics, cardiovascular/ Surgical proceedures/ obstetrics-gynecology/ psychology- human developement
Inventions and developements along these 4 lines has propelled our society to the greatest extent
I’d say out of all of those, Penicillin would be my number 1. I’m surprised not to see TV listed on there (unless I’ve missed it). I see Sky + is listed, but maybe it’s a sign of the times that we’re more interested in iPhones, Laptops and the Internet.
candles, shower, dishwasher!
The wheel will always come up tops. Grappling with gravity is what I do when I get out of bed. I though number two would be artificial light. This is best represented by the light buld. When you think if it, pushing back the boundaries of the night has changed the way we live very dramatically.
I guess consciousness is not seen so much an invention as a state of mind, but it has to be there, otherwise…. no invention!!
And on a serious note Thank God for ventilator machines at the hospital. If it wasnt for these amazing machine some of my children would not be here today.
We took your blog to the dinner table tonight
12 year old daughter said technology
man of the house came up with a very manly internal combustion engine
little wise boy said 2 people inventing another little person!
and I just got told off because I never mentioned 10 year olds shelter/home!
What makes a top 10 invention ?
1. Because of it’s existance other items become a reality.
Example: The wheel ….Gears…Auto’s..Engines..etc etc
another example .. Microscope..Penicillin..polio vaccine..etc etc
well based on gary’s post then I think man and Love has to be the best invention God being our creator! For without the existence of man and Love, no other inventions would become a reality.
By the way, a iphone is NOT an invention (I was informed of this last night) it is a innovation (using things already in existance to create something)
That’s a good distinction – thanks
I see that people think that iPod and iPhone ar better inventions than Gutenberg Printing Press. Cool.
I like how the work of Joseph Lister is barely (if at all) mentioned in this survey. Apparently, iPhones are more important than human life.
Some of these answers make me fear for my daughters future.
The iron pot made cooking simple & reliable.
The crossbow made it possible for the English to put archers behind the bow with very little training. This gave a superiority in fighting forces that enabled them to keep the French at bay.
The stirrup allowed Mongolians to come sweeping into Europe. Their empires, with constantly shifting borders, were the largest ever assembled.
Top Inventions are:
1. Religion
2. Time
3. Medicine
4. Agriculture
5. Government
6. Education
7. Toothbrush
Religion is NOT an invention, and pure fiction.
damm, where is the like button? but actually if you think about it, it was invented by a very clever scam artist who came up with a way for mass control. In no way would anyone join any authoritative person without a promise of something better in return thus creating waves of people so loyal they would even give their own life. So this has to be some kind of invention.
the tampon should, at least, be in the top ten.
dynamo? Satelites? Although technically not an investion, we may consider to include identification of blood groups. Think about the number of lives it has saved and will in the future.
Why did the useless iPhone make this list?
What about weaving and fermentation (beer)? Both massively changed society.
Ooooh and gunpowder!
To me, the importance of an invention is proportional to its impact on the asset of the human society at large. To judge that, the question to ask is: could we dismiss invention X without mining the society at its most fundamental level? For instance, penicillin, light bulb, aeroplane, are no doubt wonderful achievements, but I can imagine a society where such things were never invented and yet life wouldn’t be dramatically different at society scale (which obviously isn’t the same scale of any given penicillin user). Under this premise, my list is very simple:
1) Agriculture (switch from hunting-gathering to land-based society)
2) Steam engine (switch from rural to industrial society)
3) Internet (switch from goods to information as main drive of economy)
Not sure if i could agree with agriculture, since it is in a way our own demise. it has allowed us to multiply exponentially, survival of the fittest does not apply anymore, thus more people with many ailments surviving therefore potentially passing these ailments through genes, and now apparently the greenhouse gasses being caused largely through farming etc. but the again splitting the atom was meant to save us too.
I’m suprised. I would have my list like this;
1. Life
2. Homes
3. Electricity/Technology
4. Food and Drink
5. Furnitue(chairs/tables/beds/showers)
6. Entertainment(iPhone/laptops/tv)
7. Internet
8. Medicine
9. Entertainment
10. Cars
Money?
You are evaluating inventions by their positive impact. And since, as you say, the impact of agriculture is not entirely positive, that’s not an important invention. However, my premise was that I consider impact without judgement of positive or negative. That is, big impact equals important invention. It is just my criterion, of course.
I also have to say that I disagree on your negative judgement about agriculture, but that’s an entirely diffent discussion.
COME ON!!! Why is fire forgotten?
Canal locks
you need electricity on there
1. music
2. irrigation
3. mathematics
4. democracy
5. donuts
Sorry, but I think this one beats most of the aforesaid, and without it most of the others would have been hard to remember, work out or pass on:
The written word.
The written word and measurement of time. Ancient Egyptians calculated the Earth’s rotation at 360 days- not far off considering. Therefore- 360 degrees in a circle. Maps are degrees, minutes, and seconds all from true north, not magnetic north. Therefore, assuming the orginal plot was correct, a place on the Earth will always be a constant. Land may move but not the lat/long. End result- navigation and math. Build an arch without a compass? Written word- the most precious cargo on ANY boat- charts. Written depictions of land, shoals, reefs, etc.. Oh, and lat/longs. Time. Everything else is…history.
This is some of the stupidest inventions in the world, is this some kind of a troll site?
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i would go for te lightbulb, but you could just use fire . my sister is really smart, she picked the ABC’S.but i don’t wan’t to steal hers i’m not that smart to think of that.