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10,000 BCE
Earliest boats are constructed
The first known boats are created, constructed of skin, as well as hides and tree bark. The first boats were rafts, kayaks, and dugouts. -
3500 BCE
Humans invent the wheel
Nobody knows exactly how, when, or where wheels were first invented. Potting wheels, however, are believed to have been used nearly 7,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, and it's not hard to believe that somebody may have turned the wheel 90 degrees and invented a new form of transportation. -
150 BCE
Gear driven, precision clockwork machines are invented
The Antikythera mechanism is created, encased in a 13x7.1x3.5 inch wooden box. The device was a complex clockwork system consisting of 30 meshing bronze gears. The mechanism was discovered in the Antikythera shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera. -
Jan 1, 600
Windmills are invented in the Middle East
The first windmills are developed in the Middle East (no specific month or day is known). -
Jan 1, 1000
Eyeglasses are invented
The Chinese develop the earliest known eyeglasses by fixing lenses into frames that fit onto peoples faces. No specific month or day is known. -
Basic thermometer developed
Galileo Galilei develops the first basic functioning thermometer. No specific month or day. -
First mercury barometer developed
Evangelista Torricelli, a pupil of Galileo Galilei, develops the first mercury barometer for measuring air pressure. No specific month or day. -
The piano was invented
The piano is invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence Italy. No specific month or day. -
First practical steam engine built
Thomas Newcomen, while not inventing the steam engine, develops a much better design of steam-powered water pumping engine than Thomas Savery. While stationary, it was the first practical steam engine. -
Mechanical speaking machine developed
Wolfgang von Kempelen develops a mechanical speaking machine: the world's first speech synthesizer. The machine uses bellows and bagpipe components to produce crude noises similar to that of a human voice. -
The first battery is developed
An Italian physics professor named Alessandro Volta found out how to make electricity by joining different metals together and invented the first battery, referred to as a voltaic pile. -
The papermaking machine is developed
The papermaking machine is developed by Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier
