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Galileo Galilei designs a basic thermometer.
(http://www.explainthatstuff.com/thermometers.html ) -
Galileo Galileo builds a practical telescope and makes new astronomical discoveries.
(http://www.explainthatstuff.com/electromagnetic-spectrum.html) -
Galileo's pupil Evangelista Torricelli builds the first mercury barometer for measuring air pressure.
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Christian Huygens develops the pendulum clock (using Galileo's earlier discovery that a swinging pendulum can be used to keep time).
(http://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-pendulum-clocks-work.html) -
Isaac Newton formulates his three laws of motion.
(http://www.explainthatstuff.com/motion.html) -
English farmer Jethro Tull begins the mechanization of agriculture by inventing the horse-drawn seed drill.
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Bartolomeo Cristofori invents the piano.
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Thomas Newcomen builds the first practical (but stationary) steam engine.
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William Champion develops a commercially viable process for extracting zinc on a large scale.
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Axel Cronstedt isolates nickel.
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John Harrison develops reliable chronometers (seafaring clocks) that allow sailors to measure longitude accurately for the first time.
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Reverend William Gregor, a British clergyman and amateur geologist, discovers a mysterious mineral that he calls menachite. Four years later, Martin Klaproth gives it its modern name, titanium.
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Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier develop the papermaking machine.
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Humphry Davy develops the electric arc lamp.
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Robert Stirling invents the efficient Stirling engine.
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Joseph Niepce makes the first modern photograph.
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Charles Goodyear finally perfects a durable form of rubber (vulcanized rubber) after many years of unsuccessful experimenting.
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Scotsman Alexander Bain invents a primitive fax machine based on chemical technology.
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Henry Bessemer pioneers a new method of making steel in large quantities.
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James Clerk Maxwell figures out that radio waves must exist and sets out basic laws of electromagnetism.
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Elisha Graves Otis invents the elevator with built-in safety brake.
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Christopher Latham Sholes invents the modern typewriter and QWERTY keyboard.
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Lester Pelton invents a useful new kind of water turbine known as a Pelton wheel.
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Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone, though the true ownership of the invention remains controversial even today.
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Edward Very invents the flare gun (Very pistol) for sending distress flares at sea.