-
4–5 billion years ago
Sun starts to produce energy.
Solar cells
Energy -
10 million years ago.
Humans make the first tools from stone, wood, antlers, and bones.
Tools and machines -
1–2 million years ago
Humans discover fire. Biofuels
Candles
Car engines
Jet engines -
25,000– 50,000 BCE
Humans first wear clothes.
Biomimetic clothing -
6000– 7000 BCE Hand-made bricks first used for construction in the Middle East.
Bricks -
3500 BCE
Humans invent the wheel.
Tools and machines
Wheels and axles -
1000 BCE
Iron Age begins: iron is widely used for making tools and weapons in many parts of the world.
Iron and steel -
27 BCE–395 CE
Romans develop the first, basic concrete called pozzolana.
Steel and concrete -
1703
Gottfried Leibniz pioneers the binary number system now used in virtually all computers.
How computers work
History of computers -
1609
Galileo Galilei builds a practical telescope and makes new astronomical discoveries.
Space telescopes -
1530s Gerardus Mercator helps to revolutionize navigation with better mapmaking.
Satellite navigation -
1450
Johannes Gutenberg pioneers the modern printing press, using rearrangeable metal letters called movable type.
Printing -
1803
Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier develop the papermaking machine.
Paper -
1827
Joseph Niepce makes the first modern photograph.
Photography
Digital cameras -
1849
James Francis invents a water turbine now used in many of the world's hydropower plants.
Turbines
Water
