Technology Throughout Time

By CaGra
  • 1200

    Block Printing

    Unique way of printing with block-shaped stamps
  • Period: 1200 to

    Early Modern Period

  • 1450

    Printing Press

    Johannes Gutenberg invented the most convenient way to mass print the world had seen yet
  • Period: to

    Modern Period

  • Photos

    The first photo or at least the oldest surviving one is of a rooftop scene taken from a top window
  • Silent Movies

    The oldest surviving silent film is the Roundhay Garden Scene shot by inventor Louis Le Prince
  • Telephone

    Though he did not come up with the idea, Alexander Graham Bell was the first to file a patent for the telephone
  • Radio

    The first edition of radio was patented in 1896 by Guglielmo Marconi
  • Wireless Communication

    Marconi sent the first wireless message from Flat Holm Island to Lavernock Point near Cardiff
  • Movies with Sound

    First feature film presented as a "talkie" was The Jazz Singer
  • Paperback Books

    Paperbacks provided durable books for a cheaper price than hardback books
  • Color Movies

    In the US, Eastman Kodak's Eastmancolor was the usual choice
  • Computers

    The first substantial computer was the giant ENIAC machine by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the University of Pennsylvania
  • Period: to

    Contemporary Period

  • Transistor Radio

    The first small radio powered by a transistor based circuitry
  • Cable TV

    Invented by John Walson, cable was created to provide television signals to people with poor reception
  • Color TV

    RCA's CT-100 was the first color-TV set for consumers
  • VCR

    The Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) made it possible to record things that were on TV
  • Artificial Intelligence

    The beginning of AI can be traced back to a philosopher's attempts to describe human thinking as a symbolic system
  • Recording to Tape

    Ampex introduced the first commercial video tape recorder, the desk-sized Mark IV
  • Satellite

    During the Space Race, Russia beat the USA in releasing the first satellite, Sputnik
  • Autonomous Cars

    The Standford Cart, first built in 1961 was the first truly autonomous car
  • Laser Printers

    The HP LaserJet was the first laser printer intended for mass market sales
  • GPS

    The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a network of satellites that feed location data
  • Cell Phone

    Motorola was the first company to mass produce the first handheld mobile devices
  • Apple II Computer

    One of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products
  • Email

    Ray Tomlinson is credited as the inventor of email
  • Telegraph

    Developed by Samuel Morse and other inventors, the telegraph revolutionized long-distance communication
  • 3D Printing

    Charles Hull developed stereo-lithography, know as 3D printing
  • Internet

    Prior to the internet, various computer networks did not have a way to communicate with each other
  • DVD Player

    When the DVD player was invented, the VHS VCR was dominating the market, but soon the DVD player surpassed it in sales
  • MP3 Player

    The MP3 player made listening to music easy and convenient
  • YouTube

    YouTube was launched in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim
  • iPhone

    On January 9th, 2007, Steve Jobs unvieled the first handheld touch screen phone
  • iPad

    The first of a line of tablet computers designed and produced by Apple Incorporated.