Invention Year Inventor Notes
1 Printing Press 1450 Johannes Gutenberg allowed literacy to greatly expand
2 Electric Light 1879 Thomas Edison powered countless social changes
3 Automobile 1885 Karl Benz increased personal mobility and freedom
4 Telephone 1876 Alexander Graham Bell spread communication across wide areas
5 Radio and TV 1895 & 1926 Guglielmo Marconi & John Baird made the world smaller
6 Vaccination 1796 Edward Jenner protected people from disease
7 Computer 1939 John Atanasoff, et al. transformed business world; predecessor to the Internet
8 Airplane 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright allowed people and products to quickly move
9 Gas powered 1892 John Froelich started agricultural mechanization
tractor
10 Anesthesia 1844 Horace Wells provided a great leap forward for medicine
source: EHistory