Some 20th Century Inventions: a timeline

1900: electric cookers

1901: Marconi sends his first radio communication across the Atlantic ocean from England to Canada
Read about Guglielmo Marconi here http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1909/marconi-bio.html

1901: King Gillette invents a safety razor with a disposable blade
Read about King Gillette here http://www.school-for-champions.com/biographies/gillette.htm

1903: porcelain is used for teeth fillings

1906: the world's first hydrofoil, designed by Enrico Forlanini, cruised across a lake in Italy
Read about this inventor and his hydrofoil http://www.foils.org/gallery/forlani.htm

1906: W.K. Kellogg manufactures the first corn flakes
Go here to read about how corn flakes are made today, in Australia http://www.sanitarium.com.au/schoproj/ppcorn.htm

1914: the zip fastener is invented
Read about the invention of the zipper here http://www.ansun.com/history.html

1920: the first hand held hair dryer is on sale

1924: electric loudspeakers invented

Marconi wireless (radio) in use in 1923

1926: television is invented and demonstrated by John Logie Baird
Read about this inventor here http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blbaird.htm

1928: penicillin discovered and later used to treat many human diseases
Read about Alexander Fleming and penicillin http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bmflem.html

1932: the first electric guitars invented

1934: Nylon, a plastic thread is invented and used to make toothbrushes

1937: Frank Whittle invents a jet engine
Read about this inventor here http://www.pbs.org/kcet/chasingthesun/innovators/fwhittle.html

1938: a photocopier is invented by Chester Carlson

1938: Ladislo Biro invents a ball point pen
Read about the inventor here http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa101697.htm

1943: SCUBA (self contained underwater breathing apparatus) is invented by Frenchmen, Jacques Cousteau
and Emil Gagnan
Go here to read how scuba works http://www.howstuffworks.com/scuba.htm

1946: first computer constructed by American scientists

1950: the first credit cards is invented meaning people could buy things and pay later

1952: transistor radio developed meaning that people could have portable, battery driven radios

1956: the pacemaker: an electrical device used to control the beat of the human heart is invented

1962: television satellite 'Telstar' launched and enables television to be transmitted across the Atlantic ocean between America and Europe

1963: cassette recorders
Go here to read about how tape recorders work http://www.howstuffworks.com/cassette.htm

1964; 'Bullet train' travelling at speeds up to 210 kilometres per hour runs from Tokyo and Osaka in Japan

1969: 'jumbo' jet carrying 362 passengers is in service

1971: pocket calculators developed

1974: computer readable bar codes invented
Go here to read about how barcodes work http://www.howstuffworks.com/upc.htm

1976: supersonic airliner 'Concorde' in service across the Atlantic Ocean
Read all about Concorde here http://www.concorde-jet.com/index.php

1978: personal computers invented

1982: compact discs are available

1985: mobile phones Go here to find out how mobile phones work
http://www.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone.htm

1987: fax machines Go here to find out how a fax machine works
http://www.howstuffworks.com/fax-machine.htm

1990: portable personal computers

1991: CD-ROM (read-only-memory) present information as text, graphics, video and sound

1993 Pentium computer processor

2003 The hybrid car

For an A-Z of inventions and a timeline go here
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/

More modern inventions here
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa010500a.htm

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This page checked and updated September 2006