Russian scientists and inventions that shocked the world. Great inventions of mankind Famous creators

Just two decades ago, people could not even dream of such a level of technological development as exists today. Today, it takes only half a day to fly halfway around the globe, modern smartphones are 60,000 times lighter and thousands of times more productive than the first computers, today agricultural productivity and life expectancy are higher than ever in human history. Let's try to figure out which inventions became the most important and, in fact, changed the history of mankind.

1. Cyanide

Although cyanide seems controversial enough to be included on this list, the chemical has played an important role in human history. While the gaseous form of cyanide has been responsible for the deaths of millions of people, it is the substance that is the main factor in the extraction of gold and silver from ore. Since the world economy was tied to the gold standard, cyanide was an important factor in the development of international trade.

2. Airplane

Today, no one doubts that the invention of the "metal bird" had one of the greatest impacts on human history by radically reducing the time required to transport goods or people. The invention of the Wright brothers was enthusiastically received by the public.

3. Anesthesia

Before 1846, any surgical procedure was more like some kind of painful torture. Although anesthetics have been used for thousands of years, their earliest forms were alcohol or mandrake extract. The invention of modern anesthesia in the form of nitrous oxide and ether allowed doctors to calmly operate on patients without the slightest resistance on their part (after all, the patients did not feel anything).

4. Radio

The origins of radio history are highly controversial. Many claim that its inventor was Guglielmo Marconi. Others claim that it was Nikola Tesla. In any case, these two people did a lot to enable people to successfully transmit information through radio waves.

5. Telephone

The telephone has been one of the most important inventions in our modern world. As with all major inventions, who was the inventor is still debated. What is clear is that the US Patent Office issued the first telephone patent to Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. This patent served as the basis for future research and development of electronic sound transmission over long distances.

6. World Wide Web

Although everyone thinks of it as a completely recent invention, the Internet existed in an archaic form in 1969 when the United States military developed the ARPANET. But relatively modern form The Internet only came about because of Tim Berners-Lee, who created a network of hyperlinks to documents at the University of Illinois and created the first World Wide Web browser.

7. Transistor

Today it seems very easy to pick up the phone and call someone in Mali, the US or India, but this would not be possible without transistors. Semiconductor transistors, which amplify electrical signals, have made it possible to send information over long distances. The man who pioneered this research, William Shockley, is credited with creating Silicon Valley.

8. Atomic clock

Although this invention may not seem as revolutionary as many of the previous items, the invention of the atomic clock was crucial in the advancement of science. Using microwave signals emitted by changing energy levels of electrons, atomic clocks and their accuracy have made possible a wide range of modern modern inventions, including GPS, GLONASS, as well as the Internet.

9. Steam turbine

Charles Parsons' steam turbine literally changed the development of mankind, giving impetus to the industrialization of countries and making it possible for ships to quickly overcome the ocean. In 1996 alone, 90% of the electricity in the United States was generated by steam turbines.

10. Plastic

Despite the widespread use in our modern society plastic, it appeared only in the last century. The waterproof and highly pliable material is used in virtually every industry, from food packaging to toys and even spacecraft. Although most modern plastics are made from petroleum, there are growing calls to return to the original version, which was partly organic.

11. Television

Television has had a long and storied history that dates back to the 1920s and continues to this day. This invention has become one of the most popular consumer products around the world - almost 80% of households own a television.

12. Oil

Most people don't think at all when they fill up their car's tank. Although people have been extracting oil for thousands of years, the modern oil and gas industry emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century. After industrialists saw all the benefits of oil products and the amount of energy generated by burning them, they raced to make wells for the extraction of “liquid gold.”

13. Internal combustion engine

Without discovering the efficiency of combustion of petroleum products, a modern engine internal combustion would be impossible. Considering that it began to be used literally in everything from cars to agricultural combines and mining machines, these engines allowed people to replace backbreaking, painstaking and time-consuming work with machines that could do the work much faster. The internal combustion engine also gave people freedom of movement as it was used in cars.

14. Reinforced concrete

The boom in the construction of high-rise buildings only occurred in the mid-nineteenth century. By embedding steel reinforcing bars (rebar) into concrete before pouring it, people were able to build reinforced concrete man-made structures that were many times larger in weight and size than before.

There would be far fewer people living on planet Earth today if there were no penicillin. Officially discovered by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming in 1928, penicillin became one of the most important inventions/discoveries that made modern world possible. Antibiotics were among the first medicines, which were able to fight staphylococci, syphilis and tuberculosis.

16. Refrigerator

Harnessing heat was perhaps the most important discovery to date, but it took many millennia. Although people have long used ice for cooling, its practicality and availability were limited. In the nineteenth century, scientists invented artificial refrigeration using chemical substances. By the early 1900s, almost every meat packing plant and major food distributor was using refrigeration to preserve food.

17. Pasteurization

Half a century before the discovery of penicillin, it helped save many lives. new process, discovered by Louis Pasteur, is the pasteurization or heating of foods (originally beer, wine, and dairy products) to a temperature high enough to kill most spoilage bacteria. Unlike sterilization, which kills all bacteria, pasteurization only reduces the number of potential pathogens to a level that makes most foods safe to eat without risk of contamination, while still maintaining the flavor of the food.

18. Solar battery

Just as the oil industry sparked industrial growth in general, the invention of the solar cell allowed people to use a renewable form of energy in a much more efficient way. effective way. The first practical solar cell was developed in 1954 by Bell Telephone scientists, and today the popularity and efficiency of solar panels has increased dramatically.

19. Microprocessor

Today people would have to forget about their laptop and smartphone if the microprocessor had not been invented. One of the most widely known supercomputers, ENIAC, was built in 1946 and weighed 27,215 tons. Intel engineer Ted Hoff created the first microprocessor in 1971, putting all the functions of a supercomputer into one tiny chip, making portable computers possible.

20. Laser

The stimulated light emission amplifier or laser was invented in 1960 by Theodor Meyman. Modern lasers are used in a variety of inventions, including laser cutters, barcode scanners, and surgical equipment.

21. Nitrogen fixation

Although it may seem overly pompous, nitrogen fixation, or fixation of molecular atmospheric nitrogen, is "responsible" for the explosion of the human population. By converting atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, the production of highly effective fertilizers was made possible, which increased agricultural production.

22. Conveyor

Today it is difficult to overestimate the importance of assembly lines. Before their invention, all products were made by hand. The assembly line or assembly line allowed for the development of large-scale production of the same parts, greatly reducing the time it took to create a new product.

23. Oral contraceptives

Although the pill and the pill has been one of the main methods of medicine that has been around for thousands of years, the invention of the oral contraceptive has been one of the most significant innovations. It was this invention that became the impetus for the sexual revolution.

24. Mobile phone/smartphone

Now many people are probably reading this article from a smartphone. For this we must thank Motorola, which back in 1973 released the first wireless pocket mobile phone, which weighed as much as 2 kg and required as much as 10 hours to recharge. To make matters worse, at that time you could only chat quietly for 30 minutes.

25. Electricity

Most modern inventions would simply not be possible without electricity. Pioneers such as William Gilbert and Benjamin Franklin laid the initial foundation on which inventors such as Volt and Faraday began the Second Industrial Revolution.

Advances in technology are rapidly gaining momentum, leaving far behind the days when people had to use candles as a source of light. Today, people can make purchases without leaving their home, travel thousands of kilometers in a few hours, and even travel into space. At the same time, not many people remember the geniuses who are the founders of the current civilization. Let us pay tribute to the development of unique inventions and discoveries to the ancestors who contributed to all this. We present a rating that presents the most famous inventors.

10 Most Famous and Greatest Inventors in the World

10

Airplane project

The top of the most famous inventors is opened by Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov. Among his discoveries are:

1. The prototype of modern aircraft;
2. Aerodynamic machine;

At one time, the outstanding Russian physicist was interested in geography, astronomy and chemistry. Achieved high results in the study of astronomy and philology. He was interested in geology and the history of his state. The essence of his main work - an aerodynamic machine - is the ability to lift meteorological devices into the air. This project served as a good basis for many modern discoveries.

Of course, the name of the creator of radio technology should appear in the ranking of the best inventors. His name is Alexander Stepanovich Popov, and this is another person we can be proud of. The Russian genius was awarded many prizes in the field of science. In 1898 he received an award from the Imperial Technical Society for the presentation of a telegraphy receiver. Thanks to its development, humanity was able to use the telegraph at a distance, without wires. In addition, Popov was an excellent teacher. Taught:

• physics;
• mathematics;
• electrical engineering;

He treats any work scrupulously and very responsibly!

Aerodynamic tube

Konstantin Stepanovich Tsiolkovsky is the only scientist who does not have an education. The self-taught man created a wind tunnel. At the same time, the famous scientific figure of the USSR is the founder of theoretical cosmonautics. Moreover, at the end of the 19th century, he presented the world with the first design of an airplane equipped with a metal body. Not at all, it was possible to launch this vehicle only after 20 years. It is worth noting that Konstantin Tsiolkovsky contributed not only to the development of science, but also to poetry. At the end of the 19th century he presented a number of interesting artistic works. There are many quotes from this talented man online.

Lightning rod

The ranking of famous inventors includes Benjamin Franklin, who is simultaneously a politician, writer and talented designer. It was he who managed to create the lightning rod, the Franklin furnace, and the glass harmonica. Franklin's contribution to the field of medicine deserves special attention. He created a flexible urinary catheter. It's funny that Benjamin did not patent a single invention. But this does not prevent him from representing the hundred dollar bill in the 21st century. This fact confirms the significance of the inventor’s life in the history of mankind. This scientist has repeatedly expressed the opinion that inventions should be released free of charge.

Siege weapons

Of course, Archimedes of Syracuse is a man of genius, whose contribution to science will never be overestimated. First of all, this outstanding inventor became famous as a mathematician who created many theories and computational formulas. In addition, Archimedes created siege weapons and mirrors, through which rays could be focused to ignite objects. Surely, many have heard about the existence of such an invention as the Archimedes screw. Currently, many people use the invention to transfer water from reservoirs to irrigation canals. It was he who introduced the theory of leverage. In addition, the mathematician made his contribution to the development of mechanics.

Video recorder

The most famous inventors also include Gerard Hal Lemelson. Is a recognized mind in the USA. He was able to submit over six hundred patents in his life. His works include:

• Cordless radiotelephones;
• Industrial robots;
• Tape cassettes;
• VCRs;
• Automated warehouses;
• Fax machines;
• Video cameras.

At one time, Lemelson was one of the outstanding people. Actively defended the rights of independent scientists. He was constantly criticized by the patent offices. He worked 14 hours a day.

Current generator

One of the outstanding ones is Nikola Tesla, an unrecognized scientist during his lifetime who was able to make a huge contribution to science. Unfortunately, the significance of his work was appreciated only after his death. Nikola presented to the public a colossal number of inventions operating on alternating current. Many of his works led to the second industrial revolution. Tesla presented many unique robots that could be controlled remotely. He is also the author of one hundred patents for various power plants and generators.

Automobile

Many believe that Bell is the best inventor because of the creation of the automobile. It is by no means certain that he made the most important contribution, since the mobile apparatus presented by Alexander would not have existed without the contributions of his predecessors, which we will discuss below. However, he can be classified among the top three, because he is the author of a car called Mersedes Benz, which is still included in the ranking today

Every year or decade, more and more scientists and inventors appear who give us new discoveries and inventions in various fields. But there are inventions that, once invented, change our way of life in a huge way, moving us forward on the path of progress. Here's just a dozen great inventions who have changed the world in which we live.

List of inventions:

1. Nails

Inventor: unknown

Without nails, our civilization would certainly collapse. It is difficult to determine the exact date of appearance of the nails. Now the approximate date of creation of nails is in the Bronze Age. That is, it is obvious that nails could not have appeared before people learned to cast and shape metal. Previously, wooden structures had to be erected using more complex technologies, using complex geometric structures. Now the construction process has been greatly simplified.

Until the 1790s and early 1800s, iron nails were made by hand. The blacksmith would heat a square iron rod and then beat it on all four sides to create the sharp end of the nail. Machines for making nails appeared between the 1790s and early 1800s. Nail technology continued to evolve; After Henry Bessemer developed a process for mass-producing steel from iron, the iron nails of yesteryear gradually fell out of favor, and by 1886, 10% of nails in the United States were made from soft steel wire (according to the University of Vermont). By 1913, 90% of nails produced in the United States were made from steel wire.

2. Wheel

Inventor: unknown

The idea of ​​a symmetrical component moving in a circular motion along an axis existed in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Europe separately at different periods of time. Thus, it is impossible to establish who and where exactly invented the wheel, but this great invention appeared in 3500 BC and became one of the most important inventions of mankind. The wheel facilitated work in the fields of agriculture and transportation, and also became the basis for other inventions, ranging from carriages to clocks.

3. Printing press

Johannes Gutenberg invented the manual printing press in 1450. By 1500, twenty million books had already been printed in Western Europe. In the 19th century, modifications were made and iron parts replaced wooden ones, speeding up the printing process. The cultural and industrial revolution in Europe would not have been possible if not for the speed with which printing allowed documents, books and newspapers to be distributed to a wide audience. The printing press allowed the press to develop, and also gave people the opportunity to educate themselves. The political sphere would also be unthinkable without millions of copies of leaflets and posters. What can we say about the state apparatus with its endless number of forms? In general, it is a truly great invention.

4. Steam engine

Inventor: James Watt

Although the first version of the steam engine dates back to the 3rd century AD, it was not until the advent of the industrial age in the early 19th century that the modern form of the internal combustion engine emerged. It took decades of design before James Watt made the first drawings, according to which burning fuel releases high-temperature gas and, as it expands, puts pressure on the piston and moves it. This phenomenal invention played a crucial role in the invention of other machines such as cars and airplanes, which changed the face of the planet we live on.

5. Light bulb

Inventor: Thomas Alva Edison

The invention of the light bulb developed during the 1800s by Thomas Edison; he is credited with being the main inventor of a lamp that could burn for 1500 hours without burning out (invented in 1879). The idea of ​​the light bulb itself did not belong to Edison and was expressed by many people, but it was he who managed to select the right materials so that the light bulb would burn for a long time and become cheaper than candles.

6. Penicillin

Inventor: Alexander Fleming

Penicillin was accidentally discovered in a petri dish by Alexander Fleming in 1928. The drug penicillin is a group of antibiotics that treats several infections in humans without harming them. Penicillin was mass-produced during World War II to rid military personnel of STDs and is still used as the standard antibiotic against infections. This was one of the most famous discoveries made in the field of medicine. Alexander Fleming received in 1945 Nobel Prize, and the newspapers of that time wrote:

“To defeat fascism and liberate France, he made more entire divisions”

7. Telephone

Inventor: Antonio Meucci

For a long time it was believed that Alexander Bell was the discoverer of the telephone, but in 2002 the US Congress decided that Antonio Meucci had the right to primacy in the invention of the telephone. In 1860 (16 years earlier than Graham Bell), Antonio Meucci demonstrated an apparatus that could transmit voice over wires. Antonio called his invention Telektrofon and applied for a patent in 1871. This set the stage for one of the most revolutionary inventions that almost everyone on our planet has in their pockets and on their desks. The telephone, which later also developed as a mobile phone, has had a vital impact on mankind, especially in the areas of business and communication. The expansion of audible speech from inside one room to the whole world is a feat unparalleled to this day.

8. Television

Zvorykin with an iconoscope

Inventor: Rosing Boris Lvovich and his students Zworykin Vladimir Konstantinovich and Kataev Semyon Isidorovich (not recognized as a discoverer), as well as Philon Farnsworth

Although the invention of television cannot be attributed to one person, most people acknowledge that the invention of modern television was the merit of two people: Vladimir Kosma Zworykin (1923) and Philo Farnsworth (1927). It should be noted here that in the USSR Kataev Semyon Isidorovich was engaged in the development of a TV using parallel technology, and Rosing described the first experiments and principles of operation of electric television at all at the beginning of the 20th century. Television was also one of the great inventions that has evolved from mechanical to electronic, from black and white to color, from analog to digital, from primitive models without a remote control to intelligent, and now all to 3D versions and small home theaters. People usually spend about 4-8 hours a day watching TV, and this has greatly affected family and social life, as well as changed our culture beyond recognition.

9. Computer

Inventor: Charles Babbage, Alan Turing and others.

The first mechanical computer was invented by Charles Babbage in the early 19th century. The principle of the modern computer was first formulated by Alan Turing. This invention has truly accomplished amazing things in more areas of life, including the philosophy and culture of human society. The computer has helped high-speed military aircraft take off, launched spacecraft into orbit, controlled medical equipment, created visual images, stored vast amounts of information, and improved the functioning of automobiles, telephones, and power plants.

10. Internet and World Wide Web

Map of the entire computer network for 2016

Inventor: Vinton Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee

The Internet was first developed in 1973 by Vinton Cerf with support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Its original use was to provide a communications network in research laboratories and universities in the United States and to extend overtime work. This invention (along with the World Wide Web) was the main revolutionary invention of the 20th century. In 1996, there were more than 25 million computers connected to the Internet in 180 countries, and now we even had to switch to IPv6 to increase the number of IP addresses, since IPv4 addresses were completely exhausted, and there were about 4.22 billion of them.

The World Wide Web as we know it was first predicted by Arthur C. Clarke. However, the invention was made 19 years later in 1989 by CERN employee Tom Berners Lee. The web has changed the way we approach various fields, including education, music, finance, reading, medicine, language, etc. The web has the potential to surpass all the great inventions of the world.

The history of mankind is closely connected with constant progress, development of technology, new discoveries and inventions. Some technologies are outdated and become history, others, such as the wheel or sail, are still in use today. Countless discoveries were lost in the whirlpool of time, others, not appreciated by their contemporaries, waited for recognition and implementation for tens and hundreds of years.

Editorial Samogo.Net conducted her own research designed to answer the question of which inventions are considered the most significant by our contemporaries.

Processing and analysis of the results of online surveys showed that there is simply no consensus on this matter. Nevertheless, we managed to form an overall unique rating of the greatest inventions and discoveries in human history. As it turned out, despite the fact that science has long moved forward, basic discoveries remain the most significant in the minds of our contemporaries.

First place undoubtedly took Fire

People opened early beneficial features fire - its ability to illuminate and warm, to change plant and animal food for the better.

The “wild fire” that broke out during forest fires or volcanic eruptions was terrible for man, but by bringing fire into his cave, man “tamed” it and “put” it into his service. From that time on, fire became a constant companion of man and the basis of his economy. In ancient times, it was an indispensable source of heat, light, a means of cooking, and a hunting tool.
However, further cultural achievements (ceramics, metallurgy, steelmaking, steam engines, etc.) are due to the complex use of fire.

For many millennia, people used “home fire”, maintaining it year after year in their caves, before they learned to produce it themselves using friction. This discovery probably happened by accident, after our ancestors learned to drill wood. During this operation, the wood was heated and, under favorable conditions, ignition could occur. Having paid attention to this, people began to widely use friction to make fire.

The simplest method was to take two sticks of dry wood, and make a hole in one of them. The first stick was placed on the ground and pressed against the knee. The second one was inserted into the hole, and then they began to quickly and quickly rotate it between the palms. At the same time, it was necessary to press hard on the stick. The inconvenience of this method was that the palms gradually slid down. Every now and then I had to lift them up and again continue to rotate. Although, with certain dexterity, this can be done quickly, nevertheless, due to constant stops, the process was greatly delayed. It is much easier to make fire by friction, working together. In this case, one person held the horizontal stick and pressed on top of the vertical one, and the second quickly rotated it between his palms. Later, they began to clasp the vertical stick with a strap, moving it to the right and left to speed up the movement, and for convenience, they began to put a bone cap on the upper end. Thus, the entire device for making fire began to consist of four parts: two sticks (fixed and rotating), a strap and an upper cap. In this way, it was possible to make fire alone, if you pressed the lower stick with your knee to the ground and the cap with your teeth.

And only later, with the development of mankind, other methods of producing open fire became available.

Second place in the responses of the Internet community took Wheel and Cart

It is believed that its prototype may have been rollers that were placed under heavy tree trunks, boats and stones when dragging them from place to place. Perhaps the first observations of the properties of rotating bodies were made at the same time. For example, if for some reason the log roller was thinner in the center than at the edges, it moved more evenly under the load and did not skid to the side. Noticing this, people began to deliberately burn the rollers in such a way that the middle part became thinner, while the sides remained unchanged. Thus, a device was obtained, which is now called a “ramp.” In the course of further improvements in this direction, only two rollers at its ends remained from a solid log, and an axis appeared between them. Later they began to be made separately and then rigidly fastened together. Thus the wheel in the proper sense of the word was discovered and the first cart appeared.

In subsequent centuries, many generations of craftsmen worked to improve this invention. Initially, solid wheels were rigidly attached to the axle and rotated with it. When traveling on a flat road, such carts were quite suitable for use. When turning, when the wheels must rotate at different speeds, this connection creates great inconvenience, since a heavily loaded cart can easily break or tip over. The wheels themselves were still very imperfect. They were made from a single piece of wood. Therefore, the wagons were heavy and clumsy. They moved slowly, and were usually harnessed to slow but powerful oxen.

One of the oldest carts of the described design was found during excavations in Mohenjo-Daro. A major step forward in the development of transportation technology was the invention of a wheel with a hub mounted on a fixed axle. In this case, the wheels rotated independently of each other. And so that the wheel would rub less against the axle, they began to lubricate it with grease or tar.

To reduce the weight of the wheel, cutouts were cut out in it, and for rigidity they were reinforced with transverse braces. Nothing better could have been invented in the Stone Age. But after the discovery of metals, wheels with a metal rim and spokes began to be made. Such a wheel could rotate tens of times faster and was not afraid of hitting rocks. By harnessing fleet-footed horses to a cart, man significantly increased the speed of his movement. It is perhaps difficult to find another discovery that would give such a powerful impetus to the development of technology.

Third place rightfully occupied Writing

There is no need to talk about how great the invention of writing was in the history of mankind. It is impossible to even imagine what path the development of civilization could have taken if, at a certain stage of their development, people had not learned to record the information they needed with the help of certain symbols and thus transmit and store it. It is obvious that human society in the form in which it exists today simply could not have appeared.

The first forms of writing in the form of specially inscribed characters appeared about 4 thousand years BC. But long before that there were various ways transmission and storage of information: using a certain way of folded branches, arrows, smoke from fires and similar signals. From these primitive warning systems, more complex methods of recording information later emerged. For example, the ancient Incas invented an original “writing” system using knots. Wool cords were used for this. different color. They were tied with various knots and attached to a stick. In this form, the "letter" was sent to the addressee. There is an opinion that the Incas used such “knot writing” to record their laws, write down chronicles and poems. “Knot writing” was also noted among other peoples - it was used in ancient China and Mongolia.

However, writing in the proper sense of the word appeared only after people invented special graphic signs to record and transmit information. The most ancient type of writing is pictographic. A pictogram is a schematic drawing that directly depicts the things, events, and phenomena in question. It is assumed that pictography was widespread among various peoples during the last stage of the Stone Age. This letter is very visual, and therefore does not require special study. It is quite suitable for transmitting small messages and for recording simple stories. But when the need arose to convey some complex abstract thought or concept, I immediately felt limited opportunities pictogram, which is completely unsuited to recording what cannot be depicted in pictures (for example, such concepts as vigor, courage, vigilance, good dream, sky blue, etc.). Therefore, already at an early stage in the history of writing, the number of pictograms began to include special conventional icons that denote certain concepts (for example, the sign of crossed hands symbolized exchange). Such icons are called ideograms. Ideographic writing also arose from pictographic writing, and one can quite clearly imagine how this happened: each pictorial sign of a pictogram began to become increasingly isolated from others and associated with a specific word or concept, denoting it. Gradually, this process developed so much that primitive pictograms lost their former clarity, but gained clarity and definiteness. This process took a long time, perhaps several thousand years.

The highest form of ideogram was hieroglyphic letter. It first appeared in Ancient Egypt. Later, hieroglyphic writing became widespread in Far East- in China, Japan and Korea. With the help of ideograms it was possible to reflect any, even the most complex and abstract thought. However, for those not privy to the secrets of the hieroglyphs, the meaning of what was written was completely incomprehensible. Anyone who wanted to learn to write had to memorize several thousand symbols. In reality, this took several years of constant exercise. Therefore, in ancient times, few people knew how to write and read.

Only at the end of 2 thousand BC. The ancient Phoenicians invented a letter-sound alphabet, which served as a model for the alphabets of many other peoples. The Phoenician alphabet consisted of 22 consonant letters, each of which represented a different sound. The invention of this alphabet was a big step forward for humanity. With the help of the new letter it was easy to convey any word graphically, without resorting to ideograms. It was very easy to learn from him. The art of writing has ceased to be the privilege of the enlightened. It has become the property of the whole society, or at least most of it. This was one of the reasons for the rapid spread of the Phoenician alphabet throughout the world. It is believed that four-fifths of all currently known alphabets arose from Phoenician.

So, Libyan developed from a variety of Phoenician writing (Punic). The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek writing came directly from Phoenician. In turn, on the basis of the Aramaic script, Arabic, Nabataean, Syriac, Persian and other scripts developed. The Greeks made the last important improvement to the Phoenician alphabet - they began to denote not only consonants, but also vowel sounds with letters. The Greek alphabet formed the basis of most European alphabets: Latin (from which French, German, English, Italian, Spanish and other alphabets in turn originated), Coptic, Armenian, Georgian and Slavic (Serbian, Russian, Bulgarian, etc.).

Fourth place, after writing takes Paper

Its creators were the Chinese. And this is no coincidence. Firstly, China, already in ancient times, was famous for its book wisdom and complex system of bureaucratic management, which required constant reporting from officials. Therefore, there has always been a need for inexpensive and compact writing material. Before the invention of paper in China, people wrote either on bamboo boards or on silk.

But silk was always very expensive, and bamboo was very bulky and heavy. (An average of 30 hieroglyphs were placed on one tablet. It is easy to imagine how much space such a bamboo “book” must have taken up. It is no coincidence that they write that a whole cart was required to transport some works.) Secondly, only the Chinese knew the secret of production for a long time silk, and papermaking developed from one technical operation of processing silk cocoons. This operation was as follows. Women involved in sericulture boiled silkworm cocoons, then, laying them out on a mat, dipped them into water and ground them until they formed homogeneous mass. When the mass was taken out and the water was strained, silk wool was obtained. However, after such mechanical and thermal treatment, a thin fibrous layer remained on the mats, which after drying turned into a sheet of very thin paper, suitable for writing. Later, workers began to use rejected silkworm cocoons for purposeful paper production. At the same time, they repeated the process that was already familiar to them: they boiled the cocoons, washed and crushed them to obtain paper pulp, and finally dried the resulting sheets. Such paper was called “cotton paper” and was quite expensive, since the raw material itself was expensive.

Naturally, in the end the question arose: can paper be made only from silk, or can any fibrous raw material, including plant origin, be suitable for preparing paper pulp? In 105, a certain Cai Lun, an important official at the court of the Han emperor, prepared new variety paper from old fishing nets. It was not as good as silk, but was much cheaper. This important discovery had enormous consequences not only for China, but also for the whole world - for the first time in history, people received first-class and accessible writing material, for which there is no equivalent replacement to this day. The name of Tsai Lun is therefore rightfully included among the names of the greatest inventors in the history of mankind. In subsequent centuries, several important improvements were made to the papermaking process, allowing it to develop rapidly.

In the 4th century, paper completely replaced bamboo planks from use. New experiments have shown that paper can be made from cheap plant materials: tree bark, reed and bamboo. The latter was especially important since bamboo grows in huge quantities in China. The bamboo was split into thin splinters, soaked in lime, and the resulting mass was then boiled for several days. The strained grounds were kept in special pits, thoroughly ground with special beaters and diluted with water until a sticky, mushy mass was formed. This mass was scooped out using a special form - a bamboo sieve mounted on a stretcher. A thin layer of mass along with the mold was placed under the press. Then the form was pulled out and only a sheet of paper remained under the press. The compressed sheets were removed from the sieve, piled, dried, smoothed and cut to size.

Over time, the Chinese reached the highest art in paper making. For several centuries, they, as usual, carefully kept the secrets of paper production. But in 751, during a clash with the Arabs in the foothills of the Tien Shan, several Chinese masters were captured. From them the Arabs learned to make paper themselves and for five centuries sold it very profitably to Europe. Europeans were the last of the civilized peoples who learned to make their own paper. The Spaniards were the first to adopt this art from the Arabs. In 1154, paper production was established in Italy, in 1228 in Germany, and in 1309 in England. In subsequent centuries, paper became widespread throughout the world, gradually conquering more and more new areas of application. Its significance in our lives is so great that, according to the famous French bibliographer A. Sim, our era can rightfully be called the “paper era.”

Fifth place occupied Gunpowder and Firearms

The invention of gunpowder and its spread in Europe had enormous consequences for the subsequent history of mankind. Although the Europeans were the last of the civilized peoples to learn how to make this explosive mixture, they were the ones who were able to derive the greatest practical benefit from its discovery. The rapid development of firearms and a revolution in military affairs were the first consequences of the spread of gunpowder. This, in turn, entailed profound social changes: armor-clad knights and their impregnable castles were powerless against the fire of cannons and arquebuses. Feudal society was dealt such a blow from which it could no longer recover. In a short time, many European powers overcame feudal fragmentation and became powerful centralized states.

There are few inventions in the history of technology that would lead to such grandiose and far-reaching changes. Before gunpowder became known in the West, it already had a long history in the East, and it was invented by the Chinese. The most important component of gunpowder is saltpeter. In some areas of China it was found in its native form and looked like flakes of snow dusting the ground. Later it was discovered that saltpeter is formed in areas rich in alkalis and decaying (nitrogen-delivering) substances. When lighting a fire, the Chinese could observe the flashes that occurred when saltpeter and coal burned.

The properties of saltpeter were first described by the Chinese physician Tao Hung-ching, who lived at the turn of the 5th and 6th centuries. Since that time, it has been used as a component of some medicines. Alchemists often used it when conducting experiments. In the 7th century, one of them, Sun Si-miao, prepared a mixture of sulfur and saltpeter, adding to them several shares of locus tree. While heating this mixture in a crucible, he suddenly received a powerful flash of flame. He described this experience in his treatise Dan Jing. It is believed that Sun Si-miao prepared one of the first samples of gunpowder, which, however, did not yet have a strong explosive effect.

Subsequently, the composition of gunpowder was improved by other alchemists, who experimentally established its three main components: coal, sulfur and potassium nitrate. The medieval Chinese could not scientifically explain what kind of explosive reaction occurs when gunpowder is ignited, but they very soon learned to use it for military purposes. True, in their lives gunpowder did not have the revolutionary influence that it later had on European society. This is explained by the fact that for a long time the craftsmen prepared the powder mixture from unrefined components. Meanwhile, unrefined saltpeter and sulfur containing foreign impurities did not give a strong explosive effect. For several centuries, gunpowder was used exclusively as an incendiary agent. Later, when its quality improved, gunpowder began to be used as an explosive in the manufacture of land mines, hand grenades and explosive packages.

But even after this, for a long time they did not think of using the power of the gases generated during the combustion of gunpowder to throw bullets and cannonballs. Only in the 12th-13th centuries did the Chinese begin to use weapons that were very vaguely reminiscent of firearms, but they invented firecrackers and rockets. The Arabs and Mongols learned the secret of gunpowder from the Chinese. In the first third of the 13th century, the Arabs achieved great skill in pyrotechnics. They used saltpeter in many compounds, mixing it with sulfur and coal, adding other components to them and setting up fireworks of amazing beauty. From the Arabs, the composition of the powder mixture became known to European alchemists. One of them, Mark the Greek, already in 1220 wrote down in his treatise a recipe for gunpowder: 6 parts of saltpeter to 1 part of sulfur and 1 part of coal. Later, Roger Bacon wrote quite accurately about the composition of gunpowder.

However, another hundred years passed before this recipe ceased to be a secret. This secondary discovery of gunpowder is associated with the name of another alchemist, the Feiburg monk Berthold Schwarz. One day he began to pound a crushed mixture of saltpeter, sulfur and coal in a mortar, which resulted in an explosion that singed Berthold’s beard. This or other experience gave Berthold the idea of ​​using the power of powder gases to throw stones. He is believed to have made one of the first artillery pieces in Europe.

Gunpowder was originally a fine flour-like powder. It was not convenient to use, since when loading guns and arquebuses, the powder pulp stuck to the walls of the barrel. Finally, they noticed that gunpowder in the form of lumps was much more convenient - it was easy to charge and, when ignited, produced more gases (2 pounds of gunpowder in lumps gave a greater effect than 3 pounds in pulp).

In the first quarter of the 15th century, for convenience, they began to use grain gunpowder, which was obtained by rolling the powder pulp (with alcohol and other impurities) into a dough, which was then passed through a sieve. To prevent the grains from grinding during transportation, they learned to polish them. To do this, they were placed in a special drum, when spun, the grains hit and rubbed against each other and became compacted. After processing, their surface became smooth and shiny.

Sixth place ranked in the polls : telegraph, telephone, Internet, radio and other types of modern communications

Until the middle of the 19th century, the only means of communication between the European continent and England, between America and Europe, between Europe and the colonies was steamship mail. Incidents and events in other countries were learned about with a delay of weeks, and sometimes even months. For example, news from Europe to America was delivered in two weeks, and this was not the longest time. Therefore, the creation of the telegraph met the most urgent needs of mankind.

After this technical novelty appeared in all corners of the world and telegraph lines encircled the globe, it took only hours, and sometimes minutes, for the news to travel along electrical wires from one hemisphere to the other. Political and stock market reports, personal and business messages could be delivered to interested parties on the same day. Thus, the telegraph should be considered one of the most important inventions in the history of civilization, because with it the human mind achieved the greatest victory over distance.

With the invention of the telegraph, the problem of transmitting messages over long distances was solved. However, the telegraph could only send written dispatches. Meanwhile, many inventors dreamed of a more advanced and communicative method of communication, with the help of which it would be possible to transmit the live sound of human speech or music over any distance. The first experiments in this direction were undertaken in 1837 by the American physicist Page. The essence of Page's experiments was very simple. He assembled an electrical circuit that included a tuning fork, an electromagnet, and galvanic elements. During its vibrations, the tuning fork quickly opened and closed the circuit. This intermittent current was transmitted to an electromagnet, which just as quickly attracted and released a thin steel rod. As a result of these vibrations, the rod produced a singing sound, similar to that produced by a tuning fork. Thus, Page showed that it is in principle possible to transmit sound using electric current, it is only necessary to create more advanced transmitting and receiving devices.

And later, as a result of long searches, discoveries and inventions, the mobile phone, television, Internet and other means of communication of mankind appeared, without which it is impossible to imagine our modern life.

Seventh place ranked in the top 10 according to survey results Automobile

The automobile is one of those greatest inventions that, like the wheel, gunpowder or electric current, had a colossal influence not only on the era that gave birth to them, but also on all subsequent times. Its multi-faceted impact extends far beyond the transport sector. The automobile shaped modern industry, gave birth to new industries, and despotically restructured production itself, giving it a mass, serial, and in-line character for the first time. It transformed the appearance of the planet, which was surrounded by millions of kilometers of highways, put pressure on the environment and even changed human psychology. The influence of the car is now so multifaceted that it is felt in all spheres of human life. He became, as it were, a visible and visual embodiment technical progress in general, with all its advantages and disadvantages.

There have been many amazing pages in the history of the car, but perhaps the most striking of them dates back to the first years of its existence. One cannot help but be amazed by the speed with which this invention has gone from inception to maturity. It only took a quarter of a century for the car to turn from a capricious and still unreliable toy into the most popular and widespread vehicle. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, it was identical in its main features to a modern car.

The immediate predecessor of the gasoline car was the steam car. The first practical steam car is considered to be a steam cart built by the Frenchman Cugnot in 1769. Carrying up to 3 tons of cargo, it moved at a speed of only 2-4 km/h. She also had other shortcomings. The heavy car had very poor steering control and constantly ran into the walls of houses and fences, causing destruction and suffering considerable damage. The two horsepower that its engine developed were difficult to achieve. Despite the large volume of the boiler, the pressure dropped quickly. Every quarter of an hour, to maintain pressure, we had to stop and light the firebox. One of the trips ended in a boiler explosion. Fortunately, Cugno himself remained alive.

Cugno's followers were luckier. In 1803, Trivaitik, already known to us, built the first steam car in Great Britain. The car had huge rear wheels about 2.5 m in diameter. A boiler was attached between the wheels and the rear of the frame, which was served by a fireman standing on the back. The steam car was equipped with a single horizontal cylinder. From the piston rod, through the connecting rod and crank mechanism, the drive gear rotated, which was meshed with another gear mounted on the axis of the rear wheels. The axle of these wheels was hinged to the frame and turned using a long lever by the driver sitting on a high beam. The body was suspended on high C-shaped springs. With 8-10 passengers, the car reached speeds of up to 15 km/h, which, undoubtedly, was a very good achievement for that time. The appearance of this amazing car on the streets of London attracted a lot of onlookers who did not hide their delight.

The car in the modern sense of the word appeared only after the creation of a compact and economical internal combustion engine, which made a real revolution in transport technology.
The first gasoline-powered car was built in 1864 by the Austrian inventor Siegfried Markus. Fascinated by pyrotechnics, Marcus once set fire to a mixture of gasoline and air vapors with an electric spark. Struck by the force of the ensuing explosion, he decided to create an engine that would use this effect. In the end, he managed to build a two-stroke gasoline engine with electric ignition, which he installed in an ordinary wagon. In 1875, Marcus created a more advanced car.

The official glory of the inventors of the car belongs to two German engineers - Benz and Daimler. Benz designed two-stroke gas engines and was the owner of a small plant for their production. The engines were in good demand, and the Benz business flourished. He had enough money and leisure for other developments. Benz's dream was to create a self-propelled carriage with an internal combustion engine. Benz's own engine, like Otto's four-stroke engine, was not suitable for this, since they had a low speed (about 120 revolutions per minute). When the speed dropped slightly, they stalled. Benz understood that a car equipped with such a motor would stop in front of every bump. What was needed was a high-speed engine with a good ignition system and an apparatus for the formation of a combustible mixture.

Cars were rapidly improving Back in 1891, Edouard Michelin, owner of a rubber products factory in Clermont-Ferrand, invented a removable pneumatic tire for a bicycle (a Dunlop tube was poured into the tire and glued to the rim). In 1895, production of removable pneumatic tires for cars began. These tires were first tested in the same year at the Paris - Bordeaux - Paris race. The Peugeot equipped with them barely made it to Rouen, and then was forced to retire from the race, as the tires were continuously punctured. Nevertheless, specialists and car enthusiasts were amazed at the smooth running of the car and the comfort of driving it. From that time on, pneumatic tires gradually came into use, and all cars began to be equipped with them. The winner of these races was again Levassor. When he stopped the car at the finish line and stepped onto the ground, he said: “It was crazy. I was doing 30 kilometers per hour!” Now at the finish site there is a monument in honor of this significant victory.

Eighth place - Light bulb

In the last decades of the 19th century, electric lighting entered the life of many European cities. Having first appeared on the streets and squares, it very soon penetrated into every house, into every apartment and became an integral part of the life of every civilized person. This was one of the major events in the history of technology, which had enormous and varied consequences. The rapid development of electric lighting led to mass electrification, a revolution in the energy sector and major shifts in industry. However, all this might not have happened if, through the efforts of many inventors, such a common and familiar device as the light bulb had not been created. Among the greatest discoveries of human history, it undoubtedly holds one of the most honorable places.

In the 19th century, two types of electric lamps became widespread: incandescent and arc lamps. Arc lights appeared a little earlier. Their glow is based on such an interesting phenomenon as a voltaic arc. If you take two wires, connect them to a sufficiently strong current source, connect them, and then move them apart a few millimeters, then between the ends of the conductors something like a flame with a bright light will form. The phenomenon will be more beautiful and brighter if, instead of metal wires, you take two sharpened carbon rods. When the voltage between them is high enough, a light of blinding intensity is formed.

The phenomenon of a voltaic arc was first observed in 1803 by the Russian scientist Vasily Petrov. In 1810, the same discovery was made by the English physicist Devi. Both of them produced a voltaic arc using a large battery of cells between the ends of charcoal rods. Both of them wrote that the voltaic arc can be used for lighting purposes. But first it was necessary to find a more suitable material for the electrodes, since charcoal rods burned out in a few minutes and were of little use for practical use. Arc lamps also had another inconvenience - as the electrodes burned out, it was necessary to constantly move them towards each other. As soon as the distance between them exceeded a certain permissible minimum, the light of the lamp became uneven, it began to flicker and went out.

The first arc lamp with manual adjustment of the arc length was designed in 1844 by the French physicist Foucault. He replaced charcoal with sticks of hard coke. In 1848, he first used an arc lamp to illuminate one of the Parisian squares. It was a short and very expensive experiment, since the source of electricity was a powerful battery. Then various devices were invented, controlled by a clock mechanism, which automatically moved the electrodes as they burned.
It is clear that from the point of view of practical use, it was desirable to have a lamp that was not complicated by additional mechanisms. But was it possible to do without them? It turned out that yes. If you place two coals not opposite each other, but in parallel, so that an arc can form only between their two ends, then with this device the distance between the ends of the coals always remains unchanged. The design of such a lamp seems very simple, but its creation required great ingenuity. It was invented in 1876 by the Russian electrical engineer Yablochkov, who worked in Paris in the workshop of academician Breguet.

In 1879, the famous American inventor Edison took up the task of improving the light bulb. He understood: in order for the light bulb to shine brightly and for a long time and have an even, unblinking light, it is necessary, firstly, to find a suitable material for the filament, and, secondly, to learn how to create a very rarefied space in the cylinder. Many experiments have been done with various materials, which were staged on a grand scale characteristic of Edison. It is estimated that his assistants tested at least 6,000 different substances and compounds, and over 100 thousand dollars were spent on experiments. First, Edison replaced the brittle paper charcoal with a stronger one made from coal, then he began to experiment with various metals and finally settled on a thread of charred bamboo fibers. That same year, in the presence of three thousand people, Edison publicly demonstrated his electric light bulbs, illuminating his home, laboratory, and several surrounding streets with them. It was the first long-life light bulb suitable for mass production.

penultimate, ninth place in our top 10 occupy Antibiotics, and in particular - penicillin

Antibiotics are one of the most remarkable inventions of the 20th century in the field of medicine. Modern people They are not always aware of how much they owe to these medicinal drugs. Humanity in general very quickly gets used to the amazing achievements of its science, and sometimes it takes some effort to imagine life as it was, for example, before the invention of television, radio or steam locomotive. Just as quickly, a huge family of various antibiotics entered our lives, the first of which was penicillin.

Today it seems surprising to us that back in the 30s of the 20th century, tens of thousands of people died annually from dysentery, that pneumonia in many cases was fatal, that sepsis was a real scourge of all surgical patients, who died in large numbers from blood poisoning, that typhus was considered a most dangerous and intractable disease, and pneumonic plague inevitably led the patient to death. All these terrible diseases (and many others that were previously incurable, such as tuberculosis) were defeated by antibiotics.

Even more striking is the impact of these drugs on military medicine. It’s hard to believe, but in previous wars, most soldiers died not from bullets and shrapnel, but from purulent infections caused by wounds. It is known that in the space around us there are myriads of microscopic organisms, microbes, among which there are many dangerous pathogens.

IN normal conditions our skin prevents them from penetrating into the body. But during the wound, dirt entered the open wounds along with millions of putrefactive bacteria (cocci). They began to multiply with colossal speed, penetrated deep into the tissues, and after a few hours no surgeon could save the person: the wound festered, the temperature rose, sepsis or gangrene began. The person died not so much from the wound itself, but from wound complications. Medicine was powerless against them. In the best case, the doctor managed to amputate the affected organ and thereby stopped the spread of the disease.

To combat wound complications, it was necessary to learn to paralyze the microbes that cause these complications, to learn to neutralize the cocci that got into the wound. But how to achieve this? It turned out that you can fight microorganisms directly with their help, since some microorganisms, in the course of their life activity, release substances that can destroy other microorganisms. The idea of ​​using microbes to fight germs dates back to the 19th century. Thus, Louis Pasteur discovered that anthrax bacilli are killed by the action of certain other microbes. But it is clear that resolving this problem required enormous work.

Over time, after a series of experiments and discoveries, penicillin was created. Penicillin seemed like a real miracle to seasoned field surgeons. He cured even the most seriously ill patients who were already suffering from blood poisoning or pneumonia. The creation of penicillin turned out to be one of the most important discoveries in the history of medicine and gave a huge impetus to its further development.

And lastly, tenth place ranked in survey results Sail and ship

It is believed that the prototype of the sail appeared in ancient times, when people just started building boats and ventured out to sea. In the beginning, simply stretched animal skin served as a sail. The person standing in the boat had to hold and orient it relative to the wind with both hands. It is unknown when people came up with the idea of ​​strengthening the sail with the help of a mast and yards, but already on the oldest images of the ships of the Egyptian queen Hatshepsut that have come down to us, one can see wooden masts and yards, as well as stays (cables that keep the mast from falling back), halyards (lifting gear and lowering sails) and other rigging.

Consequently, the appearance of a sailing ship must be attributed to prehistoric times.

There is much evidence that the first large sailing ships appeared in Egypt, and the Nile was the first high-water river on which river navigation began to develop. Every year from July to November, the mighty river overflowed its banks, flooding the entire country with its waters. Villages and cities found themselves cut off from each other like islands. Therefore, ships were a vital necessity for the Egyptians. They played a much greater role in the economic life of the country and in communication between people than wheeled carts.

One of the earliest types of Egyptian ships, which appeared about 5 thousand years BC, was the barque. It is known to modern scientists from several models installed in ancient temples. Since Egypt is very poor in timber, papyrus was widely used for the construction of the first ships. The features of this material determined the design and shape of ancient Egyptian ships. It was a sickle-shaped boat, knitted from bundles of papyrus, with bow and stern curved upward. To give the ship strength, the hull was tightened with cables. Later, when regular trade with the Phoenicians was established and large quantities of Lebanese cedar began to arrive in Egypt, the tree began to be widely used in shipbuilding.

An idea of ​​what types of ships were built then is given by the wall reliefs of the necropolis near Saqqara, dating back to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. These compositions realistically depict the individual stages of the construction of a plank ship. The hulls of ships, which had neither a keel (in ancient times it was a beam lying at the base of the ship’s bottom) nor frames (transverse curved beams that ensured the strength of the sides and bottom), were assembled from simple dies and caulked with papyrus. The hull was strengthened by means of ropes that covered the ship along the perimeter of the upper plating belt. Such ships hardly had good seaworthiness. However, they were quite suitable for river navigation. The straight sail used by the Egyptians allowed them to sail only with the wind. The rigging was attached to a two-legged mast, both legs of which were installed perpendicular to the centerline of the ship. At the top they were tightly tied. The step (socket) for the mast was a beam device in the hull of the ship. In the working position, this mast was held by stays - thick cables running from the stern and bow, and it was supported by legs towards the sides. The rectangular sail was attached to two yards. When there was a side wind, the mast was hastily removed.

Later, around 2600 BC, the two-legged mast was replaced by the one-legged one that is still in use today. The single-legged mast made sailing easier and gave the ship the ability to maneuver for the first time. However, the rectangular sail was an unreliable means that could only be used with a fair wind.

The main engine of the ship was the muscular strength of the rowers. Apparently, the Egyptians were responsible for an important improvement in the oar - the invention of rowlocks. They did not yet exist in the Old Kingdom, but then they began to attach the oar using rope loops. This immediately allowed to increase the power of the stroke and the speed of the vessel. It is known that selected rowers on the ships of the pharaohs made 26 strokes per minute, which allowed them to reach a speed of 12 km/h. Such ships were steered using two steering oars located at the stern. Later they began to be attached to a beam on the deck, by rotating which it was possible to select the desired direction (this principle of steering a ship by turning the rudder blade remains unchanged to this day). The ancient Egyptians were not good sailors. On their ships, they did not dare to go to the open sea. However, along the coast, their merchant ships made long journeys. Thus, in the temple of Queen Hatshepsut there is an inscription reporting on the sea voyage carried out by the Egyptians around 1490 BC. to the mysterious land of incense Punt, located in the region of modern Somalia.

The next step in the development of shipbuilding was taken by the Phoenicians. Unlike the Egyptians, the Phoenicians had an abundance of excellent building materials for their ships. Their country stretched in a narrow strip along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Extensive cedar forests grew here almost at the very shore. Already in ancient times, the Phoenicians learned to make high-quality dugout single-shaft boats from their trunks and boldly went to sea with them.

At the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, when maritime trade began to develop, the Phoenicians began to build ships. A sea vessel is significantly different from a boat; its construction requires its own design solutions. The most important discoveries along this path, which determined the entire subsequent history of shipbuilding, belonged to the Phoenicians. Perhaps the skeletons of animals gave them the idea to install stiffening ribs on single-tree poles, which were covered with boards on top. So for the first time in the history of shipbuilding, frames were used, which are still widely used.

In the same way, the Phoenicians first built a keel ship (originally, two trunks connected at an angle served as a keel). The keel immediately gave the hull stability and made it possible to establish longitudinal and transverse bracing. Sheathing boards were attached to them. All these innovations were the decisive basis for the rapid development of shipbuilding and determined the appearance of all subsequent ships.

Other inventions in various fields of science were also recalled, such as chemistry, physics, medicine, education and others.
After all, as we said earlier, this is not surprising. After all, any discovery or invention is another step into the future, which improves our lives, and often prolongs it. And if not every, then very, very many discoveries deserve to be called great and extremely necessary in our lives.

Alexander Ozerov, based on the book by Ryzhkov K.V. "One Hundred Great Inventions"

The greatest discoveries and inventions of mankind © 2011

Every year on the last Saturday of June, Russia celebrates Inventor and Innovator Day. Our country is rich in great scientists and inventors who have made a significant contribution not only to Russian progress, but also to the world. We invite you to get acquainted with the brilliant fruits of the engineering thought of our compatriots, which you can rightfully be proud of!

1. Galvanoplasty

We so often come across products that look like metal, but are actually made of plastic and only covered with a layer of metal, that we have stopped noticing them. There is also hardware, coated with a layer of another metal - for example, nickel. And there are metal products that are actually a copy of a non-metallic base. We owe all these miracles to the genius of physics Boris Jacobi - by the way, the older brother of the great German mathematician Carl Gustav Jacobi.

Jacobi's passion for physics resulted in the creation of the world's first electric motor with direct shaft rotation, but one of his most important discoveries was electroplating - the process of depositing metal on a mold, allowing the creation of perfect copies of the original object. In this way, for example, sculptures were created on the naves of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Galvanoplasty can be used even at home.

The electroforming method and its derivatives have found numerous applications. With its help, everything has not been done and is still not being done, right down to the cliché of state banks. Jacobi received the Demidov Prize for this discovery in Russia, and a large one in Paris. gold medal. Possibly also made using this same method.

In the last third of the 19th century, the world was gripped by a form of electrical fever. That's why electric cars were made by everyone. This was the golden age of electric cars. The cities were smaller, and a range of 60 km on a single charge was quite acceptable. One of the enthusiasts was engineer Ippolit Romanov, who by 1899 had created several models of electric cabs.

But that’s not even the main thing. Romanov invented and created in metal an electric omnibus for 17 passengers, developed a scheme of city routes for these ancestors of modern trolleybuses and received permission to work. True, at your own personal commercial peril and risk.

The inventor was unable to find the required amount, to the great joy of his competitors - owners of horse-drawn horses and numerous cab drivers. However, the working electric omnibus aroused great interest among other inventors and remained in the history of technology as an invention killed by the municipal bureaucracy.

It is difficult to say what is considered the first real pipeline. One can recall the proposal of Dmitry Mendeleev, dating back to 1863, when he proposed to deliver oil from the production sites to the seaport at the Baku oil fields not in barrels, but through pipes. Mendeleev's proposal was not accepted, and two years later the first pipeline was built by the Americans in Pennsylvania. As always, when something is done abroad, it starts to be done in Russia as well. Or at least make money.

In 1877, Alexander Bari and his assistant Vladimir Shukhov again came up with the idea of ​​pipeline transport, already relying on American experience and again on the authority of Mendeleev. As a result, Shukhov built the first oil pipeline in Russia in 1878, proving the convenience and practicality of pipeline transport. The example of Baku, which was then one of the two leaders in world oil production, became infectious, and “getting on the pipe” became the dream of any enterprising person. In the photo: view of a three-furnace cube. Baku, 1887.

Nikolai Benardos comes from Novorossiysk Greeks who lived on the Black Sea coast. He is the author of more than a hundred inventions, but he went down in history thanks to the electric arc welding of metals, which he patented in 1882 in Germany, France, Russia, Italy, England, the USA and other countries, calling his method “electrohephaestus”.

Benardos' method spread across the planet like wildfire. Instead of fiddling with rivets and bolts, it was enough to simply weld pieces of metal. However, it took about half a century for welding to finally take a dominant position among installation methods. A seemingly simple method is to create an electric arc between a consumable electrode in the welder’s hands and the pieces of metal that need to be welded. But the solution is elegant. True, it did not help the inventor meet old age with dignity; he died in poverty in 1905 in an almshouse.

It’s hard to believe now, but just over a hundred years ago it was believed that a multi-engine aircraft would be extremely difficult and dangerous to fly. The absurdity of these statements was proved by Igor Sikorsky, who in the summer of 1913 took into the air a twin-engine aircraft called Le Grand, and then its four-engine version, the Russian Knight.

On February 12, 1914, in Riga, at the training ground of the Russian-Baltic Plant, the four-engine Ilya Muromets took off. There were 16 passengers on board the four-engine plane - an absolute record at that time. The plane had a comfortable cabin, heating, a bath with toilet and... a promenade deck. In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the aircraft, in the summer of 1914, Igor Sikorsky flew on the Ilya Muromets from St. Petersburg to Kyiv and back, setting a world record. During World War I, these aircraft became the world's first heavy bombers.

Igor Sikorsky also created the first production helicopter, the R-4, or S-47, which the Vought-Sikorsky company began producing in 1942. It was the first and only helicopter to serve in World War II, in the Pacific theater of operations, as a staff transport and for casualty evacuation.

However, it is unlikely that the US military department would have allowed Igor Sikorsky to boldly experiment with helicopter technology if not for the amazing rotary-wing machine of George Botezat, who in 1922 began testing his helicopter, which the American military ordered him. The helicopter was the first to actually take off from the ground and be able to stay in the air. The possibility of vertical flight was thus proven.

Botezat's helicopter was called the "flying octopus" because of its interesting design. It was a quadcopter: four propellers were placed at the ends of metal trusses, and the control system was located in the center - exactly like modern radio-controlled drones.

Color photography appeared at the end of the 19th century, but photographs of that time were characterized by a shift to one or another part of the spectrum. The Russian photographer was one of the best in Russia and, like many of his colleagues around the world, dreamed of achieving the most natural color rendition.

In 1902, Prokudin-Gorsky studied color photography in Germany with Adolf Miethe, who by that time was a worldwide star of color photography. Returning home, Prokudin-Gorsky began to improve the chemistry of the process and in 1905 he patented his own sensitizer, that is, a substance that increases the sensitivity of photographic plates. As a result, he was able to produce negatives of exceptional quality.

Prokudin-Gorsky organized a number of expeditions across the territory Russian Empire, photographing famous people (for example, Leo Tolstoy), and peasants, temples, landscapes, factories - thus creating an amazing collection of colored Russia. Prokudin-Gorsky's demonstrations aroused great interest in the world and pushed other specialists to develop new principles of color printing.

As you know, the idea of ​​a parachute was proposed by Leonardo da Vinci, and several centuries later, with the advent of aeronautics, regular jumps from balloons began: parachutes were suspended under them in a partially opened state. In 1912, the American Barry was able to leave the plane with such a parachute and, importantly, landed on the ground alive.

The problem was solved in every possible way. For example, the American Stefan Banich made a parachute in the form of an umbrella with telescopic spokes that were attached around the pilot’s torso. This design worked, although it was still not very convenient. But engineer Gleb Kotelnikov decided that it was all about the material, and made his parachute from silk, packing it in a compact backpack. Kotelnikov patented his invention in France on the eve of the First World War.

But besides the backpack parachute, he came up with another interesting thing. He tested the opening ability of the parachute by opening it while the car was moving, which literally stood rooted to the spot. So Kotelnikov came up with a braking parachute as an emergency braking system for aircraft.

The history of this musical instrument, which produces strange “cosmic” sounds, began with the development of alarm systems. It was then that the descendant of the French Huguenots, Lev Theremin, in 1919, drew attention to the fact that changing the position of the body near the antennas of the oscillatory circuits affects the volume and tonality of the sound in the control speaker.

Everything else was a matter of technique. And marketing: Theremin showed his musical instrument the leader of the Soviet state, Vladimir Lenin, an enthusiast of the cultural revolution, and then demonstrated it in the States.

The life of Lev Theremin was difficult; he knew ups, glory, and camps. His musical instrument still lives today. The coolest version is the Moog Etherwave. The theremin can be heard among the most advanced and quite pop performers. This is truly an invention for all times.

Vladimir Zvorykin was born into a merchant family in the city of Murom. Since childhood, the boy had the opportunity to read a lot and carry out all sorts of experiments - his father encouraged this passion for science in every possible way. Having started studying in St. Petersburg, he learned about cathode ray tubes and came to the conclusion that electronic circuits the future of television.

Zvorykin was lucky; he left Russia on time in 1919. He worked for many years and in the early 30s he patented a transmitting television tube - an iconoscope. Even earlier, he designed one of the variants of the receiving tube - a kinescope. And then, already in the 1940s, he split the light beam into blue, red and green colors and got color TV.

In addition, Zvorykin developed a night vision device, an electron microscope and many other interesting things. He invented throughout his long life and even in retirement continued to amaze with his new solutions.

The AMPEX company was created in 1944 by Russian emigrant Alexander Matveevich Ponyatov, who took three letters of his initials for the name and added EX - short for “excellent”. At first, Ponyatov produced sound recording equipment, but in the early 50s he focused on developing video recording.

By that time, there had already been experiments in recording television images, but they required a huge amount of tape. Ponyatov and colleagues proposed recording the signal across the tape using a block of rotating heads. On November 30, 1956, the first previously recorded CBS News aired. And in 1960, the company, represented by its leader and founder, received an Oscar for its outstanding contribution to the technical equipment of the film and television industry.

Fate brought Alexander Ponyatov together with interesting people. He was a competitor of Zvorykin, Ray Dolby, the creator of the famous noise reduction system, worked with him, and one of the first clients and investors was the famous Bing Crosby. And one more thing: by order of Ponyatov, birch trees were necessarily planted near any office - in memory of the Motherland.

A long time ago, 30 years ago, the “Pentamino” puzzle was popular in the USSR: you had to place various figures consisting of five squares on a lined field. Even collections of problems were published, and the results were discussed.

From a mathematical point of view, such a puzzle was an excellent test for a computer. And so, a researcher at the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Alexey Pajitnov, wrote such a program for his computer “Electronics 60”. But there wasn’t enough power, and Alexey removed one cube from the figures, that is, he made a “tetromino”. Well, then the idea came to have the figures fall into the “glass”. This is how Tetris was born.

This was the first computer game from behind the Iron Curtain, and for many, the first computer game. And although many new toys have already appeared, Tetris still attracts with its apparent simplicity and real complexity.