Inventions Timeline

1930  Laszlo and Georg Biro pioneer the modern ballpoint pen   

1930  maria Telkes creates the first solar-powered house.   

1930  Wallace Carothers develops neoprene (synthetic rubber used in wetsuits) and nylon, the first popular synthetic clothing material   

1930  robert Watson Watt oversees the development of radar.   

1930  Arnold Beckman develops the electronic pH meter   

1931  Iconoscope was invented by Vladimir Zworykin   

1931  Harold E. Edgerton invents the xenon flash lamp for high-speed photography   

1932  Arne Olander discovers the shape memory effect in a gold-cadmium alloy   

1933  fM radio   

1936  W.B. Elwood invents the magnetic reed switch   

1936  fluorescent light   

1937  jet engine was invented by Frank Whittle and Hans von Ohain   

1937  alan Turing develops the concept of a theoretical computing machine   

1937  cellophane tape   

1938  ballpoint pen was invented by Laszlo Biro   

1938  chester Carlson invents the principle of photocopying (xerography).   

1938  Roy Plunkett accidentally invents a nonstick plastic coating called Teflon   

1938  xerography (a dry process, with no liquid developer)   

1938  tape recorder   

1939  igor Sikorsky builds the first truly practical helicopter.   

1940  English physicists John Randall and Harry Boot develop a compact magnetron for use in airplane radar navigation systems   

1940  automatic dishwasher is manufactured.   

1942  Enrico Fermi builds the first nuclear chain reactor at the University of Chicago   

1943  Enigma: Adolf Hitler uses the Enigma encryption machine   

1943  colossus: Alan Turing develops the the code-breaking machine Colossus   

1943  aqua-Lung was invented by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan   

1943  videocassette recorder was invented by Ampex   

1943  hypertext was invented by Andries van Dam and Ted Nelson   

1945  uS government scientist Vannevar Bush proposes a kind of desk-sized memory store called Memex, which has some of the features later incorporated into electronic books and the World Wide Web (WWW).   

1946  Microwave oven was invented by Percy Spencer   

1946  electronic computer   

1947  john Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley invent the transistor, which allows electronic equipment to made much smaller and leads to the modern computer revolution.   

1949  bernard Silver and N. Joseph Woodland patent barcodes—striped patterns that are initially developed for marking products in grocery stores.   

1950  Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow invent the maser (microwave laser). Gordon Gould coins the word "laser" and builds the first optical laser in 1958   

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