Technology timeline
| DATE BP | COUNTRY | TECHNOLOGY | POPN WORLD (billion) | POPN AUSTRALIA ('000s) | ENERGY USE Kcal/day (West) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BIOLOGICAL ENERGY wood fuel or fire, plant energy to power muscle | |||||
| 3.4 millionc.3,300 BP STONE AGE stone used for implements | |||||
| 2.5 M | Europe | stone scrapers | |||
| 1.5 M | Europe | fire | |||
| 170,000 | Europe | clothing | |||
| 300,000 | Europe | counting (bone notches) | |||
| 100,000 | Europe | stone tools | 4 | ||
| 25,000 | Europe | pottery | 4 | ||
| 20,000 | Europe | bow & arrow | |||
| (Cro-Magnon man) | |||||
| 15,000 | Europe | domestication of animals and plants | 4.5 | ||
| c. 12,0006000 BP NEOLITHIC EVOLUTION plant and animal domestication, settled communities, agriculture | |||||
| 9,000 BP | Europe | bow-sling, microliths | 6 | ||
| 8,000 | Middle-East | copper, agriculture, plough | 7 | ||
| 5,600- | Europe | concrete | 11 | ||
| 5,500 | Russia/ | solid wheeled vehicles | |||
| Mesopot. | |||||
| Mesopot. | potters wheel | ||||
| Mesopot. | kiln fired bricks | ||||
| Mesopot. | irrigation | ||||
| Egypt | pyramid of Gizeh | ||||
| 5,300 | Mesopot. | nails | |||
| 5,100 | China | Rice domesticated (Yangtze River) | |||
| 5,000 | Egypt/ | candle | |||
| Crete | |||||
| Egypt | square-sailed ships | ||||
| 4,800 | Egypt | pyramids | |||
| 4,400 | Babylonia | abacus | |||
| Egypt, Lebanon | glass | ||||
| Mesopot. | |||||
| bronze | |||||
| 4,000? | Europe | wheel, gnomon (sundial), water clock | 17 | ||
| 3,500? | Europe | writing & alphabet | 20.5 | ||
| (E Mediterranean) | |||||
| c. 3,300 1,200 BC BRONZE AGE copper and alloy bronze used for implements and weapons. |
|||||
| 3,300? | Europe | bronze | 21 | ||
| 2,700 | Europe | aqueduct | |||
| 2,650? | Turkey | coinage | |||
| 2,500 | Europe | salt | 22 | ||
| 2,000 | Europe | chariot | 31 | ||
| C. 1,200 50 BC IRON AGE iron used for cutting tools and weapons |
|||||
| 1,500 | Europe | iron | |||
| 800 BC | Europe | sundial | |||
| 650 BC | Etruscans, Greece | 2-masted ship (Etruscans), crane (Greece) | |||
| 644 BC | Persia | windmill | |||
| 500 BC | glass | ||||
| geometry (Pythagoras) | |||||
| 450 BC | China, | coinage | |||
| Greece, India, Anatolia | |||||
| Greece | cast-iron, cross-bow | ||||
| 400 BC | Greece | catapult | 24 | ||
| water wheel | |||||
| 300-200 BC | horseshoe | ||||
| compound pulley | |||||
| crane | |||||
| water screw (pump) | |||||
| Greece, Egypt | locks (Suez Canal), water wheel, 3-masted ships | ||||
| 200-100 | Roman Empire, China | amphitheatre | 27 | ||
| segmental arched bridge horse saddle | |||||
| 100 BC | China | wheelbarrow | |||
| DATE AD | |||||
| ?NATURAL ENERGY wind (sails, windmills), water (ships, canals, waterwheel), gunpowder | |||||
| 100 | Greece | stirrup, windmill (to drive machine) | |||
| China | paper | ||||
| 200-300 | Romans | crank, connecting rod | 30 | ||
| 305 | China | woodblock printing | |||
| 600-700 | China | paper money | 26 | ||
| China | porcelain | ||||
| 724 | China | mechanical clock | |||
| 800-900 | China | Gunpowder | 25 | ||
| algebra | |||||
| 850 | Mediterr. | triangular sails | |||
| 1000-1100 | China | movable type printing press | 26 | ||
| waterwheels widespread | |||||
| Europe | |||||
| 1100-1200 | China | magnetic mariners compass | 26 | ||
| glass mirror | |||||
| Italy | |||||
| 1286 | Italy | eyeglass | |||
| 1288 | Manchuria | gun firing lead bullets | |||
| 1327 | China | Beijing-Hangzhou Canal | |||
| 1400-1500 | Europe | perspective (Masaccio art) | 26 | ||
| 1439 | Germany | alphabet printing press | |||
| 1450 | Europe | News sheets | |||
| 1480s | Portugal | mariners astrolabe | |||
| 1500 | Italy | ball-bearing | |||
| Germany | pocket watch | ||||
| 1581 | Italy | pendulum | |||
| 1592 | Italy | thermometer | |||
| FOSSIL FUELS, STEAM coal, oil, petrol, gas | |||||
| 1608 | Germany, Holland | optical telescope | |||
| 1609 | Italy | microscope (compound optical) | |||
| 1620 | Holland | submarine | |||
| 1622 | Europe | slide rule | |||
| 1642 | Italy | barometer | |||
| 1645 | Germany | vacuum pump | |||
| 1650 | Germany | daily newspaper (Leipzig) | |||
| 1657 | Holland | pendulum clock | |||
| 1671 | Germany | geared-wheel adding machine | |||
| 1675 | Holland | micro-organisms | |||
| 1698 | England | engine (steam) | 32 | ||
| 1702 | England | Daily Courant first daily newspaper | |||
| 1705 | England | engine (steam piston) | |||
| 1708 | England | mechanical seed sower | |||
| 1709 | Germany | alcohol thermometer | |||
| Europe | piano | ||||
| 1752 | US | lightning a form of electricity | |||
| 1750-1850 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION fossil fuels, steam engines, complex machinery | |||||
| 1755 | England | Samuel Johnsons first English Dictionary | |||
| 1762 | England | chronometer | |||
| Britain | mechanisation of Britain begins (Industrial Revoln) | ||||
| 1763 | England | spinning jenny | |||
| 1776 | England | steam engine | |||
| (commercial, Watt) | |||||
| 1778 | Britain | threshing machine | |||
| 1779 | England | stem-powered mill | |||
| 1783 | France | hot air balloon | |||
| 1784 | US | bifocal lens | |||
| Switzerld | oil lamp | ||||
| 1788 | European 859 | ||||
| Ab. c. 350,000 | |||||
| 1786 | US | steamboat | |||
| 1793 | France | semaphore telegraph | |||
| 1796 | Britain | vaccination (smallpox) | |||
| 1797 | France | modern parachute | |||
| 1800 | Italy | battery (electricity store) | 1 | 5.22 | 38 |
| 1804 | England | locomotive | |||
| 1807 | US | steamship | |||
| 1809 | France | food canning | |||
| 1810 | Germany | steam-powered printing press | |||
| 1814 | England | locomotive (steam) | |||
| 1818 | Germany | bicycle | |||
| 1819 | France | stethescope | |||
| 1820 | Denmark | electricity-magnetism linked | 33.5 | ||
| 1822 | England | mechanical computer | |||
| 1825 | France | photographic image | |||
| England | electromagnet | ||||
| 1826 | Britain | gas stove | |||
| 1827 | England | friction matches | |||
| 1830 | Britain | thermostat | |||
| Britain | passenger trains | ||||
| 1831 | US | electric telegraph | |||
| 1832 | US | sewing machine | |||
| France | DC generator | ||||
| 1834 | US | combine harvester | |||
| US | electric motor | ||||
| 1835 | US | revolver | |||
| UK | morse code | ||||
| 1836 | US | steel plough | |||
| 1837 | France | photography | |||
| 1838 | England | electric telegraph | |||
| US | Morse code | ||||
| France | daguerreotype photography | ||||
| 1840 | Britain | postage stamps | 190.4 | ||
| 1843 | UK | typewriter | |||
| UK | long-distance electrical telegraph | ||||
| 1845 | Britain | rubber band | |||
| 1846 | US | rotary printing press | |||
| 1849 | US | safety pin | |||
| 1850 | Belgium | AC generator | 1.2 | 405.4 | |
| 1850 - 1915 TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION electrical machinery and products, chemicals, plastics, mass prodn | |||||
| 1851 | telegraph cable across English Channel | ||||
| 1852 | France | air ship | |||
| 1856 | Britain | steel mass-production | |||
| ? | Mendels laws of inheritance | ||||
| electric lighthouse | |||||
| England | |||||
| 1859 | engine (int. combustion) | ||||
| France | modern slide rule | ||||
| 1860 | 1,145.60 | ||||
| 1861 | US | pony express transport | |||
| 1862 | US | Gatling machine gun | |||
| 1864 | France | pasteurisation | |||
| 1866 | Sweden | dynamite | |||
| telegraph cable across Atlantic | |||||
| 1867 | France | reinforced concrete | |||
| Sweden | dynamite | ||||
| 1868 | US | modern typewriter | |||
| 1869 | Egypt | Suez Canal opened | |||
| 1872 | Germany | polyvinyl chloride (PVC) | |||
| 1874 | Germany | DDT | |||
| US | large span steel bridge | ||||
| 1876 | Britain, US, Canada | telephone (wired) | |||
| 1877 | US | phonograph, | |||
| microphone | |||||
| France | street lighting (Paris) | ||||
| 1878 | US | cathode ray tube | |||
| UK/US | microphone | ||||
| 1878 | hydroelectricity | ||||
| 1879 | US | light bulb (incandescent) | |||
| 1880 | 2,231.50 | ||||
| 1882 | US/Britain | thermal power stations | |||
| 1883 | US | steel frame skyscraper | |||
| (Chicago 10 stories) | |||||
| 1884 | US | photographic film | |||
| France | rayon | ||||
| 1885 | Germany | motorcycle | |||
| AC transformer | |||||
| 1886 | US | calculation with punch cards | |||
| 1887 | Germany | contact lens | |||
| US | gramophone | ||||
| 1888 | Germany | radio waves | |||
| US | portable camera | ||||
| Britain | pneumatic tyre | ||||
| US | roll film camera | ||||
| US | kinetoscope | ||||
| 1889 | Germany | automobile | |||
| US | direct dial/automatic telephone exchange | ||||
| 1892 | US | tractor | |||
| 1893 | Britain | electric toaster | |||
| US | zipper | ||||
| 1894 | Italy | improved wireless telegraphy | |||
| 1895 | Germany | diesel engine | |||
| France | cinematograph | ||||
| Germany | X-rays discovered | ||||
| 1896 | Italy | radio | |||
| US | electric stove | ||||
| intercontinental telegram | |||||
| 1897 | Germany | cathode ray oscilloscope | |||
| 1899 | Denmark | recording by magnetised tape | |||
| 1900 | Germany | Zeppelin | 1.6 | 3,765.30 | 92 |
| 1902 | US | air conditioning | |||
| Italy | radio signal across Atlantic | ||||
| 1903 | US | powered airplane (Wright brothers) | |||
| 1904 | Germany | radar | |||
| Germany | 2-sided gramophone discs | ||||
| diode | |||||
| England | |||||
| 1906 | US | amplifying tube (triode) | |||
| US | animated film | ||||
| US | triode | ||||
| 1907 | France | colour photography | |||
| France | helicopter | ||||
| US/Nway | outboard motor | ||||
| US | electric washing machine | ||||
| ? | in-vivo culture of animal cells | ||||
| 1908 | US | mass production Model T Ford car assembly line Henry Ford | |||
| Geiger counter | |||||
| Germany | |||||
| 1909 | Belgium | bakelite | |||
| 1910 | France | neon light | |||
| US | talking motion pictures | ||||
| 1912 | US | electronic oscillator | |||
| 1914 | Britain | steel, stainless | |||
| Germany | hand-held camera | ||||
| C America | Panama Canal opened | ||||
| 1915 | Britain | sonar | |||
| Britain | military tank | ||||
| ? | bacterial viruses (phages) | ||||
| US | Theory of Relativity | ||||
| 1916 | US | radios with tuners | |||
| 1919 | Europe | London-Paris air service | |||
| 1920 | 5,411.30 | ||||
| 1923 | US | talking movies (talkies) | |||
| US/Russia | TV | ||||
| US | traffic lights | ||||
| US | cathode ray tube | ||||
| US | television camera | ||||
| 1924 | US | frozen foods | |||
| US | loudspeaker | ||||
| 1925 | US | microphone recording | |||
| 1926 | US | liquid fuelled rockets | |||
| 1927 | CanadaUS | quartz clock | |||
| UK | television broadcasts | ||||
| US | Al Jolson Jazz Singer movie with sound | ||||
| 1928 | Britain | penicillin | |||
| US | electric razor | ||||
| US | Mickey Mouse movie | ||||
| 1929 | Britain | particle accelerator | |||
| 1930 | ? | latex condom | |||
| Britain | jet engine | ||||
| US | supermarket | ||||
| 1931 | Britain | stereophonic sound | |||
| 1933 | Germany | electron microscope | |||
| 1934 | US | light bulb (fluorescent) | |||
| 1935 | Britain | Polyethylene | |||
| USSR | DNA isolated | ||||
| US | electric typewriter | ||||
| US | colour transparency film | ||||
| 1937 | Britain | computer | |||
| US | nylon | ||||
| US | photocopying (xerography) | ||||
| jet engine | |||||
| Britain | |||||
| 1938 | Hungary | ballpoint pen | |||
| US | Teflon Electronic flash | ||||
| US | |||||
| 1939 | US/USSR | helicopter | |||
| scheduled TV broadcasting | |||||
| radar | |||||
| Britain | |||||
| 1940 | US | commercial tape recorder | 7,077.60 | ||
| 1942 | Germany | guided missile | |||
| US | nuclear reactor | ||||
| US | refrigerator | ||||
| 1943 | France | SCUBA underwater breathing apparatus | |||
| 1944 | Germany | assault rifle | |||
| US | government computers | ||||
| DNA the material of the gene | |||||
| 1945 | US | atomic bomb | |||
| 1946 | US | microwave oven | |||
| US | freeze-dried food | ||||
| US | carbon 14 dating | ||||
| US | mobile phone | ||||
| 1947 | US | transistor | |||
| polaroid film | |||||
| 1948 | Hungary | holography | |||
| US | long-playing record (LP) | ||||
| AUS | First Holden car | ||||
| 1950 | US | disposable nappies | 2.5 | ||
| TV | |||||
| birth control pill | |||||
| solar cells | |||||
| xerox | |||||
| US | credit card | ||||
| 1951 | US | nuclear power reactor | |||
| US | commercial computers | ||||
| 1952 | US | hydrogen bomb | |||
| US | cardiac pacemaker | ||||
| 1953 | Britain | double helix DNA | |||
| 1956 | US | optical fibre | |||
| oral polio vaccine | |||||
| 1957 | USSR | launch of Sputniks 1 & 2 | |||
| earth satellites | |||||
| 1958 | US | silicon chip | |||
| US | laser | ||||
| Britain | ultrasound imaging | ||||
| US | photocopying (Xerox) | ||||
| US | integrated curcuit | ||||
| 1960 | US | Green Revolution | 3 | 10,391.90 | |
| colour TV | |||||
| semiconductors | |||||
| satellite communication | |||||
| 1961 | USSR | Uri Gagarin in space | |||
| US | optical disc | ||||
| 1962 | US | light emitting diode (LED) | |||
| first radiocarbon dating showing Aboriginals in Australia >10,000 yrs | |||||
| high yield wheat in Mexico (Green Revolution) | |||||
| US | |||||
| 1963 | US | liquid crystal display (LCD) | |||
| audiotape casette | |||||
| US | |||||
| 1966 | US | fax machine | |||
| 1967 | Britain | ATM | |||
| 1968 | US | video games | |||
| Egypt | Aswan Dam completed | ||||
| 1969 | US | man on the moon | |||
| Japan | videocassette recorder | ||||
| US | microprocessor | ||||
| INFORMATION AGE (digital, computer, electronic) computers, biotechnology | |||||
| 1970 | Britain | animal cloning | 3.7 | ||
| US | digital wristwatch | ||||
| 1971 | US | ||||
| US | pocket calculator | ||||
| US | floppy disc | ||||
| US | microprocessor | ||||
| 1972 | US | prozac | |||
| US | video games | ||||
| US | pocket calculator | ||||
| 1973 | US | ethernet | |||
| US | personal computer | ||||
| US | genetic engineering (gene splicing) | ||||
| 1974 | US | Supermarket barcode scanning | |||
| personal computer | |||||
| 1975 | US | colour television | |||
| 1977 | US | fibre-optic telephone cable | |||
| 1978 | UK | world's first IVF baby born (test-tube baby) | |||
| 1979 | Japan | cellular phone network | |||
| US | laser-scanned barcodes | ||||
| 1980 | Holland, | laser compact disc | 4.4 | 14,807.40 | |
| Japan | |||||
| US | IBM computer | ||||
| US | laptop computer | ||||
| US | computer mouse | ||||
| US | video rental | ||||
| US | transgenic animals | ||||
| 1981 | US | Sony Walkman portable casette | |||
| 1982 | US | transgenic tobacco resistant to antibiotic | |||
| 1984 | Britain | Human DNA fingerprinting | |||
| 1985 | US | car cellular phones | |||
| US | Microsoft Windows | ||||
| 1987 | First human family tree using mtDNA tracing back to 'Eve' | ||||
| 1990 | Britain | World Wide Web | 5.3 | ||
| 1992 | US | computer servers | |||
| 1994 | US | Flavr Savr tomato first GM food | |||
| 1995 | Japan,US,Holland | DVD | |||
| 1996 | UK | mammal cloning (sheep) | |||
| 1997 | US | viagra | |||
| 1998 | US | Google founded | |||
| 1999 | Arabidopsis thaliana first complete plant genome | ||||
| 2000 | 6 | 19,272.60 | 230 | ||
| 2001 | US | Wikipedia | |||
| ? | rice genome decoded (first crop) | ||||
| stem cell research | |||||
| 2003 | US | human genome completed (started 1990) | |||
| 2004 | US | social media begin | |||
| 2005 | US | Youtube | |||
| 2007 | US/ASIA | Smartphones | |||
| 2010 | 6.8 | ||||
| 2050 | 9.2 | ||||
—
First published on the internet – 1 March 2019
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