History quiz
When was it invented?
This list ranks 121 entries by year. First on the list is Linux (1991); last is Gutenberg's printing press (c. 1450). Right in the middle sits Carpet sweeper (1876).
Quick quiz
Sort these inventions by year, newest at the top. Use the arrows, then press Check.
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Full list
Each year links to its source.
| # | Name | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Linux Linus Torvalds | 1991 |
| 2 | World Wide Web Tim Berners-Lee | 1990–91 |
| 3 | Scanning tunneling microscope Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer | 1981 |
| 4 | Apple II personal computer Steve Wozniak | 1977 |
| 5 | DNA sequencing Frederick Sanger | 1977 |
| 6 | TCP/IP, the internet's protocol Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn | 1974 |
| 7 | Rubik's Cube Ernő Rubik | 1974 |
| 8 | MRI scanner Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield | 1973 |
| 9 | Unix Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie | 1969 |
| 10 | Kevlar Stephanie Kwolek | 1965 |
| 11 | Computer mouse Douglas Engelbart | 1964 |
| 12 | Supercomputer Seymour Cray | 1964 |
| 13 | Laser Theodore Maiman's ruby laser | 1960 |
| 14 | Integrated circuit Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce | 1958 |
| 15 | Maser Charles Townes | 1953 |
| 16 | Compiler Grace Hopper | 1952 |
| 17 | Fender electric guitar Leo Fender | 1948 |
| 18 | Transistor Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley | 1947 |
| 19 | Polaroid instant camera Edwin Land | 1947 |
| 20 | ENIAC computer First general-purpose electronic computer | 1946 |
| 21 | Aqua-Lung scuba Jacques-Yves Cousteau | 1943 |
| 22 | Spread-spectrum radio Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil | 1942 |
| 23 | Production helicopter Igor Sikorsky | 1939 |
| 24 | Photocopying (xerography) Chester Carlson | 1938 |
| 25 | Jet engine Frank Whittle | 1937 |
| 26 | Nylon Wallace Carothers | 1935 |
| 27 | Hammond organ Laurens Hammond | 1934 |
| 28 | FM radio Edwin Armstrong | 1933 |
| 29 | Electron microscope Ernst Ruska | 1933 |
| 30 | Ballpoint pen László Bíró | 1931 |
| 31 | Van de Graaff generator Robert Van de Graaff | 1929 |
| 32 | Liquid-fuel rocket Robert Goddard | 1926 |
| 33 | Television John Logie Baird, electromechanical | 1924 |
| 34 | Moving assembly line Henry Ford | 1913 |
| 35 | Electric car starter Charles Kettering | 1912 |
| 36 | Gyrocompass Elmer Sperry | 1911 |
| 37 | Bakelite plastic Leo Baekeland | 1909 |
| 38 | Coffee filter Melitta Bentz | 1908 |
| 39 | Geiger counter Hans Geiger | 1908 |
| 40 | Vacuum tube (diode) John Ambrose Fleming | 1904 |
| 41 | Powered airplane flight Wright brothers | 1903 |
| 42 | Windshield wiper Mary Anderson | 1903 |
| 43 | Air conditioning Willis Carrier | 1902 |
| 44 | Wireless telegraph (radio) Guglielmo Marconi | 1896 |
| 45 | Disposable razor King Camp Gillette | 1895 |
| 46 | Cinématographe film projector Lumière brothers | 1894 |
| 47 | Diesel engine Rudolf Diesel | 1892 |
| 48 | Vacuum flask James Dewar | 1892 |
| 49 | Basketball James Naismith | 1891 |
| 50 | Kodak camera George Eastman | 1888 |
| 51 | Gramophone Emil Berliner | 1887 |
| 52 | Pneumatic rubber tire John Boyd Dunlop | 1887 |
| 53 | Dishwasher Josephine Cochrane | 1886 |
| 54 | Practical petrol automobile Karl Benz | 1885 |
| 55 | Rayon Hilaire de Chardonnet | 1884 |
| 56 | Steam turbine Charles Parsons | 1884 |
| 57 | Life raft Maria Beasley | 1880 |
| 58 | Incandescent light bulb Thomas Edison | 1879 |
| 59 | Phonograph Thomas Edison | 1877 |
| 60 | Telephone Alexander Graham Bell | 1876 |
| 61 | Carpet sweeper Melville Bissell | 1876 |
| 62 | Four-stroke engine Nikolaus Otto | 1876 |
| 63 | Barbed wire Joseph Glidden | 1873 |
| 64 | Flat-bottomed paper bag Margaret Knight | 1871 |
| 65 | Celluloid John Wesley Hyatt | 1870 |
| 66 | Air brake George Westinghouse | 1869 |
| 67 | Typewriter Christopher Latham Sholes | 1868 |
| 68 | Dynamite Alfred Nobel | 1867 |
| 69 | Clinical thermometer Thomas Clifford Allbutt | 1866 |
| 70 | Pasteurization Louis Pasteur | 1863 |
| 71 | Cylinder lock Linus Yale | 1863 |
| 72 | Ski bindings Sondre Nordheim | 1860 |
| 73 | Rechargeable battery Gaston Planté | 1859 |
| 74 | Internal-combustion engine Étienne Lenoir | 1858 |
| 75 | Bessemer steel process Henry Bessemer | 1856 |
| 76 | First manned glider George Cayley | 1853 |
| 77 | Safety elevator Elisha Otis | 1852 |
| 78 | Rotary printing press Richard Hoe | 1847 |
| 79 | Sewing machine Elias Howe | 1846 |
| 80 | Saxophone Adolphe Sax | 1842 |
| 81 | Daguerreotype camera Louis Daguerre | 1839 |
| 82 | Vulcanized rubber Charles Goodyear | 1839 |
| 83 | Morse code Samuel Morse | 1838 |
| 84 | Steel plow John Deere | 1838 |
| 85 | Electric telegraph Samuel Morse | 1837 |
| 86 | Revolver Samuel Colt | 1835 |
| 87 | Glass aquarium Jeanne Villepreux-Power | 1832 |
| 88 | Mechanical reaper Cyrus McCormick | 1831 |
| 89 | Water turbine Benoît Fourneyron | 1827 |
| 90 | First permanent photograph Nicéphore Niépce | 1826–27 |
| 91 | Braille Louis Braille | 1824 |
| 92 | Mackintosh raincoat fabric Charles Macintosh | 1823 |
| 93 | Stethoscope René Laennec | 1819 |
| 94 | Stirling engine Robert Stirling | 1816 |
| 95 | Macadam road John Loudon McAdam | 1815 |
| 96 | Commercial steamboat Robert Fulton | 1807 |
| 97 | Steam railway locomotive Richard Trevithick | 1803 |
| 98 | Electric battery Alessandro Volta | 1800 |
| 99 | Lithography Alois Senefelder | 1798 |
| 100 | Hydraulic press Joseph Bramah | 1795 |
| 101 | Modern graphite pencil Nicolas-Jacques Conté | 1795 |
| 102 | Cotton gin Eli Whitney | 1794 |
| 103 | Threshing machine Andrew Meikle | 1788 |
| 104 | Hot-air balloon Montgolfier brothers | 1782 |
| 105 | Spinning mule Samuel Crompton | 1779 |
| 106 | Steam-powered vehicle Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot | 1769 |
| 107 | Watt steam engine James Watt | 1765 |
| 108 | Water frame Richard Arkwright | 1764 |
| 109 | Marine chronometer John Harrison | 1735 |
| 110 | Flying shuttle John Kay | 1733 |
| 111 | Pitot tube Henri Pitot | 1732 |
| 112 | Atmospheric steam engine Thomas Newcomen | 1712 |
| 113 | Seed drill Jethro Tull | 1701 |
| 114 | Pressure cooker Denis Papin | 1679 |
| 115 | Pendulum clock Christiaan Huygens | 1658 |
| 116 | Air pump Otto von Guericke | 1650 |
| 117 | Mercury barometer Evangelista Torricelli | 1643 |
| 118 | Submarine (oar-powered) Cornelis Drebbel | 1620 |
| 119 | Telescope Hans Lippershey | 1608 |
| 120 | Knitting machine William Lee | 1589 |
| 121 | Gutenberg's printing press Movable-type printing | c. 1450 |
Questions
What is the newest on this list?
Linux, with 1991.
What is the oldest on this list?
Gutenberg's printing press, with c. 1450.
Where do these numbers come from?
Each year links to its source.