The innovations are tools created by human ingenuity to improve our quality of life as a species.
Innovation is the introduction of something new that satisfies some need and is closely connected to science and technology, science being knowledge and technology its practice.
It is difficult to define a list of innovations, since the inventions discovered in Antiquity, far from being outdated, are the basis of many of the scientific and technological advances that we enjoy in the 21st century.
On this occasion, we will show 10 examples of innovations that changed the world.
1. Cutting tools
The remains of the first spear date back to 400,000 BC. C. This invention introduces hunting as a common activity for searching for food and, as a consequence, forces communities to organize.
Furthermore, the spear as a sharp tool was the first technological innovation that would allow humans to begin cutting and manipulating stronger materials for their own benefit.
2. Pictographic art
17,000 years ago, some humans from Altamira, Spain, left their footprints on stones using pigments from the region, creating what we call today cave painting, our first expression of art.
This basic way of expressing what we see has evolved over time to the complex digital artistic compositions we see today.
Images became an essential form of expression in human beings. Thanks to our fascination with graphic representation, science and technology advanced towards the creation of photography by Joseph Niépce (1765-1833) together with Louis Daguerre (1787-1851) in 1839 and cinema by the Lumière brothers in 1859.
Along with the emergence of other innovations, today we use technologies for creating images in digital format, from image editing programs such as photoshopto virtual reality technology that recreates a world in three dimensions.
3. Housing
In 6000 BC. From C, humans in the Middle East began to build houses, moving towards a more sedentary life. This innovation constitutes one of the bases for the path towards the notions of society, State and country.
See also Society.
4. Agriculture
In Mesopotamia the beginning of plowing is recorded in 3,500 BC. de C.. Plowing is a simple technique that allowed you to grow and care for your food efficiently and homogeneously. This innovation helped the human species plant and organize their food on a large scale.
See also Agriculture.
5. Writing
Writing is one of the innovations that has cultivated and elevated our knowledge, since it records and transmits information, cushioning the oral barrier of immediacy. The first records were found in Mesopotamia around 3,500 BC. of C.
6. Lenses
The first magnifying lens discovered is more than 3,000 years old and was called the Nimrud lens. It was used by the Assyrians to observe the sky. Going through the technological advances created by the Egyptians, the Chinese and the Greeks, the first glasses were marketed around the year 1280.
From this innovation, the invention of the first microscope by Zacharias Jansen (1580-1638) emerged in 1595. This scientific and technological innovation would open the doors to observing the world of microorganisms, constituting the basis of advances in medicine.
In turn, in 1609, Galileo Galilei began to experiment with lenses, building the first telescopes that helped advance knowledge of our solar system and the universe.
7. Steam engine
In 1768, James Watt (1736-1819), with the financial help of Matthew Boulton (1728-1809), created the first engine that avoided the constant loss of energy in steam engines. In this way, the concept “horsepower” is created and the power of the electrical unit is baptized as watts (watt in Spanish).
This innovation revolutionized the world of transportation, introducing the creation of the locomotive by Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) in 1808, the automobile by Karl Benz (1844-1929) in 1886, the airplane by Clément Ader (1841-1925). ) in 1890, and the first space flight as a result of what is known as the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
8. Calculator
The calculator allows complex calculations to be made mechanically and without human errors. The first calculator was created by Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) in 1642. This would begin technological advances in the field of computing and the subsequent creation of the world Wide Web or the web.
9. Batteries or batteries
Alessandro Volta (1745-1827) invented the first battery in the year 1800 when he discovered that the contact of two metals with a liquid conductor produced electrical energy. In this way, it was possible to produce energy.
Later, Gaston Planté (1834-1889) created the first automotive battery in 1860 that allowed the cell to be recharged once it was depleted.
10. Telegraph
The telegraph was perfected for everyday use by Samuel Morse (1791-1872) in 1830. This technological and scientific innovation is considered the beginning of the media revolution.
In this sense, the telephone was born in 1875 with Graham Bell (1847-1922), and the radio, whose invention was attributed to Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), the first successful test being around the year 1897.
As a consequence of the technological innovations of the moment, television was born, whose first mechanical model was created by John Logie Baird (1888-1946) in 1924, but which was only known as television in 1926. And we cannot fail to mention the medium of most common communication today, the computer created by Konrad Zuse (1910-1995) in 1941.
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