NationStates Jolt Archive

So, what invention do you think was the most important of the 20th century? It can be anything, so feel free to express yourself.

For me, the greatest thing was the advancement of medicine during the 20th century. We can now easily cure things that slaughtered millions in the past. Thats just grand.

Internet. Computer.

I would have to say advancement in medicine too, and the Internet.

The pill.
And the internet.

Amusingly, the internet was originally created for military applications...

Amusingly, the internet was originally created for military applications...

I think alot of technology we have today came from the military.

I think alot of technology we have today came from the military.

True, I suppose even medicine in some way owes some of the new techniques to the military...

Amusingly, the internet was originally created for military applications...

Just goes to show that sometimes, even the military can have its uses, I guess.

Computers. Their impact has been astronomical on our society and our way of life.

Furthermore, they are a fundamental part of almost all other forms of modern scientific research. We would not be making the advances we are now if it wasn't for the tools and computational power provided to us by computers.

Just goes to show that sometimes, even the military can have its uses, I guess.

The military has lots of uses beside killing people. Most of the time, the military test new technology that'll benefit the rest of society. I know that they benefit the aviation community a great deal.

The military has lots of application beside what we see on the news about Iraq.

The most important invention of the 20th Century...
I could say neat peaceful things like medical advancement or computers like you guys, but I think that the most important invention was nuclear fission.
Not only can it endow us with the power to wipe out mankind twice over, but it can also provide a near limitless energy source. Even though it's not all good that this invention can do, it's still more important than anything we have ever faced. Nuclear fission is Armageddon waiting to happen.

Amusingly, the internet was originally created for military applications...

Then again, so was the microwave. What would we ever do without instant popcorn!

The electric washing machine (early 1900). The single invention who contributed to free women more than 10'000 pro-equal-opportunity speeches.

Not only can it endow us with the power to wipe out mankind twice over, but it can also provide a near limitless energy source.

as long as we got something to put in a reactor. uranium prices are quite on the rise.

Assembly line. Made mass production of goods possible, raised standard of living...

Assembly line. Made mass production of goods possible, raised standard of living...

Not exactly XX century.


wiki: assembly line
: a culmination of many efforts
The assembly line concept was not "invented" at one time by one person, and no one person is the "father" of it. It has been independently redeveloped throughout history based on logic. Its exponentially larger development at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th occurred among various people over decades, as other aspects of technology allowed.
...

The Terracotta Army (circa 215 BC)
The Terracotta Army commissioned by the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi is a collection of about 8000 life-sized clay soldiers and horses buried with the emperor. The figures had their separate body parts manufactured by different workshops that were later assembled to completion. Notably, each workshop inscribed its name on the part they manufactured to add traceability for quality control.


Venetian Arsenal (1500s)
At the peak of its efficiency in the early 16th century, the Venetian Arsenal employed some 16,000 people who apparently were able to produce nearly one ship each day, and could fit out, arm, and provision a newly-built galley with standardized parts on an assembly-line basis not seen again until the Industrial Revolution.


Block production at Portsmouth: Brunel, Maudslay, et al (1800-1820s)
Probably the first linear and continuous assembly line of post-Renaissance times was created in 1801 by Marc Isambard Brunel (father of Isambard Kingdom Brunel), with the help of Henry Maudslay and others, for the production of blocks for the Royal Navy. This assembly line was so successful it remained in use until the 1960s, with the workshop still visible at HM Dockyard in Portsmouth, and still containing some of the original machinery.


Eli Whitney (1780s-1820s)
Eli Whitney is sometimes credited with developing the armory system of manufacturing in 1801, using the ideas of division of labor, engineering tolerance, and interchangeable parts to create assemblies from parts in a repeatable manner. But Whitney's contribution was mostly as a popularizer rather than "the inventor" of repeatability. He was probably inspired by several others (including Honoré Blanc), or at least by the contemporary zeitgeist that was building around such ideas. Thomas Jefferson had tried to bring a French mechanic (who was almost certainly Blanc) and his methods to America in 1785, but the project never went anywhere.[1] A few years later, Whitney succeeded in introducing the relevant concepts (interchangeable parts, toolpath control via machine tools and jigs, transfer of skill to the equipment allowing use of semi-skilled or unskilled machine operators) to American firearm manufacture.


Firearms, clocks, et al (1860s-1890s)
The Industrial Revolution in Western Europe and North America, but perhaps most especially in Great Britain and New England, led to a proliferation of manufacturing and invention. Many industries, notably textiles, firearms, clocks and watches,[2] buttons, railroad cars and locomotives, sewing machines, and bicycles, saw expeditious improvement in materials handling, machining, and assembly during the 19th century, although modern concepts such as industrial engineering and logistics had not yet been named.


...also not named in wiki, the Missaglia armour workshops of Milan, in the XV century, were able to produce armour for about 10'000 men in a few months, due to the use an assembly line.

Wikipedia....now thats an invention!

I will have to go with Flight, at least the ability for man to be able to fly.

And Risottia, while we can say that there were other assembly lines etc before the 20th century, it can be said that it wasn't until the Henry Ford invented the modern assembly line, similar to how tanks are only a recent invention despite the fact that there were vehicles that closely resembles modern day tanks. Or you can jst run with your post modern thought.

the theory of relativity,cause that gave us nuclear fission and better understanding of the universe

The automobile and television have changed society enormously.

The raisin peeler.

Plastics and microelectronics have changed just about everything.

"I just want to say one word to you, just one word -- plastics." -- Mr. Maguire (Walter Brooke), The Graduate

EDIT: Damn it, someone beat me to it.

Ha Ha. Wikipedia. :)

"I just want to say one word to you, just one word -- plastics." -- Mr. Maguire (Walter Brooke), The Graduate

EDIT: Damn it, someone beat me to it.

I'm usually last, so I don't even bother posting. I got lucky this time.

The automobile and television have changed society enormously.

The automobile was invented in the 1800's granted it was in the final decade but it was still the 19th century.

The greatest invention of the 20th century: Ibuprofen. :)

The greatest invention of the 20th century: Ibuprofen. :)

I was expecting something mud related from you LG.

*Walks off disappointed*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widget_%28beer%29

I was expecting something mud related from you LG.

*Walks off disappointed*

I'd need my history book, but I'm reasonably certain that mud has been around longer than that. Even mud wrestling was invented by the ancient Mesopotamians. *nod*

Ibuprofen however, has allowed me to continue with a level of self-destructive behavior that I would have had to give up a decade ago without it. Hell, just aiding in the relief of my overly frequent groinal traumas put it in the top three. :p

Ak-47 or the nuke, your pick.

Toss up between 7.62x39mm Soviet or the Nuclear bomb and its related discoveries.

...or the Nuclear bomb and its related discoveries.

Like Dr. Strangelove. :)

Amusingly, the internet was originally created for military applications...

I thought it was invented by a bunch of Swiss scientists so they could talk to each other.

Wikipedia....now thats an invention!

Not a 20th century one, however.

I'm going to have to go with plastics and the transistor.

Pesticides and fertilizer.

I'd need my history book, but I'm reasonably certain that mud has been around longer than that. Even mud wrestling was invented by the ancient Mesopotamians. *nod*

Ibuprofen however, has allowed me to continue with a level of self-destructive behavior that I would have had to give up a decade ago without it. Hell, just aiding in the relief of my overly frequent groinal traumas put it in the top three. :p

LOL, ah yes I see.

napalm.

Furries.

Like Dr. Strangelove. :)


Mein Führer! I can walk! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxrWz9XVvls&feature=related)

Among the best and worst: plastic.

The air conditioner

Series of tubes, no contest. The internet can manage whatever all those other inventions can and give porn at the same time.

Including plastic

Internet

Rocketry

Computers

Nuclear Power

Nuclear Weapons

Gene Splicing

Air craft

Radio Telescopes

A lot of Modern Medicine

Those seem to be the most important, though not always the most beneficial.

Wikipedia....now thats an invention!

Yay.
XXI century I think.

The automobile
XIX century.

I thought it was invented by a bunch of Swiss scientists so they could talk to each other.

That's HTML & www. And it was scientists from all over the world working at CERN (which is part in Switzerland, part in France, and funded mostly by european countries).

Rocketry

Rockets are quite older.

the micro-wave. because great big waves take too much energy.

=^^=
.../\...

The automobile was invented in the 1800's granted it was in the final decade but it was still the 19th century.
Truth, and it was likewise pointed out that assembly-line mass-production was not really 20th century either-- however, the combination, the MASS-PRODUCED AUTOMOBILE, now there you're at the heart of what made the 20th century.

Computers. We invented those, you know ^__^

Amusingly, the internet was originally created for military applications...
Yes it was. The internet was created so that in the event of nuclear war military personnel could freely exchange porn to boost morale.

I'd have to say the jet is probably the best invention of the 20th. That and the markers that make you high.

Perhaps this is not an invention, but we've come a long way with stereotypes and the like. At the beginning of the century, African Americans were lynched, Jews were persecuted, and the like. Now, this is just done in a lesser form. Greatly lesser.

Perhaps this is not an invention, but we've come a long way with stereotypes and the like. At the beginning of the century, African Americans were lynched, Jews were persecuted, and the like. Now, this is just done in a lesser form. Greatly lesser.

Yeah, that really worked out in Kosovo and Rwanda and the Sudan.

And Halabja.

the micro-wave. because great big waves take too much energy.

=^^=
.../\...
Actually longer waves take less energy
E=hc/wavelength
:p

Yeah, that really worked out in Kosovo and Rwanda and the Sudan.

And Halabja.

It's a work in progress...

The air conditioner
Responsible for my comfort and heavy migration into the US sunbelt.

WASHING MACHINE for clothes and dishes
Dryer

Do you remember how time consuming it is to do them all by hand?

Alarm Clock

Cell Phone

Video Games

Printing press

MP3 player

Books/Scrolls

Actually the clock was invented as early as 4000BC, as it was WATER POWERED! You LIED when you said the clock was made in the AD.

Not a 20th century one, however.

I'm going to have to go with plastics and the transistor.
The transistor is my choice. Almost no device that we take for granted in daily use would be possible without this invention. We could say LSI and VLSI is a great invention, but it all started with the transistor.

Not exactly XX century.


wiki: assembly line
: a culmination of many efforts
The assembly line concept was not "invented" at one time by one person, and no one person is the "father" of it. It has been independently redeveloped throughout history based on logic. Its exponentially larger development at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th occurred among various people over decades, as other aspects of technology allowed.
...

The Terracotta Army (circa 215 BC)
The Terracotta Army commissioned by the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi is a collection of about 8000 life-sized clay soldiers and horses buried with the emperor. The figures had their separate body parts manufactured by different workshops that were later assembled to completion. Notably, each workshop inscribed its name on the part they manufactured to add traceability for quality control.


Venetian Arsenal (1500s)
At the peak of its efficiency in the early 16th century, the Venetian Arsenal employed some 16,000 people who apparently were able to produce nearly one ship each day, and could fit out, arm, and provision a newly-built galley with standardized parts on an assembly-line basis not seen again until the Industrial Revolution.


Block production at Portsmouth: Brunel, Maudslay, et al (1800-1820s)
Probably the first linear and continuous assembly line of post-Renaissance times was created in 1801 by Marc Isambard Brunel (father of Isambard Kingdom Brunel), with the help of Henry Maudslay and others, for the production of blocks for the Royal Navy. This assembly line was so successful it remained in use until the 1960s, with the workshop still visible at HM Dockyard in Portsmouth, and still containing some of the original machinery.


Eli Whitney (1780s-1820s)
Eli Whitney is sometimes credited with developing the armory system of manufacturing in 1801, using the ideas of division of labor, engineering tolerance, and interchangeable parts to create assemblies from parts in a repeatable manner. But Whitney's contribution was mostly as a popularizer rather than "the inventor" of repeatability. He was probably inspired by several others (including Honoré Blanc), or at least by the contemporary zeitgeist that was building around such ideas. Thomas Jefferson had tried to bring a French mechanic (who was almost certainly Blanc) and his methods to America in 1785, but the project never went anywhere.[1] A few years later, Whitney succeeded in introducing the relevant concepts (interchangeable parts, toolpath control via machine tools and jigs, transfer of skill to the equipment allowing use of semi-skilled or unskilled machine operators) to American firearm manufacture.


Firearms, clocks, et al (1860s-1890s)
The Industrial Revolution in Western Europe and North America, but perhaps most especially in Great Britain and New England, led to a proliferation of manufacturing and invention. Many industries, notably textiles, firearms, clocks and watches,[2] buttons, railroad cars and locomotives, sewing machines, and bicycles, saw expeditious improvement in materials handling, machining, and assembly during the 19th century, although modern concepts such as industrial engineering and logistics had not yet been named.


...also not named in wiki, the Missaglia armour workshops of Milan, in the XV century, were able to produce armour for about 10'000 men in a few months, due to the use an assembly line.

I'm talking about assembly lines in terms of mass production of goods.

The Terracotta Army (circa 215 BC): This is not an assembly line per se, it's more of an example of interchangable parts. Also notably, this was a great effort that was only done *once* by these workshops, and each part was still crafted by hand. Consider that each part was assembled on site, not at a central factory location.

Venetian Arsenal: Closer to being an assembly line in that it was at a single location, but not duplicated elsewhere in Venice nor used for used for non-military goods. Certainly a precursor, the way that the Colossus at Rhodes could be considered a precursor of the Statue of Liberty.

Block production at Portsmouth: Likely a precursor, but as with the others it didn't exactly change the world. As the blocks weren't actually sold, it's not really a good but and item of a tool of war/the state, as with the Terracotta Army or the Venetian Arsenal.

Again, Eli Whitney and (more or less the modern inventor of) interchangable parts is the precursor of the assembly line.

I'll say the same for the late 1800s examples. There may well have been goods which were mass produced on assembly lines as well, but they were still in a minority in the 19th century to like items assembled one-at-a-time using interchangable parts. It really isn't until nearly World War One that we see widespread adoption of assembly lines over one-at-a-time assembly (though the Ford Model T is an obvious exception).

Like Dr. Strangelove. :)

it's how i learned to love the bomb!! :)