New discoveries of the 19th century. Great Russian inventions that changed the world

American inventor of the motion picture, Thomas Edison, who was able to make this form of entertainment technically feasible

For a competition sponsored by Scientific American in 1913, participants had to write an essay on the 10 greatest inventions of "our time" (from 1888 to 1913), while the inventions must be patentable and dated from the moment of their "industrial introduction."

In fact, this task was based on historical perception. Innovations seem more remarkable to us when we see the changes they bring about. In 2016, we may not attach much importance to the merits of Nikola Tesla (Nicola Tesla) or Thomas Edison (Thomas Edison), as we are used to using electricity in all its manifestations, but at the same time, we are impressed by the social changes that popularization of the Internet. 100 years ago, people probably would not have understood what it was all about.

Below are excerpts from the first and second prize essays, along with a statistical count of all submissions. The first place was awarded to William I. Wyman, who worked at the US Patent Office in Washington, thanks to which he was well aware of scientific and technological progress.

Essay by William Wyman

1. An electric furnace in 1889 was “the only means of producing carborundum” (the hardest artificial material at that time). It also turned aluminum from "merely valuable to a very useful metal" (reducing its cost by 98%) and "dramatically changed the steel industry."

2. Steam turbine, invented by Charles Parsons (Charles Parsons), which began mass production over the next 10 years. The turbine significantly improved the power supply system on ships, and was later used to maintain the operation of generators that produce electricity.

The turbine, invented by Charles Parsons, powered the ships. With the right amount, they set the generators in motion and produced energy.

3. Petrol car. In the 19th century, many inventors worked on the creation of a "self-propelled" car. Wyman mentioned Gottlieb Daimler's 1889 engine in his essay: “A century of persistent, but unsuccessful, pursuit of a practically self-propelled machine proves that any invention that first fits into the stated requirements becomes an immediate success. Such success came to the Daimler engine.”

4. Movies. Entertainment will always be of the utmost importance, and "the moving picture has changed the way many people spend their time." The technical pioneer Wyman cited was Thomas Edison.

5. Airplane. Wyman honored the invention of the Wright brothers for "fulfilling a centuries-old dream", but at the same time emphasized its use for military purposes and questioned the general usefulness of flying technology: "Commercially, the aircraft is the least profitable invention among all considered."

Orville Wright conducts a demonstration flight at Fort Mer in 1908 and fulfills the requirements of the American army

Wilbur Wright

6. Wireless telegraphy. Various systems have been used to transfer information between people for centuries, perhaps even millennia. In the US, telegraph signals have become much faster thanks to Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail. Wireless telegraphy, invented by Guglielmo Marconi, later evolved into radio and thereby freed information from cables.

7. Cyanide process. Sounds toxic, doesn't it? This process appeared on this list for only one reason: it was carried out to extract gold from ore. “Gold is the lifeblood of trade,” in 1913 international trade relations and national currencies were based on it.

8. Asynchronous motor of Nikola Tesla. “This landmark invention is largely responsible for the ubiquitous use of electricity in modern industry,” writes Wyman. Before there was electricity in residential buildings, the AC machine designed by Tesla generated 90% of the electricity consumed in factories.

9. Linotype. This machine allowed publishers - mainly newspapers - to compose and cast the text much faster and cheaper. This technology was as advanced as the printing press was considered to be in relation to the hand-written scrolls that preceded it. It is possible that soon we will stop using paper for writing and reading, and the history of printing will be forgotten.

10. Electric welding process from Elihu Thomson (Elihu Thomson). During the era of industrialization, electric welding made it possible to accelerate the pace of production and create better, more complex machines for the manufacturing process.

Electric welding, created by Elihu Thomson, significantly reduced the cost of manufacturing complex welding equipment.

Essay by George Doe

The second best essay, by George M. Dowe, also from Washington, was more philosophical. He divided all inventions into three sub-sectors: manufacturing, transport, and communications:

1. Electrical fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. As natural sources of fertilizer dwindled in the 19th century, artificial fertilization ensured further expansion of agriculture.

2. Preservation of sugar-containing plants. George W. McMullen of Chicago is credited with discovering a way to dry sugar cane and sugar beets for shipping. Sugar production became more efficient and very soon its supply increased significantly.

3. High speed steel alloys. By adding tungsten to steel, "tools made in this way could cut at tremendous speeds without compromising the hardening or cutting edge." The increase in the efficiency of cutting machines has produced "nothing less than a revolution"

4. Lamp with tungsten filament. Another achievement of chemistry: after tungsten replaced the carbon in the filament, the light bulb is considered "improved". As of 2016, they are being phased out around the world in favor of compact fluorescent lamps, which are 4 times more efficient.

5. Airplane. Although it was not yet as widely used for transportation in 1913, "Samuel Langley and the Wright brothers should be given major honors for their contribution to the development of powered flight."

6. Steam turbine. As in the previous list, the turbine is to be commended not only for "use of steam as a prime mover" but also for its use in "power generation".

7. Internal combustion engine. In terms of transportation, Dow credits "Daimler, Ford and Dury" most of all. Gottlieb Daimler is a well-known pioneer of motor vehicles. Henry Ford began production of the Model T in 1908, which remained very popular until 1913. Charles Duryea created one of the earliest commercially successful gasoline vehicles after 1896.

8. The pneumatic tire, which was originally invented by Robert William Thomson, a railroad engineer. "What the track did for the locomotive, the pneumatic tire did for vehicles not tied to the railroad tracks." However, the essay credits John Dunlop and William C. Bartlet, both of whom have made significant contributions to the development of automobile and bicycle tires.

9. Wireless. Doe praised Marconi for making wireless "commercially viable". The author of the essay also left a comment that can be attributed to the development of the World Wide Web, stating that wireless communication was "designed primarily to meet the needs of trade, but along the way it also contributed to social interaction."

10. Typing machines. The giant rotary press could churn out huge volumes of printed material. The weak link in the production chain was the assembly of printed plates. Linotype and monotype helped to get rid of this shortcoming.

All submitted essays were collected and analyzed to compile a list of inventions that were perceived as the most significant. Wireless telegraph was in almost every text. "Airplane" came in second place, although it was considered important only because of the potential of flying technology. Here are the rest of the results:

The Industrial Revolution—an innovative period of the mid-18th–19th centuries—transferred people from a predominantly agrarian existence to a relatively urban lifestyle. And although we call this era "revolution", its name is somewhat misleading. This movement, which originated in the UK, was not a sudden explosion of achievement, but a series of successive breakthroughs that built on or fed off one another.

In the same way that dot-coms were an integral part of the 1990s, it was precisely what made this era unique. Without all these brilliant minds, many of the important goods and services we use today would simply not exist. Whether the inventor was a simple theoretical dreamer or a relentless creator of important things, this revolution has changed the lives of many people (including us).

For many of us, the phrase "put your calculators aside for the exam" will always cause anxiety, but such exams without calculators clearly demonstrate what Charles Babbage's life was like. The English inventor and mathematician was born in 1791, over time, his task was to study mathematical tables in search of errors. Such tables were typically used in astronomy, banking, and engineering, and because they were handwritten, they often contained errors. Babbage conceived the idea of ​​creating a calculator and eventually developed several models.

Of course, Babbage could not have modern computer components like transistors, so his computers were purely mechanical. They were surprisingly large, complex and difficult to build (none of Babbage's machines appeared during his lifetime). For example, Difference Engine "number one" could solve polynomials, but its design consisted of 25,000 separate parts with a total weight of 15 tons. Difference Engine "number two" was developed between 1847 and 1849 and was more elegant, along with comparable power and one third of the weight.

There was another construct that earned Babbage the title of father of modern computing, according to some people. In 1834, Babbage decided to create a machine that could be programmed. Like modern computers, Babbage's machine could store data for later use in other calculations and perform logical if-then operations. Babbage didn't do much with the design of the Analytical Engine, as he did with the Difference Engines, but to appreciate the grandeur of the former, one must know that it was so massive that it needed a steam engine to run.

Pneumatic tire

Like many inventions of this era, the pneumatic tire "stood on the shoulders of giants", entering a new wave of inventions. Thus, although John Dunlop is often credited with the invention of this important thing, before him, in 1839, Charles Goodyear patented the process of vulcanizing rubber.

Before Goodyear's experiments, rubber was a very new product with a relatively small range of applications, but this, due to its properties, changed very quickly. Vulcanization, in which rubber was hardened with sulfur and lead, created a stronger material suitable for the manufacturing process.

While rubber technology advanced rapidly, the other accompanying inventions of the Industrial Revolution developed much more slowly. Despite such advances as pedals and steerable wheels, bicycles remained more of a curiosity than a practical mode of transport for most of the 19th century, as they were bulky, their frames were heavy, and their wheels were rigid and difficult to maneuver.

Dunlop, a veterinarian by profession, noticed all these shortcomings when he watched his son struggle with the tricycle and decided to fix them. First he tried to wrap a garden hose in a ring and wrap it in liquid rubber. This option turned out to be significantly superior to existing tires made of leather and reinforced rubber. Very soon, Dunlop started making bicycle tires with the help of W. Edlin and Co., which later became the Dunlop Rubber Company. She quickly took over the market and greatly increased the production of bicycles. Shortly thereafter, the Dunlop Rubber Company began manufacturing rubber tires for another product of the Industrial Revolution, the automobile.

As with rubber, the practical application of the next point was not obvious for a long time.

Inventions like the light bulb take up so many pages in the history book, but we're sure any practicing surgeon would call anesthesia the best product of the Industrial Revolution. Before its invention, the correction of any ailment was perhaps more painful than the ailment itself. One of the biggest problems associated with removing a tooth or limb was keeping the patient relaxed, often with the help of alcohol and opium. Today, of course, we can all thank anesthesia for the fact that few of us can remember the pain of surgery in general.

Nitrous oxide and ether were discovered in the early 1800s, but neither found much practical use other than useless intoxication. Nitrous oxide was generally better known as laughing gas and was used to entertain audiences. During one such demonstration, young dentist Horace Wells saw someone inhale gas and injure his leg. When the man returned to his seat, Wells asked if the victim had been hurt and was told no. After that, the dentist decided to use laughing gas in his work, and volunteered to be the first test subject himself. The next day, Wells and Gardner Colton, the show's organizer, had already tested laughing gas in Wells' office. The gas worked great.

Shortly thereafter, ether was also tested as an anesthetic for long-term operations, although who really was behind the attraction of this remedy is not known for certain.

Many world-changing inventions emerged during the Industrial Revolution. The camera was not one of them. In fact, the forerunner of the camera, known as the camera obscura, dates back to the late 1500s.

However, saving camera shots was a problem for a long time, especially if you didn't have time to draw them. Then came Nicephore Niepce. In the 1820s, a Frenchman came up with the idea of ​​overlaying coated paper filled with light-sensitive chemicals onto an image projected by a camera obscura. Eight hours later, the world's first photograph appeared.

Realizing that eight hours was too long to pose in family portrait mode, Niepce joined forces with Louis Daguerre to improve his design, and it was Daguerre who continued Niepce's work after his death in 1833. The so-called daggerotype first aroused enthusiasm in the French Parliament, and then throughout the world. However, although the daguerreotype could produce very detailed images, they could not be replicated.

Daguerre's contemporary, William Henry Fox Talbot, also worked to improve photographic images in the 1830s and made the first negative through which light could shine on photographic paper and create a positive. Similar advances began to quickly find a place, and gradually the cameras were even able to capture moving objects, and the exposure time was reduced. A photo of a horse taken in 1877 put an end to the long-standing debate about whether all four of a horse's legs are off the ground during a gallop (yes). So the next time you take out your smartphone to take a picture, think for a second about the centuries of innovation that made that picture possible.

Phonograph

Nothing can fully replicate the experience of playing live with your favorite band. Not so long ago, live performances were generally the only way to listen to music. Thomas Edison changed this forever by developing a method for transcribing telegraph messages, which led him to the idea of ​​the phonograph. The idea is simple but beautiful: a recording needle extrudes grooves corresponding to the sound waves of music or speech into a rotating tin-plated cylinder, and another needle reproduces the original sound based on these grooves.

In contrast to Babbage and his decades of trying to see his designs come to fruition, Edison had his mechanic, John Cruesi, build the machine, and within 30 hours had a working prototype in his hands. But Edison didn't stop there. His first tin cylinders could only play music a few times, so Edison later replaced the tin with wax. By that time, the Edison phonograph was no longer the only one on the market, and over time, people began to abandon the Edison cylinders. The basic mechanism has been preserved and is used to this day. Not bad for a random invention.

steam engine

As we are fascinated by the roar of V8 engines and high-speed jets today, once upon a time, steam technology was incredible. In addition, it played a gigantic role in supporting the industrial revolution. Before this era, people used horses and carriages to get around, and the practice of mining in mines was very laborious and inefficient.

James Watt, a Scottish engineer, did not develop a steam engine, but he managed to make a more efficient version of one in the 1760s by adding a separate condenser. This changed the mining industry forever.

Initially, some inventors used a steam engine to pump and remove water from mines, which gave improved access to resources. As these engines gained popularity, engineers wondered how they could be improved. Watt's version of the steam engine didn't need to be cooled after every blow that came with mining at the time.

Others wondered: what if, instead of transporting raw materials, goods and people on a horse, use a steam-powered car? These thoughts inspired inventors to explore the potential of steam engines outside of the mining world. Watt's modification of the steam engine led to other developments in the Industrial Revolution, including the first steam locomotives and steam-powered ships.

The following invention is perhaps less well known, but is of definite importance.

Conservation

Open the kitchen cabinet and you will definitely find at least one useful invention of the industrial revolution. The same period that gave us the steam engine changed the way we store food.

After the spread of Great Britain to other parts of the world, inventions began to fuel the Industrial Revolution at a steady pace. For example, such a case occurred with a French chef and innovator named Nicolas Appert. Looking for ways to preserve food without losing flavor or freshness, Apper regularly experimented with containerized food storage. In the end, he came to the conclusion that the storage of food, coupled with drying or salt, does not lead to an improvement in palatability, but quite the opposite.

Upper thought that storing food in containers would be especially helpful for seafarers suffering from malnutrition at sea. The Frenchman worked on a boiling technique that involved placing food in a jar, sealing it, and then boiling it in water to create a vacuum seal. Apper achieved his goal by developing a special canning autoclave in the early 1800s. The basic concept has survived to this day.

Before the advent of smartphones and laptops, people still used the industrial revolution technology of the telegraph, albeit to a much lesser extent than before.

Through the electrical system of networks, the telegraph could transmit messages from one place to another over long distances. The recipient of the message had to interpret the markings produced by the machine in Morse code.

The first message was sent in 1844 by Samuel Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, and it accurately conveys his excitement. He transmitted "What is the Lord doing?" with his new system, hinting that he had discovered something big. And so it was. The Morse telegraph allowed people to communicate almost instantly over long distances.

Information transmitted via telegraph lines also greatly contributed to the development of the media and allowed governments to exchange information more quickly. The development of the telegraph even spawned the first news service, the Associated Press. After all, Morse's invention connected America to Europe - and it was very important at that time.

Spinning wheel "Jenny"

Whether it's socks or any of the fashionable items of clothing, it was the advances in the textile industry during the Industrial Revolution that made these things possible for the masses.

The Jenny spinning wheel, or Hargreaves spinning machine, contributed greatly to the development of this process. After the raw materials - cotton or wool - are collected, they need to be made into yarn, and often this work is very painstaking for people.

James Hargreaves solved this issue. Taking on a challenge from Britain's Royal Society of Arts, Hargreaves designed a device that far exceeded the competition's requirement to weave at least six yarns at a time. Hargreaves built a machine that gave out eight streams simultaneously, which dramatically increased the efficiency of this activity.

The device consisted of a spinning wheel that controlled the flow of material. At one end of the device was a rotating material, and at the other the threads were collected into yarn from under the hand wheel.

Roads and mines

Creating the infrastructure to support the Industrial Revolution was not easy. The demand for metals, including iron, spurred the industry to come up with more efficient methods of extracting and transporting raw materials.

For several decades, iron companies have been supplying large quantities of iron to factories and manufacturing companies. To obtain cheap metal, mining companies supplied more cast iron than wrought iron. In addition, people began to use metallurgy or simply to study the physical properties of materials in an industrial setting.

The massive mining of iron allowed other inventions of the Industrial Revolution to be mechanized. Without the metallurgical industry, railways and steam locomotives would not have developed, and stagnation could have occurred in the development of transport and other industries.

In the article we will talk about the great discoveries of the 20th century. It is not surprising that since ancient times, people have tried to make their wildest dreams come true. At the turn of the last century, incredible things were invented that turned the life of the whole world upside down.

X-rays

Let's start the list of great discoveries of the 20th century by looking at electromagnetic radiation, which was actually discovered at the end of the 19th century. The author of the invention was the German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen. The scientist noticed that when the current is turned on in the cathode tube, covered with barium crystals, a slight glow begins to appear. There is another version, according to which the wife brought her husband dinner, and he noticed that he saw her bones showing through the skin. These are all versions, but there are also facts. For example, Wilhelm Roentgen refused to get a patent for his invention, because he believed that this activity could not bring real income. Thus, we rank X-rays among the great discoveries of the 20th century, which influenced the development of scientific and technological potential.

A television

More recently, the TV was a thing that testifies to the viability of its owner, but in the modern world, television has faded into the background. At the same time, the very idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe invention originated back in the 19th century simultaneously with the Russian inventor Porfiry Gusev and the Portuguese professor Adriano de Paiva. They were the first to say that a device would soon be invented that would allow the transmission of an image using a wire. The first receiver, whose screen size was only 3 by 3 cm, was demonstrated to the world by Max Dieckmann. At the same time, Boris Rosing proved that it is possible to use a cathode ray tube in order to be able to convert an electrical signal into an image. In 1908, the physicist Hovhannes Adamyan from Armenia patented an apparatus for transmitting signals, consisting of two colors. It is believed that the first television was developed in the early 20th century in America. It was collected by Russian emigrant Vladimir Zworykin. It was he who broke the light beam into green, red and blue, thus obtaining a color image. He called this invention the iconoscope. In the West, John Beard is considered the inventor of television, who was the first to patent a device that creates a picture of 8 lines.

Mobile phones

The first mobile phone appeared in the 70s of the last century. Once an employee of the well-known company Motorola, which developed portable devices, Martin Cooper, showed his friends a huge tube. Then they did not believe that something like this could be invented. Later, while walking around Manhattan, Martin called the boss from a competitor's company. Thus, for the first time in practice, he showed the effectiveness of his huge telephone receiver. Soviet scientist Leonid Kupriyanovich conducted similar experiments 15 years earlier. That is why it is quite difficult to definitely talk about who really is the discoverer of portable devices. In any case, mobile phones are a worthy discovery of the 20th century, without which it is simply impossible to imagine modern life.

A computer

One of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century is the invention of the computer. Agree that today without this device it is impossible to work or rest. A few years ago, computers were used only in special laboratories and organizations, but today it is a common thing in every family. How was this supercar invented?

The German Konrad Zuse in 1941 created a computer that, in fact, could perform the same operations as a modern computer. The difference was that the machine worked with the help of telephone relays. A year later, American physicist John Atanasoff and his graduate student Clifford Berry jointly developed an electronic computer. However, this project was not completed, so it cannot be said that they are the real creators of such a device. In 1946, John Mauchly demonstrated what he claimed to be the first electronic computer, ENIAC. It took a long time, and huge boxes replaced small and thin devices. By the way, personal computers appeared only at the end of the last century.

Internet

The great technological discovery of the 20th century is the Internet. Agree that without it, even the most powerful computer is not so useful, especially in the modern world. Many people do not like to watch TV, but they forget that the power over human consciousness has long been captured by the Internet. Who came up with the idea of ​​such a global international network? She appeared in a group of scientists in the 50s of the last century. They wanted to create a quality network that would be difficult to hack or eavesdrop. The reason for this thought was the Cold War.

The US authorities during the Cold War used a certain device that allowed data to be transmitted over a distance without resorting to mail or telephone. This device was called APRA. Later, scientists from research centers in different states took up the creation of the APRANET network. Already in 1969, thanks to this invention, it was possible to link all the computers of the universities represented by this group of scientists. After 4 years, other research centers joined this network. After the advent of e-mail, the number of people who wanted to penetrate the World Wide Web began to grow exponentially. As for the current state, at the moment more than 3 billion people use the Internet every day.

Parachute

Despite the fact that the idea of ​​​​a parachute came to the mind of Leonardo da Vinci, nevertheless this invention in its modern form is attributed to the great discoveries of the 20th century. With the advent of aeronautics, regular jumps began from large balloons, to which half-open parachutes were attached. Already in 1912, an American decided to jump out of an airplane with such a device. He successfully landed on the ground and became the most courageous inhabitant of America. Later, engineer Gleb Kotelnikov invented a parachute made entirely of silk. He also managed to pack it into a small satchel. The invention was tested on a moving car. Thus, they came up with a brake parachute that would allow the emergency braking system to be used. So, before the start of the First World War, the scientist received a patent for his invention in France, and thus became the discoverer of the parachute in the 20th century.

Physicists

Now let's talk about the great physicists of the 20th century and their discoveries. Everyone knows that physics is the basis, without which it is impossible in principle to imagine the complex development of any other science.

Note Planck's quantum theory. In 1900, the German professor Max Planck became the discoverer of a formula that described the distribution of energy in the spectrum of a black body. Note that before that it was believed that energy is always distributed evenly, but the inventor proved that the distribution occurs proportionally due to quanta. The scientist compiled a report that at that time no one believed. However, after 5 years, thanks to Planck's findings, the great scientist Einstein was able to create a quantum theory of the photoelectric effect. Thanks to quantum theory, Niels Bohr was able to build a model of the atom. Thus, Planck created a powerful base for further discoveries.

We must not forget about the greatest discovery of the 20th century - the discovery of the theory of relativity by Albert Einstein. The scientist managed to prove that gravity is a consequence of the curvature of four-dimensional space, namely time. He also explained the effect of time dilation. Einstein's discoveries made it possible to calculate many astrophysical quantities and distances.

The invention of the transistor can be attributed to the greatest discoveries of the 19th and 20th centuries. The first working device was created in 1947 by researchers from America. Scientists experimentally confirmed the correctness of their ideas. In 1956, they already received the Nobel Prize for discoveries. Thanks to them, a new era began in electronics.

The medicine

Considering the great discoveries in medicine of the 20-21st century, let's start with the invention of penicillin by Alexander Fleming. It is known that this valuable substance was discovered as a result of negligence. Thanks to the discovery of Fleming, people have ceased to be afraid of the most dangerous diseases. In the same century, the structure of DNA was discovered. Its discoverers are considered to be Francis Crick and James Watson, who created the first model of the DNA molecule using cardboard and metal. Incredible hype was raised by the information that all living organisms have the same principle of DNA structure. For this revolutionary discovery, scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize.

The great discoveries of the 20th and 21st century continue with finding the possibility of transplanting organs. Such actions were perceived as something unrealistic for a long time, but already in the last century, scientists realized that it was possible to achieve a safe, high-quality transplant. The official discovery of this fact took place in 1954. Then a doctor from America, Joseph Murray, transplanted a kidney to one of his patients from his twin brother. Thus, he showed that it is possible to transplant a foreign organ into a person, and he will live for a long time.

In 1990, the doctor was awarded the Nobel Prize. However, for a long time, experts transplanted everything except the heart. Finally, in 1967, a young woman's heart was transplanted into an elderly man. Then the patient managed to live only 18 days, but today people with donor organs and hearts live for many years.

ultrasound

Also important inventions of the last century in the field of medicine include ultrasound, without which it is very difficult to imagine treatment. In the modern world, it is difficult to find a person who would not undergo an ultrasound scan. The invention dates back to 1955. The most incredible discovery of the last century is in vitro fertilization. British scientists managed to fertilize an egg in the laboratory, and then place it in a woman's uterus. As a result, the world-famous "test tube girl" Louise Brown was born.

Great geographical discoveries of the 20th century

In the last century, Antarctica was explored in detail. Thanks to this, scientists received the most accurate data on the climatic conditions and fauna of the Antarctic. Russian academician Konstantin Markov created the world's first atlas of Antarctica. We will continue the great discoveries of the early 20th century in the field of geography with an expedition that went to the Pacific Ocean. Soviet researchers measured the deepest oceanic trench, which was called the Mariana Trench.

Nautical atlas

Later, a marine atlas was created, which made it possible to study the direction of the current, wind, determine the depth and distribution of temperature. One of the most high-profile discoveries of the last century was the discovery of Lake Vostok under a huge layer of ice in Antarctica.

As we already know, the last century was very rich in various kinds of discoveries. We can say that there has been a real breakthrough in almost all areas. The potential capabilities of scientists from all over the world have reached their maximum, thanks to which the world is currently developing by leaps and bounds. Many discoveries have become a turning point in the history of all mankind, especially in medical research.

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...2

1. Scientific and technical inventions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries…………………...3

2. Structural changes in industry…………………………………...7

3. The impact of scientific and technological progress on the world economy…………9

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….11

List of used literature…………………………………………...12

Introduction

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the development of productive forces took place at a rapid pace. In this regard, the volume of world industrial production has increased significantly. These changes were accompanied by the rapid development of technology, the innovations of which covered various areas of production, transport and everyday life. Significant changes have also taken place in the technology of organizing industrial production. During this period, many completely new industries emerged that did not exist before. There have also been significant shifts in the distribution of productive forces, both at the international level and within individual states.

Such a rapid development of world industry was associated with the scientific and technological revolution of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through the introduction of the achievements of scientific and technological progress, the development of industry in the 19-20th century. led to significant changes in the conditions and way of life of all mankind.

The purpose of writing this work is to analyze the scientific and technological achievements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as to determine their impact on world economic development.

When writing this work, it is necessary to solve the following tasks: characterization of scientific and technical inventions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; analysis of structural changes in industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; determination of the impact of technological development on the world economy.

Scientific and technical inventions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

At the end of the 19th century, the so-called "Age of Electricity" began. So, if the first machines were created by self-taught masters, then during this period all technological introductions were closely interconnected with science. Based on the development of electricity, a new energy basis for industry and transport was developed. So, in 1867. W. Siemens invented an electromagnetic generator, with the help of which, by rotating a conductor in a magnetic field, it was possible to obtain and generate an electric current. In the 70s. In the 19th century, a dynamo was invented, which was used not only as a generator of electricity, but also as an engine that turned electrical energy into dynamic. In 1883, T. Edison invented the first modern generator, and in 1891. he invented the transformer. Thanks to these inventions, industrial enterprises could now be located away from energy bases, and electricity production was organized at special enterprises - power plants. The equipment of machines with electric motors significantly increased the speed of machine tools, which led to an increase in labor productivity and created the prerequisites for the subsequent automation of the production process.

Due to the fact that the need for electricity was constantly growing, it became necessary to develop more powerful, compact and economical engines. So, in 1884, the English engineer C. Parsons invented a multi-stage steam turbine, with the help of which it was possible to increase the rotation speed several times.

Internal combustion engines were widely used, which were developed by German engineers Daimler and Benz in the middle of the 80s.

In 1896 German engineer R. Diesel developed an internal combustion engine with a high efficiency. A little later, this engine was adapted to work on heavy liquid fuel, in connection with which it began to be widely used in all branches of industry and transport. In 1906, tractors with internal combustion engines appeared in the USA. Mass production of such tractors was mastered during the First World War.

During this period, one of the main industries was electrical engineering. Thus, electric lighting became widespread, which was associated with the construction of large industrial enterprises, the development of cities and a significant increase in electricity production.

Also, such a branch of electrical engineering as communication technology has also received wide development. At the end of the 19th century, the wire telegraph equipment was improved, and by the beginning of the 80s. In the 19th century, work was carried out on the design and practical use of telephone equipment. Telephone communication began to spread rapidly in all countries of the world. The first telephone exchange was built in the USA in 1877, in 1879. A telephone exchange was built in Paris, and in 1881 - in Berlin, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, Riga and Warsaw.

One of the main achievements of the scientific and technological revolution was the invention of radio - wireless telecommunications, which is based on the use of electromagnetic waves. For the first time, these waves were discovered by the German physicist G. Hertz. In practice, this connection was applied by the outstanding Russian scientist A.S. Popov, who on May 7, 1885. demonstrated the world's first radio receiver.

At the beginning of the 20th century, another branch of electrical engineering was invented - electronics. So, in 1904. English scientist J. A. Fleming invented a two-electrode lamp (diode), which could be used to convert the frequencies of electrical vibrations. In 1907 American designer Lee de Forest invented a three-electrode lamp (triode) with which it was possible not only to convert the frequency of electrical oscillations, but also to amplify weak oscillations.

Thus, the industrial application of electrical energy, the construction of power stations, the expansion of electric lighting in cities, the development of telephone communications led to the rapid development of the electrical industry.

The rapid development of mechanical engineering, shipbuilding, military production and railway transport demanded ferrous metals. In metallurgy, technical innovations began to be applied, and the technique of metallurgy achieved great success. Significantly changed the design and increased the volume of blast furnaces. New methods of steel production were introduced due to the redistribution of pig iron in a converter under strong blast.

In the 80s In the 19th century, an electrolytic method for producing aluminum was introduced, which led to the development of non-ferrous metallurgy. The electrolytic method was also used to obtain copper.

Transport was one of the main directions of scientific and technological progress. So, in connection with technological development, new types of transport have appeared. The growth in the volume and speed of transportation contributed to the improvement of railway technology. The rolling stock on the railways was improved: the power, traction force, speed, weight and dimensions of steam locomotives and the carrying capacity of wagons increased. Since 1872, automatic brakes were introduced on railway transport, and in 1876. the design of the automatic hitch has been developed.

At the end of the 19th century, experiments were carried out in Germany, Russia and the United States on the introduction of electric traction on railways. The first electric city tram line opened in Germany in 1881. In Russia, the construction of tram lines began in 1892.

During the period of scientific and technological progress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. a new mode of transport was invented - the automobile. The first cars were designed by German engineers K. Benz and G. Daimler. The industrial production of automobiles began in the 1990s. 19th century. The high rates of development of the automotive industry contributed to the construction of highways.

Another new mode of transport was air transport, a decisive role in the development of which was played by aircraft. The first attempts to design aircraft with steam engines were carried out by A.F. Mozhaisky, K. Ader, H. Maxim. Aviation became widespread after the establishment of light and compact gasoline engines. At first, airplanes were of sporting importance, then they began to be used in military affairs, and then - for transporting cars.

During this period, chemical methods of processing raw materials were also organized in almost all branches of production. In such industries as mechanical engineering, electrical production, and the textile industry, the chemistry of synthetic fibers began to be widely used.

Scientific and technological progress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. contributed to the introduction of many innovations to improve the technical sphere of light, printing and other industries.

Since ancient times, people have tried to translate dreams and fantasies into reality in order to simplify and diversify their lives. We will list several inventions of the 20th century that changed the usual outlook on life.

1. X-rays

The KVN joke says that the X-ray was invented by the deacon Ivanov, who told his wife: "I can see right through you, bitch." In fact, electromagnetic radiation was discovered at the end of the 19th century by the German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen. Turning on the current in the cathode tube, the scientist noticed that a nearby paper screen, covered with barium platinocyanide crystals, emits a green glow. According to another version, the wife brought X-ray dinner, and when she put the plate on the table, the scientist noticed that her bones were visible through the skin. It is authentically known that Wilhelm for a long time refused to receive a patent for an invention, not considering his research as a full-fledged source of income. X-rays can be safely attributed to the discoveries of the 20th century.

2. Plane

Since ancient times, people have tried to create an aircraft and rise above the ground. But only in 1903, the American inventors, the Wright brothers, managed to successfully test their Flyer - 1, equipped with an engine. He was in the air for a full 59 seconds and flew over the Kitty Hawk Valley 260 meters. This event is considered the moment of the birth of aviation. Today, without aircraft, it is impossible to imagine either business development or recreation. "Steel Birds" is still the fastest mode of transport.

3. Television

Not so long ago, the TV was considered a prestigious thing that emphasizes the status of the owner. At different times, many minds worked on its development. Back in the 19th century, the Portuguese professor Adriano De Paiva and the Russian inventor Porfiry Bakhmetiev independently put forward the idea of ​​the first device capable of transmitting an image over wires. In 1907, Max Dieckmann demonstrated the first television receiver with a 3x3 screen. In the same year, Boris Rosing, a professor at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, proved the possibility of using a cathode ray tube to convert an electrical signal into a visible image. In 1908, the Armenian physicist Hovhannes Adamyan received a patent for a two-color apparatus for transmitting signals. In the late 20s of the 20th century, the first television was developed in America, assembled by Russian emigrant Vladimir Zworykin. He managed to break the light beam into blue, red and green colors and get a color image. He called his sample "iconoscope". However, in the West, the "father of television" is considered the Scotsman John Lodge Bird, who patented a device that creates an image of eight lines.

4. Mobile phone

The first telephone was demonstrated at the end of the 19th century, and the first mobile phone appeared in the 70s of the twentieth century. When Martin Cooper, an employee of Motorola from the department for the development of portable devices, showed his colleagues a kilogram tube, they did not believe in the success of the new invention. Walking through Manhattan, he called from his "brick" Joel Engel, head of research at competitor Bell Laboratories, and was the first to put new technologies into practice. Fifteen years before Cooper, the Soviet scientist Leonid Kupriyanovich also successfully conducted a similar experiment. Therefore, the question of who owns the palm in the field of portable devices is quite controversial. One way or another, "mobile phones" became the discovery of the 20th century, and have already firmly entered our lives.

5. Computer

Today it is difficult to imagine life without a computer, laptop or tablet. But until recently, such devices were used exclusively for scientific purposes. In 1941, the German Konrad Zuse created the Z3 mechanical computer, which had all the properties of a modern computer, but worked on the basis of telephone relays. A year later, American physicist John Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry began to develop the first electronic computer, but never completed the project. In 1946, John Mauchly continued the baton and presented the world with the first electronic computer, ENIAC. Decades passed before huge machines that took up entire rooms turned into compact devices. The first personal computers appeared only in the late 70s of the last century.

6. Internet

Scolding those who like to sit in front of the TV, we forget that the main danger is the World Wide Web, the Network, the Matrix, the ubiquitous Internet. The idea to create high-quality and reliable communication, which is difficult to eavesdrop, arose in the 50s of the twentieth century. During the Cold War, the US Department of Defense used the ARPA project to transmit data over a distance without the use of mail and telephone. The Universities of California, Santa Barbara, Utah and the Stanford Research Center developed and implemented the ARPAnet. In 1969, she connected the computers of these universities, after 4 years other institutions joined, and with the invention of E-mail, the number of people who wanted to communicate on the network began to grow exponentially. There are already 3 billion Internet users in the world today.

7. VCR

In 1944, the Russian communications engineer Alexander Mikhailovich Ponyatov founded the AMPEX company in America, naming it with his initials and adding EX - short for "excellent" ("excellent"). Poniatov was engaged in the production of sound recording equipment, but in the early 50s he focused on the development of video recording. He fixed the signal across the tape with a rotating head unit, and on November 30, 1956, the first recorded CBS news went on the air. And in 1960, his company received an Oscar for outstanding contribution to the technical equipment of the film and television industry.

More than 30 years ago, the Pentomino puzzle was popular in the USSR: on a checkered sheet of paper, it was necessary to correctly fold curly blocks of five squares. From a mathematical point of view, such a puzzle was considered an excellent test for a computer. And Aleksey Pajitnov, a researcher at the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, wrote a program for his Electronics 60. Due to the lack of power, one cube had to be removed, and it turned out "Tetramino". Later, the figures began to fall into the "glass". This is how Tetris was born. It was the first computer game from behind the Iron Curtain. And although many new toys have appeared since then, Tetris remains the discovery of the 20th century and still attracts with its apparent simplicity and real complexity.

9. Electric car

In the last third of the 19th century, a real "electrical fever" swept the world. Many inventors struggled to create an electric car. In small towns, a mileage of 60 km on a single charge was quite acceptable. By 1899, the enthusiastic engineer Ippolit Romanov created several models of electric cabs, as well as an electric omnibus for 17 passengers. He also developed a scheme of city routes and received a work permit, however, under his own responsibility. Then the project of Ippolit Romanov was considered commercially unprofitable. However, his omnibus became the progenitor of the modern trolleybus, the appearance of which undoubtedly belongs to the achievements of the 20th century.

10. Parachute

For the first time the idea of ​​​​creating a parachute came to mind Leonardo da Vinci. And a few centuries later, with the advent of aeronautics, regular jumps from balloons began, to which half-open parachutes were hung. In 1912, the American Barry jumped with such a parachute from an airplane, and was able to land successfully. And engineer Gleb Kotelnikov made a silk parachute and packed it into a compact satchel. To test how quickly it opens, tests were carried out on a moving car. So the brake parachute was invented as an emergency braking system. On the eve of the First World War, the scientist patented his invention in France, and it became an achievement of the 20th century.

The last century was full of life-changing discoveries, and the inventions of the 20th century have changed the lives of many generations. Watch Absolute Geniuses on Eureka HD to learn more about the people who changed the course of history.