3883 entries. Last updated June 18, 2013.

Technology / Engineering Timeline Outline

Eras
Themes

2,500,000 BCE – 8,000 BCE

<p>Olduvai Gorge</p>

The First Industrial Complex
(Circa 2,500,000 BCE – 500,000 BCE)

A flint biface, discovered in Saint-Acheul, France. (View Larger)

Acheulean or Mode 2 Industries
(Circa 1,650,000 BCE – 100,000 BCE)

Five bone tools excavated in Swartkrans, South Africa, once used by Parantrhopus robustus for foraging purposes. Photography by Jim Di Loreto and Don Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)

Early Humans Make Bone Tools
(Circa 1,500,000 BCE)

Scorched stone tools excavated in 2004 at Gesher Benot-Ya-aqov, in Israel, provide evidence for the existence of early hearths. Photograph by Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)

The Earliest Hearths
(Circa 1,500,000 BCE – 790,000 BCE)

Ancient stone tools discovered at the Hapisburgh excavation site, East Anglia, England. Photocredit: Parfitt et al. Nature (View Larger)

Humans May Have Lived in Britain as Early as 950,000 Years Ago
(Circa 950,000 BCE – 780,000 BCE)

Photocredit: James Di Loreto, & Donald H. Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)

Hunting Large Animals With Spears
(Circa 500,000 BCE)

<p>Example of nearly 500,000 year-old hafted spear tips from Kathu Pan 1. Photo by Jayne Wilkins.</p>

Man Began Hunting with Stone-Tipped Spears 500,000 Years Ago
(Circa 500,000 BCE)

A sample of geothite, or brown ochre. (View Larger)

The Earliest Use of Pigments
(Circa 400,000 BCE – 350,000 BCE)

One of three spears found at Schöningen, Germany in 1995. Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)

The Oldest Wooden Spears
(Circa 400,000 BCE)

A silcrete nodule exhibiting the signs of experimental heat-treatment. Photocredit: Science/AAAS. (View Larger)

Early Humans Use Heat-Treated Stone for Tools
(Circa 164,000 BCE – 70,000 BCE)

Photocredit: James Di Loreto, & Donald H. Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)

The Earliest Known Forms of Human Adornment
(Circa 132,000 BCE – 98,000 BCE)

A projectile point, estimated to be over 104,000 years old, uncovered in Omo Kibish, Ethipia. Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)

Tools for Capturing Fast or Dangerous Prey
(Circa 104,000 BCE)

<p>Ablone shell containing red ochre rich mixture. Image by Grethe Moell Pedersen.</p>

The Earliest Paint Workshop
(Circa 100,000 BCE)

The Katanda Bone Harpoon Point. Photocredit: Smithsonian Institution.

Katanda Bone Harpoon Point
(88,000 BCE – 78,000 BCE)

A silcrete stone tool from Blombos Cave in South Africa, finished with pressure flaking. (View Larger)

Tool Making by Pressure Flaking Discovered in Africa
(Circa 75,000 BCE)

<p>Sediments containing ancient mattresses at Sibudu Caves. Photo by Lyn Wadley.</p>

At Sibudu Cave, the Oldest Known Early Bedding and Use of Medicinal Plants
(Circa 75,000 BCE)

<p>Stone tools (segments) with adhesive from Sibudu Cave. Segment with red ochre visible to the naked eye as well as microscopic views of red ochre and plant gum on the tool.</p>

From Sibudu Cave: the Earliest Known Creation and Use of Compound Adhesives, Suggesting Complex Cognition
(Circa 68,000 BCE)

The introduction of sturdy shoes led weaker toes.

The First Sturdy Shoes are Invented
(38,000 BCE)

Wild flax fibers discovered in Dzudzuana Cave. (View Larger)

Making Materials from Flax Fibers
(Circa 32,000 BCE – 28,000 BCE)

Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)

Some of the Earliest Tools for Sewing Garments
(Circa 28,000 BCE – 21,000 BCE)

A modern replica of the Venus of Lespugue. (View Larger)

The Earliest Representation of Spun Thread
(25,000 BCE)

<p>Fish hooks made of shell found in the Jerimalai Cave in East Timor.</p>

The Oldest Fish Hooks and Evidence of Paleolithic Offshore Fishing
(Circa 21,000 BCE – 16,000 BCE)

<p>Two of the 20,000 year-old pottery fragments found in the Xianrendong Cave in China. Photo by AFP/Science/AAAS.</p>

The Oldest Known Pottery
(Circa 18,000 BCE)

Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)

The Earliest Surviving Pottery From Japan
(Circa 16,000 BCE)

<p>Spear thrower carved as a mammoth. Source: The British Museum.</p>

The Mammoth Spear Thrower
(Circa 10,500 BCE)

Emmer wheat, one of the first domesticated crops. (View Larger)

The Eight Founding Crops of Domesticated Agriculture
(Circa 9,500 BCE)

The Göbekli Tepe, Turkist for 'Potbelly Hill,' is the oldest discovered structure for religious worship. (View Larger)

The Earliest Surviving Human-Made Place of Worship
(Circa 9,500 BCE)

8,000 BCE – 1,000 BCE

<p>Fragment of clay sieve from central Europe. Credit: Mélanie Salque.</p>

The Earliest Evidence of Cheese-Making in Europe
(Circa 5,500 BCE – 5,000 BCE)

<p>The remains of the settlement made of two-story houses near the town of Provadia.</p>

The Earliest Prehistoric Town in Europe
(Circa 4,700 BCE – 4,200 BCE)

From National Geographic. (View Larger)

The Earliest Known Winery
(Circa 4,000 BCE)

The Botai culture originated from the Akmola province of Kazakhstan, highlighted in green. (View Larger)

Horse Domestication Revolutionizes Transportation, Communication, and Warfare
(Circa 3,500 BCE)

The Areni-1 shoe. (View Larger)

The Oldest Known Well-Preserved Leather Shoe
(Circa 3,500 BCE)

<p>Bronocice clay pot showing wheeled cart.</p>

The Earliest Images of a Wheeled Vehicle
(Circa 3,500 BCE – 3,350 BCE)

<p>Model of Ötzi the Iceman in exhibit at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.</p>

The First Prehistoric Human Ever Found with his Everyday Clothing and Equipment
(Circa 3,300 BCE)

The Origins of Glassmaking
(Circa 2,500 BCE – 1,250 BCE)

One of the Oldest, Largest & Best Preserved Vessels from Antiquity
(Circa 2,500 BCE)

MS 5106 of the Schoyen Collection, a brick printing block with a large loop handle from the period of Naram-Sîn. (View larger)

The Earliest Printing was Stamped into Soft Clay in Mesopotamia
(Circa 2,291 BCE – 2,254 BCE)

The Nebra Sky Disk. (View Larger)

The Nebra Sky Disk
(1,600 BCE)

The Oldest Surviving Water Clock or Clepsydra
(1,417 BCE – 1,379 BCE)

The Uluburun Shipwreck
(1,375 BCE)

Tyrian Purple.

Imperial Purple
(1,200 BCE)

A bronze guang, or ritualistic wine vessel, of the Shang dynasty. (View Larger)

The Earliest Chinese Inscriptions in Bronze
(Circa 1,200 BCE – 1,045 BCE)

1,000 BCE – 300 BCE

A Pulley Depicted in a Bas-Relief from Nimrud, Assyria
(Circa 800 BCE)

A Wooden Dove Automaton
(Circa 400 BCE)

300 BCE – 30 CE

A diagram of Ctesibius's water clock.

The First Truly Automatic Self-Regulatory Device
(Circa 250 BCE)

The First Keyboard Musical Instrument
(250 BCE)

The Earliest Escapement Mechanism
(Circa 250 BCE)

The Earliest Evidence of a Water-Driven Wheel
(Circa 250 BCE)

One of three excavation pits of the Terracotta Army. (View Larger)

Early Example of Assembly Line Production
(215 BCE – 210 BCE)

The Earliest Surviving Analog Computer: the Antikythera Mechanism
(Circa 150 BCE – 100 BCE)

A portrait of Hipparchus from the title page of William Cunningham's Cosmographicall Glasse (1559). (View Larger)

Invention of the Astrolabe
(Circa 150 BCE – 100 BCE)

30 CE – 500 CE

Hero of Alexandria

Automata Invented by Hero of Alexandria
(Circa 30 CE – 70 CE)

The Mensa Isiaca or Bembine Table of Isis
(Circa 50 CE)

Roman Inscriptions on Lead Pipes from Common Text Stamps
(69 CE – 79 CE)

Ts'ai Lun

The Invention of Paper in China
(105 CE)

De rebus bellicis, Including Images of War Machines
(Circa 337 CE – 378 CE)

The Earliest Egyptian Printed Cloth
(Circa 350 CE)

The Only Ancient Manual of Roman Military Instructions that Survived Intact
(Circa 390 CE)

500 CE – 600

Sui emperor Wen-ti. (View Larger)

First Mention of Printing in China
(593)

700 – 800

Papermaking is Established in Baghdad
(793)

800 – 900

Folio f32v of Harley 2767, the document from which most manuscripts of De architectura were copied. (View Larger)

The Archetype of De Architectura
(Circa 800)

A diagram of a 'self trimming lamp' from the Book of Ingenious devices, preserved in the 'Granger Collection' in New York. (View Larger)

The First Programmable Machine & the Earliest Known Mechanical Musical…
(850)

900 – 1000

The earliest astrolabe. (View Larger)

The Earliest Surviving Dated Astrolabe
(927 – 928)

1000 – 1100

Perhaps the Earliest Recycling of Paper
(1031)

A Chinese statue of Pi Sheng. (View Larger)

The Invention of Movable Type in China
(Circa 1041 – 1048)

A bust of Shen Kua. (View Larger)

Earliest Description of the Compass
(1086)

1100 – 1200

Xativa, Spain, highlighted in blue. (View Larger)

Papermaking Reaches the Moorish Parts of Spain
(Circa 1100 – 1151)

Folio 1 of Codex 2527, preserved at the Austrian National Library. (View Larger)

Medieval Handbook of Applied Arts Including Book Production
(1100 – 1120)

Earliest Record of the Use of the Compass in Navigation
(1119)

The First Paper Mill in Al-Andalus
(1150)

1200 – 1300

Modern replicas of Al-Jazari's automated musicians, perhaps the oldest programmable automata known. (View Larger)

First Recorded Designs of a Programmable Automaton
(1206)

A depiction of the Castle Water Clock from al-Jazari's 'Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.' This manuscript is preserved at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. (View Larger)

Perhaps the Earliest Programmable Analog Computer
(1206)

Villard's schematic illustration of a perpetual-motion machine. Folio 1 of Fr.19093 preserved at the Bibliotheque Nationale. (View Larger)

The Portfolio of Villard de Honnecourt
(Circa 1230)

Confirmation that Printed Textiles Exist in Europe
(1234)

Possibly the First Joint-Stock Company
(Circa 1250)

A schematic for Pierre de Maricourt's perpetual motion machine, from an early edition of the Epistola. (View Larger)

Discovery of the Compass--The Earliest Known European Work of Experimental…
(1269)

A round type case in which Chinese characters are organized by a rhyme scheme, designed and used by Wang Zhen for the production of his book, 'Nong Shu.' (View Larger)

Wooden Movable Type
(Circa 1275 – 1298)

1300 – 1400

Four of twelve metal Chinese characters thought to be the world's oldest extant moveable type.

Perhaps the Earliest Movable Metal Type
(Circa 1300)

A Venetian Ordinance on the Production of Eyeglasses
(April 2, 1300)

A scene from Rashid al-Din Tabib's 'Jami al-Tawarikh' in which the Ghazan Khan is converted to Islam. (View Larger)

Enormous Islamic History Containing the Earliest Notice of Chinese Printing…
(1307)

Printing with 100,000 Written Characters of Movable Type
(1322)

The Earliest Dated Astrolabe Made in Europe
(1326)

Troyes, France. (View Larger)

Perhaps the First Paper Mill in France
(1348)

A pair of leather spectacles, found, among other artifacts, in 1953 beneath the floorboards of Kloster Wienhausen, near Celle, in Germany. (View Larger)

The Earliest Surviving Spectacles
(Circa 1350)

The first depiction of spectacles in art: a portrait of Cardinal Hugo of Provence at his writing desk, painted by Tommaso de Mondena in fresco in the Basilica San Nicolo in Treviso, Italy. (View Larger)

The Earliest Depiction of Eyeglasses in a Painted Work of Art
(1352)

The Earliest Surviving Book Printed from Movable Metal Type
(1377)

A view of Nuremberg--folio 99v/100r of the Nuremberg Chronicles--showing Stromer's paper mill, bordering the city on the bottom right. (View Larger)

Earliest European Document on the Production of Paper
(1390)

1400 – 1450

This drawing, from Kyeser's 'Bellifortis,' depicts Alexander the Great holding a rocket. The legend of Alexander was a personal facination for Kyeser. (View Larger)

The First 15th Century Illustrated Treatise on Technology
(1402 – 1405)

Casting 100,000 Pieces of Copper Printing Types
(1403)

Earliest Known European Textile Printer
(1417)

Technological Manuscripts by the Sienese Archimedes
(1419 – 1449)

Folio 2r of Bellicorum instrumentorum liber, showing an 'Oriental siege machine.' (View Larger)

One of the Earliest Surviving Italian Manuscripts on Technology and War…
(Circa 1420)

Page 145b of A Mariner's Knowledge, by Michael of Rhodes, depicting a completed galley ship.

The Earliest Known Treatise on Shipbuilding
(1434)

Description of Textile Printing and Manuscript Illumination as Well as Painting
(July 31, 1437)

Johannes Gutenberg. (View Larger)

Gutenberg Begins Experimentation on Printing
(1438 – 1444)

Henry VI. (View Larger)

The First English Patent for an Invention
(1449)

1450 – 1500

Johannes Gutenburg.

The 42-Line Bible
(1454)

The 42-line Gutenberg Bible, completed in in 1456 by Johannes Gutenberg, Johann Fust & Peter Schöffer, is the earliest European book printed from movable type, by a process of Gutenberg's own invention. (View Larger)

Completion of the 42-Line Bible
(1455 – 1456)

Gutenberg's Last Production? An Early Form of Stereotyping?
(1460 – 1469)

This edition of Roberto Valturio's 'De re militari' contains the first woodcuts on a scientific subject, used not for artistic embellishment but for diagraming and explanation. (View Larger)

The First Printed Book on Technology with the First Woodcuts on a Scientific…
(1472)

The First Technical Dictionary
(1473 – 1474)

Leonardo Builds a Programmable Mechanical Automaton
(1478)

The First Concrete Evidence of the Existence of Matrices for the Casting of Type Fonts
(September 1480)

One of the Earliest Acknowledgments of Gutenberg's Invention
(September 13, 1483)

1500 – 1550

Pencil 'lead' has never actually contained the metal; its name arrose from a visual similarity between the two substances. (View Larger)

Origins of the Pencil
(Circa 1500 – 1565)

The First Large-Scale Production-Line
(Circa 1525)

The "Fire-Using Arts, Including the First Description of Typecasting
(1540)

1550 – 1600

A Working Sixteenth Century Automaton of a Monk
(Circa 1565)

The First Treatise on Museums
(1565)

Images of Trades and Technologies
(1568)

Renaissance Goldsmithing and Sculpting
(1568)

Renaissance Information Retrieval Device
(1588)

Invention of the Stocking Frame Knitting Machine
(1589)

Moving the Obelisk
(1590)

1600 – 1650

The Soroban
(Circa 1600)

The First Copying Device?
(1603 – 1605)

The First "Computer Manual"
(1606)

Among the First Records of Litigation over an Invention
(1607)

Invention of the Telescope
(1608)

The First Book about Printing Inks
(1619)

1650 – 1700

Encrypted Notice of the Discovery of Saturn's Ring
(1656)

Invention of the Pendulum Clock, Increasing Accuracy Sixty Fold
(1656)

Working Around the English Monopoly on Solid Graphite
(1662)

Leibnitz Invents the Stepped Drum Gear Calculator
(1673 – 1710)

The Mathematical Analysis of Pendulum Motion
(1673)

The First Comprehensive Printing Manual
(1683 – 1684)

The First Paper Mill in the United States
(1690)

There Are 150 Paper Mills in England
(1699)

1700 – 1750

The Foundation of Occupational Medicine and Ergonomics
(1700)

The First English Encyclopedia Arranged in Alphabetical Order
(1704 – 1710)

The Earliest Technical Manual on Bookbinding
(1708)

First Description of the Stepped-Drum Calculator
(1710)

The First Atmospheric Steam Pumping Engine
(1710 – 1712)

Early Government Incentive for Scientific Research
(November 12, 1713 – 1770)

Lombe's Silk Throwing Mill: The First Factory
(1718 – 1721)

Invention of Color Printing
(1719)

A Loom Controlled by Perforated Paper Tape
(1725)

Invention of Punched Cards?
(1728)

Complex Enough to Provide a Credible Imitation of Life
(1731 – 1738)

The First Automaton to Simulate Biological Processes
(1739 – 1742)

Incunabulum of Printing from Stereotype Plates
(1739)

Mechanical and Industrial Arts of 18th Century France
(1749 – 1814)

1750 – 1800

The Central Enterprise of the French Enlightenment
(1751 – 1780)

A Typographic Masterpiece, & the First Book Printed Partially on Wove Paper
(May 5, 1757)

The First Comprehensive Treatise on Papermaking
(1761)

Hargreaves Invents the Spinning Jenny
(1764)

"The Most Interesting and Rarest Work" on Papermaking
(January 30, 1765 – 1771)

Arkwright Patents his Spinning Machine
(1769 – 1775)

Invention of the Rubber Eraser
(April 15, 1770)

Building Key Parts of the Handpress out of Iron
(1772)

Lichtenberg Figures
(1777)

Technology Leading to Disruptive Economic and Social Change
(1779)

The First Aerial Voyages
(1783 – 1784)

The First Patent for Stereotyping
(1784)

The First Automated Flour Mill
(Circa 1785)

Watt Invents the Centrifugal Governor
(1788)

Predictor of the Cylinder Press
(1790)

The U.S. Patent
(April 10 – July 31, 1790)

The First Successful Speech Synthesizer
(1791)

Invention of Steel Engraving
(Circa 1792 – 1819)

Invention of Modern Pencil Lead
(1795)

The First Comprehensive Bibliography of Technology
(1795)

Invention of Lithography
(1796 – 1800)

The Beginning of the Scientific and Art Historical Studies on Leonardo da Vinci
(1797)

The First Papermaking Machine
(1798 – 1801)

The First Official National Industrial Exposition
(1798)

The Introduction of Bleach in Paper Production
(1798 – 1799)

1800 – 1850

The Industrial Revolution Advances
(Circa 1800)

The First Completely Iron Printing Press
(Circa 1800)

The First Book Printed on Recycled Paper, with an Appendix Printed on Paper Made from Wood Pulp
(1801)

Senefelder 's Earliest Technical Description of the Process of Lithography
(June 20, 1801)

The Jacquard Loom Uses Punched Cards to Store Patterns
(1803)

Fourdrinier Machines for Paper Manufacture
(1804 – 1807)

Invention of Carbon Paper
(1806)

Machine Manufacturing of Paper in Separate Sheets
(1807 – 1812)

Foundation of Aerodynamics and Invention of the Airplane
(1809 – 1810)

The Dickinson Cylinder-Mould Papermaking Machine
(1809)

The First Book on Modern Food Preservation Methods
(1810)

The First Printing from the First Steam Powered Printing Press at 800 Impressions per Hour
(March 29, 1810 – April 1811)

The First Steam-Powered Cylinder Flat-Bed Press, and the First Issue of its Printing
(October 30, 1811 – 1813)

The Ludd Riots
(November 11, 1811 – January 12, 1813)

Detailed Patent for the Endless Chain-Mould Papermaking Machine
(1812)

Manufactured for Over a Century
(1813 – 1817)

The First Rotary Press
(1813)

Printing 1100 Sheets per Hour
(July 23, 1813 – November 29, 1814)

Printing 900 to 1,000 Perfected Sheets per Hour
(December 24, 1814 – February 1816)

Speeding up Printing the News
( – 1816)

Key Steps in Speeding up Cylinder Printing
(1816 – 1818)

Invention of the Two-Wheeled Bicycle- the First Personalized Mechanical Transport
(June 12, 1817)

The First American Printer's Manual
(1818)

A Time-Capsule of Technology
(1819)

The First Commercially Produced Mechanical Calculator
(1820)

Machine-Made Paper Exceeds the Production of Hand-Made Paper
(Circa 1820)

The First Machine for Type Composition
(1822)

Invention of the Mechanical Pencil
(December 20, 1822)

Invention of the Dandy-Roll in Machine Papermaking
(1825)

The First Publically Subscribed Passenger Railroad
(September 27, 1825)

Describing the Logic and Operation of Machinery by Means of Notation
(1826)

4000-5000 Impressions per Hour
(1827)

Reaching 24 Miles Per Hour
(1829 – September 15, 1830)

The First U.S. Steam Locomotive
(1829)

Typing a Letter Takes Longer than Writing by Hand
(1829)

The Basis for Electricity Generation
(1831)

The Beginning of Operations Research
(1832)

The Most Famous Image in the Early History of Computing
(1839)

The First Separate Publication on Photography
(January 31, 1839)

Invention of Anastatic Printing
(October 1841 – October 25, 1845)

The First Book Typeset by a Mechanical Typesetting Machine
(1842)

The Doppler Principle
(1842)

The First Working Difference Engine
(1843)

The First Photographically Illustrated Book Commercially Published.
(June 1844 – April 1846)

Mechanization of Punch-Cutting for Printing Types
(August 14, 1845)

Sending Weather Information by Telegraph
(1847)

Application of Jacquard Punched Paper Technology to Typesetting Machinery
(1849)

1850 – 1875

The First Modern Institution of Learning in Iran
(1851)

Invention of the Micropantograph
(1852 – 1862)

Printing Telegraph Messages
(1855)

The Beginning of the American Petroleum Industry
(August 27, 1859)

The Earliest Sound Recordings, without Playback
(1860)

The First German Manual on "Machine Printing"
(1861)

3-D Solar Imaging Reveals Details of Sunken Civil-War Era Steampship
(January 11, 1863)

"Darwin among the Machines"
(June 13, 1863)

Passages from the Life of a Philosopher
(1864)

The Sulfite Pulping Process for Manufacturing Paper
(1866)

The Stock Ticker
(1867)

The Times of London Prints on Continuous Paper, Increasing Production
(1868)

"On Governors"
(1868)

The First Device to Allow the Operator to Write Faster than a Person Writing by Hand
(1868)

The First Book in French on "Machine Printing"
(1872)

"Erewhon"
(1872)

Willoughy Smith Discovers the Photoconductivity of Selenium
(1873)

The First QWERTY Keyboard
(1873 – 1874)

1875 – 1900

Invention of Calculators Using a True Variable-Toothed Gear
(Circa 1875)

The Electric Pen
(1875)

The Earliest Exhibition Exclusively of Scientific Instruments
(1876)

Bell Invents and Patents the Telephone
(March 10, 1876)

The First Book in English on "Machine Printing"
(1877)

Emile Berliner Invents the Microphone
(March 4, 1877)

The Caxton Quadricentennial Celebration: Probably the Largest Exhibition on the History of Printing Ever Held
(June 30 – September 1, 1877)

Edison Invents the Phonograph
(August 12, 1877)

Allowing the Typing of Both Upper and Lower Case Letters
(1878)

Edison Describes Future Uses for his Phonograph
(June 1878)

The Cash Register
(1879)

The Light Bulb
(1879)

One of the Earliest Systems of Television Transmission
(1880)

The First Separate Publication on Television
(1880)

The First Wireless Telephone Communication
(April 1, 1880)

Invention of the Linotype
(1883 – July 15, 1885)

The World's Oldest Running Automobile
(1884)

Development of an Efficiently Functioning Fountain Pen
(Circa February 12, 1884)

Daimler Invents the Internal Combustion Engine
(1885)

The First Automobile
(1885)

Prayerbook Woven by the Jacquard Loom
(1886 – 1887)

The First Application of the Linotype
(July 3, 1886)

The Flat Disc Gramophone
(1887)

The Monotype is Invented
(June 7, 1887)

The First Practical Moving Picture Camera & an Early Motion Picture Display Device
(1888 – 1894)

One of the Most Dramatic Problems in the Preservation of Media
(1889)

The Most Complete Work on Babbage's Computers
(1889)

77 Windmill Factories Employ 1,100 Workers in the U.S.
(1889)

The First Textbook of Mechanical Flight
(1889)

The Millionaire Calculator
(1893)

The First Production Automobiles
(1893 – 1894)

The First International Exhibition of Mathematical Devices
(September 1893)

The First Successful Gas-Engine Automobile Built in the United States
(September 21, 1893 – 1895)

The First Organized and Published Collection of Aviation Research
(1894)

The First Mainline Railway is Electrified
(1895)

The Invention of Cinematography
(February 13, 1895)

The Monotype Converts to Hot-Metal Casting
(1896)

The First Automobile Assembly Line
(August 21, 1897 – 1901)

1900 – 1910

Invention of the Motorized Airplane
(September 18, 1901 – May 2, 1906)

The Beginnings of Modern Spaceflight Theory
(May 1903 – 1914)

The Beginning of Electronics
(November 16, 1904 – September 21, 1905)

Lee de Forest Invents the Triode
(1906)

A New Standard for Descriptive Bibliography in the History of Science
(1906)

Henry Ford Sponsors Improvements in the Automotive Assembly Line
(1908 – December 1, 1913)

Probably the Earliest Concept for CRT Television
(June 18, 1908)

The Wheeler Gift Catalogue of the History of Electricity and Telegraphy
(1909)

An Early Sci-Fi View of the Internet and Virtual Reality
(November 1909)

1910 – 1920

C-T-R
(June 16, 1911)

20,000 Calculators
(1912)

The First European Work on Theoretical Astronautics
(1913 – 1934)

Teletype Invented
(1914)

Invention of the Regenerative Circuit
(1914)

The Standard Work on Hot-Metal Casting and Composition
(1916)

The Basis for Computed Tomography
(1917)

Invention of SONAR
(1917)

Coordinating National Standards Development
(October 19, 1918)

The Earliest Practical Treatise on the Development of Rocketry for Space Flight
(1919 – March 16, 1926)

1920 – 1930

Robot
(1920)

Using 64,000 Human Computers to Predict the Weather
(1922)

The First Electronic Television Camera
(1923)

The Enigma Machine is Introduced
(1923)

The Rocket in Interplanetary Space
(June 1923 – 1929)

The First Hi-Fi Sound Recording
(1924)

The Creation of Bell Labs
(1925)

The First Demonstration of Television
(January 26, 1926)

Invention of Magnetic Tape
(1927)

Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover Participates in the First American Demonstration of Television
(April 7, 1927)

The First All-Electronic Television
(September 7, 1927)

The First All-Talking Feature Film
(1928)

The First Flight Simulator
(1929)

1930 – 1940

The Differential Analyzer
(1930)

Foundation of Texas Instruments
(May 16, 1930)

The First Commercially Successful Ballpoint Pen
(1931 – June 15, 1938)

Perhaps the First Successful Electronic Document Retrieval
(December 29, 1931)

Origins of the X-Planes and the Space Shuttle
(1933 – 1944)

The Hammond Electric Organ
(April 24, 1934 – April 1935)

The First Practical Tape Recorder
(1935)

Kodachrome
(1935 – 1936)

Invention of Radar
(February 12, 1935)

The First Electronic Speech Synthesizer
(1936 – 1939)

"Modern Times"
(1936)

Elektro, the Most Famous Robot of the 1930s
(1937 – 1938)

"The Most Significant Master's Thesis of the 20th Century"
(August 10, 1937)

Atanasoff Plans the ABC Machine
(Circa December 1937)

Carlson invents Xerography
(1938)

1940 – 1950

"Waldo" : Imagining Remote Manipulators and TeleRobotics
(August 1942)

The Hinman Collator
(1945 – 1949)

The Initial Interrogations of the Nazi Rocket Team and the First Publication Outside of Nazi Germany of Rocketry Research at Peenemunde East
(1945)

From Analog to Digital
(Circa November 1945)

The First Working Phototypesetting Machine and the First Book it Typeset
(1946 – 1953)

Invention of Holography
(1947)

Invention of the Transistor
(December 1947)

The First Xerographic Copier
(1949)

1950 – 1960

The Bic Pen
(1950)

The First OCR System: "GISMO"
(1951)

Vaccuum Tubes Especially Designed for Digital Circuits
(1952)

Magnetic Core Memory Replaces Electrostatic Memory on the Whirlwind
(1952)

First Commercial Transistor Radio
(1954)

Color Television Broadcasting
(January 22, 1954)

The First Silicon Transistor
(May 10, 1954)

The Sensorama
(1955 – 1962)

The First Video Tape Recorder
(1956)

Magnetic Ink Character Reading
(July 1956)

Sputnik is Launched
(October 4, 1957)

ARPA is Founded
(February 7, 1958)

Kilby Conceives of the Integrated Circuit
(July 1958)

Manufacturing Integrated Circuits
(1959)

The Complicated Discovery of the LASER
(1959)

The Corona Strategic Imaging Satellites
(June 1959 – May 1972)

The Xerox 914
(September 16, 1959)

1960 – 1970

The First Self-Contained Internally Powered Artificial Pacemaker Implanted in a Human
(1960)

The First Software Patent
(1960 – November 20, 1968)

Invention of the First Working Laser
(1960)

Bionics
(September 13 – September 15, 1960)

The First Integrated Circuit Computer
(October 19, 1961)

The First Visible LED
(1962)

Licklider at the Information Processing Techniques Office, Begins Funding Research that Leads to the ARPANET
(October 1, 1962)

The First CAD Program
(December 1962)

The Printing and the Mind of Man Exhibition
(July 16 – July 27, 1963)

Touch-Tone Dialing is Introduced
(November 1963)

The First Commercial Computers to Use Integrated Circuits
(1964)

The Beginning of "Word Processing"
(1964)

The First Plasma Video Display (Neon Orange)
(1964)

First Consumer Product with an Integrated Circuit
(February 14, 1964)

The U.S. Postal Services Introduces OCR
(1965)

Optical Fibers Proposed as a Medium for Communication
(1965)

Moore's Law
(April 19, 1965)

The Invention of DRAM
(1966)

The Smallest Published Edition of the Bible, and the First to Reach the Moon
(1966)

The First Hand-Held Electronic Calculator
(1967 – June 25, 1974)

Invention of the Computer Mouse
(June 27, 1967)

The First Marketed, Mass-Produced Programmable Calculator, or Personal Computer
(1968)

Replicants
(1968)

The Rainbow Hologram or Benton Hologram
(1968)

Foundation of Intel
(July 18, 1968)

The First Manned Apollo Flights Occur
(December 24, 1968)

A Sensor for Recording Images
(1969)

AMD
(May 1, 1969)

1970 – 1980

Xerox PARC is Founded
(1970)

Optical Fibers for the Internet Backbone
(1970)

The First General Patent on the Microprocessor
(December 1970)

Intel 8008
(1971)

Phreaker Underground Telephone System Culture
(1971)

"A Calculator in Every Kitchen or Businessman's Pocket'
(September 17, 1971)

The First Microprocessor
(November 1971)

The First Practical Method for Cloning a Gene
(1973)

Foundation of the Biotechnology Industry
(1974)

The First Magnetic Card-Programmable Handheld Calculator
(1974)

The First Microprocessor for the First Personal Computer
(March 1974)

The First Book in the Graphic Arts Field Produced from Cold Type
(1975)

Invention of the Digital Camera
(December 1975)

First Print-to-Speech Reading Machine
(1976)

The CD is Developed
(1976 – 1983)

Genetech is Founded
(April 7, 1976)

Intel's 8086
(1977)

A Technique for Sequencing DNA
(1977)

The First Speech Synthesis Chip
(June 11, 1977)

Making Small Portable Digital Telephones Possible
(1979)

The Printing Press as an Agent of Change
(1979)

Intel 8088
(July 1, 1979)

1980 – 1990

The First Commercial Electronic Camera--Not Digital
(August 1981 – 1997)

The First Music CDs Pressed in the United States
(September 1984)

The Intel 386
(1985)

The First Hand-Held Graphing Calculator
(October 1985)

The First Semi-Automatic DNA Sequencer
(1986)

The First DNA Sequencing Machine
(1987)

Australia Issues the First Polymer Banknote ($10)
(January 1988)

1990 – 2000

The First Public HDTV Broadcast in the United States
(July 23, 1996)

Voice Over Internet Protocol
(1998)

"The Internet of Things"
(1999)

2000 – 2005

<p>The KH-4B Corona Reconaissance Satellite</p>

Origins of Google Earth and Google Maps
(2001)

<p>

High Density Rosetta Archival Preservation Technology
(2001)

Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2 and its Printer are Finally Constructed
(2002)

Origins of Cyberspace
(2002)

2005 – 2010

Attempting to Use an Ink-Jet Printer to Print Living Tissue. . . .
(2005)

92% of Cameras Sold are Digital
(February 2006)

Publishing Patent Filings on the Web
(September 26, 2006)

More than 80 Trillion Floating-Point Operations per Second
(February 13, 2007)

The Effect of Decay Fungi on Wood Used in the Production of Violins
(June 28, 2008)

Imaging a Molecule One Million Times Smaller Than a Grain of Sand
(August 28, 2009)

Confirmation that Fungally-Treated Wood Enables Great Violin Sound
(September 2009)

2010 – 2011

Stanford's New Engineering Library Will House Few Physical Books
(July 8, 2010)

3G Wireless Telephony in Mt. Everest Region of Nepal
(October 29, 2010)

An Apple 1 Computer Sells for $210,000 in 2010 and for $671,400 in 2013
(November 23, 2010 – May 25, 2013)

2011 – 2013

Scanning Books in Libraries Instead of Making Photocopies
(2011)

The Smartphone Becomes the CPU of the Laptop
(January 2011)

A 3D Printer Kit for only $499
(March 2011 – November 2012)

The Impact of Automation on Legal Research
(March 4, 2011)

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Automation on Jobs
(March 6, 2011)

Ebooks Outsell Physical Books on Amazon.com
(May 19, 2011)

College Textbooks Make a Slower Transition from Print to Digital
(June 6, 2011)

IBM Announces Phase-Change Memory
(June 30, 2011)

Steve Jobs Dies
(October 5, 2011)

The Cost of Sequencing a Human Genome Drops to $1000
(January 10, 2012)

The Smallest Magnetic Data Storage Unit Uses Just 12 Atoms per Bit
(January 13, 2012)

Technological Unemployment: Are Robots Replacing Workers?
(January 23, 2012 – January 13, 2013)

The World's Smallest Book Requires a Scanning Electron Microscope to be Seen
(September 25, 2012)

A 3D Virtual Reality Reader for eBooks
(October 2012)

2013 – Present

The First Use of Quantum Dots in a Mass Produced Consumer Electronics Product
(January 14, 2013)

The First 3D Printing Pen; Drawing Enters the Third Dimension
(February 2013)

<p>Screen shot from world's smallest movie:

The World's Smallest Movie
(April 30, 2013)

The First 3D Printed Bionic Organ: An Ear
(May 1, 2013)

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