Top 5 Inventions of 20th Century

             

              Scientific innovation and inventions have been universally consistent across the timeline of human history from control over fire to Artificial Intelligence. Here are five most revolutionary inventions of the 20th century which have changed course of human life significantly.

{1}. Radio Communication

Guglielmo Marconi patented his wireless communication device in 1897. He successfully conducted trans-Atlantic wireless transmission in 1901. Although Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize for the invention of radio, it is a subject of debate on who actually deserves the credit for revolutionary wireless communication even today as Marconi had used components and patented technologies of scientists around the world like Nikola Tesla, Jagdish Chandra Bose etc.

Wired telegraphs were fastest means of communication before wireless radio. But they required heavy infrastructure, high maintenance and had limited reach. Radio communication revolutionized communication methods. It was fast, easy, cheap, safe and mobile. Just within a hundred year, scientists were able to shrink down wireless radio having size of a car to hand held cell phones.

Wireless communication not only impacted day to day life significantly, but also changed war strategies and tactics, space science and space technologies, navigation technology, logistics and many more things enormously. World War-I and World War-II could have been fought totally different way in absence of radio communication. Man made satellites would not be a reality. Was it possible to send moon or mars orbiters and rovers? Hubble telescope, expanding our reach to deep corners of universe or Voyager 1 & Voyager 2, reaching the edge of our solar system would have been beyond our imagination if wireless communication was not around.

                       {2}. Airplane

 “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible” 

- William Thomson, 1^st Baron of Kelvin

              (Lord Kelvin), 1895

Flying had always been a subject of imagination & dream for humans. It reflected in fictional stories and fairy tales till late 19th century. Using the third dimension for transportation was considered impossible till 1800s. The scientist who gave fundamental laws of thermodynamics and the scientific unit for temperature is given name Kelvin in his honor stated the above quoted words in 1895 even though birds were in existence before humans on earth as living examples of "Objects heavier than air".  Within a few years of his statement, two bicycle mechanics from USA (Wright Brothers) proved him totally wrong. They made a strange looking flying machine in their garage which flew successfully carrying not just its own weight but also with a full grown human along with it.

When we say "world has shrunk" and has become a 'global village', would it be possible without airplanes? Prior to airplanes, fastest travelling time from London to New York was 4-5 days which has reduced to just 8 hours only because of airplane today. It revolutionized the transport and logistics industry. The unreachable terrains are easily accessible now.

Airplanes opened the third dimension of wars. It seems unbelievable that all the Air forces of all the countries have came into existence just within last 100 years. Whereas Armies and Navies are as old as human civilizations. It also made the science of aerodynamics much more significant and important.

Airplanes are one of the example of "fast innovation". If you compare the first airplane "flyer-1" of Wright brothers to modern "Airbus-A380", you'll easily get flabbergasted by the progress we've made in less than a century.

        {3}. Synthetic Plastic

 1907, the year when first synthetic Bakelite plastic was synthesized, marks the year which pushed the world into the polymer age. It was . After that, plastic became so much popular that our world cannot be imagined today without it. From spacecrafts to toys, if you look around you, you’ll find plastic everywhere. It has become a universal product.

Plastic is largely popular because of its properties like flexibility, economic viability, great strength to weight ratio, water & heat resistance, shockproof,  poor conductor of electricity, durability and many more. It is easy to produce in bulk and is multipurpose.

First synthetic polymer was invented in the form of celluloid to replace elephant tusks used to make pool balls for the game of billiards. John Wesley Hyatt and his brother Isaiah invented celluloid as the alternative for a game of rich people’s amusement but it changed the course of the 20^th Century. It also saved a large number of elephants from the hunters. So many animal based, plant based and metal based products have been substituted by plastic. Thus plastic helped to protect environment initially.

But we all know the nasty facts about plastic today. Its biggest virtue, which is durability, has posed the biggest challenge to the environment. Plastic is a synthetic material and nature is unable to decompose it. It has been proven to be poisonous when denatured or when it enters into the body of a living being. It has polluted our land, water, oceans, mountains and everything that has a human contact. The biggest challenge for our earth is global warming but plastic pollution has potential to sit next to it in the list of environmental challenges. World is producing a large amount of plastic everyday but very small fraction of it is recycled or properly disposed. Plastic has become an evil necessity for us. Finding equally durable, flexible and cheap environment friendly alternative is the only solution for the “Plastic Problem” but is not visible in near future.

        {4}. Transistor

Transistor is a tiny device which cannot be seen with naked eyes but the brick block or the fundamental base of the digital electronic era. They are the key components of electronic chips and printed circuit boards. It is a simple semiconductor device which has a unique property to direct or amplify a pulse of electric current.

First transistor made in Bell Laboratories had a size of few centimeters but today, the size has of an electronic chip has shrunk up to less than 10 nanometers which is 1 millionth (10 lac) of a centimeter. An electronic chip is a host to series of interlinked semiconductor transistors. The fascinating fact about this invention is that the basic design and functioning property has not changed in all these years. All the technology or innovation has always been directed towards making the transistor and electronic chip smaller and smaller.

Electronic sensors, Cell phones, televisions, refrigerators, computers, cars, spacecrafts, toys and many more things around us cannot function in absence of semiconductor transistors. It gave birth to a new revolution after industrial revolution of 17^th & 18^th century. It blended into our daily life gradually and we do not know how it works or even aware of its existence in a humongous number around us. FYI a typical smart phone normally contains about 2.5 billion (2500 crore) transistors inside it. Don’t tell me that fact do not fascinate you !!!

        {5}. Computer 

The computer was bound to find its place in this list. Computers are everywhere and are doing tasks which were considered impossible just a few decades ago. First computer named ENIAC had a size of 1800 square feet. It used about 18000 vacuum tubes for data processing of 5000 calculations per second. With the invention of semiconductor transistors and electronic chips, computers became smaller, cheaper and faster. Fastest super computer today has a capacity of about 1.1 exaflops per second i.e. 10¹⁸ or one quintillion or 1000 crore crore calculations per second.

Computers have affected every aspect of human life. It enhanced data processing limits beyond imagination. It is one of the inventions that has seen a very rapid and huge exponential growth in its capacity. Let’s look at one example. The computers used for Apollo 11 mission flight which landed on the moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 had RAM of 4 kbps where as a modern, below average laptop contains RAM of at least 4 gbps which is 100,000 (1 lac) times more than that of Apollo 11 computer. So a manned space craft landing on moon had 100,000 times less computing power than today’s not so good laptop computer. Now that is what I call “A giant leap !!”

Computers are not only shaping our present but are also essential components for building our future. Artificial Intelligence is considered as the next step or the future of computers. Some people are skeptical towards it and sees it as a threat to human race where as others are positively hopeful that AI will not pose any threat and will make our life even better. Nobody knows the exact answer but the future itself.