In our last issue, we asked you to let us know what you thought was the most important invention of the past thousand years. We're pleased to present the results of this most unscientifc poll below. From communication to sanitation to vaccination, it's a fairly ecletic batch. As for the reasoning behind the voting, we're going to let the participants speak for themselves - each item includes selected (and edited) comments sent in by voters to explain their choice. Ten prize winners were chosen at random, one per invention.
Many thanks to our voters. Now we can all relax until the next millennium (which will be coming up at the end of the year. . . !)
1. Printing
"There is nothing more powerful than communication, and the printing press had the greatest impact on increasing humankind's ability to communicate."
"Without doubt the key invention . . . the means for knowledge to be spread and shared at a rate hitherto unknown. Before the printing press, intellectual knowledge was largely theological. . . . After, intellectual activity became increasingly scientific and secular."
"The possibility of books for the masses . . . has done so much to spread knowledge, ideas (good and bad), and ideologies."
"Enabled the broad dissemination of information and gave rise to freedom of thought."
"Nearly all inventions since owe a debt to the printing press."
"Literacy increased . . . literacy is a major requirement for an advanced society."
"Gave rise to the growth of knowledge, enabled political and social revolutions, and facilitated democracy and the development of science."
Prizewinner for this category: Barbara Navé
2. The Microchip/Transistor
"Opened the way for personal computers and made the global 'communications highway' possible."
"Every major information-age innovation was made possible by the transistor."
"The microchip has revolutionized not only commumications technology, but also every field of science and commerce."
"We are using this component almost everywhere. . . . Compared to any other invention, this has taken us ahead with far greater speed."
"It will be the base of the next cultural revolution."
Prizewinner for this category: Dharma Prasad
3. The Light Bulb (Electrical Power)
"No other invention has had as much effect on society. . . . It allowed night to become day. Society moved from daylight-only to 24-hour functionality."
"Many other discoveries would not have happened without it."
"Served such a practical need that it paved the way for rapid acceptance of electrical systems by the masses. It changed the way people lived. . . . Suddenly the world knew science, and believed that it could be beneficial. It has become the symbol for creative ideas and thought itself."
Prizewinner for this category: Clyde E. Markon
4. The Computer
"Has had a profound effect on the way we can access and store information."
"Has revolutionized almost every aspect of society . . . and fueled many scientific advances."
"It still has hidden potential for the future."
Prizewinner for this category: Salih Adem
5. The Internet
"It has become such an integral part of life, science, and research that I can't believe we survived for so long without it."
"It changed the way we look at the world, and the way we learn."
"It put the world in my palm."
Prizewinner for this category: Bianca Barquera
6. The Automobile
"It has extended the gene pool vastly beyond the tribe-communities of the 19th century."
"Foods are harvested by tractors and transported by trucks, and lives are saved by ambulances. . . . Transportation convenience is provided to all."
Prizewinner for this category: Bill Misner
7. Antibiotics
"All human inventions are based on wisdom and experience accumulated through time. The increase of life span is vital to everything, and antibiotics made a huge impact on this."
"How many of us have suffered a childhood disease that would have, in the 19th century, almost certainly killed us? Today we hardly recognize how tenuous life was without antibiotics."
Prizewinner for this category: Dongxian Zhang
8. The Telephone
"For better or worse, it was the first step in accelerating our whole pace of life. It began this whole amazing era of communication. It was the original Internet."
Prizewinner for this category: Alicia Scheffer
9. Vaccines
"Vaccines largely eradicated smallpox, have nearly wiped out polio, and hold future promise against viral pathogens like HIV."
"No smallpox to scar or kill us, no whooping cough, no polio to cripple us. . . . Unlike bacterial resistance to antibiotics, the diseases conquered by vaccination may never, ever raise their spots or scars again if we work hard enough to vaccinate every person on the planet."
Prizewinner for this category: Robyn Puffenbarger
10. Plastics
"Could you imagine modern life without plastics? They provide containers, waterproof materials, bulletproof vests, and medical equipment. Plastic can be molded into any shape, can house almost anything. . . . Lighter glass lenses . . . PVC pipes . . . plastic is ubiquitous and often taken for granted."
"Plastics have a still-increasing number of applications. Modern life is held together with plastic. . . . It has laid the foundation for developments in electronics, medicine, authomobiles, and almost all everyday household items."
Prizewinner for this category: Gaston Habets
Andrzej Krauze is an illustrator, poster maker,
cartoonist, and painter who illustrates regularly for
HMS Beagle, The Guardian, The Sunday Telegraph,
Bookseller, and New Statesman.
Tell us what you think.
Endlinks
Invention Dimension - a great resource with links to an inventor's handbook, archives of famous inventors, and another survey on the most important inventions of the 20th century.
