As we live out our lives in these modernistic times we have access to an unprecedented wealth of engineering . thing like robot vacuum cleaners , video phones and 3D printers that were count skill fiction just 20 years ago are now commonplace in many highly-developed commonwealth .
But even though today ’s technology did n’t exist in its accurate form 10 , centuries , or even millennia ago , a flock of our unexampled favorite tools and devices have actually been around for much longer than you might think . And while we might take much of it for accord , if you examine history closely , you ’ll see that a lot of the current technology that we consider to be extremist forward-looking , was actually first conceived long ago .
15. Calculators
Granted , most citizenry are mindful that calculators have been around for quite a while , but they probably have no idea just how old they are . Back in the mid-17th century , before we even had pouch watch or new what bacterium were , Blaise Pascal was organize an ingenious new method to make math his B complex – tch . He had already bestow to a formative treatise on projective geometry before the years of 16 , and so one daytime , as he was determine his tax comptroller father struggle to reconcile a crowd of scores of figures , Pascal had the notion of build a simple machine that could do numerical functions automatically .
After a little test and erroneous belief , Pascal manage to indeed build the world ’s first mechanically skillful reckoner , which afterward became recognise as the Pascaline . The Pascaline looked like a jewelry box with a series of dials on the lid . By turn over the dials to input the need figures , the machinery inside the box would twist and turn in just the right way so that the right resolution would be display in the hat little solvent windowpane .
Although technically the political machine was only structured to do addition , it was possible for it to subtract by doing the process in reverse , multiply by using repeat plus , and divide by using repeat subtraction .
14. Fax Machines
Though fax machines seemed to quickly become obsolete since the widespread adoption of e - mail , they were all the rage in the ’ 70s and ’ fourscore because they allowed us to bypass the postal servicing and send documents anywhere in the universe almost instantaneously . But machine that used phone lines to transmit text file were actually first used in 1843 , well before the telephone was even patent .
work up by Scotch artificer Alexander Bain , the first crude fax machines used contribution from a digital clock ( another invention of Bain ’s ) to make an image image scanner that was then connected to a telegraph system to transport picture . genuine , it did take about 30 minutes to send a individual image , but that was blistering tight when compared to broadcast it by horse or wagon train .
13. Mobile Phones
When most people think of the first mobile phones they probably get an image of Zack Morris making a call on that clinker stoppage he used to sway around at Bayside High . Though cell phone like that were first made available to consumer in the other eighties , the very first twist that could truly be consider a roving headphone was develop in 1918 .
peregrine telephone work by merge the two distinct but related to technologies of telephone and radiotelegraph . In 1918 , German engineers find a way to combine telephones and radios and used the Modern hybrid technology to install a wireless phone organization on a military train running between Berlin and the suburban town of Zossen . Since the organisation could continue fully functional while on the move , it was the world ’s first truly mobile phone .
12. Social Media
In the seventies a grouping of friends at Berkeley decided they need to make a digital system that acted like a public bulletin board . So , using a mainframe computer that was linked to other interconnect computers throughout the community , they create what they referred to as an “ data flea market . ”
Though the web would have been believe insanely wearisome by today ’s standards , masses were able to use it to read and share info much like today ’s societal media . It even had routine like keyword tagging for others could essay out specific information like where to find the good disco music club , or what happen on up-to-the-minute episode ofCharlie ’s Angels . However , while today you’re able to post as many messages as you want for free on a all-encompassing motley of social media platforms , the information flea market place be you 25 cents to post a single message — which sounds outrageous , but at least your news provender probably was n’t drum full of people describing what they had for lunch .
11. Plastic Surgery
Around 600 B.C. , ancient Indians had a proficiency for repairing a individual ’s ear or nose that involved cutting pelt from the cheek or frontal bone and then sewing it over the damage areas . The procedure , which was call a frontal bone fuss rhinoplasty , was kept secret for centuries and loosely used to forge new ears and noses for people who had lost them in battle or as a form of penalty . Today , modern forms of the technique are commonly used in a wide range of plastic surgeries .
10. Bras
Mary Phelps Jacob is credited with patenting the first mod bandeau in 1914 as an choice to the cumbersome corset that was the mainstream substance of backup at the prison term . But a late discovery by a team of archeologist has proven that earlier version of the bra actually go steady as far back as the 15th hundred . The archaeologist uncovered a stash of ancient garment located in Castle Lengberg , in Austria . Among the various shirts , shoes , and codpiece were four example of medieval bras that feature cups and were arguably of a better design than Jacob ’s 1914 version .
9. Contact Lenses
Since gain ground FDA approving in 1971 , contact lens system have spared countless people from a lifetime of break nerdy glasses . However , disciplinal lenses that seat like a shot on your orb were in reality first create almost 100 years prior to that .
In 1888 , German inventor Adolf Fick became a innovator in ophthalmology by give his enquiry to finding a way to better eyesight without the use of spectacles . However , the first contact lenses he machinate were a far cry from the well-fixed hydrogel discs we slip in our eyes today . They were , in fact , made of hard blown methamphetamine hydrochloride that address the intact eye and could only be wear out for a few hours before the excruciating pain far outweighed the benefits of being able to see a small better . So although Fick ’s contact lense did body of work , their cumbersome nature and the extreme discomfort they rush fork out them extremely impractical .
8. Video Games
Almost everyone associates the coming of picture game with the waiver of Pong in 1972 , but the very first digital games were in reality created by Dr. William Higinbotham back in 1958 . At the sentence , Higinbotham was plan simulations to calculate the trajectories of missiles and bouncing ball at the Brookhaven National Laboratory . As he was take this research he came to the realization that his simulation could be reworked for the purposes of entertainment . He then came up with a plot he calledTennis for Twothat used flight to recoil a virtual ball ( represent by a stage of Christ Within ) around a court , with a net in the middle . alas , Tennis for Twowas never made useable to the populace because it was too standardised to a previous design Higinbotham had used in a federal - owned research lab — mean the U.S. government would have possess all the rights to it if it were exhaust commercially .
But even beforeTennis for Two , there was something called the Cathode Ray Tube Amusement equipment that was patent in 1948 . This incredibly turgid , press - mount CRT electronic computer used knob to adjust the speed and flight of an artillery shell that the player drive at a preordain pointedness on the screen . Players would attempt to hit various targets by maneuvering their artillery unit casing toward the predetermined point on screen . If the player supervise to hit the target area , the scale would blur , simulating an blowup . It was fundamentally the 1940s version ofCall of Duty .
7. Vending Machines
Coin operated vending machine were put in to London in the early 19th century as a means of easy dispensing post card and books to the general public . before long after , the machines were afterwards add to America by the Thomas Adams Gum Company who had them occupy with the gum and snacks we ordinarily colligate them with today . But the very first hawking machine were in reality religious contraptions design to dispense holy water in the temples of Egypt .
operate in much the same manner as modern pitch machines do today , worshipers would drop coin in the top of the equipment and it would dispense a measured amount of holy water for clean determination . At the end of the day , the political machine would be evacuate of coin and topped off with fresh holy water . The peddle simple machine concept has remained pretty much unchanged to this day , only alternatively of using coin to get a little bit of holy piddle , we can now use quotation cards at machines that dispense almost anything you may recall of , from pricey electronics and whole automobiles , to drug appurtenance and used panties .
6. Vaping
These years it seems like everywhere you search people are take pontifical puffs off of their little e - cigarettes and vaporizers and telling you how much healthier it is for you than conventional smoke methods . Okay . We get it . You Vape . But apparently vaping has been cool for thousands of age and we ’re only now just rediscovering it . A book from 500 B.C. calledThe History of Herodotustells of how ancient Scythians would throw hemp seeds on hot stones to vaporize them for inhalation purposes . Though this early form of vaping might not be recognise by modern swarm chasers , the first veridical vaporizer that resembles something in enjoyment today still dates back to the 1500s — they just called it a hookah .
5. 3D Movies
Ever since James Cameron’sAvatarwas released in 2009 , filmmakers and theaters have taken it upon themselves to make 3D movies commonplace despite audiences openly declaring that they could do without tacked on stereoscopic experience and associated increase in just the ticket cost . But 3D motion picture really have much longer account than that . The 1950s were widely considered to be the golden age of 3D , as the post - war era was a time when people were very open to new engineering science and the format apace became popular among moviegoer , especially within the revulsion musical style .
However , if you really want to follow 3D pic back to their roots you need to go all the way back to 1922 when the filmThe Power of Lovehit theaters . It was the very first flick to make use of anaglyph glasses , along with the red / cyan colour system . Although the original print of the picture show is so sure-enough and faded that it ’s hardly viewable , account suggest that it believably was n’t too far off from the experience we get today .
4. 3D Printing
Over the preceding several eld , 3D printing has proved to be huge secret plan changer for a wide variety of industries , rank from the field of medicament to space geographic expedition . But in spite of all its practical applications , many people are incognizant that 3D printing has actually been around for decades . The first functional 3D printer paradigm was arise by a Japanese - base research institute in 1981 and it made use of photopolymers to create solid model that were build in cross - sectional layers .
The main reason why 3D printer were n’t in widespread utilisation until 2009 was because , up until then , the most low-cost way to make a 3D printer was through a patented cognitive process developed by Minnesota - found society name Stratasys . And since Stratasys only sell technology to the professional mart , it was only usable a minute market of industriousness big wigging . But now that the original patent on their production cognitive process has go , low-priced 3D printers have been made usable to everyone and we ’re set out to see them being used in a lot of incredibly innovative agency .
3. Electric Cars
With democratic automobiles like the Nissan LEAF , Chevy Volt and Tesla Model S only hitting the mart five or six yr ago , it ’s not surprising that the galvanizing automobile is consider as a very modernistic invention , but the truth is they ’ve actually been around for about 200 years .
In the early nineteenth one C , inventors all over the world were coming up with various version of pocket-sized - scale electric vehicle . One of the first to be free in the U.S. was a six - seater passenger car released in 1890 that could cruise around at speeds of approximately 14 miles per time of day . In the 10 old age that follow , electric vehicles outsell their gas - power counterparts by a margin of 10 to 1 and were deal superscript because they did n’t require gear shift or hand crank engines . However , as U.S. infrastructure grew and better , more and more mass wanted to take their cars on longer route trips that could only be carry out in a car running on gasoline . And after Texas crude crude was soon describe , gun became very cheap and plentiful , making car like Henry Ford ’s Model T much more viable to the consumer .
2. Batteries
A set of people credit Italian Alessandro Volta with the design of the barrage , but a find made in 1938 proved that the first shelling were actually much , much , much old than that — over 2,000 year older , in fact .
In 1931 , Wilhelm Konig was elect as the head of the science laboratory of the Baghdad Antiquity Administration . Seven old age after , he noticed some rum clay jars in the National Museum of Iraq and decided to give them a exhaustive examination . Upon close review , he found that the jars , which later became known as Baghdad Batteries , hold back an asphalt stopper and , sticking through it , an iron rod surrounded by a copper color cylinder . Further testing revealed the presence of an acidic substance similar to vinegar and , after replicas were produced and fill up with a vinegar - like liquid , it was find that they could produce a stream between 0.8 and 2 volts . Konig was then left to get over the interrogative sentence as to why anyone would have use for such a matter in 200 B.C.
Some scientist have indicate that they were used to relieve bother , but this could be an incorrect supposal given that electric stimulation probably would have been much less effective at alleviating pain when compare to analgesic such as heroin opiate , which was also available at the time . The most plausible explanation is that they were belike used to electrically graft silver onto atomic number 79 — a method that is still practice in Iraq today .
1. Computers
Probably no other objet d’art of technology is more commonly associated with modern society than computers — those programmable petty boxes that help us increase productiveness , stay machine-accessible , and find endless sources of entertainment .
Assuming a computer has to be a programmable equipment , rather than a equipment that merely helps you perform calculation , like an abacus , the story of the computing machine date back well before the electromechanical inventions of the thirties to about 150 B.C. when something called theAntikythera mechanismwas think to have been used by ancient Greeks to calculate various astronomical position .
The former analog data processor was discovered in 1901 in a wreck off the glide of the Greek island Antikythera and its level of complexity seemed to be nonpareil by any other artefact discover from that fourth dimension period . It contained at least 30 independent gears , which stand for to the days and months of the Egyptian calendar , overlaid with the Hellenic zodiac , the sun and the known planets . By selecting a twenty-four hours and month , ancient astronomers could turn a mitt starter and let on how the satellite would align across the zodiac on any pay date in the past , present or future .
