Technology is the practical use of scientific knowledge
to invent tools and make tasks easier. With simple, early
technologies, such as the wheel, the invention came first
and it was only explained later in scientific terms. Modern
technological innovations are usually the result of years of
scientific research, financed by commercial organizations.TECHNOLOGY
(^1) Wheel The first wheels were used in
Mesopotamia (now Iraq).They were made
from planks nailed together to form a circle.
(^2) Writing In Mesopotamia, records of
accounts and lists of goods were scratched
on clay tablets, and people used seals with
raised images to mark personal property.
(^3) Paper The process of paper-making was
also invented in China. Rags and plant fibres
were mixed with water, beaten to a pulp,
then spread out to dry into a sheet.
(^4) Gunpowder The explosive properties
of gunpowder were first used by the
Chinese to produce fireworks and
dramatic bangs to frighten enemies
rather than kill them.
(^5) Spectacles In the 11th century, the
Chinese found that curved pieces of glass
(lenses) could bend light. Spectacles were
not produced until almost 300 years later.
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(^6) Printing The printing press developed
by Johannes Gutenberg used a system of
movable type – individual metal letters
made quickly and cheaply – allowing books
to be mass-produced for the first time.
(^7) Telescope The first telescope was a
refracting telescope that used two lenses
to focus light from distant objects.
(^8) Steam engine James Watt’s rotary steam
engine provided the power for the factories
and mines of the Industrial Revolution by
converting the energy in steam into motion.
(^9) Railway locomotive The first railway
locomotive used a high-pressure steam
engine to move a train along rails.
(^10) Electric generator Michael Faraday
invented the first electric motor, which
used electricity to produce motion. He then
reversed this process, using motion to produce
electricity, thus inventing the electric generator.
3,500 bce
(^11) Photography The first practical
photographic process was invented by Louis
Daguerre. Known as the Daguerreotype, it
used a copper plate coated with silver and
light-sensitive chemicals to capture the image.
(^12) Telephone Alexander Graham Bell invented
the telephone after discovering that voice
vibrations could be converted to electrical
signals, sent along a wire, and converted
back into sound vibrations at the other end.
(^13) Light bulb Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison
simultaneously came up with the light bulb,
which works by causing a metal filament to glow
when an electric current passes through it.
(^14) Petrol-engine motor car The first motor
car with an internal combustion engine
powered by petrol had a U-shaped steel
frame and three wheels.
(^15) Cinema Brothers Louis and Auguste Lumière
invented a combined camera and projector they
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