The New Childrens Encyclopedia

INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES

255

TECHNOLOGY

O
 German-born U.S. scientist Albert

Einstein started his career studying new

inventions in a patent office in Switzerland.

O
 The first electric washing machine

was invented by U.S. engineer Alva Fisher

in 1907.

O
 Thomas Edison is credited with more

than 1,000 new inventions during his

life and is one of the most successful

inventors of all time.

FAST FACTS

 1903

POWERED FLIGHT

The pioneers of powered flight were

Orville and Wilbur Wright, who

took to the skies in a plane known

as the Wright Flyer. Their

historic flight over the sands of

Kitty Hawk in North Carolina,

lasted only 12 seconds.

 1928

ANTIBIOTICS

Sir Alexander Fleming

discovered penicillin,

but left it to others to

turn it into a practical

treatment that saved

millions of lives.

 1928

SLICED BREAD

When Otto Rohwedder

invented a bread slicer,

many bakers thought the

idea was silly because the

bread would go

stale. Little

did they

know!

 1938

BALLPOINT

PEN

A Hungarian named

Laszlo Biro invented

the ballpoint pen,

but World War II

put back production

until 1943.

 1977

PERSONAL

COMPUTERS

Our lives have been

transformed by PCs.

Almost every office,

school, and home in

the developed world

now includes PCs for

everyone to use.

 1957

FIRST SPACE SATELLITE

The Soviet Union launched

the first artificial satellite,

Sputnik 1, on October 14.

Within a month, they had

launched a dog named Laika

into space aboard Sputnik 2.

 1979

CELL PHONE

The first commercial

cell phone was

about the same size

as a brick. It was

developed and

launched in

Japan, but the

idea had been

around for

more than

20 years.

1980

POSTIT NOTES

Dr. Spencer Silver discovered a

repositionable glue in 1968—

but had no use for it. In

1974, his colleague Art Fry

used it to stop his bookmark

from falling out. From this,

the Post-it note was created.

 1982

FIRST

ARTIFICIAL

HEART

A dentist from

Seattle became

the first person

to be implanted

with an artificial

heart.

 1982

CD

The first compact discs hit

the stores in 1982. They have

continued to be a popular way

of storing data in digital form.

 1983

INTERNET

The Internet grew

out of a network

of computers that

linked universities

and the military

across the United

States. Today, it is

used for the World

Wide Web, email,

and much more.

 1997

DOLLY THE

SHEEP

Scientists at the

Roslin Institute in

Scotland cloned

the first mammal

and named her after

country and western

singer Dolly Parton.

 2001

MP3 PLAYERS

Apple launched its first

portable MP3 player,

called the iPod. Within

two years, they were

becoming integrated

with cell phones.

 2005

EREADER

E-books, which are

read on e-readers, are

the digital equivalent

of printed books. They

are popular in Japan.

1900

CE

2000

CE

Penicillin

mold