Inventor that have modified our life

[Calculating Machines and Computing][Cloth and Clothing][Communication][Construction][Electricity and Electronics][Food and Agriculture][Medicine and Biotechnology][Industrial Materials][Scientific Instrument and Devices][Transportation and Energy][Warfare]

Invention Date Inventor Nationality
Steam pump 1698 Thomas Savery English
Steam engine, reciprocating 1705 Thomas Newcomen English
Diving bell 1717 Edmund Halley English
Steam Engine 1765 James Watt Scottish
Motorized carriage 1769 Nicolas Cugnot French
Balloon 1783 Montgolfier brothers French
Steamboat 1787 John Fitch American
Screw propeller 1804 John Stevens American
Steam locomotive 1804 Richard Trevithick English
Railway locomotive 1814 George Stephenson English
Bicycle 1816 Karl D. Sauerbronn German
Electric streetcar 1834 Thomas Davenport American
Regenerative steam engine 1847 William Siemens British
Hydraulic turbine 1849 James B. Francis American
Elevator 1852 Elisha G. Otis American
Nonrigid airship 1852 H. Giffard French
Sleeping car 1857 George M. Pullman American
Gas engine 1860 Etienne Lenoir French
Streamlined train 1865 Samuel Calthrop American
Railway air brakes 1868 G. Westinghouse American
Car coupler 1873 Eli H. Janney American
Internal combustion engine 1875 Siegfried Marcus Austrian
Gas engine 1876 Nikolaus A. Otto German
Glider 1877 Otto Lilienthal German
Steam turbine 1884 C.A. Parsons English
Gasoline-powered automobile * 1885 Karl Benz German
Air-inflated rubber tire 1887 J.B. Dunlop Scottish
"Robert William Thomson (1822 - 1873)   Invented the vulcanised rubber pneumatic tyre.
He patented his invention in 1845, which was successfully tested in London, however it was abandoned because it was thought too expensive for common use. The tyre was re-invented by John Dunlop in 1888. Thomson's invention is commemorated by a plaque in his native Stonehaven. He also patented the fountain pen (1849) and a steam traction engine (1867).
Source: Great Scots! -- Recommended by Richard Stephen, Manchester UK (email communication, August 2, 1997)
Steam turbine 1889 C.G. de Laval Swedish
Tesla Coil * 1891 Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943) Born: Belgrade, Yugoslavia; Naturalized American Citizen
Diesel engine * 1892 Rudolph Diesel German
Self-powered model airplane 1896 S.P. Langley American
Airplane * 1903 Wright brothers American
Gyrocompass 1911 Elmer A. Sperry American
Automobile self-starter 1911 C.F. Kettering American
Hydroplane 1911 Glenn Curtis American
Ethyl gasoline 1922 T. Midgley, Jr. American
Traffic Signal 1923 Garrett A. Morgan American
Jet propulsion 1937 Frank Whittle English
Helicopter * 1939 Igor Sikorsky Naturalized American citizen
Electricity-producing breeder reactor 1951 Atomic Energy Commission American
Solar cell 1954 D.M. Chaplin
C.S. Fuller
G.L. Pearson
American
American
American
Wankel engine 1956 Felix Wankel German
Hovercraft 1956 Christopher Cockerell English