Inventing something. Advanced technologies that have not found application. Nikola Tesla's Wireless Electricity Transmission System

Just two decades ago, people could not even dream of such a level of technological development as exists today. Today, it takes only half a day to fly halfway around the globe, modern smartphones are 60,000 times lighter and thousands of times more productive than the first computers, today agricultural productivity and life expectancy are higher than ever in human history. Let's try to figure out which inventions became the most important and, in fact, changed the history of mankind.

1. Cyanide

Although cyanide seems controversial enough to be included on this list, the chemical has played an important role in human history. While the gaseous form of cyanide has been responsible for the deaths of millions of people, it is the substance that is the main factor in the extraction of gold and silver from ore. Since the world economy was tied to the gold standard, cyanide was an important factor in the development of international trade.

2. Airplane

Today, no one doubts that the invention of the "metal bird" had one of the greatest impacts on human history by radically reducing the time required to transport goods or people. The invention of the Wright brothers was enthusiastically received by the public.

3. Anesthesia

Before 1846, any surgical procedure was more like some kind of painful torture. Although anesthetics have been used for thousands of years, their earliest forms were alcohol or mandrake extract. The invention of modern anesthesia in the form of nitrous oxide and ether allowed doctors to calmly operate on patients without the slightest resistance on their part (after all, the patients did not feel anything).

4. Radio

The origins of radio history are highly controversial. Many claim that its inventor was Guglielmo Marconi. Others claim that it was Nikola Tesla. In any case, these two people did a lot to enable people to successfully transmit information through radio waves.

5. Telephone

The telephone has been one of the most important inventions in our modern world. As with all major inventions, who was the inventor is still debated. What is clear is that the US Patent Office issued the first telephone patent to Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. This patent served as the basis for future research and development of electronic sound transmission over long distances.

6. World Wide Web

Although everyone thinks of it as a completely recent invention, the Internet existed in an archaic form in 1969 when the United States military developed the ARPANET. But the Internet came into existence in its relatively modern form only thanks to Tim Berners-Lee, who created a network of hyperlinks to documents at the University of Illinois and created the first World Wide Web browser.

7. Transistor

Today it seems very easy to pick up the phone and call someone in Mali, the US or India, but this would not be possible without transistors. Semiconductor transistors, which amplify electrical signals, have made it possible to send information over long distances. The man who pioneered this research, William Shockley, is credited with creating Silicon Valley.

8. Atomic clock

Although this invention may not seem as revolutionary as many of the previous items, the invention of the atomic clock was crucial in the advancement of science. Using microwave signals emitted by changing energy levels of electrons, atomic clocks and their accuracy have made possible a wide range of modern modern inventions, including GPS, GLONASS, as well as the Internet.

9. Steam turbine

Charles Parsons' steam turbine literally changed the development of mankind, giving impetus to the industrialization of countries and making it possible for ships to quickly overcome the ocean. In 1996 alone, 90% of the electricity in the United States was generated by steam turbines.

10. Plastic

Despite the widespread use of plastic in our modern society, it only appeared in the last century. The waterproof and highly pliable material is used in virtually every industry, from food packaging to toys and even spacecraft. Although most modern plastics are made from petroleum, there are growing calls to return to the original version, which was partly organic.

11. Television

Television has had a long and storied history that dates back to the 1920s and continues to this day. This invention has become one of the most popular consumer products around the world - almost 80% of households own a television.

12. Oil

Most people don't think at all when they fill up their car's tank. Although people have been extracting oil for thousands of years, the modern oil and gas industry emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century. After industrialists saw all the benefits of oil products and the amount of energy generated by burning them, they raced to make wells for the extraction of “liquid gold.”

13. Internal combustion engine

Without the discovery of the efficiency of combustion of petroleum products, the modern internal combustion engine would have been impossible. Considering that it began to be used literally in everything from cars to agricultural combines and mining machines, these engines allowed people to replace backbreaking, painstaking and time-consuming work with machines that could do the work much faster. The internal combustion engine also gave people freedom of movement as it was used in cars.

14. Reinforced concrete

The boom in the construction of high-rise buildings only occurred in the mid-nineteenth century. By embedding steel reinforcing bars (rebar) into concrete before pouring it, people were able to build reinforced concrete man-made structures that were many times larger in weight and size than before.

There would be far fewer people living on planet Earth today if there were no penicillin. Officially discovered by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming in 1928, penicillin was one of the most important inventions/discoveries that made the modern world possible. Antibiotics were among the first drugs that were able to fight staphylococci, syphilis and tuberculosis.

16. Refrigerator

Harnessing heat was perhaps the most important discovery to date, but it took many millennia. Although people have long used ice for cooling, its practicality and availability were limited. In the nineteenth century, scientists invented artificial refrigeration using chemicals. By the early 1900s, almost every meat packing plant and major food distributor was using refrigeration to preserve food.

17. Pasteurization

Half a century before the discovery of penicillin, many lives were saved by a new process discovered by Louis Pasteur—pasteurization, or heating foods (originally beer, wine, and dairy products) to a temperature high enough to kill most spoilage bacteria. Unlike sterilization, which kills all bacteria, pasteurization only reduces the number of potential pathogens to a level that makes most foods safe to eat without risk of contamination, while still maintaining the flavor of the food.

18. Solar battery

Just as the oil industry sparked a boom in industry as a whole, the invention of the solar cell allowed people to use a renewable form of energy in a much more efficient way. The first practical solar cell was developed in 1954 by Bell Telephone scientists, and today the popularity and efficiency of solar panels has increased dramatically.

19. Microprocessor

Today people would have to forget about their laptop and smartphone if the microprocessor had not been invented. One of the most widely known supercomputers, ENIAC, was built in 1946 and weighed 27,215 tons. Intel engineer Ted Hoff created the first microprocessor in 1971, packing all the functions of a supercomputer into one tiny chip, making portable computers possible.

20. Laser

The stimulated emission amplifier, or laser, was invented in 1960 by Theodore Maiman. Modern lasers are used in a variety of inventions, including laser cutters, barcode scanners, and surgical equipment.

21. Nitrogen fixation

Although it may seem overly pompous, nitrogen fixation, or the fixation of molecular atmospheric nitrogen, is "responsible" for the explosion of the human population. By converting atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, it became possible to produce highly effective fertilizers, which increased agricultural production.

22. Conveyor

Today it is difficult to overestimate the importance of assembly lines. Before their invention, all products were made by hand. The assembly line, or assembly line, allowed the development of large-scale production of identical parts, greatly reducing the time it took to create a new product.

23. Oral contraceptives

Although tablets and pills have been one of the main methods of medicine that have existed for thousands of years, the invention of the oral contraceptive was one of the most significant innovations. It was this invention that became the impetus for the sexual revolution.

24. Mobile phone/smartphone

Nowadays, many people are probably reading this article from a smartphone. For this we must thank Motorola, which back in 1973 released the first wireless pocket mobile phone, which weighed as much as 2 kg and required as much as 10 hours to recharge. To make matters worse, at that time you could only chat quietly for 30 minutes.

25. Electricity

Most modern inventions would simply not be possible without electricity. Pioneers such as William Gilbert and Benjamin Franklin laid the initial foundation on which inventors such as Volt and Faraday began the Second Industrial Revolution.

At the very beginning of this article I have to explain something. You could live without any of these inventions. However, if you did, your life would only be half as comfortable and a quarter as fun as it is now. And yes, you've probably heard of some of the inventions listed below. But do you know why they are so important? Or what's the point of them, for that matter? In any case, please be lenient with me and understand everything yourself after reading to the end.

This list pays tribute to the inventions we see while we go about our daily lives. We may or may not notice them at all, or casually look at them through the routine of our lives, but for some reason simply do not notice their importance. Below are those inventions that were not advertised at one time and passed on the burden of fame to all those that became famous throughout the world (I mean TV and light bulbs!) And you know what? We are talking about more than simple inventions here. We are talking about all those people who were deprived of rights and those who worked hard without receiving any benefit or reward. This article is dedicated to all those who have worked hard, enduring hardships and hardships without receiving anything in return. It’s also dedicated to that guy who did all the math homework for a pretty girl in eighth grade. People, let's show them some respect.

10. Sextant, 1757

The idea of ​​creating something similar to a sextant came from John Hadley and Thomas Godfrey around 1731, although they both conceived it independently. Two scientists were working on a similar system for calculating coordinates, and at the same time it was simple and straightforward to use. In 1759, John Bird took an earlier design and created the sextant, a device that is still in use today.

So what is the importance of this invention? The sextant turned out to be one of the simplest navigators for sailors, allowing them to determine the geographic latitude of their location. After all, for thousands of years they relied only on the North Star. However, until the invention of the sextant, they did not have an accurate way to measure geographic longitude. This meant that many of them were shipwrecked for this reason or deviated greatly from the correct course. The invention of the sextant made crossing oceans or any large body of water a very simple task, allowing more goods to be transported to distant ports and more travel to be undertaken than before.

9. Steel frame, 1884

After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, there was a demand for buildings that were safer than those made of stone and wood. Google the name William Le Baron Jenney and you'll find the story of the man who invented the world's first steel-framed building. The interesting thing is that (as popular legend goes) the idea came to him after he turned his attention to a wire bird cage that could support the weight of a book. The weight of the structure of the first such building in the world, created according to his design, was only a third of the weight of a stone building of the same size. For this reason, architects could now build taller houses. This is exactly the discovery that allowed humanity to build high-rise buildings.

8. Turing machine

I know this may piss some people off, but first of all, let me point out that the Turing machine is just a hypothetical thing (how was it even called an actual invention?). Secondly, I will add that it is quite popular among those who have heard of Alan Turing. However, this "under-invention" is an important contribution to modern computing systems, and also represents something that the average person may have only heard in passing.

So what is a Turing machine? Basically, it's a long strip of paper that runs under a marker attached to a mechanical arm that can do three things: write "0", write "1" or go back and erase all the marks. So why is this so important, you ask? Well, it's a long story, but it has a shortened version and it shows that any modern computer can be taught binary coding - the basic language of every electronic computing device ever invented in our world. And this is a very important matter.

7. Archimedes screw, 3rd century BC.

The ancient Greek inventor Archimedes was perhaps the world's first genius. He is credited with creating a version of the water-lifting mechanism, as well as a formula for determining the density of irregularly shaped objects, not to mention the long history of coining the term “Eureka.” However, one of Archimedes' most successful inventions is his model of a water pump. His invention found widespread use among the ancient Greeks, but even today the so-called screw pump is used everywhere. Its main advantage is that it does not become clogged with dirt. This is why you can find this design even in modern treatment plants where your tap water is treated.

6. Gregorian calendar, 1582

Invented by Julius Caesar in 45 BC, the aptly named Julian calendar consisted of eleven months of 28 to 31 days, with a leap year occurring every four years. While it may have been extremely accurate by those standards, the 11.5 extra minutes it added each year meant that from its creation to the year 1500 it was 10 days ahead of the solar time. calendar. The Gregorian calendar, commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, was created to solve this problem. Each year, the calendar shifts from the solar year by an additional 26 seconds, which adds one day to it every 3,323 years. Fun fact: The Gregorian calendar was not adopted in Greece until 1923, and Turkey waited until 1927 to start using it. Some countries (Ethiopia, Iran, Afghanistan and others) have not adopted this calendar - they count time in their own way.

5. Vacuum tube

Vacuum tubes existed before our time. If you ask your parents or grandparents about them, they may even know a little more about it than you. These little things are the forerunners of the modern resistor, the main component in any electronic device. At one time they were a little larger. Because of the size of each vacuum tube and the number of tubes needed to run the computer, they literally took up an entire room. But they were also significantly slower and less efficient than a resistor. But without them, we wouldn't even have the technology to create smartphones...

4. Alternating current

Okay, I have to admit again, technically this is more than just a revelation (not to mention that everyone has at least heard the acronym for this type of electricity—yes, it's the name of the rock band AC/DC). However, the generator that first produced this type of current, created in the 1830s by Faraday himself, is a highly efficient invention that, as I said, most people are not even aware of. Simply put, such a generator converts mechanical energy into electrical energy, which, of course, is what powers every device we use.

3. Semiconductor

Computers again? Yes! Don't blame me, these are the times! A semiconductor is essentially a thin wafer of silicon that can carry electrical charge, but not very well. When combined with transistors (small devices that can stop, receive, or switch electrical signals), semiconductor silicon chips can be programmed to do amazing things. Semiconductors are the basis for the microprocessors in our computers, so yes, just like vacuum tubes, the Turing machine and alternating current, without them we wouldn't be able to watch half the funny online cat photos we do nowadays.

2. Pasteurization, 1863

In 1863, Louis Pasteur finally opened the world's eyes to the concept of microbes. Before this discovery, we really had no idea what exactly makes us sick. Before this, everything was blamed on sinful behavior and the punishment of the gods. Pasteur's contribution to science was very important. First, he discovered that diseases were caused by microorganisms. Secondly, he discovered that they could be controlled using heat as well as disinfectants.

1. Nitrogen Fixation, 1918

Now that I look back at this list, I feel like I filled in my own lack of knowledge regarding the devices that make up the modern computer that I used to compile this list. Therefore, I decided that I should leave one of the most important inventions for last, although it is completely different from the previous ones. Fritz Haber was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his work on nitrogen fixation. He discovered that (by adding high pressure and a catalyst) it was possible to create ammonia by performing a chemical reaction between nitrogen and hydrogen. The result of this discovery was the ability to produce fertilizer on a large scale (Carl Bosche had already started doing this), and a method emerged that allowed farmers to grow more food in less time in a smaller area.

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Is this what you were looking for? Perhaps this is something you couldn’t find for so long?

Over the entire existence of our planet, hundreds of thousands of amazing things have been created. It is enough just to look around - everything that we see appeared as a result of painstaking human labor. And among this diversity, it is impossible to objectively determine the best invention of mankind. However, there are the results of large-scale social surveys and the opinions of scientists on this topic. It is quite possible to focus on them when studying it.

Discovery from the past

The best inventions of mankind, which are more correctly called discoveries, were discovered thousands of years ago. Now they are an integral part of our lives.

In the first place, naturally, is fire. It was its development that became a turning point in When people understood what fire was and how it could be used, they began to develop their activity at night, use it to protect themselves from predators and prepare a variety of (at that time) food. Many people maintained it in caves for years, preventing it from fading. After all, the path to making fire on your own was a very long one.

There is even an opinion that thanks to fire, the process of evolution began to go faster. After all, the erect walkers Homo erectus used it to prepare starch-containing food, consuming which they ensured the rapid absorption of polysaccharides that contributed to the intensive development of the brain.

Writing

This is definitely also the best invention of mankind. Persuasive speech is not even needed to prove this statement. After all, it was the emergence of writing that marked the beginning of the development of civilization and contributed to the exchange of knowledge between different peoples and cultures. Although it all began back in 9000-7000. BC, from early pictographs of Western Asia (Syrian region).

Paper is also considered one of the most important inventions of mankind. Writing made it possible for people to save any information they received. And paper gave millions of people access to it. After all, before its invention, all materials intended for writing were very expensive. Paper appeared, by the way, in 105 BC. He created it. Later his invention was improved, as was the method of paper production.

Book

Many say that it is the best invention of mankind. The book, however, deserves this status. Even though many now perceive it as a work of printing in a binding. But this is only because people are accustomed to books.

In fact, each of them is a separate small world. It is the book that is the conductor of information through the centuries, the pride of humanity and its heritage. It is a verbal and historical experience, mystery and pleasure. By reading books, people become more educated and intellectually savvy, enrich their vocabulary, learn to think and analyze. They are improving as Personalities with a capital P. It’s just a pity that in our age of modern technology, people forget about books and don’t read as much as they used to.

Electricity

Speaking about a period closer to our time, it would be logical to start with it. In terms of scale, this is truly the most important and best invention of mankind. Electricity, however, is not something that was created by human hands. After all, this is not a thing, but a set of phenomena that are caused by the movement and interaction of electric charges. But in this case, electricity has a modern understanding.

Its first functional source was created in the 18th century. Then it was possible to invent a voltaic column - a device for receiving a discharge.

And, I must say, many people interviewed said that they consider man’s greatest creation... the light bulb. You can understand why. Day gives way to night, but life does not stop, thanks to the fact that in our lives there are means of lighting - light bulbs. Their first prototype was invented by the German watchmaker Heinrich Goebel in 1854. 26 years later, the light bulb was improved by American inventor Thomas Edison. It was he who gave our world a switch, a base and a socket. Tungsten filament was invented in 1890 by electrical engineer Alexander Lodygin, who also proposed filling light bulbs with inert gas.

Ball pen

In fact, it is not at all surprising that this thing was found among such large-scale discoveries. According to the results of a survey conducted in the UK, it turned out that the majority of people believe that the ballpoint pen is the best invention of mankind. This simple and everyday item was created by a Hungarian journalist named in 1938. It is important to note that he was helped by his brother Georg, who was a chemist by profession.

First, the inventors patented a ballpoint pen in Hungary. But then the Second World War began. In this regard, the brothers moved to Argentina and patented the invention there. After some time, they sold the right to produce ballpoint pens to a company called Eversharp. They were paid $1,000,000, which was a huge amount at that time.

Since 1943, there has been a mass production of ballpoint pens, which today are indispensable stationery devices that every person uses.

Internet

It is unlikely that people will object to the fact that the World Wide Web is the best invention of mankind. It radically changed the life of modern man. The population of the planet learned about such things as video communication, remote work, games, instant communication with an interlocutor in another part of the Earth, online broadcasts and much more.

Without a doubt, the Internet is the best invention of mankind. Now ~4 billion people use it, and this number is increasing daily. It all started in 1962. It was then that Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider introduced the world to the first detailed concept of a computer network. 5 years later, work began on the creation of the ARPA Net Internet network. And the first server was installed on September 2, 1969. And already on October 29, two months later, a communication session was held between two computers located at a distance of 640 kilometers.

From that moment on, the Internet began to develop rapidly. Within a few months, news groups, mailing lists, and message boards appeared. And today almost everything is available on the Internet.

Creations from the 2000s

After a brief excursion into history, we can talk about the best inventions of mankind of the 21st century. A new era began with its creation in 2001. Now it is the basis of all LED displays.

In 2002, a breakthrough was made in medicine, marked by the creation of an artificial retina. Then, the following year, hardware engineers developed an interface for mentally controlling objects.

The year 2004 was marked by two amazing inventions. The world saw a neutron microscope and a bionic eye.

A year later, a robot was created that could create copies of itself. And in 2006, self-healing coatings and paints were introduced to humanity.

There were no discoveries in 2007, but in 2008 the world learned about a passive microelectronic element that can change its resistance depending on the charge flowing through it. It was called a memristor.

In the next two years, four more discoveries were made. For the first time, they transmitted thoughts to the Internet, created a biological 3D printer, LG specialists developed an ultra-mobile PC, and biologists developed the first living cell, the DNA of which was replaced with an artificial one. It was all truly amazing. Much surprises even now. This is why it is so difficult to determine the best invention of mankind.

Until the mid-tenths

2012 was also marked by large-scale developments. Then an aerial display, a virtual reality helmet was created, and a method for producing special soluble electronics was developed.

In 2013, laser space communications were established. And in 2014, they invented a MEMS nanoinjector and a less significant, but fun thing - smart chopsticks. Then, in 2015, the “sleeping” bacterium (a robotic nano-device) was introduced to the world. It functions as an ultra-sensitive humidity sensor due to the presence of special nano-structures on the surface.

Last years

I would like to complete the story by identifying the TOP 10 best inventions of mankind over the past year, 2016.

First place goes to the Flyte floating light bulb, which manages to float and rotate due to electromagnetism. It glows due to inductive resonating coupling.

Second place is rightly occupied by Tesla's solar roof, which converts the sun's radiation into electricity.

The next amazing invention is the Nike HyperAdapt 1.0 self-lacing running shoe. The dream of all Back to the Future fans has come true.

In fourth place is the Hello Sense intelligent multifunctional alarm clock, which monitors sleep cycles and gives the command to wake up at the most appropriate moment for its owner.

Also in 2016, Eagle 360 ​​tires appeared, rotating in all directions, a “smart” toothbrush, and also dishes for people with problems with cognitive functions. In addition, the world saw powerful and sweet potatoes enriched with vitamin A, and a tiny Dji Mavic Pro drone equipped with a 4K camera.

So, this is a small part of what can be told about the most amazing and important inventions of mankind. Of course, over the entire history of its existence, tens of thousands of times more discoveries have been made. And you can be sure that over time this number will increase many times over.

It happens that scientists spend years and even a decade to present a new discovery to the world. However, it also happens differently - inventions appear unexpectedly, as a result of bad experience or simple accident. It's hard to believe, but many devices and drugs that changed the world were invented completely by accident.
I offer the most famous of such accidents.

In 1928, he noticed that one of the plastic plates with pathogenic staphylococcus bacteria in his laboratory was covered with mold. However, Fleming left the laboratory for the weekend without washing the dirty dishes. After the weekend he returned to his experiment. He examined the plate under a microscope and found that the mold had destroyed the bacteria. This mold turned out to be the main form of penicillin. This discovery is considered one of the greatest in the history of medicine. The significance of Fleming's discovery became clear only in 1940, when massive research began on a new type of antibiotic drug. Millions of lives were saved thanks to this accidental discovery.

Safety glass
Safety glass is widely used in the automotive and construction industries. Today it is everywhere, but when the French scientist (and artist, composer and writer) Edouard Benedictus accidentally dropped an empty glass flask on the floor in 1903 and it did not break, he was very surprised. As it turned out, before this, a collodion solution was stored in the flask; the solution evaporated, but the walls of the vessel were covered with a thin layer of it.
At that time, the automobile industry was rapidly developing in France, and the windshield was made of ordinary glass, which caused many injuries to drivers, which Benedictus drew attention to. He saw real life-saving benefits in using his invention in cars, but automakers found it too expensive to produce. And only years later, when during the Second World War, triplex (this is the name the new glass received) was used as glass for gas masks, in 1944 Volvo used it in cars.

Pacemaker
The pacemaker, which now saves thousands of lives, was invented by mistake. Engineer Wilson Greatbatch worked on creating a device that was supposed to record heart rhythm.
One day he inserted the wrong transistor into the device and discovered that oscillations arose in the electrical circuit, which were similar to the correct rhythm of the human heart. Soon the scientist created the first implantable pacemaker - a device that supplies artificial impulses for the heart to work.

Radioactivity
Radioactivity was discovered by accident by the scientist Henri Becquerel.
It was in 186, when Becquerel was working on a study of the phosphorescence of uranium salts and the newly discovered x-rays. He conducted a series of experiments to determine whether fluorescent minerals could produce radiation when exposed to sunlight. The scientist faced a problem - the experiment was carried out in winter, when there was not enough bright sunlight. He wrapped the uranium and photographic plates in one bag and began to wait for a sunny day. Returning to work, Becquerel discovered that the uranium had been imprinted on the photographic plate without sunlight. Later, he, together with Marie and Pierre Curie, discovered what is now known as radioactivity, for which, together with the scientific couple, he later received the Nobel Prize.

Microwave
The microwave oven, also known as the “popcorn oven,” was born precisely thanks to a happy coincidence. And it all began - who would have thought! - from a weapons development project.
Percy LeBaron Spencer, a self-taught engineer, developed radar technologies at one of the largest companies in the global military-industrial complex, Raytheon. In 1945, shortly before the end of World War II, he conducted research to improve the quality of radar. During one of the experiments, Spencer discovered that the chocolate bar that was in his pocket had melted. Against his better judgment, Spencer immediately dismissed the idea that the chocolate could have melted under the influence of body heat - like a true scientist, he seized on the hypothesis that the chocolate was somehow "affected" by the invisible radiation of the magnetron.
Any sane man would have immediately stopped and realized that the “magic” heat rays passed a few centimeters from his dignity. If the military were nearby, they would probably find a worthy use for these “melting rays.” But Spencer thought about something else - he was delighted with his discovery and considered it a real scientific breakthrough.
After a series of experiments, the first water-cooled microwave oven, weighing about 350 kg, was created. It was supposed to be used in restaurants, airplanes and ships - i.e. where it was necessary to quickly heat food.

Vulcanized rubber
It will hardly shock you to learn that rubber for car tires was invented by Charles Goodyear - he became the first inventor whose name was given to the final product.
It was not easy to invent rubber that could withstand the top acceleration and car racing that everyone has dreamed of since the creation of the first car. And in general, Goodyear had every reason to say goodbye forever to the crystal dream of his youth - he kept ending up in prison, lost all his friends and almost starved his own children, tirelessly trying to invent more durable rubber (for him it turned almost into an obsession ).
So, this was in the mid-1830s. After two years of unsuccessful attempts to optimize and strengthen conventional rubber (mixing rubber with magnesia and lime), Goodyear and his family were forced to take refuge in an abandoned factory and fish for food. It was then that Goodyear made a sensational discovery: he mixed rubber with sulfur and got new rubber! The first 150 bags of rubber were sold to the government and...
Oh yes. The rubber turned out to be of poor quality and completely useless. The new technology turned out to be ineffective. Goodyear was ruined - once again!
Finally, in 1839, Goodyear wandered into a department store with another batch of failed rubber. The people gathered in the store watched the crazy inventor with interest. Then they started laughing. In a rage, Goodyear threw the wad of rubber onto the hot stove.
After carefully examining the burnt remains of rubber, Goodyear realized that he had just - completely by accident - invented a method for producing reliable, elastic, water-resistant rubber. Thus, an entire empire was born from the fire.

Champagne
Many people know that champagne was invented by Dom Pierre Pérignon, but this monk of the Order of St. Benedict, who lived in the 17th century, did not intend to make wine with bubbles, but quite the opposite - he spent years trying to prevent this, since sparkling wine was considered a sure sign poor quality winemaking.
Initially, Perignon wanted to please the tastes of the French court and create a corresponding white wine. Since it was easier to grow dark grapes in Champagne, he came up with a way to extract light juice from them. But since the climate in Champagne is relatively cold, the wine had to ferment for two seasons, spending the second year in the bottle. The result was a wine filled with carbon dioxide bubbles, which Perignon tried to get rid of, but was unsuccessful. Fortunately, the new wine was very popular with the aristocracy of both the French and English courts.

Plastic
In 1907, shellac was used for insulation in the electronics industry. The cost of importing shellac, which was made from Asian beetles, was enormous, so chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland decided it would be a good idea to invent an alternative to shellac. As a result of experiments, he obtained a plastic material that did not collapse at high temperatures. The scientist thought that the material he invented could be used in the production of phonographs, however, it soon became clear that the material could be used much more widely than expected. Today, plastic is used in all areas of industry.

Saccharin
Saccharin, a sugar substitute known to everyone who is losing weight, was invented due to the fact that chemist Konstantin Fahlberg did not have the healthy habit of washing his hands before eating.
It was 1879, when Fahlberg was working on new ways to use coal tar. Having finished his work day, the scientist came home and sat down to dinner. The food seemed sweet to him, and the chemist asked his wife why she added sugar to the food. However, my wife did not find the food sweet. Fahlberg realized that it was not the food that was actually sweet, but his hands, which he, as always, did not wash before dinner. The next day, the scientist returned to work, continued his research, and then patented a method for producing an artificial low-calorie sweetener and began its production.

Teflon
Teflon, which has made the lives of housewives around the world easier, was also invented by accident. DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett studied the properties of freon and froze tetrafluoroethylene gas for one of his experiments. After freezing, the scientist opened the container and discovered that the gas had disappeared! Plunkett shook the canister and looked into it - there he found white powder. Fortunately for those who have made an omelette at least once in their lives, the scientist became interested in the powder and continued to study it. As a result, Teflon was invented, without which it is impossible to imagine a modern kitchen.

Ice cream cones
This story may serve as a perfect example of a chance invention and a chance meeting that had a widespread impact. And it's also quite tasty.
Until 1904, ice cream was served on saucers, and it wasn't until that year's World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, that two seemingly unrelated food products became inextricably linked.
At that particularly hot and muggy World's Fair of 1904, the ice cream stand was doing so well that it quickly ran out of saucers. The stall next door selling Zalabiya, thin waffles from Persia, wasn't doing very well, so its owner came up with the idea of ​​rolling the waffles into a cone and putting ice cream on top. That’s how ice cream in a waffle cone was born, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to die in the near future.

Synthetic dyes
It sounds strange, but it is a fact - synthetic dye was invented as a result of an attempt to invent a cure for malaria.
In 1856, chemist William Perkin worked to create artificial quinine to treat malaria. He did not invent a new cure for malaria, but he received a thick dark mass. Taking a closer look at this mass, Perkin discovered that it gave off a very beautiful color. This is how he invented the first chemical dye.
Its dye turned out to be much better than any natural dye: firstly, its color was much brighter, and secondly, it did not fade or wash off. Perkin's discovery turned chemistry into a very profitable science.

Potato chips
In 1853, at a restaurant in Saratoga, New York, a particularly capricious customer (railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt) repeatedly refused to eat the French fries he was served, complaining that they were too thick and soggy. After he refused several plates of increasingly thin-cut potatoes, restaurant chef George Crum decided to get back at him by frying some wafer-thin potato slices in oil and serving them to the customer.
At first Vanderbilt began to say that this latest attempt was too thin to be pierced with a fork, but after trying a few he was very pleased and everyone in the restaurant wanted the same. As a result, a new dish appeared on the menu: “Saratoga chips,” which were soon sold all over the world.

Post-It Labels
The humble Post-It Notes were the result of a chance collaboration between a mediocre scientist and a disgruntled churchgoer. In 1970, Spencer Silver, a researcher at the large American corporation 3M, worked on a formula for a strong adhesive, but was only able to create a very weak adhesive that could be removed with almost no effort. He tried to promote his invention to the corporation, but no one paid attention to him.
Four years later, Arthur Fry, a 3M employee and member of his church choir, became very irritated by the fact that the pieces of paper he put in his hymn book as bookmarks kept falling out when the book was opened. During one service, he remembered Spencer Silver's invention, had an epiphany (church is probably the best place for this), and then applied a little of Spencer's mild, but paper-safe, glue to his bookmarks. It turned out that the little sticky notes did just what he needed, and he sold the idea to 3M. Test promotion of the new product began in 1977, and today it is difficult to imagine life without these stickers.

Have you invented an electric car? - Fork out!

Perhaps the most notorious example of an invention being thwarted is the General Motors EV1, which was the subject of the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? The EV1 was the world's first mass-produced electric car, of which 800 models were leased to GM in the late nineties. The company canceled the EV1 line in 1999, citing that consumers were unhappy with the limited range provided by the car's battery, which made it unprofitable to continue production.

Many skeptics, however, believed that GM buried the EV1 under pressure from oil companies, which stood to suffer the most if fuel-efficient cars took over the market. GM hunted down and destroyed every last EV1, making sure the technology would die and not be resurrected.

Death of the American Streetcar

The prosperous streetcar industry's net profit for 1921 was $1 billion, which for General Motors was equivalent to losing $65 million in hard-earned money. In retaliation, GM bought out and closed hundreds of independent streetcar companies, fueling a growing market for its gas-guzzling buses and cars. Although there has been a growing movement in cities to save public transport lately, we are unlikely to see trams return to their former glory.

Modest "Teen Wolf"

A car that gets 99 miles per gallon of fuel consumed is the Holy Grail of the automotive industry. Although this technology has been available for several years, automakers have deliberately kept it away from the American market. In 2000, the New York Times reported on a little-known fact, at least to most: the diesel-powered Volkswagen Lupo had circumnavigated the world averaging over 99 mpg. “Teen Wolf” was sold in Europe in 1998-2005, but even here automakers did not put it on the market; Americans, they argued, had no interest in small, fuel-efficient cars.

Free energy

Nikola Tesla was not only an inspiration for the big-haired metal bands of the eighties, but also a genius from God. In 1899, he found a way to bypass fossil fuel-burning power plants and transmission lines by proving that by using ionization in the upper atmosphere to create electrical oscillations, “free energy” could be harnessed. J.P. Morgan, who funded Tesla's research, somewhat regretted his "purchase" when he realized that free energy for everyone would not bring the same benefits as, say, charging people for every watt they consumed. Then Morgan drove another nail into the coffin of free energy, driving away other investors so that Tesla's dream would surely die.

Miracle cure for cancer

In 2001, Canadian Rick Simpson discovered that a cancerous spot on his skin disappeared after just a few days of using hemp essential oil. Since then, Simpson and others have healed thousands of cancer patients with incredible success. Researchers in Spain have confirmed that the active ingredient in cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol, kills brain tumor cells in human subjects and is also showing promise against breast, pancreatic and liver tumors. However, the US Food and Drug Administration classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, which means it has no medical use, unlike Schedule 2 drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine, which are may be useful. What a buzz!

Vehicles on water

As ridiculous as it may sound, water-powered vehicles exist. The most famous of these is Stan Meyer's sand buggy, which achieved 100 mpg and might have found greater distribution had Meyer not, at age 57, fallen victim to a suspected brain aneurysm. People in the know made strong claims that Meyer was poisoned after he refused to sell his patents or stop research. Fearing a conspiracy, his partners almost went underground (or would it be more correct to say - under water?) and took with them his famous sand buggy on the water. We can only hope that eventually someone will come back with an amphibious vehicle.

Chronovisor

What if you had a device that could see into the future and take you back to the past? And what if you didn’t need the help of Christopher Lloyd to do this? The Italian priest Father Pellegrino Maria Ernetti in the sixties claimed to have invented what he called the Chronovisor, something that allowed him to witness the crucifixion of Christ. The device supposedly allowed viewers to observe any event in human history by tuning into the residual vibrations that persist as a result of any action. (His research and development team included Enrico Fermi, who also worked on the first atomic bomb). On his deathbed, Fermi admitted to having invented pictures of ancient Greece and the death of Christ, but insisted that the Chronovisor, which had already disappeared by then, still worked. It's no surprise that conspiracy theorists point to the Vatican as the likely owner of the original Chronovisor at this time.

Rife devices

American inventor Royal Rife cured 14 “terminal” cancer patients and hundreds of cases of cancer in animals in 1934 by directing his “beam of rays” at what he called the “cancer virus.” So why isn't the Rife ray in use today? Barry Lines and John Crane's 1986 book, A Cancer Treatment That Worked: Fifty Years of Silence, brought Rife's case back from obscurity. Written in typical conspiracy style, the book lists names, dates, places and events, lending a semblance of credibility to a mixture of historical documents and speculation selectively woven into a web too difficult to verify unless conducted by an army of investigators with unlimited resources. The authors claim that Rife successfully demonstrated the healing power of his device in 1934, but "all reports describing the treatment in major medical journals were censored by the head of the AMA." In 1953, a US Senate special investigation concluded that Fishbein and the AMA conspired with the Food and Drug Administration to conceal various alternative cancer treatments that contradicted the AMA's preconceived views. , according to which “radium therapy, x-ray therapy and surgery are the only recognized methods of treating cancer.”

Milking for the clouds

In 1953, the blueberry crop in Maine was threatened by drought, and several farmers promised to pay Reich if he could make it rain. As reported, when Reich began his experiment at 10 a.m. on July 6, 1953, no precipitation was forecast by the weather bureau for the next few days. On July 24, the Bangor Daily News wrote the following:

Dr. Reich and his three assistants installed a “rain making” device on the shores of the Great Lake. The device, which was a set of hollow pipes suspended above a small cylinder connected to them by a cable, carried out the “summoning” operation for about an hour and ten minutes. According to a reliable source from Ellsworth on the evening of July 6th and early morning of July 7th, the following climatic changes took place in the said city: “On Monday after 10 o'clock in the evening there began a short rain, at first light, and then, towards midnight, calm and even. The rain continued throughout the night, and the next morning 0.24 inches of rain was recorded in Ellsworth."

A puzzled witness to the rainmaking process said: “After they started, clouds started to form. They were the strangest looking clouds ever seen." And later, the same eyewitness said that by manipulating the device, scientists could change the direction of the wind.

The blueberry harvest was saved, the farmers declared their satisfaction, and Reich received his due reward.

Perpetual motion machine

The last century was marked by the birth of a number of perpetual motion machines that produced more energy than was required for their operation. Ironically, they created more problems than they were worth. In almost all cases, a supposedly working prototype failed to make it to the production stage for sale due to various corporate or government forces opposing the technology. Lately, the “electricity amplifier” Lutec 1000 has been making steady progress on the way to the final commercial version. Will consumers be able to buy it in the near future, or will it also be cut off?

Cold fusion

Billions of dollars have been spent on research into energy production through controlled "hot fusion," a series of risky and unpredictable experiments. Meanwhile, garage scientists and a fringe group of university researchers are moving closer to harnessing the power of "cold fusion," which is much more sustainable and controllable but enjoys much less support from government and foundation money. In 1989, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons announced their discovery and observed cold fusion in a glass jar on their laboratory bench. That the reaction they received was lukewarm is putting it mildly. CBS' 60 Minutes chronicled how the ensuing blowback from well-funded hot fusion interests sent researchers underground and overseas, where within a few years their funding dried up, forcing them to abandon their clean energy pursuits.

Hot nuclear fusion

Cold fusion is not the only technology to be hounded by a testy scientific community. When two physicists working on a ten-year hot fusion project in the Los Alamos Laboratory tokamak accidentally stumbled upon a cheaper and safer method of generating energy from the collision of atoms, they are said to have been forced to renounce their own discoveries under threat of dismissal - the laboratory was afraid of losing the flow of government money that went to the tokamak. In response, leading researchers created the Focus Synthesis Society, which raises private money to fund their own research outside of government intervention.

Magnetofunk and Himmelkompass

Nazi scientists spent most of World War II holed up in a military base somewhere in the Arctic, creating the Magnetofunk. This invention, according to some reports, was intended to deflect the compasses of Allied aircraft that could search for Point 103 - that was the name of that base. Airplane pilots would think they were flying in a straight line, but little by little they would circle around Point 103 without ever suspecting that they had been misled. The Himmelkompass (celestial compass) allowed the German navigators to navigate by the position of the sun rather than by magnetic field lines, so they could find Point 103 despite the Magnetofunk. According to former SS officer Wilhelm Langig, these two devices were the most closely guarded secrets of Hitler's Germany, although the real tragedy is that no one ever thought of calling their group Magnetofunk.

Low-risk cigarette?

In the 1960s The tobacco company Liggett & Myers created a product called XA, a cigarette from which most of the carcinogens were removed. According to court filings in the City and County of San Francisco's lawsuit against Phillip Morris, Inc., Liggett & Myers Chief Scientific Officer Dr. James Mold said Phillip Morris threatened to "crash" L&M if it did not adhere to the industry's non-solicitation agreement. disclosing information about the harmful health effects of smoking. By promoting a “safer” alternative, it would acknowledge the harms of tobacco use. The claim was denied on formal grounds, and Phillip Morris never addressed the issue of the allegations. Contrary to the published results of their own scientists' studies, which showed a reduction in cancer rates in mice exposed to XA smoke, Liggett & Myers released an official statement that rejected evidence of cancer in humans from tobacco use, and XA never saw the light of day.

TENS

A transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) device was created to alleviate pain impulses in the body without the use of drugs. In 1974, Johnson & Johnson bought out StimTech, one of the first companies to sell the machine, and left the TENS division cash-strapped. StimTech went to court, accusing Johnson & Johnson of deliberately stifling TENS technology to ensure sales of its flagship drug, Tylenol. Johnson & Johnson countered that the device had never proven its claims and that it was not cost-effective. The founders of StimTech sued for $170 million, although this decision was appealed and overturned on formal grounds. At the same time, the fact established by the court that the corporation created obstacles for the TENS device was never refuted.

Phoebus Cartel

In 1924-1939 Phillips, General Electric and Osram, according to a story published six years later in Time magazine, were colluding to gain control of the fledgling light bulb industry. The alleged cartel set prices and suppressed competing technologies that could produce lamps that were more economical and last longer. By the time the conspiracy ended, incandescent lamps had become the industry standard and had become the predominant source of artificial light throughout Europe and North America. Compact fluorescent lamps began to squeeze into the world lighting market no earlier than in the late nineties.

Coral Castle

How did Ed Leedskalnin build the massive Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida, from giant coral blocks weighing over 30 tons each, without any heavy equipment or outside help? There are many theories about this, including the use of anti-gravity devices, magnetic resonance and alien technology, but the answer may forever remain unknown. Leedskalnin died in 1951, leaving behind no written plans or clues regarding his working methods. The centerpiece of the castle, now a museum open to the public, is the 9-ton entrance gate, which was once moved with the touch of a finger. After the gate bearings wore out in the eighties, it took a team of five more than a week to fix them, although they never managed to get them to work as effortlessly as Leedskalnin's original masterpiece .

Hemp biofuel

The founder of the United States, George Washington, who is rumored to have said: “I can’t lie,” was an ardent supporter of hemp seeds. Yes, the only thing that is oppressed in this country more than an honest politician is hemp, which is inappropriately identified with marijuana, and therefore has become a victim of unfair slander. Meanwhile, government barriers are preventing hemp from becoming the leading crop in ethanol production, allowing environmentally harmful sources of the fuel like corn to take over the industry. Despite the fact that hemp requires fewer chemicals, water and is less expensive to process, it has never gained widespread acceptance. Experts also place the blame on (who else?) presidential candidates seeking votes to please Iowa corn growers.