Top 10 of The Worlds Most Important Inventions of All Time

Humans have conceived and created some astonishing — and occasionally unorthodox — inventions. From the moment someone first struck a rock to craft a sharp-edged tool, to the debut of the wheel, and the development of Mars rovers and the Internet, several key advancements stand out as particularly revolutionary.

1. The Light Bulb

The invention of the light bulb transformed our world by removing our dependence on natural light, allowing us to be productive at any time, day or night.

Several inventors were instrumental in developing this revolutionary technology throughout the 1800s. Thomas Edison is credited as the primary inventor because he created a fully functional lighting system in 1879, including a generator, wiring, and a carbon-filament bulb like the one pictured above.

2. The Compass

This navigational device has been a major force in human exploration. The earliest compasses, made of lodestone, were developed in China between 300 and 200 B.C.

Without the compass, humanity might never have discovered the extent of our surroundings on Earth.

3. Cars

Cars have completely transformed the way we travel, reshaping the design of our cities and thrusting the concept of the assembly line into the mainstream.

Although modern cars were invented in the late 19th century by several individuals, special credit goes to the German engineer Karl Benz, who created what is considered the first practical motorcar in 1885.

4. The Telephone

Several inventors did pioneering work on electronic voice transmission, many of whom later filed intellectual property lawsuits when telephone use exploded.

However, it was the Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell who was the first to be awarded a patent for the electric telephone on March 7, 1876. Three days later, Bell made the first telephone call to his assistant, Thomas Watson, saying, "Mr. Watson, come here — I want to see you," according to author A. Edward Evenson.

5. The Computer

Invented in the 1970s, personal computers greatly expanded human capabilities. While your smartphone is more powerful, one of the earliest PCs was introduced in 1974 by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) via a mail-order computer kit called the Altair.

From there, companies like Apple, Microsoft, and IBM have redefined personal computing.

6. Electricity

The utilization of electricity is a process to which a number of bright minds have contributed over thousands of years, dating back to Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, when Thales of Miletus conducted the earliest research into this phenomenon.

The 18th-century American polymath Benjamin Franklin is generally credited with significantly furthering our understanding of electricity, even if he did not discover it. It’s hard to overestimate the importance of electricity, as it powers the majority of our gadgets and shapes our way of life.

7. Steel

Contrary to popular belief, steel is not a naturally occurring metal but an alloy composed mostly of iron and a small percentage of carbon.

The use of various metals, such as iron and bronze, began over 4,000 years ago, but steel became prominent during the Industrial Revolution. Mass production of steel began in the 1850s using the “Bessemer Process,” a technique for creating steel from molten pig iron. Since then, steel has been integral to the construction of everything from bridges and houses to engines and skyscrapers.

8. Antibiotics

Joseph Lister and Louis Pasteur were the first to wage war against bacteria, but it was Alexander Fleming who propelled the medical world forward with his accidental discovery of the bacteria-inhibiting mold known as penicillin in 1928.

Penicillin marked a major advancement in the field of antibiotics and was widely used throughout the 20th century. Without antibiotics, nearly half of the world’s population might have died from viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Today, antibiotics are widely available, and fewer people die each year from illnesses such as the flu, which could have been life-threatening in the late 1800s.

9. The Clock

The obelisks constructed by ancient Egyptians around 3,500 B.C.E. were among the earliest models of shadow clocks. The sundial, which emerged about two thousand years later, was another Egyptian innovation.

Both were precursors to the time-keeping instruments we use today.

10. The Wheel

One of humanity’s greatest and most revolutionary inventions was the simple wheel. Before its invention in 3500 B.C., humans were severely limited in how much they could transport over land and how far they could travel.

Interestingly, connecting a stationary platform to the rolling cylinder was the most challenging part of the invention, according to David Anthony, a professor of anthropology at Hartwick College.

Without the wheel, we would likely have no cars, gears, computers, or many of the tools we use in daily life, as most machinery relies on wheels. We owe a great debt to our ancestors for creating something as vital as the wheel.