Inventions History

What are the ten contenders for the best invention of all time? Which single technological development has led to the human race taking a bigger leap that any other? Is it NASA’s Curiosity Rover, the end result of more than 60 years of space exploration, the summation of so many different technological strands? Or is it the internet as Redditors would no doubt suggest? Could it be the clock, counting down the days until our technological singularity?

A unique tour around the world in search of the great thinkers of our time and their next big ideas. With the world at the threshold of profound changes, the questions become: Where are the philosophers? Where are the great thinkers of today? Where is the next Jefferson, Curie, or Mandela? Which technologies and changes in the nature of life will they harness, embrace, or be inspired by?

Sure, almost all kids know Benjamin Franklin as one of America's Founding Fathers, a man with a hand in both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. And they may even have some vague idea that he once flew a kite during a lightning storm. What Kathleen Krull sets out to do in this very different biography is show Ben Franklin as the natural philosopher (the term for scientists back in the 1700s), whose experiments led to important discoveries about the nature of electricity - including his famous demonstration that electricity and lightning were one and the same.

Winner of the Caldecott Medal, this stunning audiobook depicts Louis Bleriot's historic first cross-Channel flight.

What do libraries, streetlights, and fire stations have in common? What about bifocal lenses and the odometer? Sayings like "haste makes waste?" Benjamin Franklin was a man of many talents: a scientist who experimented with electricity; a diplomat who served as envoy to France and negotiated peace with England; a mapmaker, printer, and writer famous for his Poor Richard's Almanack.

Benjamin Franklin is renowned for his landmark inventions, including bifocals, the Franklin stove, and the lightning rod. Yet his own favorite invention is unknown to the general public. The glass armonica, the first musical instrument invented by an American, was constructed of stacked glass bowls and played by rubbing one's fingers on the rims. It was so popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries that Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, and Strauss composed for it. In Angelic Music, Corey Mead describes how Franklin's instrument fell out of popular favor.

Accidents happen. Sometimes that’s a good thing. Did you realize cheese puffs, Coca-Cola, Bubble Wrap, and the Post-it note were all invented by accident? This audiobook covers fascinating origin stories of 60 everyday items that were invented by accident; that is, the inventor did not expect to make the product when the product was discovered. Not only will this audiobook share amazing stories about everyday products, but it will also inspire you. We all encounter things that go wrong, and this audiobook reminds us that when life gives lemons, we can make lemonade.

On March 9, 1862, the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia met in the Battle of Hampton Roads—the first time ironclad vessels would engage each other in combat. For four hours the two ships pummeled one another as thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers and civilians watched from the shorelines. Although the battle ended in a draw, this engagement would change the nature of naval warfare by informing both vessel design and battle tactics.

Award-winning author Philip Dray delves into the lesser-known side of an American icon in Stealing God's Thunder. Benjamin Franklin, more often viewed as a statesman and founding father than as a man of science, challenged religion, science, and reason with his inventions. But in a time when everything was blamed on sin, it was the lightning rod, Franklin's attempt to control the heavens, that caused the greatest controversy.

What will our world be like in the year 2010? Where will we work? How will we travel? What kind of advances can we expect in medicine and technology? Probable Tomorrows offers a look into the near-future advances, inventions, products, services, and everyday conveniences that will change how people live and work.

Voyages of discovery, inventions, the revival of classical learning, and the advent of science contributed to the intellectual upheavals of this creative period, and are reflected in its literature and art. Hudson focuses on the one thread of continuity that he sees as both the seed and the fruit of this exciting era: the awakening of secular humanism and the emergence of the individual. This history gives the listener a lucid, perceptive analysis of the splendid Renaissance.

Discover the extraordinary stories behind everyday things! Did you know that the ice cream sundae was invented because of a law forbidding the sale of ice cream on Sundays? Or that the first motorcycle was really just a tricycle with a motor? Would you believe that Mickey Mouse started out as a rabbit? Arranged in alphabetical order, this fascinating book is packed with the stories behind these and over 100 more inventions.

Fresh from successful flights before royalty in Europe, and soon after thrilling hundreds of thousands of people by flying around the Statue of Liberty, in the fall of 1909 Wilbur and Orville Wright decided the time was right to begin manufacturing their airplanes for sale. Backed by Wall Street tycoons, including August Belmont, Cornelius Vanderbilt III, and Andrew Freedman, the brothers formed the Wright Company.

Rail transport, which was created by Stephenson and was a crucial element of the Industrial Revolution, was just one of the most essential innovative developments of the 19th century. The Mobility No. 1 was the first steam engine to transport guests on a public railway, the Stockton and Darlington Train, in 1825. It was built by George and his child Robert's company, Robert Stephenson and Business.

Entering World War II, America was emerging as a world power. Their geographic isolation from World War I allowed them to recover and prosper in the interwar era, and food invention during the Depression carried into World War II. Food items such as SPAM and M&Ms profoundly impacted the military, and were later incorporated into some American dishes after the war.

Who can foretell India's future? Mr. Joshi is a fortune teller in a slum in south Delhi who uses a soothsaying green parrot to make predictions. When Adam Roberts visited him in 2012, Joshi's parrot declared that India was destined to become the most powerful nation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Through vivid storytelling and insight, Superfast Primetime Ultimate Nation examines the problems and promises of fast-growing India to reveal how it might reach its full potential and become, as Mr. Joshi's parrot predicted, a truly powerful nation.

Tech is everywhere! Learn more about the innovators who created the technology world. These innovators are women, people of color, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community who are ready to be recognized.

The late 19th century was a period of explosive technological creativity, but arguably the most important invention of all was Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb. Unveiled in his Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratory in 1879, the light bulb overwhelmed the American public with the sense of the birth of a new age. More than any other invention, the electric light marked the arrival of modernity.

In 2007, the X Prize Foundation announced that it would give $10 million to anyone who could build a safe, mass-producible car that could travel one hundred miles on the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas. The challenge attracted more than one hundred teams from all over the world, including dozens of amateurs. Many designed their cars entirely from scratch, rejecting decades of thinking about what a car should look like.

Practical guide showing inventors how to develop, prototype, protect, and market their inventions. Bob is an engineer with over 25 years experience developing and marketing products. He used his corporate and entrepreneurial experience to develop this step-by-step guide to help fellow inventors develop their products using a "boot strapping" approach. This helps inventors to successfully develop and market their inventions without breaking the bank.