INVENTION |
YEAR |
INVENTOR |
COUNTRY |
Electric vacuum cleaner |
1901 |
Herbert Cecil Booth |
UK |
Air conditioning |
1902 |
Willis Haviland Carrier |
US |
Airplane, engine-powered |
1903 |
Wilbur & Orville Wright |
US |
Electrocardiogram (ECG, EKG) |
1903 |
Willem Einthoven |
The Netherlands |
Radar |
1904 |
Christian Hülsmeyer |
Germany |
Silicone |
1904 |
Frederic Stanley Kipping |
UK |
The spherical ball bearing |
1906 |
Sven Wingqvist |
Sweden |
Bakelite |
1907 |
Leo Hendrik Baekeland |
US |
Outboard boat motor |
1907 |
Ole Evinrude |
Norway/US |
Electric washing machine |
1907 |
Alva J. Fisher |
US |
The Geiger counter |
1908 |
Hans Geiger |
Germany |
Safety glass |
1909 |
Édouard Bénédictus |
France |
The zipper |
1910 |
Gideon Sundbäck |
Sweden |
Cellophane |
1911 |
Jacques E. Brandenberger |
Switzerland |
The assembly line |
1913 |
Henry Ford |
US |
Brassiere (the bra) |
1913 |
Mary Phelps Jacob |
US |
Stainless steel |
1914 |
Harry Brearley |
UK |
Sonar |
1915 |
Paul Langevin |
France |
The latex condom |
1916 |
Julius Fromm |
Poland |
The mobile home |
1919 |
Glenn H. Curtiss |
US |
Synthetic adhesives |
1920 |
Axel Karlsson |
Sweden |
Adhesive bandage |
1921 |
Earle Dickson |
US |
Insulin, extraction and preparation of |
1921 |
Sir Frederick Grant Banting, Charles H. Best |
Canada |
Refrigerators with no moving parts |
1921 |
Baltzar von Platen, Carl Munters |
Sweden |
Traffic lights, automatic |
1923 |
Garrett A. Morgan |
US |
Television |
1923 |
Vladimir Kosma Zworykin |
Russia |
Frozen foods |
1924 |
Clarence Birdseye |
US |
Loudspeaker |
1924 |
Chester W. Rice, Edward W. Kellogg |
US |
Metal detector |
1925 |
Gerhard Fisher |
Germany/US |
The aerosol can |
1926 |
Erik Rotheim |
Norway |
Liquid-fueled rocket engine |
1926 |
Robert H. Goddard |
US |
Baby food, prepared |
1927 |
Dorothy Gerber |
US |
Quartz clock |
1927 |
Warren A. Marrison |
Canada/US |
Television |
1927 |
Philo Taylor Farnsworth |
Russia |
The audiotape |
1928 |
Fritz Pfleumer |
Germany |
Electric razor |
1928 |
Jacob Schick |
US |
Electroencephalogram (EEG) |
1929 |
Hans Berger |
Germany |
The particle accelerator |
1929 |
Sir John Douglas Cockcroft, Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton |
Ireland/UK |
Jet engine |
1930 |
Sir Frank Whittle |
UK |
Scotch tape |
1930 |
Richard Drew (3M) |
US |
Paper towel |
1931 |
Arthur Scott |
US |
Stereophonic sound recording |
1931 |
Alan Dower Blumlein |
UK |
Metal beverage can |
1933 |
American Can Co. |
US |
Dry Milk |
1933 |
Ninni Kronberg |
Sweden |
Polyethylene |
1935 |
Eric Fawcett, Reginald Gibson |
UK |
Richter scale |
1935 |
Charles Francis Richter, Beno Gutenberg |
US |
Nylon |
1937 |
Wallace H. Carothers |
US |
Photocopying (xerography) |
1937 |
Chester F. Carlson |
US |
The blood bank |
1938 |
Charles Richard Drew |
US |
Fiber glass |
1938 |
Owens Corning (corp.) |
US |
The ballpoint pen |
1938 |
Lazlo Biro |
Hungary |
Teflon |
1938 |
Roy Plunkett |
US |
Computer, electronic digital |
1939 |
John V. Atanasoff, Clifford E. Berry |
US |
The helicopter |
1939 |
Igor Sikorsky |
Russia/US |
Integrated telephone handset (Ericofon) |
1940 |
Ralph Lysell, Gösta Thames |
Sweden |
Xylocaine local anesthetic |
1941 |
Nils Löfgren, Bengt Lundqvist |
Sweden |
The first Tetra Pak package: Tetrahedrons |
1944 |
Erik Wallenberg |
Sweden |
Microwave oven |
1945 |
Percy L. Spencer |
US |
Carbon-14 dating |
1946 |
Willard F. Libby |
US |
Freeze-dried foods |
1946 |
Earl W. Flosdorf |
US |
Mobile telephone |
1946 |
Bell Laboratories |
US |
The single-lens reflex camera |
1948 |
Victor Hasselblad |
Sweden |
The credit card |
1950 |
Frank McNamara, Ralph Schneider (Diners' Club) |
US |
Disposable diapers |
1950 |
Marion Donovan |
US |
High Voltage Direct Current |
1950 |
Uno Lamm |
Sweden |
The respirator |
1950 |
Carl Gunnar Engström |
Sweden |
White correction fluid |
1951 |
Bette Nesmith |
US |
Videotape |
1951 |
Charles Ginsburg |
US |
Airbag, automotive |
1952 |
John Hetrick |
US |
Bar code |
1952 |
Joseph Woodland |
US |
Cardiovascular heart-lung machine |
1952 |
Åke Senning |
Sweden |
Defibrillator |
1952 |
Paul M. Zoll |
US |
Cardiac pacemaker |
1952 |
Paul M. Zoll |
US |
Titanium screws for dental treatment |
1952 |
Per-Ingvar Brånemark |
Sweden |
Ultrasound |
1953 |
Carl Hellmuth Hertz, Inge Edler |
Sweden |
Fiber optics |
1955 |
Narinder S. Kapany |
India |
Respirator |
1955 |
Forrest M. Bird |
US |
Music synthesizer, |
1955 |
Harry Olson, Herbert Belar |
US |
The disposable diaper |
1955 |
??? Libero |
Sweden |
Satellite, successful artificial earth |
1957 |
Sergey Korolyov, et al. |
USSR |
The safety belt (with three points) |
1957 |
Bengt Odelgard, Per-Olof Weman, Stig Lindgren, Nils Bohlin |
Sweden |
L-dopa |
1958 |
Arvid Carlsson |
Sweden |
The pacemaker |
1958 |
Rune Elmqvist |
Sweden |
Ultrasound imaging, obstetric |
1958 |
Ian Donald |
UK |
Seat belt, automotive shoulder |
1959 |
Nils Bohlin (Volvo) |
Sweden |
Satellite, communications |
1960 |
John Robinson Pierce |
US |
Freezing foods |
1961 |
Per Oscar Persson/Göran Lundahl |
Sweden |
Building Elevator |
1962 |
Alvar Lindmark |
Sweden |
Light-emitting diode (LED) |
1962 |
Nick Holonyak, Jr. |
US |
Retractable seat belt in cars. |
1962 |
Hans Karlsson |
Sweden |
Liquid crystal display (LCD) |
1963 |
George Heilmeier |
US |
Computer mouse |
1963 |
Douglas Engelbart |
US |
Rear-facing car seat |
1963 |
Bertil Aldman |
Sweden |
Kidney machine |
1965 |
Nils Alwall |
Sweden |
calculator, electronic hand-held |
1967 |
Jack S. Kilby |
US |
Automated teller machine (ATM) |
1968 |
Don Wetzel |
US |
The gamma Knife |
1968 |
Lars Leksell |
Sweden |
Internet |
1969 |
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) at the Dept. of Defense |
US |
Construction Crane / Crane Tower |
1970 |
Elis Lindén |
Sweden |
Digital wristwatch |
1970 |
John M. Bergey |
US |
Electronic mail (e-mail) |
1971 |
Ray Tomlinson |
US |
Computed tomography (CT scan, CAT scan) |
1972 |
Godfrey Hounsfield, Allan Cormack |
UK, US |
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) |
1974 |
Raymond Damadian, Paul Lauterbur |
US |
Geothermal heat |
1975 |
Sten Engwall |
Sweden |
Losec |
1979 |
Sven Erik Sjöstrand, Ivan Östholm |
Sweden |
Computer Graphics |
1981 |
Håkan Lans |
Sweden |
Synthetic skin |
1981 |
Ioannis V. Yannas, John F. Burke |
US |
DNA fingerprinting |
1984 |
Alec Jeffreys |
UK |
Mobile telephony; NMT and GSM |
1989 |
Östen Mäkitalo |
Sweden |
Virtual reality |
1989 |
Jaron Lanier |
US |
World Wide Web |
1989 |
Tim Berners-Lee |
UK |
Application of GPS system for positioning |
1991 |
Håkan Lans |
Sweden |
Sedimentation measurement and Triomix / blood analysis |
1994 |
Barbro Hjalmarsson |
Sweden |
The Nicotine Gum |
1995 |
Ove Fernö |
Sweden |
Audio compression, AAC (www standard) |
1997 |
Lars Liljeryd |
Sweden |
Viagra |
1997 |
Pfizer Inc. |
US |
The Bluetoth Standard |
1998 |
Sven Mattisson, Jaap Haartsen, Örjan Johansson |
Sweden |
Map of the human protein |
2003 |
Mathias Uhlén |
Sweden |
Skype, Kazaa |
2003 |
Niklas Zennström |
Sweden |
Clean water from sunlight |
2005 |
Petra Wadström |
Sweden |
Peepoo - disposable toilet |
2003 |
Anders Wilhelmson |
Sweden |
Spotify |
2006 |
Daniel Ek, Martin Lorentzon |
Sweden |