The greatest innovations in modern time
None of the below listed inventions have qualified for a Nobel prize as 'most important invention' (according to the testament wording)
 
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