The abacus, which is said to have been first used during the Han Dynasty in China, overtook the “oldest invention of mankind” fire and took first place in the list of “101 inventions that changed the world”.
The British daily Independent’s Sunday edition introduced ‘101 inventions that changed the world’, and it is a classic calculation tool with the first recorded use in documents during the Han dynasty in AD 190, but it is still faster than electronic calculators. The abacus capable of calculating speed was selected and announced as the best invention.
On the other hand, fire, the oldest invention, ranked only 31st. The newspaper explained the reason for this, saying, “Fire, like water and air, was always there, but only contributed to the development of civilization after humans invented a way to control it 590,000 years ago.”
The second place is the spiral pump invented by Archimedes, an ancient Greek mathematician who is famous for his ‘Eureka Anecdote’. Built to pump water from the bottom of cracked ships, these pumps were used to pump water to the Babylonian Hanging Gardens, the Seven Wonders of the World, in the 7th century BC, and are still used in some sewage treatment and irrigation facilities today. are using
Also, as the latest invention, the MP3 player iPod released by Apple in 2001 (No. 41) was selected.
Guns, which are ‘fire-breathing weapons,’ and matches, which are ‘a tool for making fires quickly, easily, and safely’, also ranked 39th and 85th, respectively.
‘The victory of civilization’ such as a button first used in 1235 (13th) or an eraser invented in 1770 (28th), such as mobile phones (54th) and personal computers (60th), which can be said to be necessities of modern people It also drew attention to being on a higher ranking. Until the British engineer Edward Nine invented the rubber eraser, painters had to use breadcrumbs.
Digital cameras, digital TV recording devices, and electronic watches were ranked 22nd and 24th side by side. It was the ‘bicycle craze’ of middle-class women in the 19th century that encouraged the watch to come down from the breast pocket, which was its original home, to the wrist.
Meanwhile, bras and electric shavers also ranked 12th and 27th respectively, representing women and men. New York socialite ‘Queen Bee’ Mary Phelps-Jacob released a bra made of handkerchiefs and ribbons in 1913 to free women from ugly corsets. He saved sensitive-skinned men who were agonizing over whether to grow a beard.
Condoms, a contraceptive device that men and women need together to avoid unwanted pregnancies, also ranked 20th between bras and electric razors.
The following is a list of top 30 inventions among 101 inventions that changed the world.
▲ No. 1 abacus, 190 years
▲ 2nd place Archimedes’ screw pump, 700 BC
▲ 3rd place aspirin, 1899
▲ 4th place Atari 2600 home game console, 1977
▲ 5th barbed wire fence, 1873
▲ Barcode #6, 1973
▲ 7th battery, 1800
▲ No. 8 bicycle, 1861
▲ 9. Byro (the first brand of ballpoint pen), 1938
▲ 10th Blackberry (smartphone capable of wireless internet), 1999
▲ 11th bow and arrow, 30,000 BC
▲ No. 12 Bra, 1913
▲ 13th button, 1235
▲ 14th Camcorder, 1983
▲ 15th camera, 1826
▲ No. 16 pacemaker, 1958
▲ 17th CD, 1965
▲ No. 18 Clockwork Radio, 1991
▲ 19th compass, 1190
▲ No. 20 condoms, 1640
▲ No. 21 credit card, 1950
▲ 22nd digital camera, 1975
▲ 23rd digital TV recorder, 1999
▲ 24th electronic watch, 1972
▲ 25th North, 12,000 BC
▲ 26th dynamite, 1867
▲ 27th electric shaver, 1928
▲ No. 28 Eraser, 1770
▲ No. 29 fax machine, 1843
▲ No. 30 Fiber Optic Fiber, 1966
