Illustration by Zohar Lazar

STANDARDS

Common Core: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, RH.6-8.9, WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.7, RI.6-8.1, RI.6-8.2, RI.6-8.4, RI.6-8.7, RI.6-8.9, W.6-8.4, W.6-8.7, SL.6-8.1

NCSS: Culture • Time, Continuity, and Change • Individuals, Groups, and Institutions • Science, Technology, and Society • Production, Distribution, and Consumption

FLASHBACK

5 Inventions That Changed the World

Almost everything around you, from the smartest phone to the simplest sheet of paper, began as an idea in someone’s mind. Throughout the ages, people around the world have dreamed up new ways to solve problems and satisfy needs. But some inventions do more than that—they alter the course of history. Read on to discover the backstories of some of the most important innovations of all time.

Printing Press With Movable Type
Invented in Germany around 1439

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

Think about your favorite book. How much time would it take you to copy it entirely by hand? In the early 1400s, most books were still made that way. Sounds exhausting, right?

German inventor Johannes Gutenberg had a better idea. He developed a printing press with individual metal letters that could be rearranged and reused many times to print an entire page of text at once. 

Here’s how it worked: The metal letters were set in place to spell out a section of text, then coated with ink. That block of text was then hand cranked onto a sheet of paper, making a copy. The printing press could create about 250 pages an hour. That made it possible to mass-produce printed materials for the first time.

In 1455, Gutenberg had a hit with his first major effort—a printing of the Bible. Now known as the Gutenberg Bible, it’s widely considered the first modern book. Gutenberg printed about 180 copies. (If you happen to find an original copy, hang on to it—it’s worth more than $35 million today!) 

Gutenberg’s invention made books cheaper and more accessible for ordinary people. It also allowed scholars to share their knowledge with a wide audience. That helped spread the wealth of ideas in art, culture, and science that sprang up in Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries—a period known as the Renaissance—which led to even more key innovations.

Illustration by Zohar Lazar

Papyrus Paper
Invented in Egypt around 3000 B.C.

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

Imagine discovering something life-altering right in your backyard. That’s what happened to the ancient Egyptians. They found a tall green reed called papyrus growing on the muddy banks of the Nile River delta. It was sturdy, plentiful, and free, and Egyptians used it to construct huts, temples, and boats. Eventually, that humble swamp plant would go on to change civilization.

More than 5,000 years ago, around 3000 B.C., the Egyptians began turning papyrus plants into paper. How? Workers soaked papyrus stems, then peeled away the outer layers to reveal the inner white part, known as the pith. They sliced the pith thinly and laid the strips parallel to each other, overlapping just slightly, to form a sheet. More strips were placed on top, at right angles to the first layer. Finally, the two layers were pressed together until they dried to form a single page.

It was a complicated process, but at the time, many people were still carving their writings into stone or metal! In comparison, producing sheets of paper from papyrus was a breeze. 

The Egyptians wisely kept their paper-making method a secret and made big bucks exporting their invention to the world for thousands of years. That paper gave people near and far a standard, durable medium on which to record their ideas. The scrolls and sheets produced in Egypt allowed people to record the news-making events of the day—descriptions that we now study as ancient history. In fact, countless words written on papyrus continue to inform and inspire the world today. 

Illustration by Zohar Lazar

Wheel and Axle
Invented in Mesopotamia around 3500 B.C.  

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

The wheel is often said to be humanity’s greatest invention. But for a wheel to be helpful, it needs an axle (a stationary pole) on which to turn. It’s the combination of wheel and axle that allows people to move objects using less force. So who thought of putting the two together?

Probably ancient smarties in Mesopotamia, a historical region that includes present-day Iraq and parts of Iran, Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey. A potter’s wheel more than 5,500 years old found there suggests that Sumerians, who occupied the region from about 4100 B.C. to 1750 B.C., had a handle on wheel-and-axle mechanics. Wheeled transport in the form of carts and wagons followed.

“Most [experts] assume that the earliest wagons were invented in Mesopotamia, which was urban and therefore more sophisticated than the tribal societies of Europe [at the time],” writes anthropologist David Anthony in his book The Horse, the Wheel, and Language. Still, he notes, there’s evidence that multiple cultures had similar ideas around the same time. 

What’s indisputable is that moving heavy stuff on wheels was a game changer. Previously, it might have taken a whole village (really!) to lug stones, lumber, or crops. Wheeled transport reduced people’s reliance on group labor to get things done, allowing societies to spread out. Single-family farms sprouted up. Trade expanded as people could move large amounts of goods long distances on carts. And over time, as wheeled vehicles became really popular, humans invented traffic jams!

Illustration by Zohar Lazar

Electric Light Bulb
Invented in the United States in 1879

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

In the mid-1800s, when Thomas Edison was a kid, people depended on candles, oil lamps, or gas lamps for indoor light. Gaslight was the best option, but it had serious drawbacks: Gas was expensive and smelly, and it could potentially explode!

Edison, an inventor who would go on to receive a whopping 1,093 U.S. patents, knew electricity was the answer. Other inventors at the time knew this too. The basic idea was that wires would carry electric currents to a thin piece of material—called a filament—inside a glass bulb. As the filament grew hotter, it would glow, producing light. 

The trouble was finding the ideal material for the filament. It had to burn brightly, last for hours at a time, and be affordable. Many people around the world were trying to come up with a practical electric light bulb. But Edison was determined to be the first to succeed. “The electric light is the light of the future, and it will be my light,” he wrote. 

Slideshow

Edison struggled for more than a year to find an inexpensive filament that could carry an electric current and stay bright. He and his team tried more than 3,000 different materials—from spiderwebs to human hair—before discovering that cotton thread covered in carbon and baked to the right temperature did the trick. On October 22, 1879, Edison’s electric light bulb lit up—and shone brightly for more than 13 hours. 

Edison and other inventors continued to improve the light bulb in the years that followed. As they did, electric light allowed people to light entire homes, buildings, and even cities—no matter the time of day. For the first time, people could work—and play—around the clock.

Illustration by Zohar Lazar

Compass
Invented in China during the 11th century

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

As early as the Han Dynasty, which began around 206 B.C., Chinese scholars started experimenting with what they thought was a magical type of rock. They had found that a thin piece of the rock aligned itself north and south when it was suspended at its center by a thread. 

As it turned out, the rocks were lodestones—naturally magnetized pieces of the mineral magnetite. The stones also temporarily magnetized metal objects, such as needles, if rubbed against them. That discovery put China on the path to developing the first magnetic compasses centuries later. 

Historians believe Chinese thinkers began rubbing lodestones against needles around the 11th century to magnetize them for navigation. By the 13th century, the magnetic compass had spread throughout the Middle East and Europe.

Before the invention of the compass, people relied on the sun, the stars, and familiar landmarks to find their way. On dark, cloudy nights, they just hoped for the best. The compass, however, enabled sailors to confidently steer ships on a set course. People could transport goods long distances without getting lost. Such advancements eventually encouraged foreign trade.

As compasses improved over time, they became essential. Even today, in a world of GPS and map apps, high-tech compasses are still built into airplanes and ships to help guide people and goods to their destinations all over the world.

Best Ideas Ever?

Sure, other inventions radically changed life around the world. But things just wouldn’t be as fun without these inventions.

stas11/Shutterstock.com

Emojis
Japanese designer Shigetaka Kurita took inspiration from manga comics when creating the first 176 emojis in 1999. Today, more than 3,500 emojis provide the world with a common digital language.

Nataly Studio/Shutterstock.com

Chocolate
The Olmec people, who lived in what is now Mexico from about 1200 B.C. to 400 B.C., cultivated the first cacao beans. Members of that ancient civilization drank their chocolate as medicine.

Martial Red/Shutterstock.com

Wi-Fi
In 1941, movie star and inventor Hedy Lamarr came up with a way to send radio signals over multiple frequencies to avoid detection. Her idea laid the groundwork for the development of the secure Wi-Fi we now use to send texts and emails. 

SKILL SPOTLIGHT: Research

More Great Innovations! 
Conduct research to identify another invention that changed the world, such as the telephone, the internet, or GPS. Then answer the questions below.

1. WHAT is the invention?

2. WHO invented it?

3. WHEN was it invented?

4. WHERE was it invented?

5. WHY was it invented?

6. HOW did it change the world?

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