What is an invention? Is it creativity, science or chance? It actually happens in different ways. About the essence of the concept, as well as where and how inventions were made, read further in the article.
An invention is ...
Often the invention is associated with a complex mechanism, which, as a rule, has many parts, wiring, circuits, and buttons. Currently, a new device is usually associated with electronics and nanotechnology.
Of course, this may be so. However, inventions existed before the digital age. According to one definition, an invention is an intellectual or technical structure, a mechanism that has novelty. This also includes the use of existing items for a new purpose.
An invention is a material means that is aimed at solving a problem. Usually the possibility of its creation is attributed only to a person, and all rights are governed by the laws of the country in which the invention was created.
The birth of inventions
In fact, inventions exist as much as the human race. From stone, wood and metal, ancient people created many useful tools for hunting, farming and farming.
They used choppers, stone tools, bows and arrows, a hoe. About 20 thousand years ago, they came up with a needle and primitive clothes. About 10 thousand years ago, a boat and a fishing net were created on the Mediterranean coast. A harpoon appeared in France about 13 thousand years ago.
An important invention today is writing. Its appearance is attributed to the fourth millennium BC, although before this period there were separate forms of information transfer. To do this, they used bones, sticks, pebbles, laying them out in a certain way in a certain amount. Incas, for example, had nodular writing.
Ancient civilizations
With the development of human society, the first states arose: Mesopotamia, the Kingdom of Egypt, China, India, Greece, Rome. They own many interesting discoveries. The first soap was created in Babylon, skates were invented in Scandinavia, and a chariot was invented in Mesopotamia.
In ancient Egypt, papyrus, cosmetics, oil-based ink and beeswax appeared. The Egyptians came up with a solar calendar and clock, candles, potter's wheel and door lock.
No less inventive were the Romans. As early as 168 BC, they created the first media. The essence of the invention consisted of a wooden plaque on which the latest news, events and orders of the emperor were placed. In ancient Rome, roads and illuminated tunnels first appeared.
Many discoveries and inventions of Ancient Greece formed the basis of modern technology. It was the Greeks who invented the sewer and water supply system. Although there is evidence that for the first time these structures appeared in the civilization of the Indus Valley. The Greeks came up with the idea of lighthouses, lighting torches on the coastal hills so that the ships would not get lost in the dark. In their cities there were public showers and central heating systems.
Medieval scholars and their inventions
The Middle Ages are usually counted from the decline of the Roman Empire in the 4th-5th centuries AD. In Europe, the Catholic Church gained power, restraining the development of science. Therefore, in the early Middle Ages, the center of culture and education shifted to Asian and Islamic countries.
Porcelain is invented in China; in the 9th century, black powder, woodcut and typesetting on a machine tool are created. They created a flamethrower and a gun. The first parachute and hang glider, apparently, appeared thanks to the resident of Cordoba Abbas ibn Firnas.
In the XIII-XV century, Europe is approaching the Renaissance. The influence of the church on art and science is weakening. They invent the first glass mirror, in Germany they come up with a buttonhole, Guttenberg creates a printing press. In England, John Mary proposes the idea of a toilet; in Italy, Salvino Pisa and Alessandro Spino create glasses for the far-sighted.
New and Modern
The period from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries became the loudest and brightest in the scientific history of mankind. Many discoveries made at the beginning of the 16th century belong to Leonardo da Vinci. He creates scissors, a catapult, a crossbow, a diagram for an airplane and an aircraft, etc.
Meanwhile, a musket is invented in Spain, the German Peter Heinlein invents a pocket watch, Conrad Gesner creates the first pencil, Oda Nabunaga is an armadillo. Galileo Galilei invents a telescope, thermometer, microscope, proportional compass.
Scientists and their inventions are less and less criticized by the church. In the XVII century, invented a steam turbine, barometer, vacuum pump, calculator, pendulum clock. In the 18th century, a balloon, a lightning rod, torsion scales, a steamer, electric light, and photographs appeared on paper.
In the XIX-XX centuries, electricity, nuclear physics, chemistry were studied. Lutdge creates a microphone, Edison creates an incandescent bulb, Karl Benz invents a car. Popov owns the creation of a radio receiver, the Wright brothers invent a plane, Cheremukhin - a helicopter. Glushko creates a jet engine, Cousteau - scuba gear.
Random inventions
Inventions and discoveries are not always the result of a clearly defined plan. Sometimes they occur by pure chance or as a result of errors. The remedy for many diseases, penicillin, Alexander Fleming discovered unexpectedly for himself, in one of the unwashed cups in the laboratory.
Harry Wesley Couver invented cyanoacrylate to create a clear plastic lens for optical sights. But when he poured the material into the form, he could not get it. It turned out that the substance does not hold its shape, but perfectly glues various structures. So the first superglue appeared.
We owe a complete accident to the appearance of unbreakable glass. Its inventor Eduard Benedictus once dropped a glass flask, which was covered with cracks, but for some reason did not break. The scientist found out that the glass was strengthened by the collodion solution remaining on the walls of the vessel.
But potato chips were created, rather, in spite. In response to the nit-picking of the annoying customer that his potatoes were too thick and soft, chef George Crum served him almost transparent slices. The client liked the dish, and the rest wished to try it. Since then, Saratog chips have appeared on the menu.