TOP 10 INVENTIONS | WEEK #2

Welcome back everyone! 

This week I have posted what I believe to be the top 10 technological advancements of all time that have had the greatest impact on society. Keep in mind that this is simply my opinion, and I encourage any creative discussion and debate on my selections. My top 10 is in no particular order. I have included my slide presentation and transposed the content at the bottom of this blog post. Enjoy!

1) Internet

• The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link several billion devices worldwide. 
• The US Department of Defense awarded contracts as early as the 1960s for packet network systems, including the development of the ARPANET (which would become the first network to use the Internet Protocol.) 
• The Internet contributes greatly to the creation of an ever-increasing global information database. Thus its importance can not be over-emphasized. Its importance includes the ability to easily deliver information in any format, to/from a wide range of computing platforms. In addition to information from external sources, it could also be used as a mechanism to share information within an enterprise. Several large companies have hundreds of internal servers, and the number is growing rapidly. The Internet provides access to mail, interactive conferences, network news, and rich information resources. In summary, the Internet has made the world “smaller” by allowing us to communicate and deliver and gather information more effectively and efficiently than we could before. 

2) Wheel

• A circular object that revolves on an axle and is fixed below a vehicle or other object to enable it to move easily over the ground. 
• Evidence of wheeled vehicles appears from the second half of the 4th millennium BC, near-simultaneously in Mesopotamia, the Northern Caucasus, and Central Europe, so that the question of which culture originally invented the wheeled vehicle is still unsolved. 
• Wheels have been historically important because they have allowed transportation and trade to happen more easily than they otherwise would. They have also made warfare more mobile. These two factors have contributed to the constant expansion of civilizations to the point where we now have a very interconnected world system. The wheel allowed people to engage in peaceful trade more easily. It allowed goods to be pulled in carts. Eventually, it allowed the invention of railroad cars and automobiles. These factors increased the amount of contact between areas and regions. They helped to create a situation in which both war and trade tended to help do away with small countries and create bigger countries. This helped bring about the situation we now have with large countries that are in close contact due to trade. 

3) Refrigeration

• Refrigeration is a process in which work is done to move heat from one location to another. The work of heat transport is traditionally driven by mechanical work, but can also be driven by heat, magnetism, electricity, laser, or other means. 
• In 1842, John Gorrie created a system capable of refrigerating water to produce ice. Although it was a commercial failure, it inspired inventors around of the world to produce modern refrigeration. 
• The most common, and arguably most important, use for refrigeration is food preservation. It used to be that people had to go to a market every day and buy fresh groceries before they perished. Early methods of food preservation such as cold cellars and salting were expensive, difficult to regulate, and didn’t maintain the same quality as what we are used to today. After the discovery of bacteria the importance of refrigeration became clear. Low temperatures slow chemical and biological processes including bacterial growth which spoils food. Modern refrigeration provides an environment too cold for harmful bacteria to flourish, keeping people healthy. Refrigeration, especially at very low temperatures, has had an incredible impact on the medical world as well. Human tissue deteriorates quickly when it is not supported by a body.

4) Television

• A system for transmitting visual images and sound that are reproduced on screens, chiefly used to broadcast programs for entertainment, information, and education. 
• The invention of the television was the work of many individuals in the 19th and early 20th century. Individuals and corporations competed in various parts of the world to deliver a device that superseded previous technology. 
• Most households today have at least one television set. First of all, there are many different types of programs on television. The viewer can watch a weather report to prepare for the day, cartoons and sport for relaxation and fun, and school programs, documentaries and the news to learn about the world. Furthermore, advertisements inform us about products and new ideas. Because TV is a medium that combines moving, color images and sound, it resembles real life, so viewers can identify with what they see. Modern technology ensures that the content is up to date meaning that information is available almost anywhere at any time. In summary, TVs serve to fulfill our needs for entertainment and knowledge through an up to date and realistic medium that we can resonate with.

5) Penicillin

• An antibiotic or group of antibiotics produced naturally by certain blue molds, and now usually prepared synthetically. 
• Penicillin was discovered in London in September of 1928. Dr. Alexander Fleming, the bacteriologist on duty at St. Mary’s Hospital, returned from a summer vacation in Scotland to find a mold called Penicillium notatum had contaminated his Petri dishes. 
• The discovery of penicillin changed the world of medicine enormously. With its development, infections that were previously severe and often fatal, like bacterial endocarditis, bacterial meningitis and pneumococcal pneumonia, could be easily treated. Even dating all the way back to World War II and today with the war in Iraq, soldiers experienced injuries that would have been fatal without penicillin and other antibiotics that were developed subsequently. Penicillin helped reduce the number of deaths and amputations of troops during World War II. According to records, there were only 400 million units of penicillin available during the first five months of 1943; by the time World War II ended, U.S. companies were making 650 billion units a month.

6) Airplane

• A powered flying vehicle with fixed wings and a weight greater than that of the air it displaces. 
• The Wright brothers flights in 1903 are recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the standard setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics, as "the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight”. 
• The significance of development of the airplane has had widespread ramifications on the society of the world. Airplanes have changed the way people travel and conduct wars. At times, they have also been centerpieces in popular culture, influencing generations of Americans and people worldwide. Airplanes are important, because they allow people and goods to be transported quickly over great distances and over all types of terrain. Before the advent of safe and convenient travel by airplane, journeys took much longer and were more difficult. Long voyages by ship are no longer a necessity to cross the world's oceans. Letters and packages arrive to distant destinations quickly and safely through air transport. Airplanes deliver supplies quickly to remote locations in emergency situations and restock military operations. 

7) Cotton Gin

• A machine for separating cotton from its seeds. 
• The modern mechanical cotton gin was invented in the United States in 1793 by Eli Whitney (1765–1825). Whitney applied for a patent on October 28, 1793; the patent was granted on March 14, 1794, but was not validated until 1807. 
• The cotton gin made cotton the principle cash crop. Prior to the cotton gin the principle cash crop was tobacco. Better than half the day was wasted deseeding the cotton by hand, meaning that less cotton could actually be picked. Plus if you wanted to increase cotton production by having a person do nothing but pick the cotton, you then either had to have a second person do nothing but deseed and clean the cotton or pick one day and deseed and clean the next. Both options were wasteful, even with slave labor. After the advent of the cotton gin, it became much easier to deseed cotton, causing the price of cotton to decrease, making cotton more affordable, and allowing people to sell even more because they were now able to produce more cotton a day.

8) Telephone

• A system that converts acoustic vibrations to electrical signals in order to transmit sound, typically voices, over a distance using wire or radio. 
• Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. Tivadar Puskás invented the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. 
• The telephone is a communication device that people are still using today. The advent of the telephone changed the way we talk to people and access information forever. With the telephone people became more tuned in to the issues that were happening all around them. Through use of the telephone people could talk to each other for longer periods of time and receive information faster than they could by mail. The telephone ushered in a new era. Businesses and advertisements started using the telephone as a means of getting through to people. When important meetings or information came up people would relay it using the telephone. Overall, the telephone ushered in a new era of communication and information gathering.

9) Automobile

• A road vehicle, typically with four wheels, powered by an internal combustion engine or electric motor and able to carry a small number of people. 
• Starting in the late 1700's, European engineers began tinkering with motor powered vehicles. Steam, combustion, and electrical motors had all been attempted by the mid 1800's. By the 1900's, the combustion engine became the engine of choice. 
• The automobile has radically changed city life by accelerating the outward expansion of population into the suburbs. The suburban trend is emphasized by the fact that highway transportation encourages business and industry to move outward to sites where land is cheaper, where access by car and truck is easier than in crowded cities, and where space is available for their one or two story structures. Before the automobile, people both lived in the city and worked in the city, or lived in the country and worked on a farm. Because of the automobile, the growth of suburbs has allowed people to live on the outskirts of the city and be able to work in the city by commuting. New jobs due to the impact of the automobile such as fast food, city/highway construction, state patrol/police, etc. allow more employment for the world's growing population. 

10) Smartphone

• A cellular phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded applications. 
• In 2007, Apple Inc. introduced the iPhone, one of the first mobile phones to use a multi-touch interface. The iPhone was notable for its use of a large touchscreen for direct finger input as its main means of interaction, instead of a stylus, keyboard, or keypad typical for smartphones at the time 
• Smart phones are popular among people for the applications they offer to the users. People find it quite easier to communicate with people in a different way and also access different things with the features that smartphones support. People enjoy a lot of benefits in various forms of their daily work. They also get things done in quick time in an efficient manner. Smartphones offer: better means of communication, great exposure to the latest news, ways to personally development, simple ways to access applications, and a platform to communicate more effectively. Smartphones also serve a great entertainment value and allow people to connect more easily with each other by providing a platform through which users can access their social media accounts on the go.