Top 10 Inventors of all Time

10 great inventors who helped change the world.

1. Thomas Edison (1847 – 1931)
   
   Edison filed over 1,000 patents. He developed and innovated a wide range of products from the electric light bulb to the phonograph and motion picture camera.
   
   
2. The Wright Brothers
   
   Successfully designed, built and flew the first powered aircraft, showing that man could fly. One of most important inventions of Twentieth Century.
3. Benjamin Franklin (1705 - 1790)
   
   Polymath who discovered electricity and invented the Franklin stove
4. Charles Babbage (1791 – 1871)
   
   - Created first mechanical computer, which proved to be the prototype for future computers. Considered to be the 'Father of Computers'
5. James Watt (1736 – 1819)
   
   Inventor of the steam engine, which was critical in the industrial revolution. His invention of a separate condensing chamber, greatly improved the efficiency of steam.
6. Alexander Bell (1847 – 1922)
   
   Credited with inventing the first practical telephone. Also worked on optical telecommunications, aeronautics and hydrofoils.
   
7. Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 – 1519)
   
   One of the greatest ever minds, invented models that proved workable 3-500 years later.
8. Galileo (1564-1642)
   
   Developed a powerful telescope and confirmed revolutionary theories about the nature of the world. Also developed improved compass.
9. Tim Berners Lee
   
   Developed the http:// protocol for the internet. Making the world wide web freely available.

    

10. Archimedes (287 BC – c. 212 BC)
    
    Amongst other things worked out pi and developed the archimedes screw for lifting up water from mines or wells.

 

Other Great Inventors and innovators include:

• Marie Curie (1867 – 1934) Discovered Radium and help make use of radiation and X Rays.
• Nikola Tesla (1856 –1943) - fluorescent lighting, the Tesla coil, the induction motor, and 3-phase electricity and AC electricity.
• John Logie Baird (1888 - 1946) - Invented TeleVision and first recording device
• John Harrison (1693 – 1776) - Invented a way to measure longitude at sea, increasing the safety of sea voyages.
• Michael Faraday (1791- 1867) - helped convert electricity into a format that could be easily used.
• Steve Jobs (1955-2011) - helped revolutionise personal computer devices with the iPod, iPad, macbook and iPhone
• Edmund Cartwright (1743-1823) - invented the power loom
• Sir Humphry Davy (1778 - 1829) - Inventor of the Davy lamp
• Cornelius Drebbel (1572 - 1633) - Dutch inventor of the submarine
• Henry Faulds (1843-1930) - Victorian inventor, credited with fingerprinting
• William Henry Fox Talbot (1800 - 1877) - Victorian pioneer of photography
• William Gilbert (1544 - 1603) - 16th century scientist, pioneer of magnetism
• Kirkpatrick Macmillan (1812 - 1878) - Victorian inventor of the bicycle
• Noyce and Kilby (1927-1990) - 20th century electrical engineers, invented the microchip
• Jethro Tull (1674 - 1741) - 18th century agriculturalist, inventor of the seed drill
• Alan Turing (1912 - 1954) - 20th century mathematician, pioneer of computer science
• Barnes Wallis (1887 - 1979) - World War Two aviation engineer, invented the 'bouncing bomb'

Citation : Pettinger, Tejvan. "Top 10 Inventors", Oxford, www.biographyonline.net - 4th Sept. 2012.

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