We began the 20th century with the infancy of airplanes, automobiles, and radio, when those inventions dazzled us with their novelty and wonder.
We end the 20th century with spaceships, computers, cell phones, and the wireless Internet all being technologies we can take for granted.
1900
The zeppelin invented by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.
Charles Seeberger redesigned Jesse Reno's escalator and invented the modern escalator.
1901
King Camp Gillette invents the double-edged safety razor.
The first radio receiver, successfully received a radio transmission.
Hubert Booth invents a compact and modern vacuum cleaner.
1902
Willis Carrier invents the air conditioner.
The lie detector or polygraph machine is invented by James Mackenzie.
The birth of the Teddy Bear.
George Claude invented neon light.
1903
Edward Binney and Harold Smith co-invent crayons.
Bottle-making machinery invented by Michael J. Owens.
The Wright brothers invent the first gas motored and manned airplane.
Mary Anderson invents windshield wipers.
William Coolidge invents ductile tungsten used in lightbulbs.
1904
Teabags invented by Thomas Suillivan.
Benjamin Holt invents a tractor.
John A Fleming invents a vacuum diode or Fleming valve.
1905
Albert Einstein published the Theory of Relativity and made famous the equation, E = mc2.
Mary Anderson receives a patent for windshield wipers.
1906
William Kellogg invents Cornflakes.
Lewis Nixon invents the first sonar like device.
Lee Deforest invents electronic amplifying tube (triode).
1907
Leo Baekeland invents the first synthetic plastic called Bakelite.
Color photography invented by Auguste and Louis Lumiere.
The very first piloted helicopter was invented by Paul Cornu.
1908
The gyrocompass invented by Elmer A. Sperry.
Cellophane invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger.
Model T first sold.
J W Geiger and W Müller invent the geiger counter.
Fritz Haber invents the Haber Process for making artificial nitrates.
1909
Instant coffee invented by G. Washington.
1910
Thomas Edison demonstrated the first talking motion picture.
Georges Claude displayed the first neon lamp to the public on December 11, 1910, in Paris.
1911
Charles Franklin Kettering invents the first automobile electrical ignition system.
1912
Motorized movie cameras invented, replaced hand-cranked cameras.
The first tank patented by Australian inventor De La Mole.
Clarence Crane created Life Savers candy in 1912.
1913
The crossword puzzle invented by Arthur Wynne.
The Merck Chemical Company patented, what is now know as, ecstasy.
Mary Phelps Jacob invents the bra.
Gideon Sundback invented the modern zipper.
1914
Garrett A. Morgan invents the Morgan gas mask.
1915
Eugene Sullivan and William Taylor co-invented Pyrex in New York City.
1916
Radio tuners invented, that received different stations.
Stainless steel invented by Henry Brearly.
1917
Gideon Sundback patented the modern zipper (not the first zipper).
1918
The superheterodyne radio circuit invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong. Today, every radio or television set uses this invention.
Charles Jung invented fortune cookies.
1919
The pop-up toaster invented by Charles Strite.
Short-wave radio invented.
The flip-flop circuit invented.
The arc welder invented.
1920
The tommy gun patented by John T Thompson.
The Band-Aid (pronounced 'ban-'dade) invented by Earle Dickson.
1921
Artificial life begins -- the first robot built.
John Larson invented the lie detector.
1922
Insulin invented by Sir Frederick Grant Banting.
The first 3-D movie (spectacles with one red and one green lens) is released.
1923
Garrett A. Morgan invents a traffic signal.
The television or iconoscope (cathode-ray tube) invented by Vladimir Kosma Zworykin.
John Harwood invented the self-winding watch.
Clarence Birdseye invents frozen food.
1924
The dynamic loudspeaker invented by Rice and Kellogg.
Notebooks with spiral bindings invented.
1925
The mechanical television a precursor to the modern television, invented by John Logie Baird.
1926
Robert H. Goddard invents liquid-fueled rockets.
1927
Eduard Haas III invents PEZ candy.
JWA Morrison invents the first quartz crystal watch.
Philo Taylor Farnsworth invents a complete electronic TV system.
Technicolor invented, which allowed the widespread creation of color movies.
Erik Rotheim patents an aerosol can.
Warren Marrison developed the first quartz clock.
Philip Drinker invents the iron lung.