Best inventions of past 100 years

[Time2]

Can you imagine if a MD was transported from 1920 to 2020?

I remember one episode of the radio program Gunsmoke, where Doc said to Marshall Dillon, (paraphrasing) I don't know if he's going to make it, he's lost a lot of blood, I just wish there was a way to replace the blood he has lost. Maybe someday!

 

[FireFool]

An older neighbor of mine from 35 years ago told me the greatest invention he saw was the furnace thermostat. It really got me thinking about things I took for granted, having always woken up to a consistently warm house. Of course in my lifetime it wasn't until my teen years that our house got A/C, that we'd only run during the most hottest weeks of the summer. Now I run it summer long, mostly to keep pollen out (although I don't recall people talking about allergies in my youth), and I would never consider a South Carolina beach vacation in July or August without it.

Having navigated Paris, with it's one way streets, using only printed mapquest directions, still a step above maps, I greatly appreciate GPS when driving in foreign countries. The combination of being in unfamiliar locations as well as trying to match street signage names in a foreign language created frequent stops to reorient and to reset my stress levels. GPS is a game changer when driving in a foreign country - especially in Greece where the cyrillic alphabet also comes into play.

 

[gooddog]

The cordless drill.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Although more than 100 years old, I think this has come a very long way in 100 years...

Anesthesia

 

[Mr Gadget]

Transistor - (which leads to computers/internet/smartphones)
Blockchain - (which MAY lead to distributed databases/contracts)
DNA - (not actually invented, but actually the knowledge about it and leads to CRISPR)

 

[Walt34]

And lest we forget, canned beer.

 

[Svensk Anga]

Haber process

+1

Without that one, a lot of us would not exist.

 

[isisdave]

When I first got contact lenses in 1974, I thought that THOSE were the most significant invention of my young life (we had always had sliced bread, indoor plumbing and air conditioning already). Last year I added "... and every other ophthalmological marvel, such as intraocular lenses."

There have been lots of medical inventions that would qualify. In terms of life-saving, I'd give it to antibiotics. My grandfather died in 1908 of epiglottitis, a fairly common infection that isn't very hard to treat now.

I was pretty impressed with the first color television from the moon, via a ten-watt transmitter.

 

[Svensk Anga]

I was pretty impressed with the first color television from the moon, via a ten-watt transmitter.

TV from the moon - impressive. Color, not so much. We had a B&W set at the time.

 

[JoeWras]

An older neighbor of mine from 35 years ago told me the greatest invention he saw was the furnace thermostat.

There's got to be a lot of those kind of things we forget about!

I love the scene in "A Christmas Story" where the parents set the "thermostat" on their 20's era furnace. Really just an air damper.

One little brain exercise I do from time to time is to imagine if Ben Franklin came to 2020, what would impress him? Cell phones? Indoor toilets? Thermostats? (He improved the stove, afterall.) Harnessed electricity? Airplanes?

Of course, all of the above. But I think he'd be equally impressed by affordable and widely available quality French wine. And maybe chocolate bars.

 

[ncbill]

Definitely air conditioning.

Grew up here in the mid-South in a 1920s house...built for the climate, e.g. large windows, 14 foot ceilings.

Still it was brutal w/o air conditioning...added A/C to the bedrooms (all upstairs) via the attic after that first miserable summer.

But the rest of the house didn't have it...you'd walk out of your comfy bedroom into 80º+F heat and 95%+ humidity all summer long.

Mom had the old-style artificial flowers with metal stems...humidity was so high in the house water vapor would condense on those metal stems and drip onto the table, so her friends jokingly accused her of watering her artificial flowers.

 

[6miths]

There have been lots of medical inventions that would qualify. In terms of life-saving, I'd give it to antibiotics. My grandfather died in 1908 of epiglottitis, a fairly common infection that isn't very hard to treat now.

And of course due to vaccination the number of cases of epiglottitis has been dramatically reduced. Vaccination, both passive and active, is likely going to be effective long after the last antibiotic has become useless thanks to our misuse of the latter.

 

[Kane Archer]

I think internet is one of the most significant invention in last 100 years. If you see life has become so easy these days. Every information is just a click away. Yeah, so i think internet would be right there in the top 3 amongst the top 100 invention.

 

[Time2]

When I first got contact lenses in 1974,

Missed the hundred year, but for those of us that wear glasses, can you imagine life without them. And yes! Contacts were like magic the first time I slid one into my eye.

 

[GravitySucks]

Containerised shipping.
Sliced bread.

 

[Steve s]

On my autos intermittent car wipers and electric windows

 

[zwil]

Flush toilet
It may be ordinary today, but according to me it's the finest. Take it away and boom - where do you 'go'?

 

[Big_Hitter]

golf cart no doubt