Most Important Discovery/Invention

axtrader · Post by **axtrader** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 10:45 pm

What, in your opinion, was the most important discovery or invention of the 20th century?

Had this discussion a few days ago in the office. Some of the responses were: the transistor, the integrated circuit, penicillin and the wonder bra.

What do you guys think?

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 10:48 pm

in electronics definitely the Transistor and IC (integrated cercuits), that totally revolutionized electronics and is still the standard which we use today... we really need something new, but today that is the standard...

i don't know exactly when the combustion engine was developed, late 19th century? or was it in the 20th century? cause that's definitely a huge invention

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 10:48 pm

Wonder Bra...so flat you wonder if they're there?

I'd have to vote for a SnackMaster.

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 10:51 pm

Originally posted by Brent
in electronics definitely the Transistor and IC (integrated cercuits), that totally revolutionized electronics and is still the standard which we use today... we really need something new, but today that is the standard...

i don't know exactly when the combustion engine was developed, late 19th century? or was it in the 20th century? cause that's definitely a huge invention

well, it was in the 19th century, just read this

Evolution of the Internal-Combustion Engine
The first person to experiment with an internal-combustion engine was the Dutch physicist Christian Huygens, about 1680. But no effective gasoline-powered engine was developed until 1859, when the French engineer J. J. Étienne Lenoir built a double-acting, spark-ignition engine that could be operated continuously. In 1862 Alphonse Beau de Rochas, a French scientist, patented but did not build a four-stroke engine; sixteen years later, when Nikolaus A. Otto built a successful four-stroke engine, it became known as the “Otto cycle.” The first successful two-stroke engine was completed in the same year by Sir Dougald Clerk, in a form which (simplified somewhat by Joseph Day in 1891) remains in use today. George Brayton, an American engineer, had developed a two-stroke kerosene engine in 1873, but it was too large and too slow to be commercially successful. 16
In 1885 Gottlieb Daimler constructed what is generally recognized as the prototype of the modern gas engine: small and fast, with a vertical cylinder, it used gasoline injected through a carburetor. In 1889 Daimler introduced a four-stroke engine with mushroom-shaped valves and two cylinders arranged in a V, having a much higher power-to-weight ratio; with the exception of electric starting, which would not be introduced until 1924, most modern gasoline engines are descended from Daimler’s engines.

http://www.bartleby.com/65/in/intern-co.html

so scratch that for 20th Century invention

Set · Post by **Set** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 10:53 pm

Id have to say......... Me

dunno proply the Transistor

combustion engine think it was the late 1800s

minir · Post by **minir** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 10:56 pm

Hi axtrader

I'd have to say Air Conditioning, it changed Society completely.

The way we lived, worked and played where all effected by it.

Just my opinion for what it's worth

regards

minir

JawZ · Post by **JawZ** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 10:58 pm

Air Conditioner.....good call minir!

Also, the polio vaccines and TV.

Set · Post by **Set** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 11:03 pm

That stich less glue stuff i up ther to saved me 10 stiches other day

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 11:17 pm

edisons inventions

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 11:29 pm

Originally posted by settrippen
That stich less glue stuff i up ther to saved me 10 stiches other day

That's what they used on my dog when they cut his balls out.

Blew my mind, I was expecting stitches but instead his little sack was glued shut

axtrader · Post by **axtrader** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 11:47 pm

Originally posted by Humboldt
That's what they used on my dog when they cut his balls out.

Blew my mind, I was expecting stitches but instead his little sack was glued shut

Hmmmm, speaking of great inventions......

Neuticles

Qwijib0 · Post by **Qwijib0** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 12:05 am

[quote]

Mutch · Post by **Mutch** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 12:07 am

Coke a cola.
Atomic bomb

Yes I know they arent from this century.. But coke is damn good, and nukes changed the world the most, bleh bleh im tired, bleh.

Grimson · Post by **Grimson** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 12:09 am

alcohol

axtrader · Post by **axtrader** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 12:14 am

Originally posted by Mutch
bleh bleh im tired, bleh.

Mutch, you're the best!

poptom · Post by **poptom** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 12:16 am

The paper bag.

Grimson · Post by **Grimson** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 4:12 am

ooh ooh, the thong(for men of course.).

Dakota · Post by **Dakota** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 6:41 am

Simple answer:

The silicon chip.

WhoNut · Post by **WhoNut** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 9:03 am

Hmm...my entries.

Chocolate Soy Milk

Pokemon!

Discreet Toilet Plunger
With its spare simplicity of form, inescapable utility and outstanding durability, you can keep this toilet plunger set out and ready to use whenever it is most needed.
Price $19.95

Or more likely something boring like...

morbidpete · Post by **morbidpete** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 12:26 pm

Pron!

Mutch · Post by **Mutch** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 8:13 pm

Originally posted by axtrader
Mutch, you're the best!

I really was tired

G-IcE · Post by **G-IcE** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 8:49 pm

music,what would you have done without it?,20th century or not.

Leatherneck · Post by **Leatherneck** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 8:57 pm

FLOWBEE Rules!

morbidpete · Post by **morbidpete** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 9:21 pm

Originally posted by bigmo66

FLOWBEE Rules!

that box looks old. is that really yours? i remember the infomercials for those

Brk · Post by **Brk** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 9:21 pm

Originally posted by minir
Hi axtrader

I'd have to say Air Conditioning, it changed Society completely.

The way we lived, worked and played where all effected by it.

Just my opinion for what it's worth

regards

minir

Ahh...but who CREATED the first air conditioner?

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 9:29 pm

About Air Conditioning

http://www.greatachievements.org/greata ... _10_2.html

it was invented in 1902

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 9:30 pm

and

http://www.greatachievements.org/greata ... _10_3.html

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 9:30 pm

Here is a GREAT site concerning this Thread

http://www.greatachievements.org/greata ... index.html

Greatest Achievements of the 20th Century

Brk · Post by **Brk** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 9:34 pm

Ta-ta-ta, Brent...

http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/mvigea ... nal/bg.htm

The idea of air conditioning started before a machine was created to produce the cooling effect desired. The first attempt at building an air conditioner was made by Dr. John Gorrie (1803-1855), an American physician, in Apalachicola, Florida. During his practice there in the 1830s, Dr. Gorrie creating an ice-making machine that essentially blew air over a bucket of ice for cooling hospital rooms of patients suffering from malaria and yellow fever.

In 1881, when President James Garfield was dying, naval engineers constructed a box-like structure containing cloths saturated with melted ice water, where a fan blew hot air overhead. This contraption was able to lower a room by 20 degrees Fahrenheit but consumed half a million pounds of ice in two months' time.

minir · Post by **minir** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 9:35 pm

Originally posted by Recondite
Ahh...but who CREATED the first air conditioner?

---------

I do not recall His name, but i do believe he was a Colored Gentleman that first came up with the practical application of the principles of A/C

regards

minir

Brk · Post by **Brk** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 9:35 pm

Nice try, Google Drone.

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 9:42 pm

Originally posted by Recondite
Nice try, Google Drone.

i have been assimilated

Brk · Post by **Brk** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 9:47 pm

I want to know what THAT IS (see red box).

morbidpete · Post by **morbidpete** » Fri Sep 27, 2002 10:29 pm

there having a special on refrigeration on the history channel. p

Mutch · Post by **Mutch** » Sat Sep 28, 2002 12:06 am

The condom.

Brk · Post by **Brk** » Sat Sep 28, 2002 12:11 am

Originally posted by Mutch
The condom.

Tell that to Mel Gibson.

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Sat Sep 28, 2002 12:14 am

polo cream

it cures something? my great grandfather had it

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Sat Sep 28, 2002 7:13 pm

aviation

loop2kil · Post by **loop2kil** » Sat Sep 28, 2002 7:27 pm

"Little Debbie"

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Sat Sep 28, 2002 7:29 pm

Broadband

Dialup is for cavemen.