Timeline of Innovation Firsts & Economic Impact

Timeline of Innovation Firsts & Economic Impacts

What follows is a list of firsts in innovation, the current status of the innovation, and its economic impact. We distinguish a bit from innovative scientific discoveries, best represented by the list of Nobel Prize winners and achievements. At some point, Peak Innovation, new innovations make a decreasing economic impact. We divide this timetable into three previous foundational innovation periods (followed by exploitation/exhaustion) periods, with one coming foundational innovation period:

1782 - Steam Engine	1839 - Telegraph/Photography
1865 - Electromagnetics	1905 - Modern Physics
1958 - Integrated Circuit	1981 - Teletext/Personal Computer

2031 - Cheap Electicity Storage	2041 - Cheap Ground-to-LEO Fares

Ancient Innovation - Before the Renaissance (circa 1400 CE)

Date	Innovation	Inventor	Status	Country
-100000	Paint	N/A	Active	ZA
-70000	Glue	N/A	Active	ZA
-30000	Bread	Europe	Active	EU
-20000	Pottery	China	Active	CN
-13500	Graveyard	Israel	Active	IL
-12000	Farming	Fertile Crescent	Active	N/A
-8500	Dairy Products	Middle East	Active	TR
-8000	Sugar	New Guinea	Active	PG
-7500	Brick	Anatolia	Active	TR
-7000	Milk	Asia	Active	N/A
-5000	Toothpaste	Egypt	Active	EG
-4000	Brothel	Sumeria	Active	IQ
-4000	Beer (Hymn to Ninkasi)	Sumeria	Active	IQ
-3400	Wheeled Vehicle	[see Broncoice pot]	Active	N/A
-3000	City (urban life)	Uruk	IQ	Active
-3000	Writing (cuneiform)	Uruk	IQ	Active
-3000	Authentication (cylinder seals)	Uruk	IQ	Obsolete
-3000	Money	Mesopotamia	Active	IQ
-3000	Shirt	Egypt	Active	EG
-2900	Taxes	Egypt	Active	EG
-2800	Soap	Babylon	Active	IQ
-2700	Medicinal Marijuana	Shen Nung	Active	CN
-2700	Plumbing	Indus	Active	IN
-2700	Waste Removal Social Network	SEE PLUMBING
-2000	Perfume	Cyprus	Active	GR
-1500	Glass Bottle	N/A	Active	N/A
-1300	Lathe	N/A	Active	EG
-1100	Plant Breeding (corn)	Mexico	Active	MX
-930	Iron Smelting	N/A	Active	JO
-776	Stadium	Greece	Active	GR
-700	Umbrella	Assyrians	Active	IQ
-650	Aqueduct	Assyrians	Active	IQ
-550	Biological Warfare	Assyrians	Active	IQ
-550?	Mail	Persia	Active	IR
-550?	Written Message Social Network	SEE MAIL
-508	Democracy	Cleisthenes	Active	GR
-400	Hospital	King Pandukabhaya	Active	LR
-350?	Wigs	Egypt	Active	EG
-200?	Candle	China	Active	CN
-280?	Lighthouse	Alexandria	Unessential	EG
-120?	Stirrup	Indus Valley	Active	IN
-87	Analog Computer	Archimedes? Antikythera	Unessential	GR
98	Encyclopedia	Pliny the Elder	Active	IT
100	Glass Windows	Romans	Active	IT
105	Paper	Cai Lun	Active	CN
270?	Sawmill	Romans	Active	IT
270?	Crankshaft	Romans	Active	IT
430?	Crystallized Sugar	India	Active	IN
580	Toilet Paper	N/A	Active	CN
650?	Fireworks	N/A	Active	CN
690?	Paper Money	Tang Dynasty	Active	CN
850	Oil Painting	Afghanistan	Active	AF
800	Decryption	Al-Kindi	Active	IQ
950	Canal Lock (pound lock)	Chiao Wei-yo	Active	CN
1045	Moveable Type	Bi Sheng	Unessential	CN
1088	Mechanical Clock	Su Sung	Unessential	CN
1115	Flywheel	Theophilus Presbyter	Active	DE
1260?	Fractional Distillation	Tadeo Alderotti	Active	IT
1286	Eyeglasses	N/A	Active	IT
1311	Navigation Chart	Petrus Veconte	Active	IT
1320	Assembly Line	Venetian Arsenal	Active	IT
1320	Manufacturing Social Network	SEE ASSEMBLY LINE
1344	Perspective	Ambrogio Lorenzetti	Active	IT

Innovation - Start of the Renaissance (circa 1400 CE)

Date	Innovation	Inventor	Status	Country
1440	Coffee	Sufi Monasteries	Active	YE
1450	Anemometer	Leon Battista Alberti	Active	IT
1450	Printing Press	Johannes Gutenberg	Active	DE
1460	Rifle	N/A	Active	EU
1470	Parachute	N/A	Active	IT
1474	Patent System	Republic of Venice	Active	IT
1500	Watch	Peter Henlein (?)	Active	DE
1520	Productized Opium	Paracelsus	Active	CH
1530	Chocolate	Herman Cortes	Active	ES
1531	Champagne	Benedictine Monks	Active	FR
1560	Pencil	Simonio/Lyndiana Bernacotti	Active	IT
1564	Condom	Gabriello Fallopio	Active	IT
1589	Knitting Machine	William Lee	Active	UK
1590	Microscope	Zacharias Janssen	Active	NL
1600	Lobbying	East India Company	Active	UK
1605	Newspaper	Johann Carolus	Active	DE
1605	Science	Sir Francis Bacon	Active	UK
1605	Written News Social Network	SEE NEWSPAPER
1608	Telescope	Hans Lippershey	Active	DE
1612	Thermometer	Francesco Sagredo	Active	IT
1620	Submarine	Cornelius Drebbel	Active	NL
1632	Slide Rule	William Oughtred	Obsolete (evolution: 1972 - HP-35)	UK
1640	Taxi	Nicolas Sauvage	Active	FR
1643	Barometer	Evangelista Torricelli	Active	IT
1648	Sovereign State	Treaty of Westphalia	Active	DE
1654	Vacuum Pump	Otto von Guericke	Active	DE
1657	Probability Theory	Christiaan Huygens	Active	NL
1662	Equation of State	Robert Boyle	Active	UK
1665	Science Journal Phil.Tran.Roy.Soc.	Henry Oldenburg	Active	UK
1669	Phosphorus	Henning Brand	Active	DE
1679	Pressure Cooker	Denis Papin	Active	FR
1685	Calculus	Leibniz/Newton	Active	DE/UK
1701	Seed Drill	Jethro Tull	Active	UK
1710	Copyright System	Statute of Anne	Active	UK
1710	Futures Contracts	Dojima Rice Exchange	Active	JP
1712	Reciprocating Engine (steam)	Thomas Newcomen	Obsolete (evolution: 1782 - Steam Engine 1807 - Int. Comb. Engine)	UK
1728	Modern Dentistry	Pierre Fauchard	Active	FR
1731	Magazine	Edward Cave	Active	UK
1738	Economic Utility	Daniel Bernoulli	Active	CH
1760	Jigsaw Puzzle	John Spilsbury	Active	UK
1760	Jesus Realism	Hermann Samuel Reimarus	Active	DE
1761	Modern Factory	Matthew Boulton (Soho Manufactory)	Active	UK
1763	Sea Navigation	Nevil Maskelyne (British Mariner's Guide)	Active	UK
1769	Self-Powered Vehicle	Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot	Obsolete	FR
1770s	Modern Circus	Philip Astley	Active	UK
1774	Mutual Fund	N/A	Active	NL
1775	Crowdfunding (see Building Society)	Kelley's Building Society	Active	UK
1775	Flush Toilet	Alexander Cummings	Active	UK

Start of the Steam Engine to Telegraph/Photography Innovation Era
(1782-1839)

Date	Innovation	Inventor	Status	Country
1782	Steam Engine	James Watt	Active	UK
1782	Rotary Washing Machine	Henry Sidgier	Active	UK
1783	Modern Chemistry	Antoine Lavoisier	Active	FR
1785	Shopping Mall	Great Gostiny Dvor	Active	RU
1791	Gas Turbine	John Barber	Active	UK
1791	Modern Prison	Jeremy Bentham	Active	UK
1794	Cotton Gin	Eli Whitney	Active	US
1795	Pasteurization	Nicolas Appert	Active	FR
1796	Vaccines	Edward Jenner	Active	UK
1800	Battery	Alessandro Volta	Active	IT
1800	Electrochemistry	Alessandro Volta	Active	IT
1801	Programmable Machine	Joseph Marie Jacquard	Active	FR
1804	Train Locomotive	Richard Trevithick	Active	UK
1805	Fast Fourier Transform	Carl Friedrich Gauss	Active	DE
1807	Internal Combustion Engine	Nicephore Niepce	Active	FR
1810	Canned Foods	Peter Durand	Active	UK
1816	Stethoscope	Rene H.T. Laennec	Active	FR
1819	Spectrometer	Joseph von Fraunhofer	Active	DE
1821	Electric Motor	Michael Faraday	Active	UK
1821	Fresnel Lens	Augustin-Jean Fresnel	Active	FR
1824	Electromagnet	William Sturgeon	Active	UK
1824	Thermodynamics	Sadi Carnot	Active	FR
1826	Friction Match	John Walker	Active	UK
1827	Electric Generator	Anyos Jedlik	Active	HU
1827	Lawnmower	Edwin Budding	Active	UK
1831	Safety Fuse (blasting)	William Bickford	Active	UK
1832	Gyroscope	Walter R. Johnson	Active	US
1835	Modern Newspaper (New York Herald)	James Gordon Bennett Sr.	Active	US
1836	Telegraph	Cooke/Wheatstone/Morse	Obsolete	UK/US
1836	Electronic Message Social Network	SEE TELEGRAPH
1836	Transformer	Nicholas Callan	Active	IE
1839	Vulcanized Rubber	Charles Goodyear	Active	US
1839	Fuel Cell	William Grove	Active	UK
1839	Polystyrene	Eduard Simon	Active	DE
1839	Photography	Louis Daguerre	Active	FR

End of the Steam Engine to Telegraph/Photography Innovation Era
(1782-1839)

Date	Innovation	Inventor	Status	Country
1840	Soil Chemistry (NPK)	Baron Justus von Liebig	Active	DE
1840	Electric Lightbulb	Warren de la Rue	Active	UK
1840	Commercial Electroplating	George Eklington	Active	UK
1840	Steam Hammer	James Nasmyth	Active	UK
1841	Portland Cement	William Aspdin	Active	UK
1841	Squeezable Metal Tube	John Goffe Rand	Active	US
1842	Artificial Fertilizer	John Bennet Lawes	Active	UK
1842	Air Conditiorer	John Gorrie	Active	US
1845	Pneumatic Tire	Robert William Thomson	Active	UK
1845	Rubber Band	Stephen Perry	Active	UK
1846	Anesthetic	William Morton	Active	US
1846	Nitroglycerine	Ascanio Sobrero	Active	IT
1847	Bullet	Claude-Etienne Minie William Greener John Norton	Active	FR/UK/UK
1847	Doughnut	Hanson Gregory	Active	US
1847	Candy Bar	Joseph Fry	Active	UK
1849	Safety Pin	Walter Hunt	Active	US
1850?	Modern Fish Trawling	Town of Brixham (Brixham trawler)	Active	UK
1851	Franchising	Albert Singer (Sewing Machines)	Active	US
1851	Prefabricated Building	Joseph Paxton	Active	UK
1851	Refrigerator	John Gorrie	Active	US
1853	Reinforced Concrete	Francois Coignet	Active	FR
1853	Syringe	Charles Pravaz Alexander Wood	Active	FR/UK
1853	Elevator Brake	Elisha Otis	Active	US
1854	Bunsen Burner	Robert Bunsen	Active	DE
1854	Breakfast Cereal	Ferdinand Schumacher (Quaker Oats)	Active	US
1854	Binary Algebra	George Boole	Active	UK
1855	Modern Steelmaking	Henry Bessener	Active	UK
1855	Can Opener	Robert Yeates	Active	UK
1855	Can Opener	Robert Yeates	Active	UK
1856	Synthetic Dye	William Henry Perkin	Active	UK
1856	Commodity Crops (grading)	Chicago Board of Trade	Active	US
1858	Evolution	Charles Darwin Alfred Wallace	Active	UK
1859	Escalator	Nathan Ames	Active	US
1860	Sparkplug	Etienne Lenoir	Active	FR
1860	Cocaine Processing	Albert Niemann	Active	DE

Circa 1860, American slaves were the largest capital asset of the United States, four million people worth at least $3 billion, more than all the capital invested in railroads and factories in the United States. Within five years, Abraham Lincoln issues his Emancipation Proclamation, and the U.S. Congress passes the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery. You will note that while "US" appears infrequently above and before these dates, it appears more and more frequently below and after these dates.

Start of the Electromagnetics to Modern Physics Innovation Era
(1865-1905)

Date	Innovation	Inventor	Status	Country
1865	Electromagnetics	James Clerk Maxwell	Active	UK
1865	Genetic Inheritance	Gregor Mendel	Active	DE
1865	Regulated Scuba	Benoit Rouquayrol Auguste Denayrouse	Active	FR
1867	Barbed Wire	Lucien Smith	Active	US
1869	Margarine	Hippolyte Mege-Mouries	Active	FR
1870	Skyscraper Building	George Post (Equitable Life)	Active	US
1872	National Park	United States	Active	US
1874	Set Theory	Georg Cantor	Active	DE
1874	Heroin	C.R. Alder Wright	Active	UK
1876	Telephone	Elisha Gray	Active	US
1876	Vocal Message Social Network	SEE TELEPHONE
1877	Phonograph	Thomas Edison	Unessential	US
1877	Stapler	Henry Heyl	Active	US
1880	Electronic Hearing Aid	Francis Clarke M.G. Foster	Active	US
1880	Cigarette "Printing Press"	James Albert Bonsack	Active	US
1880	Vibrator	Joseph Mortimer Granville	Active	US
1881	Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion	Jacques Arsene d'Arsonval	Waiting	FR
1882	Hydroelectricity	Jacob Schoellkopf	Active	US
1883	Solar Cell	Charles Fritt	Active	US
1883	Organ Transplant	Theodor Kocher	Active	CH
1884	Stock Market Index	Charles Dow	Active	US
1884	Cash Register	James Ritty John Patterson	Active	US
1884	Peanut Butter	Marcellus Gilmore Edison	Active	CA
1885	Modern Bicycle	John Kemp Starley	Active	UK
1885	Modern Automobile	Karl Benz	Active	DE
1885	Motorcycle	Daimler and Maybach	Active	DE
1886	Cheap Aluminum	Charles Hall Paul Heroult	Active	US
1886	Dry Cell Battery	Carl Gassner	Active	DE
1887	Wind Turbine	Charles Brush	Active	US
1887	Contact Lens	Adolf Fick	Active	DE
1887	Dishwasher	Josephine Cochrane	Active	US
1887	Coupon	Asa Chandler	Active	US
1888	Chemical Engineering	George Davis	Active	UK
1888	Movie Camera	Louis Le Prince	Active	FR
1888	Movie (Roundhay Garden Scene)	Louis Le Prince	Active	FR
1888	Ballpoint Pen	John J. Loud	Active	UK
1888	Antenna	Heinrich Hertz	Active	DE
1889	Modern Bra	Herminie Cadolle	Active	FR
1890	Serum Therapy	Emil von Behring	Active	DE
1891	Thermal Cracking	Vladimir Shukov	Active	RU
1895	Radio Engineering	Guglielmo Marconi	Active	IT
1895	Slot Machine	Charles Fey	Active	US
1895	Breast Implants	Vincent Czerny	Active	DE
1895 1928	Antibiotics (Penicillin)	Vincenzo Tiberio Alexander Fleming	Active	IT UK
1897	Aspirin	Arthur Eichengrun	Active	DE
1897	Condensed Soup	John Dorrance	Active	US
1898	Flashlight	David Misell	Active	UK
1898	Vitamins	Christiaan Eijkman Frederick Hopkins	Active	NL/UK
1898	3D Color Photograph	Frederic Eugene Ives	Active	US
1901	Airplane	Gustave Whitehead	Active	US
1901	Safety Razor	King C. Gilette	Active	US
1901	Vacuum Cleaner	Hubert Cecil Booth	Active	UK
1903+	'Freebie' Marketing	King C. Gilette	Active	US
1903	Chromatography	Mikhail Tsvet	Active	RU
1903	Decaffeination	Ludwig Roselius	Active	DE
1903	Barbituates (as depressants)	Emil Fischer Joseph von Mering	Active	DE
1903	Laminated Glass	Edouard Benedictus	Active	FR
1904	Radar	Christian Hulsmeyer	Active	DE
1904	Geothermal Power Generation	Piero Ginori Conti	Active	IT
1905	Local Anesthetic	Alfren Einhorn (novocaine)	Active	DE
1905	Helicopter	Jan Bahyl	Active	SK
1905	Modern Fire Engine	Knox Automobile	Active	US
1905	Modern Physics	Albert Einstein	Active	DE

End of the Electromagnetics to Modern Physics Innovation Era
(1865-1905)

Date	Innovation	Inventor	Status	Country
1906	Triode	Robert von Bieben	Unessential (evolution: 1947 - transistor)	AT
1907	Modern Plastics (Bakelite)	Leo Baekeland	Active	US
1908	Umami taste (glutamate. MSG)	Kikunae Ikeda	Active	JP
1909	Chemotherapy	Paul Ehrlich	Active	DE
1909	Nitrogen Fixation	Fritz Haber	Active	DE
1909	Synthetic Rubber	Fritz Hofmann	Active	DE
1909	Airport	Wilbur Wright (College Park)	Active	US
1911	Superconductivity	H. Kamerlingh-Onnes	Active	NL
1912	Stainless Steel	Elwood Haynes	Active	US
1912	Abstract Art	Frantisek Kupka	Active	FR
1913	Quantum Atom	Neils Bohr	Active	UK
1915	Pyrex Glass	Corning Glass	Active	US
1916	Modern Fast Food Restaurant	Walter Anderson (White Castle)	Active	US
1920	Band-aid	Earle Dickson	Active	US
1921	Medical Insulin	Frederick Banting Charles Best	Active	CA
1921	Highway	Piero Puricelli	Active	IT
1922	Blender	Stephen Poplawski	Active	US
1924	Particle Diffraction	Louis de Broglie	Active	FR
1925	Motel	Arthur Heineman	Active	US
1926	Quantum Mechanics	Erwin Schrodinger Werner Heisenberg	Active	AT/DE
1926	Modern Rockets	Robert Goddard	Active	US
1926	Television	John Logie Baird	Active	UK
1927	Videorecording	John Logie Baird	Active	UK
1927	Industrial Corn (F-1)	Henry Wallace	Active	US
1929	Consumer Frozen Food	Clarence Birdseye	Active	US
1929	Tampon	Earle Haas (U.S. 1,926,900)	Active	US
1931	Aerogel	Samuel Kistler	Active	US
1931	Strobe Light	Harold Edgerton	Active	US
1933	Garbage Disposal	John Hammes (U.S. 2,012,680)	Active	US
1935	Nylon	Wallace Carothers	Active	US
1935	Computational Chemistry	D.R. Hartree V.A. Fock	Active	UK
1936	Videotelephone	Georg Schubert	Active	DE
1937	Flying Automobile	Waldo Waterman	Active	US
1938	Teflon (PTFE)	Roy Plunkett	Active	US
1939	Automated Teller Machine	Luther Simjian	Active	US
1939	Automatic Transmission (Hydra-Matic)	Chrysler	Active	US
1941	Modern Spray Can	Lyle Goodhue/William Sullivan	Active	US
1941	Programmable Computer	Konrad Zuse	Active	DE
1942	Nuclear Reactor	Enrico Fermi et.al.	Active	US
1944	Programming Language	Konrad Zuse	Active	DE
1945	Microwave Oven	Percy Spencer	Active	US
1947	Holography	Dennis Gabor	Active	UK
1947	Fusion Reactor	George Paget Thomson Moses Blackman	Waiting	UK
1947	Transistor	Bardeen/Brattain/Schockley	Active	US
1947	Disposable Diaper	Valerie Hunter Gordon	Active	UK
1948	Cable Television	John Watson	Active	US
1948	Velcro	George de Mestral	Active	CH
1949	Medical Ultrasound	John Wild	Active	US
1949	Hydraulic Fracturing	Stanolind Oil	Active	US
1949	Photocopy Machine	Xerox	Active	US
1949	Barcodes	Bernard Silver Norman Woodland	Active	US
1951	Rock and Roll	Jackie Brenston Ike Turner	Active	US
1951	Contraceptive Pill	Carl Djerassi	Active	MX
1952	Diet Drinks	Kirsch Bottling (No-Cal ginger ale)	Active	US
1953	Permanent Press Cotton	Ruth Benerito	Active	US
1953	Sugary Cereals (Sugar Smacks, 53%)	Kellogg	Active	US
1954	Transistor Radio	Regency Corp.	Active	US
1955	Intermodal Container	Malcolm McLean	Active	US
1955	Modern Hovercraft	Christopher Cockerell	Active	UK
1957	Artificial Satellite	Sergei Korolev	Active	RU
1957 1965	High Fructose Corn Syrup	Richard Marshall and Earl Kooi Yoshiyuki Takasaki	Actively killing	US/JP

Start of Integrated Circuit to Teletext/Personal Computer Innovation Era
(1958-1981)

Date	Innovation	Inventor	Status	Country
1958	Integrated Circuit	Jack Kilby	Active	US
1958	Functional Programming	John McCarthy (LISP)	Active	US
1957	Computer Timesharing	John McCarthy (CTSS)	Active	US
1958	Artificial Pacemaker	Laverde and Pombo Bakken Elmqvist and Senning	Active	CO,US,SE
1958	Spring Break	Glendon Swarthout ("Where The Boys Are")	Active	US
1959	Microcredit	Aktar Hameed Khan	Active	PK
1960	Virtual Reality - U.S. Patent 3,050,870	Morton Heilig	Active	US
1960	Global Positioning	US Defense Dept.	Active	US
1960	Document Linkage Analysis	Eugene Garfield	Active	US
1960	Laser	Harold Maiman	Active	US
1961	Videogame	Graetz/Russell/Wiitanen	Active	US
1962	Industrial Robot	George Devol (U.S. 3279624)	Active	US
1962	Database Management System	Charles Bachman	Active	US
1962	Audio Cassette	Phillips Co.	Active	NL
1963	Electronic Cigarette	Herbert Gilbert (U.S. 3,200,819)	Active	US
1963 1974	Refractive eye surgery	Jose Barrauqer Svyatislav Fyodorov	Active	CO/US
1963	Airline Reservation System	Trans-Canada Airlines	Active	CA
1963	Computer Mouse	Douglas Engelbart	Active	US
1964	Supercomputer	Seymour Cray	Active	US
1965	Inkjet Printer	R.G. Sweet	Active	US
1960s	CAFO - Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation	N/A	Active	United States
1965	Instant Messaging	MIT (CTSS)	Active	US
1965	Electronic Mail	MIT (CTSS)	Active	US
1965	Touch Screen	E.A. Johnson	Active	US
1965	Fast Fourier Transform	James Cooley John Tukey	Active	US
1966	Reality Television	Chuck Barris (Dating Game)	Active	US
1967	Cluster Computing Parallel Processing	Gene Amdahl	Active	US
1967	Cloud Computing	SEE CLUSTER COMPUTING
1967	Hypertext	Ted Nelson Andries van Dam	Active	US
1967	Markup Language	William Tunnicliffe	Active	US
1968	Random Access Memory	Robert Dennard	Active	US
1968	World Wide Web	Douglas Engelbart (NLS)	Active	US
1969	Packet Switched Network	Robert Taylor J.C.R. Licklider BBN	Active	US
1969	Network Router	ARPA/BBN (IMP)	Active	US
1969	Open Source Software	Computer Physics Communication	Active	IR
1969	Supersizing Food	David Wallerstein	US	Active
1970	Groupware	David A. Evans	Active	US
1970	Fiber optic wire	Maurer/Keck/Schultz	Active	US
1970	Liquid Crystal Display	Wolfgang Helfrich Martin Schadt	Active	CH
1970	Relational Database	Edgar F. Codd	Active	US
1970	Commercial Narrative Pornography	Bill Osco	Active	US
1971	Teletext	John Adams	Obsolete	UK
1971	Microprocessor	Gary Boone/Micheal Cochran	Active	US
1971	Computer Virus	Bob Thomas	Active	US
1971	X-Ray Computed Tomography	Godfrey Hounsfield Allan Cormack	Active	UK/US
1972	Word Processor	Stephen Dorsey	Active	CA
1972	Cyclosporine	Sandoz	Active	CH
1973	Transgenic Organisms	Herbert Boyer Stanley Cohen	Active	US
1973	Mobile Phone	Martin Cooper	Active	US
1973	Magnetic Resonance Imaging	Raymond Damadian Paul Lauterbur	Active	US
1973	Personal Computer	Xerox (Alto)	Active	US
1973	Graphical User Interface	Xerox (Alto)	Active	US
1974	Local Area Network	Xerox (Ethernet)	Active	US
1974	Post-It Note	Art Fry Spencer Silver	Active	US
1976	Statins	Akira Endo	Active	JP
1977	In Vitro Fertilization	Patrick Steptoe Robert Edwards	Active	UK
1978	Fiber Optic Cable WAN	Rediffusion	Active	UK
1979	Online Shopping	Michael Aldrich	Active	UK
1979	Spreadsheet	Dan Bricklin Bob Frankston	Active	US
1979	3D Printing	Ross Householder (U.S. 4,247,508)	Active	US
1979-1985	Lithium-Ion Battery	John Goodenough Rachid Yazami Akira Yoshino	Active	UK/FR/JP
1981	Quantum Computing	Richard Feynman	Waiting	US
1981	Scanning Tunneling Microscope	Heinrich Rohrer Gerd Binning	Active	CH
1981	Quantum Dots	Alexei Ekimov	Active	RU
1981	Electronic Map	Texas Instruments Honda	Active	US
1981	Online B2B Commerce	Thomson Holidays	Active	UK
1981	Consumer Online Reservations	Japanese Railway System	Active	JP
1981	Laptop Computer	Bill Moggridge (Grid) Epson (HX-20)	Active	UK/JP
1981	Corporate Personal Computer	IBM	Active	US

End of Integrated Circuit to Teletext/Personal Computer Innovation Era
(1958-1981)

NOTE: we are curently focusing on completing these timetables up to 1981. In terms of fundamental innovation, one can argue that since the mid-1980s, it has mostly been evolution and aesthetics, not revolution.

Date	Innovation	Inventor	Status	Country
1982	Liposuction	Yves-Gerard Illouz	Active	FR
1982	Genetically Modified Plant	Monsanto	Active	US
1982	Video Camera Recorder	Sony	Active	JP
1983	Birth of Internet (ARPANET to TCP/IP switch)	ARPA	Active	US
1983	Polymerase Chain Reaction	Kary Mullis	Active	US
1987	High Temperature Superconductivity	K. Alex Muller J. Georg Bednorz	Active	CH
1987	Exchange Traded Fund	Index Participation Shares Inc.	Active	US
1988	NAND Flash Memory	Fujio Masuoka	Active	JP
1991	Female Sperm	Ralph Brinster	Waiting	US
1994	SmartPhone (Simon)	IBM/BellSouth	Active	US
1994	DNA computer	Leonard Adelman	Waiting	US
1995	Bose-Einstein condensate	Ketterle/Cornell/Wieman	Active	US
1995	Retail Tax/Labor Electronic Arbitrage	Amazon	Active	US
1995	Online Privacy Exploitation	DoubleClick/Google	Active	US
1995	Computer Generated Movie	Disney (Toy Story)	Active	US
1996	Mammalian Cloning	Ian Wilmut Keith Campbell	Active	UK
1997	Video Sharing Network (shareyourworld.com)	Chase Norlin	Active	US

Since the year 2000, innovators have spent over $30 billion acquiring 2.6 million U.S. patents. Since the year 2000, under Presidents Barack Obama and George Bush, the U.S. Federal government has spent over $800 billion on research and development, mostly through the DoD, DoE, NASA, and NIH. For this $800 billion (in light of these 2.6 million patents), U.S. taxpayers MAY have helped make contributions to the following fundamental post-1999 innovations:

Date	Innovation	Inventor	Status	Country
2001	Artificial Liver	Kenneth Matsumara	Active	US
2009	Global Virtual Currency	Satoshi Nakamoto (Bitcoin)	Active	JP
2009	Non-Line-of-Sight Photography	Ramesh Raskar	Waiting	US
2010	Consumer Plenoptics	Christian Perwass Lennart Wietzke	Active	DE
2012	Peak Innovation Google Glass	Google	see Jumping the Shark	US
2013	Test Tube Meat (Hamburger)	Mark Post	Waiting	NL
2013	Digital Laser	CSIR/Andrew Forbes et al.	Active	ZA
2013	Bionic Leg	Levi Hargrove et al.	Developing	US

Start of the Cheap Electricity Storage to Cheap Ground-to-LEO Innovation Era
(2031-2041)

Let us be blunt: unless civilization achieves cheap ground-to-LEO (Low Earth Orbit) transportation costs by mid-century, say 2050, civilization will choke on its own vomit, dead before its time is due. There are way too many people working so hard, and way too few political leaders leading. All other innovation is irrevelant for a better life (now, e.g., we can eat too much, can buy too much advertised crap on the Internet, can live long enough). We must expand off the planet. We need a "steam aerolocomotive" to raise us to Low Earth Orbit (with a cost which that has only dropped 50% in the last 30 years to plataeu around $11,000/pound). It won't be penis-shaped (such rockets only useful for inspiring David Bowie), and this "steam aerolocomotive" won't come out of Washington, Arlington or Silicon Valley. And it will be patented. In the words of The Animals, We Gotta Get Out Of This Place.

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Global Patent/Innovation Quality - Measure, Apply, Profit