While governments and public institutions have contributed countless innovations and services to improve our lives, many of the amazing things we do every day come from entrepreneurs. Here’s a list of some innovations and their innovators that have changed our lives over the last few decades.
Table of Contents
The Personal Computer – Bill Gates and Steve Jobs
Why not start with a little controversy? Who is really responsible for the modern desktop PC? Steve Jobs, creator of the Apple PC, the guy who brought a mouse and desktop environment to schools and homes around the world, or Bill Gates, creator of Windows, who spurred widespread adoption.
I won’t pick sides today, but I will acknowledge that we wouldn’t have the modern desktop PC without these two guys. Today, virtually every business is reliant on these technologies.
The Light Bulb – Thomas Edison
Another controversial invention, many people give Nikola Tesla credit for the technology that led to the modern light bulb. But, like Steve Jobs, was just overshadowed by a man who was able to make it practical for everyone.
Edison was a brilliant inventor and arguably an even more brilliant businessman. While he didn’t invent the incandescent bulb, he was the first one to figure out how to sell it to the masses.
Thomas Edison’s company was an early predecessor to the modern General Electric.
The Telephone – Alexander Graham Bell
Most adults in the United States have likely heard of the Bell telephone systems. That is named for Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the modern telephone. Again, there is some controversy surrounding the inventor, as Italian Antonio Meucci also invented many of the technologies that allowed the phone to exist.
However, it was Bell who filed US patent 174,465 that brought the telephone to mass production and changed the way the world communicates.
The Bell Telephone Company and its assets were predecessors to the modern AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, and Windstream communications companies.
The Modern Car – Ransom Olds
While cars were invented by Carl Benz, of Mercedes-Benz fame, and Henry Ford is credited with creating the major assembly lines to led to wider spread adoption, Ransom Olds of Oldsmobile opened the first large scale affordable automobile assembly line in Lansing Michigan in 1902.
Now a defunct brand owned by General Motors, Oldsmobile’s 5 horse power, 1 cylinder Curved Dash Model R was the first mass production car in the world intended for widespread adoption by average consumers.
The Modern Commercial Airliner – The Wright Brothers
While Zeppelin airships, now known as blimps, were the first aircraft to make controlled flights, it was the Wright brothers who made the first sustained flight with a powered, controlled aircraft. They took that technology to the masses through several commercial partnerships.
Wilbur Wright took the first passenger on a plane in 1908 and Orville Wright opened the first commercial flight school in 1910. Of course, none of this would have been possible without aircraft manufacturers like Burgess Company, the first licensed commercial aircraft manufacturer, and KLM, the oldest continually operating airline, but they were responsible for creating the industry.
Companies like Boeing, inventor of the first pressurized cabin, and Pan American, the company that established regular New York-London service, could never have done what they did without the invention of the Wright Brothers.
What’s Next?
Will Richard Branson bring affordable space travel to the masses? Will George Page’s Portapure bring clean water to everyone in the world? Will Elon Musk revolutionize transportation? Will an unknown doctor cure cancer?
What do you think are the biggest inventions that have changed the world? What about the next ones? Please share your ideas in the comments.
About Carson Derrow
