Significant Inventions and Discoveries

Inventions up to 1642

List of significant inventions and discoveries
Inventions are listed in chronological order up to 1642.

For more about inventions see these books:
History of Mathematics (1991)
Concise Biographical Dictionary of Scientists (1981)
Biographical Dictionary of Scientists (1981)
Biographical Dictionary of Mathematics (1991)
Encyclopedia of How it Works (1977)
Scientists and Inventors (1979)
The Way Things Work (1988)
The New York Public Library Desk Reference

B.C.
Woven cloth- Mesopotamia, Egypt
Wheeled vehicles- Sumera, Syria
Gold mining- Mesopotamia, Africa
Sundial- Middle East
Ox-drawn plow- Egypt
First step pyramid- Imhotep
Silk production- Si-ling Chi
Kite- China
Cotton production- China, India
22-letter alphabet- Phoenicians
Musical notation- Ugarit, Syria
First aqueduct- Sennacherib
Geographical and star charts- Anaximander of Miletus
Concept of atomic structure- Democritus
Profession of medicine- Hippocrates
Deductive system of mathematics- Euclid
Abacus- Asia, Middle East
Theory that the sun is the center of the solar system- Aristarchus
Principles of the lever and other simple machines- Archimedes
Beginning of the Great wall of China- Shih Hwang-ti
Ellipse and hyperbola- Appollonius
Trigonometry- Hipparchus

A.D.
Magnetism- China
Paper making- China
Function of the arteries- Galen
Rotary fan- China
Wheelbarrow- China
Algebra- India
Decimal system- India, Mesopotamia
Water mill- Greece
580- Iron-chain suspension bridge- china
Zero- India
640- Windmill- Persia
Porcelain- T`ang dynasty
886- 24-hour day measurement- Alfred the Great
Rocket- china
1150- Paper mill- Spain
Gunpowder- China
1250- Magnifying glass- Roger Bacon
1260- Gun/cannon- Konstantin Anklitzen
1269- 360 compass- Petrus Peregrinus de Maricourt
1280- Belt-driven spinning wheel- Hans Speyer
1285- Eyeglasses- Alessandro de Spina
1450- Printing press with moveable type- Johann Gutenberg
1493- Drawing of flying machine- Leonardo da Vinci
Heliocentric planetary model- Copernicus
1540- Artificial limbs- Ambroise Par
1565- Graphite pencil- Konrad Gesner
1581- Pendulum motion- Galileo Galilei
1582- Modern calendar- Pope Gregory XIII and Christoph Clavius
1589- Hosiery knitting machine- Rev. William Lee
1590- Compound microscope- Zacharais Jannsen
1590- Law of falling bodies- Galileo Galilei
1592- Thermoscope- Galileo Galilei
1597- Proportional compass- Galileo Galilei
1599- Silk knitting machine- Rev. William Lee
1600- Wind driven land vehicle- Simon Stevin
1609- Astronomical telescope- Galileo Galilei
1609- Laws of planetary motion- Johannes Kepler
1611- Rainbow theory- Johannes Kepler
1611- Double convex microscope- Johannes Kepler
1615- Solar powdered motor- Salomon de Caux
1642- Calculating machine- Blaise Pascal