Great Discoveries and Inventions That Changed the World: From the End of the 19th Century to the Present

What would life be like without cars, television, the Internet and computers, or the omnipresent smartphone? Setting aside the question of whether things would be better or worse, what we do know for sure is that today there are some inventions that we just can't do without. And yet some of them are very recent, in their infancy we might say, while others are a little over a century old, which in any case is but a blip if compared to the history of humanity. They all have changed the existence of a considerable number of people, their advent has been such a breakthrough that it has always marked a "before" and "after". The result of the brilliant intuition of exceptional men and women, of the perseverance and tenacity of great entrepreneurs or ingenious ideas of common people, these inventions have influenced and changed medicine, society, economics, culture, and history itself. This book full of curiosities and explanations will guide readers to the discovery of the most important inventions that have influenced the contemporary world, from the end of the 19th century to our own time, revealing the secrets and events that led to their creation and introducing the exceptional figures who conceived them.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 6 TECHNOLOGY 12 Combine Harvester 14 Alternating Current 18 Plastic 22 Assembly Line 28 Optic Fiber 34 Nuclear Energy 40 Solar Panels 48 Humans and Space 52 Laser 62 Robot 66 DAILY LIFE 72 Typewriter 74 Light Bulb 80 Zipper 86 Refrigerator 90 Ballpoint Pen 94 Credit Card 96 TRANSPORTATION 98 Airship 100 Automobile 106 Airplane 114 COMMUNICATIONS 120 Camera 122 Gramophone 132 Telegraph 138 Radio 144 Cinema 150 Television 156 Telephone 162 Cell and Smartphone 166 MEDICINE 170 Aspirin 172 X Rays 176 Vaccines 180 Penicillin 186 DNA 190 The Pill 196 Pacemaker 200 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 202 Computer 204 Video Games 210 Internet 218 The Author 222

About the Author :
Gianni Morelli is the author of novels, short stories, non-fiction, textbooks and film synopses. He has worked in research institutes and written travel and geography books. He is one of the founding collaborators of the Italian ClupGuide series, and edited books in the series for more than 20 years. He has supervised several publications for White Star Publishers, including the volume The 100 Photographs that Changed the World.