A history of humanity in 12 inventions · 2019-10-21 · 1. Johannes Gutenberg Inventor of the...

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A history of

humanity in

12 inventions

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Concept Definition Concept in context

1. A.D. Anno Domini- the years after the year people believe Jesus Christ to have been born (1 A.D.)

We live in the year 2018 A.D.

2. B.C. Before Christ- the years before people believe Jesus Christ was born Agriculture first appeared around 11,000 B.C.

3. Prehistory The period before history began with the invention of writing Agriculture was an invention that belongs to the prehistoric era

4. Agriculture The growing of crops or keeping of animals to provide food Agriculture first appeared around 13,000 years ago

5. Nomadic people People that moved around, not simply staying living in one place The earliest humans were all nomadic people/ nomads

6. Settlement An area where humans settle down and live There are lots of examples of settlements- villages and towns are very common

7. Industrialisation The process of making products by using machinery and factories The first industry to use machines to make things was the textile industry, with the invention of the Spinning Frame by Richard Arkwright. This process was called industrialisation

8. Industrial revolution

The change from working at home to working in factories The Industrial Revolution happened in Britain between 1750 and 1900 transforming Britain into a modern country

9. Domestic service The industry where, usually women, acted as servants for people in their homes completing jobs like cooking and cleaning

Of all women who worked in 1900, most worked in domestic service

10. Emancipation The freeing of people from the expectations other people have of them The washing machine helped to achieve the emancipation of women

11. Warfare The way that war is fought The invention of the atom bomb changed warfare completely

Key vocab

1. 1. Decade Period of 10 years 2. Century Period of 100 years

3. 3. Millennium Period of 1000 years 4. Era Long period of time

5. 5. Homo Sapiens Scientific name for humans. Literally means ‘wise human’ in Latin

6. Axle Device used to allow carts to by pulled on wheels by connecting wheels together

7. 7. Cuneiform Early form of writing developed by the Sumerians 8. Sumeria Ancient civilisation found in what is now Iraq

9. 9. Alchemist Type of ‘scientist’ who tried to change one substance into another one

10. Printing press

Large machine which could print lots of copies of the same text quickly

11. 11. Steam engine Large machine that produced movement powered by steam from a fire

12. Germ theory

The idea that disease was caused by germs

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13. 13. Vaccination A way of preventing people catching disease 14. Static electricity

Electricity which does not move

15. 15. Current electricity

Electricity which moves so can be used to power things 16. Telegraph Way of sending simple sounds over long distances

17. 17. Morse Code Way of sending messages over long distances just using simple sounds

18. Atom bomb

Large bomb with huge destructive power

19. 19. World Wide Web

Another name for internet 20. Fake news News spread over the internet that is not true and is designed to mislead people

Key people

1. Johannes Gutenberg Inventor of the printing press 2. James Watt and Matthew Boulton

Developers of the steam engine

3. George and Robert Stephenson

Inventors of steam train that ran on rails 4. Louis Pasteur Discoverer of germ theory, proving disease was caused by germs

5. Robert Koch German doctor who developed Pasteur’s work 6. Michael Faraday Inventor who found a way of generating current electricity

7. Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan

Inventors of the light bulb 8. Alexander Graham Bell Inventor of the telephone

9. Robert Oppenheimer Lead scientist behind the atom bomb 10. Tim Berners Lee ‘Inventor’ of the internet

Key dates (all A.D. unless specified)

1. 300,000 B.C. Approximate time modern humans appear 2. 11,000 B.C. Approximate time farming began

3. 3200 B.C. Approximate time wheels with axles appear 4. 3000 B.C. Approximate time cuneiform writing appears

5. 850 A.D. Approximate time gunpowder appears 6. 1350s Use of cannon for warfare in Europe

7. 1440 Invention of printing press 8. 1776 Invention of usable steam engine by Watt and Boulton

9. 1830 Invention of the Rocket by the Stephensons 10. 1861 Invention of germ theory

11. 1831 Invention of current electricity generator 12. 1878 Invention of light bulb

13. 1930s Invention of automatic washing machine 14. 1876 Invention of telephone

15. 1945 Invention of atom bomb 16. 1990 Modern internet invented

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Part of speech What it is Example

1. Sentence Arrangement of words containing a clause that expresses a complete thought or idea NOTE- all a sentence needs to be grammatically correct is to contain one clause and to express a whole idea or thought

Mr Jadayel taught the class history. Here, the complete thought is that Mr Jadayel taught the class history

2. Clause Part of a sentence that contains both a subject and predicate During the day, Mr Jadayel taught the class history. Here the subject is Mr Jadayel and the predicate is ‘taught the class’

3. Subject What a clause is actually about- the subject of the clause Mr Jadayel taught the class history. Mr Jadayel is what the sentence is about

4. Predicate Part of a sentence that contains at least a verb and might contain more information about the subject or the verb

Mr Jadayel killed in anger. The predicate contains the verb (‘killed’) and tells us it was in anger

5. Main clause Part of sentence that makes sense on its own, expresses a complete thought and contains a subject and predicate

Oliver read the knowledge organiser carefully. Oliver is the subject, and ‘read the knowledge organiser carefully the predicate’

6. Subordinate clause

Part of a sentence that contains a subject and predicate but starts with a subordinating conjunction that makes it depend on the main clause to make sense

I put a coat on because it was cold. Although it was cold, I didn’t bother to wear a coat. Whenever I see him, it makes me really angry.

7. Co-ordinating conjunction

Word which joins two main clauses together- use FANBOYS to help you remember (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)

I read the sheet and I understood it. I read the sheet but I didn’t understand it.

8. Subordinating conjunction

Conjunction that joins two clauses together but means one only makes sense when joined with the main clause

I understood the sentence because I paid attention. When I read carefully, I understand much better.

Note taking symbols

9. / Comma or full stop I read/ I slept

10. = Means that Working hard = good grades

11. + or & And Believed God & miasma caused plague

12. * This is important *revise this*

13. # Number # of causes of plague

14. Causes this People believed miasma plague

15. £ Money Rich had £ to afford doctors

16. < or > Less or greater than Black Death killed > than any other disease

17. Goes up or down # deaths

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Coordinating conjunctions Subordinating conjunctions

For- we use to join two main clauses when one happened because of the other- it is like because

And- we use to join two related clauses or to connect idea

Nor- we use to join two similar clauses which express something negative

But- we use to join two clauses which don’t agree

Or- we use to join two clauses which give different possibilities

Yet- we use when one clause does not necessarily follow the other

So- we use when one clause leads to another

after although as because before even if even though if in order that once provided that rather than since so that than that though unless until when whenever where whereas wherever whether while why

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A history of humanity in 12 inventions 1

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Human beings, by which we mean people like you or me (known in science as ‘Homo Sapiens’, which 3

means wise man), have been around for between 200,000 and 300,000 years. Some scientists think 4

it might have been even longer, but the simple truth is that we don’t know. 5

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What we do know is that this is a very, very long period of time- almost too much time to imagine. 7

One of the amazing things is that if we were to cut a dead human open from 100,000 years ago and 8

a dead human today, scientists wouldn’t be able to see much difference- sure: a human then might 9

be a little shorter than the one today, but that’s about it. In terms of their brains, there would be no 10

difference. Yet think about the different things the two humans, who don’t forget, are no different, 11

would know- it is really incredible. 12

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Our human today probably has a mobile phone. Let’s call him Jeff. Jeff probably goes in a car or 14

other wheeled vehicle most days. He uses the internet to communicate with people on the other 15

side of the world, and if he wants to get there, he can jump on a plane and fly. If he is one of the 16

lucky few, he might even be able to go into space- people have walked on the moon! 17

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Now think of our human from 100,000 years ago. Let’s call her Doris. Doris would not even 19

understand any of the things described above, let alone have seen them. Doris probably lives in a 20

tribe (a group) of other people who have to hunt animals for their survival. They follow the animals 21

they hunt round, using spears to kill them and then cooking them on a fire. If the winter is too cold, 22

they might not survive it, but they can wrap themselves up in animal fur to try to stay warm. 23

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It should be obvious to us, then, that a lot has changed between our human today and from Doris’ 25

time. This is what the first unit you will look at will focus on- how new inventions have appeared and 26

the effect they had. You will focus on what there was before, and how the invention changed life for 27

people at the time. 28

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One of the things that is very tempting when studying history is to simply think everything is split 30

into today and ‘olden days’. But it is not that simple. Changes in the past happen at different speeds 31

and because of different things- if Henry VIII had visited Doris, he would have found her life as 32

different as we would, but if we visited Henry VIII we would find his life very different too. 33

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So that is what we are trying to do in this unit- build up a sense of the way in which history has 35

changed through time by looking at different inventions and the effect each of these inventions has 36

had on the people who lived at the time. 37

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Invention one- agriculture/ farming 1

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Our first invention is a very old one and we have to go back a long way to find it. You will probably 3

find it quite a strange thing to even think of it being an invention! 4

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When was it invented? 6

Approximately 13,000 years ago. We call this ‘prehistory’ and this period ‘prehistoric’, because 7

history needs to be written down, and writing had not even been invented then. 8

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How did people live before it? 10

People were what we call ‘hunter gatherers’. This means they hunted and gathered food to stay 11

alive. All across the planet groups of humans followed animals around, hunting them for food and 12

clothes. They relied on these animals to stay alive, and because the animals did not stay in one place, 13

nor did the humans. We called people who travel around ‘nomads’. If you live in a house you are not 14

a nomad, but if you never stay in the same place then you are. 15

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So before the invention of farming 17

(agriculture), people did not live in 18

towns or villages, but wore clothes 19

made of animal fur, and sheltered 20

wherever they could find it, including 21

in caves. 22

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They also only tended to have small 24

families- babies had to be carried 25

around when they moved, so women 26

could not have a child more than every four or five years (when their children were old enough to 27

walk easily). This meant the population of the planet stayed quite low. 28

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What was the invention and how did it change the world? 30

We don’t know exactly why it happened (no one wrote anything down to tell us), but at some stage 31

humans started to grow crops- about 13,000 years ago they began to plant rye, which can be ground 32

down to make flour, and give food to the animals they hunted. Now, rather than killing them, they 33

bred them and only killed them when they had produced more animals for them. 34

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They quickly began to grow other crops which they could use for food. Farming transformed the 36

world, although it wasn’t all good. Farmers were far more likely to catch disease and they had to 37

work longer hours to keep themselves fed when compared with hunters. However, there were 38

benefits. Now, for the first time humans were not nomads- they could settle down in one place, and 39

villages and larger settlements (the name given to places where humans settle down) began to 40

appear. Moreover, people could have larger families. They didn’t have to wait until their children 41

could walk properly before having more, and so this meant the planet’s population began to grow. 42

They also stopped only wearing animal fur from dead animals- wool from sheep which they farmed 43

became an item people wore. 44

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Invention two- the wheel 1

2

Many significant inventions in history have been influenced by nature- if you think of an aeroplane, it 3

borrows from the wing design of a bird. But our third invention is barely seen in nature at all. It is a 4

wheel. 5

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The first wheels we know of seem to be potters’ 8

wheels- that is, turn tables used by potters to 9

make clay pots like the one to the right. 10

11

These seem to appear around 3500 B.C.- so 5500 12

years ago. However, the earliest wheels weren’t 13

used for transport- it was only when it became 14

possible to put an axle through the wheels that 15

the wheel really came into its own. As far as we 16

can tell, this took another 300 years, so around 17

3200 B.C. 18

19


You should remember that the discovery of 21

farming allowed people to settle down in 22

static communities (settlements that did not 23

move round). However, it was difficult for 24

people to move much beyond their 25

settlement because they were restricted to how far they could go on foot (horseback riding using a 26

saddle wasn’t to be invented for a long time yet). So essentially, most people lived as simple farmers, 27

using basic farming equipment (spades and other basic tools) and rarely went very far from where 28

they lived at all. 29

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The wheel changed the world hugely. Now it was possible to travel much further distances than 32

before and much more quickly in a cart that was pulled by a horse. This made it possible to travel 33

from place to place much more than before and meant people could trade much more easily- now 34

people from one town could buy and sell 35

things from another town. It also made war 36

easier. Before the wheel was invented it was 37

very hard to move armies and their 38

equipment round- now they could do it much 39

more easily. Ultimately it was as if the wheel 40

had made the world smaller as it was just 41

easier for people who were far apart to 42

connect with each other- for whatever 43

reason. 44

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Invention three- Writing 1

Our third invention is one that we use every day. However, without it, our modern world would soon 2

stop working. 3

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Compared with farming, writing is a relatively new 6

invention in human history, having only been invented 7

around 3,000 BC (5,000 years ago) in what is now 8

southern Iraq. A people known as the Sumerians lived 9

here and they created the earliest written language 10

known as cuneiform (which you can see on the right). 11

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Before a written language arrived, there was only a 14

spoken language. Since humans had started living together, communication between them had 15

existed. This was spoken or visual (cave paintings) and worked well in the small communities that 16

humans lived in. 17

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But it limited these communities. They had no way of keeping track of what was going in and out of 19

their villages, who owned what, or passing on ideas and thoughts to each other, except through 20

speaking to them . Everything was based on memory and word of mouth. If you have ever played 21

Chinese Whispers, you know that a message can quickly change when passed from person to 22

person, if they mishear you. 23


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The Sumerians, living in what is now Iraq, had started to build 26

some of the earliest cities. As these cities grew, it became harder 27

to keep track of the animals, crops and money passing through 28

them, which meant a loss of tax for the king. Therefore, people 29

started to use a reed to make marks into a clay tablet. Firstly, 30

with pictures to represent the animals and crops, but over time it 31

became lines to represent words, developing the first alphabet. 32

This became known as cuneiform; taken from the name of the 33

reed used to write it (see above). With this change, kingdoms could organise their people, keep 34

records, write down laws and tax their subjects more easily. It also allowed an early education 35

system to develop and ideas to be passed from person to person, as people could now be taught to 36

read and write a common language. 37

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This was a significant (important) event in history. It is where the study of history begins. History is 39

the study of what humans have written about themselves. From these tablets we can learn about 40

the food that people ate, what they drank and who ruled them. It also allowed stories to written 41

down and passed to future generations, like the Sumerian story of Gilgamesh, which is still read 42

today. 43

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The written word changed history. Every invention, idea, law, revolution that followed the 45

Sumerians, in some way, used the written word to tell people about it. Even this sheet that you are 46

reading follows that tradition. 47

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Invention four- Gunpowder 1

2

Few inventions in history have had such a devastating impact on humanity as gunpowder. From its 3

invention until today, many millions of people have died because of its use in many weapons. 4

5


Gunpowder was invented by mistake. This is not the first, or last time, that 7

someone has been trying to invent, improve or find one thing and then 8

creates another. Chinese alchemists (men who tried to change one thing 9

into another) were searching for a potion, substance to allow someone to 10

live forever. This was very common in the Middle Ages (A.D. 500- A.D 11

1500) as people believed that life could be extended and scrap metal 12

could be turned into gold, if only they could find a way to do it. 13

14

These alchemists, around A.D. 850, started mixing a substance called saltpetre (potassium nitrate) 15

with sulphur and charcoal. This mixture was then put near a flame and the results were explosive. A 16

text from the time noted, ‘smoke and flames result, so that hands and faces have been burnt, and 17

even the whole house where they were working burned down.’ 18


Before the arrival of gunpowder, wars were mainly fought 20

through hand to hand combat. The sword, bow and arrow, spears 21

were the main weapons of war, both on foot and on horseback. It 22

took time, effort and skill to learn how to use them effectively. 23

The most advanced weapons before gunpowder were the siege 24

machines used by the Romans. These included catapults 25

(throwing large stones at enemy walls), scorpios (a large 26

crossbow firing arrows at the enemy) and battering rams (to 27

knock down gates or walls). Weapons like these had been around 28

for nearly 2000 years by the discovery of gunpowder in A.D. 850. 29

30


The Chinese were the first to use gunpowder in weapons against their main 32

enemy, the Mongols. They used miniature rockets (arrows with tubes of 33

gunpowder attached to them), simple hand grenades and even landmines. They 34

protected this secret for hundreds of years and tried to stop other countries 35

discovering it. But by the 1280s, the secret was out and the Europeans would 36

take it further. 37

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In Europe, by the 1350s, cannons started to appear in the armies of the English 39

and the French during the Hundred Years War. By the 1450s, these cannons 40

were commonplace and made castle walls weak and defenceless against these 41

new weapons. By the 1500s, gunpowder was inserted into a handgun, the musket. This meant that 42

soldiers no longer needed to train for years in the use of the longbow or sword. They could literally 43

point, shoot and kill with minimal training. From this point onwards, guns became the main weapon 44

on the battlefield. All the machine guns, artillery guns, tanks and bombs that followed during and 45

after the 19th Century, killing hundreds of millions, owed their birth to those Chinese alchemists 46

searching for eternal life. 47

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Invention five- Printing Press 1

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The first attempts at speeding up the creation of books appear in 4

China around A.D 600- A.D 800. These were on wooden blocks, 5

with letters carved into them. This idea arrived in Europe during 6

the Middle Ages (1000-1350). 7

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The Printing Press was invented in 1440 by a German goldsmith 9

(someone who made items out of gold) called Johannes 10

Gutenberg. This used metal letters, placed in rows, with ink rolled 11

on top and a piece of paper pressed onto it. This caused a 12

revolution (change) across Europe. 13

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Before the arrival of the printing press in Europe, books were 16

written by hand (these were known as manuscripts 17

because the Latin word for hand is manus) or printed 18

from wooden blocks (see left), which had a word 19

carved into them and put together with other blocks 20

to make the page. This was a slow process, which 21

made books expensive, due to the time and skill 22

needed to make them. This meant that only the rich 23

would be able to afford and own these books. 24

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The time and price also meant that it took a very long 26

time for new ideas to become known and accepted by people, as only those that had the books 27

could read them. This is why the Middle Ages is regarded as a time of limited discovery and 28

invention. 29

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Gutenberg changed all this with his printing press. Instead of 32

letters being carved into blocks, or people writing pages out 33

by hand, Gutenberg made the letters out of metal. These 34

were then arranged in rows, ink rolled over the top of them, 35

and then a paper pressed onto the letters. These letters 36

were kept in ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ cases (as you can see on 37

the right). It is from this, that we get our upper (capital) and 38

lower case letters. 39

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This was quicker and cheaper than writing it out or using wooden blocks. Instead of books taking 41

weeks or even months to make, they could be made in a matter of days. Books could be mass 42

produced quickly, meaning that ideas, knowledge and understanding could spread around Europe at 43

an great speed. This was, like the internet today, a communication revolution, which changed the 44

way people thought about their governments, believed about God and saw the world around them. 45

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Invention six- Steam Engine 1

2

Unlike all the previous inventions that we have studied, the steam engine was invented in Britain. It 3

in no small part, led to Britain becoming a very important country during a period of history called 4

the Industrial Revolution (1750-1900) 5

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The first steam engine was invented in 1698 by a man 8

called Thomas Savery, to pump water out of mine. At 9

this point, no one had yet thought of using it for 10

transportation. 11

12

It wasn’t until 1776 that two men, Matthew Boulton 13

and James Watt, developed a new steam engine (in the picture to the right) that was small enough 14

to be used in factories to power machines. 15

16

The first person to develop a steam train was a Cornish inventor called Richard Trevithick. This did 17

not run on rails, but on the road. Unfortunately, it exploded one night when its operators forgot to 18

put the fire out inside. George and Robert Stephenson built a more successful locomotive (train) on 19

rails, called Locomotion 1 in 1824, with the more famous locomotive Rocket following in 1830. 20

21


Before the arrival of steam power, people relied on methods of 23

transportation and power that had changed little in 1000 years. 24

The fastest method of travel on land was horsepower; on 25

water, it was sail power. This meant it took a long time to get 26

anywhere (two weeks from London to Edinburgh). 27

28

When making or building anything, we had to rely on the brute 29

strength of the people involved and cranes to lift and lower 30

things. This meant that it took a long time to build or make 31

anything, which put the cost up. 32

33


Few inventions change the world in such a short space of time. Steam 35

power did this. It led to a period known as the Industrial Revolution. 36

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This saw a change in the way items were made (using steam powered 38

machines), how people moved about (in steam locomotives like on the right), and how the sailed the 39

oceans (in steam ships). Items became cheaper, the idea of holidays became a reality for more 40

people, even the time of day (GMT) was influenced by steam trains, as this was the first time that 41

there needed to be the same time across the country, so trains would not crash into each other. 42

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However, there it also caused problems that we are still dealing with such as pollution, with coal 44

powering them, which helped to start global warming. It also destroyed people’s homes when 45

stations and track was built. So like gunpowder, there are positive and negative changes that came 46

with it. 47

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Invention seven- Electricity 1

2

Our latest invention isn’t really an invention at all. If a big storm suddenly broke out you would see it 3

clearly in the sky. Lightning is just a form of electricity, but realising it could be used as a power 4

source was what really changed the world. 5

6


Electricity was actually first discovered around 2700 years ago by the ancient Greeks, although all 8

they really found was static electricity- that is electricity that doesn’t move. If you take off a wooly 9

jumper at the end of a day, you sometimes see and hear crackles. This is static electricity and isn’t 10

much use as a power source! However, in 1831 Michael Faraday found a way of creating a power 11

generator- now electricity that could move (if it moves it is said to have a current- like a river or the 12

sea) could be easily produced and could be used to power things. It would totally change the world. 13

14


Think of everything that we use that uses electricity today. Now imagine it didn’t exist. No 16

computers, televisions, no washing machines, tumble dryers, radios in the car. The list feels endless. 17

There wouldn’t even be electric lights! This was life before Faraday’s invention. If you wanted lights 18

at home, you had to use candles or gas lights. Street lighting was only possible by using gas or oil, 19

which meant that most places weren’t lit after dark. This made them more dangerous. Essentially, 20

there was no way of powering almost everything we think of as modern technology. With no power, 21

there could be no modern technology. 22

23


What Faraday had discovered was a way of providing energy for all 25

sorts of devices. By 1878 Thomas Edison (in America) and Joseph 26

Swan (in Britain) had invented the electric lightbulb. Now, towns 27

could be lit after dark in a much cheaper, easier and less dangerous 28

way. People could light their homes without the risk of fire from 29

candles. But the invention went much further- now all sorts of 30

machines and devices could be powered. It took a while for them to 31

appear, but by 1925 the television had been invented and the rest of 32

the 20th century was a story of more and more clever inventions all 33

with one thing in common- they were powered by current electricity. 34

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Invention eight- Germ Theory 1

2

A couple of lessons ago, you learned about the steam engine. The steam engine helped to spark the 3

industrial revolution around 1750. This meant that millions of people began to work in cities in 4

factories and the population of these cities grew enormously. However, what more people living in 5

cities meant was they became dirty and disease spread very quickly. With lots of disease it meant 6

there was lots of death- until a French scientist came to the rescue and explained what was causing 7

disease in the first place. 8

9


Before 1861 people did not know germs existed. If they didn’t know germs existed, they couldn’t 11

know what caused disease, and if they didn’t know what caused it, they couldn’t treat diseases. 12

What this meant was that life expectancy was much lower than it is today- in Ancoats, in 13

Manchester in 1840 life expectancy was just 14 (it is about 80 today!) When disease struck people 14

tried treatments that didn’t work (like tying chickens to swellings when they got plague!) or prayed 15

because they thought God was causing the disease. None of these things worked- how could they? 16

All this meant that people died much, much sooner than they do today. 17

18


Louis Pasteur was a French scientist who worked 20

in the brewing industry (making alcohol). Wine 21

makers were confused by how the process of 22

making wine actually worked- they didn’t 23

understand why some wine went off whereas 24

some wine tasted excellent. Pasteur discovered 25

there were microorganisms causing the wine to 26

taste bad (tiny, tiny living creatures) and did further research into these creatures. In 1861 he 27

published his findings- these tiny organisms were germs, which he proved by using a strange shaped 28

flask (shown above). When he boiled water in these flasks, nothing could get in, and he found that 29

the water stayed the same. But when the flask was broken and things could get in, he found the 30

water started to go off. Clearly there were small organisms that could be killed by boiling them. He 31

called these small organisms germs and for the first time, people had an accurate knowledge of 32

what was making them sick. 33

34


After Pasteur’s theory, all sorts of things could happen. A German doctor named Robert Koch was 36

able to develop vaccinations against serious diseases, and Pasteur’s work led directly to the 37

development of antibiotics and drugs to treat diseases. In fact, almost all of modern medicine owes 38

a debt to Louis Pasteur. Have you had to take antibiotics for a chest, throat or ear invention? Do you 39

know someone that has had an operation? Do you know to cover your face if you sneeze? We know 40

about all these things because of Pasteur. It is not going too far to say that without his work, some of 41

you reading this would already be dead! 42

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Invention nine- the Telephone 1

2

The telephone has become a part of everyday life for the majority of people with many households 3

having multiple phones within the house. Most people now spend more time using phones for other 4

reasons than calling people. But the original purpose of the phone is what changed the world and 5

the way that we communicate. 6

7


The man given the credit for inventing the telephone is Scottish 9

inventor Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. He was working in Boston 10

in America at the time. He was trying to figure out a way to 11

improve the telegraph, which was only able to send one message 12

a time. There were many people at the time who were trying to solve this problem, as there was a 13

lot of money to be made. Bell was working in one room, with one receiver attached, through wire, to 14

another in another room and said to his assistant, ‘Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you.’ This 15

was the first message to be transmitted through a telephone. It would not be the last. 16

17


Before the arrival of the phone, there were two ways to send messages 19

over a long distance. The first had been around for hundreds of the 20

years, the letter. With the invention of the Penny Black postal stamp in 21

1840 (invented by Rowland Hill, from Kidderminster!), posting letters 22

became very popular but they did take a long time to get to the 23

destination. The second invention was the telegraph. This used a 24

button to create a sound (Morse Code) which was transmitted along an electronic wire. Though 25

much quicker than letters, only one message at a time could be sent, you could not have a very quick 26

conversation and it was expensive. 27

28


The basic telephone has not changed since. It still has two 30

parts. The first is a microphone, which you speak into and the 31

second is an earphone to hear the other person. Bell’s 32

invention soon caught on with telephone exchanges (first 33

operated by people and then machines) in which your 34

telephone connected to others being built, allowing different 35

phones to connect with each other. 36

37

With the telephone you could now contact another house/business not only in your own town, but 38

across the country and the world. News, sport, everyday conversation, and even government 39

business could now travel and be organised in an instant. For the first time in history, businesses and 40

people could order items/materials from across the globe, helping economies to grow. Emigrating 41

(moving to another country) was more attractive to people, as they would still be able to stay in 42

touch with friends and family at home. 43

44

The telephone made the world (seem to be) a much smaller place and started to speed everything 45

up. Today, mobile phones have taken this further, with the need for a wired phone connected to a 46

landline a thing of the past. However, the purpose of the phone, to communicate over distances, has 47

not changed from the phone created by Alexander Graham Bell in Boston in 1876. 48

17

Invention ten- Washing Machine 1

2

The inventions you have been looking at are supposed to be some of the most important in history, 3

so this one is probably going to seem a bit strange, but many people would argue it is of huge 4

importance. It is the humble washing machine- an invention that has had a huge impact on the way 5

we live. 6

7


We don’t have an exact date for its invention, but the first electric machines started to appear 9

around 1900. Fully automatic machines (meaning you could simply put them on and leave them) did 10

not appear until the 1930s and didn’t become popular until the 1950s (and as late as the 1970s in 11

Britain). 12

13


Doing the washing was an enormous job. You had to fetch 15

the water, heat it, mix the soap and then beat the clothes 16

around the tub you were using. You then had to rinse the 17

clothes, either in the same tub after a careful rinse, or in a 18

separate tub. After you had finished, you then had to dry the 19

clothes, by wringing them in a mangle, before hanging them 20

out to dry. Doing the washing was a very challenging job- it 21

was hard, physical work that would take all day. It was also 22

seen as women’s work. Housewives would either do carry it 23

out in their own homes, but in the homes of the more 24

wealthy middle classes, women did not want to do such 25

difficult work. Instead, they employed women known as 26

domestic servants to do jobs such as washing and cleaning. 27

In the 19th century (1800s), the most common employment 28

for women who had jobs was as someone wealthier’s 29

servant- and a big part of this was doing the washing. 30

31

What was the invention and how 32

did it change the world? 33

The automatic washing machine has 34

had an enormous impact on society. 35

Before its invention, almost all 36

washing was done by women, either 37

in paid employment or for 38

themselves. Now, however, there 39

was a device that meant women did 40

not have to do the washing. In 1900, 41

most women with jobs worked in 42

domestic service. By 1960 this number had reduced massively. Instead, women were able to work in 43

other fields, explore other avenues and do other things. The washing machine was a massive step 44

forward in what we call the emancipation of women- freeing them from the sexist expectations of 45

society. 46

47

18

Invention Eleven- Atomic Bomb 1

2

The atomic bomb is a rather unique invention on our list in that soon after its invention, people 3

became very determined not to use it. All other inventions on our list became items and ideas that 4

people took up with enthusiasm. But the power of the atomic bomb was unmistakable and scary. 5

6


The atom bomb was invented and created before and during World War Two. 8

The original research had been done in Germany, but when Hitler came to 9

power these people fled to Britain, where the research continued. Eventually 10

when America joined the war in 1941, research was moved to America and it 11

was on July 16th that the first atomic bomb was tested in the deserts of New 12

Mexico. It was immensely (very) powerful, more powerful than any bomb that 13

had been created. 14

15


Before the atomic bomb was invented, warfare was entirely lost or won on the ability, weapons and 17

numbers of soldiers an army had. If you wanted to defeat your enemy, 18

then your army or navy had to defeat their army or navy. With the 19

creation of aeroplanes at the start of the 20th century, bombing the 20

enemy did become an option, but it took a large number of bombers, 21

dropping a large number of bombs for a long period of time. This made 22

warfare expensive, both in terms of the numbers of people and the 23

weapons, ships, planes that needed to be produced. 24

25


The reason the atomic bomb is so powerful is down to the uranium atoms inside. Each atom 27

contains tiny particles. In the middle of the atom, there's a clump of particles called the nucleus. The 28

nucleus is held together by a very strong force. An atomic bomb gets its power either by breaking up 29

the nucleus of an atom or by forcing the nuclei of two different atoms to combine. When a nucleus 30

breaks apart energy is released and the bomb explodes. That's why atomic bombs are also called 31

'nuclear' bombs, because they're all about the nucleus. 32

33

After the first successful test of a nuclear bomb, America wanted to convince Japan to surrender 34

without losing more soldiers. The Americans dropped two atomic bombs on two cities, Hiroshima 35

(on August 6th 1945) and Nagasaki (on August 9th 1945). These bombs killed an estimated 226,000 36

people, most of them civilians (i.e. people who weren’t soldiers). The Japanese surrendered very 37

quickly (on September 2nd 1945) bringing World War Two to an end. 38

39

Soon other countries started to build their own atomic bombs, being replaced soon after by even 40

more powerful hydrogen bombs during the 1950s. But these weapons, were never used again in 41

anger, as countries knew that if they used them, then the other countries would use their bombs, 42

meaning everyone died. So the greatest weapon that has ever been created can be credited with 43

helping keep the world safer, as no one wanted to start of a chain reaction destroying all of 44

mankind! Since 1945, there have been many wars, but no world wars. Most nuclear research is now 45

focussed on using the power of the atom to provide a source of power to create electricity. Yet atom 46

bombs had changed the world forever, unleashing a weapon so terrible no country was willing to 47

use it, but leaving people across the world in terror in case they did. 48

19

Invention Twelve- Internet 1

2

Our final invention is one which is continuing to evolve before our eyes. In less than 30 years, the 3

internet has gone from being something that only certain universities and military installations had, 4

to something in everyone’s home and even in your hand (depending on 3G/4G!). 5

6


The first message ever sent between two computers happened in 1969 between the University 8

College of Los Angeles (UCLA) and Stamford University, over a distance of 1,000 miles. The queen 9

was the first head of state to send an email in 1976. But it wasn’t until 1990 that the modern 10

internet can be said to have been invented. British inventor Tim Berners-Lee invented HTML and a 11

text browser, and a user interface (GUI) browser. These inventions, put together, were the makings 12

of web pages as we know them today. Lee also made up the term ‘World Wide Web’ which is still 13

used today. 14


Before the arrival of the World Wide Web (www), what 16

people now do online, they still did but in different ways. 17

If you wanted to send a document, you used a stamp and 18

an envelope. Shopping was done in person in a shop or 19

through order catalogues. If you wanted to find out 20

something there were a few options. Visiting a library, using an encyclopaedia and looking it up or 21

asking someone. In terms of watching programmes and films and listening to music, this was done 22

on TV, on video, at the cinema or on CDs or cassette tapes. Of course, none of this was as quick or 23

instantaneous as we can do today. 24

25


The early internet (pre 1990) was primarily used by universities 27

and military organisations. With Berner’s Lee invention of the 28

world wide web, it became something that would develop until 29

everybody could use it. Very soon after, companies started making websites to sell items (Amazon 30

was founded in 1994). People needed a way to be able to find websites online, so search engines like 31

Google and Yahoo became very profitable companies, purely from people searching for things on 32

the internet. 33

34

Computers started to appear in people’s homes in large numbers by the late 1990s/early 2000s. 35

More and more people started buying, searching, talking and watching online. Netflix started in 36

1997, Facebook in 2004 and You Tube in 2005. Social Media became more and more important and 37

with the advent of Smart Phones the internet could go everywhere with you. In the years 2013-2015, 38

more data and information was produced online than during all of human history combined. 39

40

But with the coming of social media the internet is under attack for the problems that it has created. 41

Criminals have now gone online and viruses, hacking and fraud are a constant problem. ‘Fake News’ 42

has grown online to the extent that Facebook is now putting a trust rating on its pages. Schools are 43

reporting that most issues that occur with their pupils now happen online. Brexit and Donald 44

Trump’s election in America, it is claimed, were highly influenced by social media. Governments 45

around the world are now trying to put in laws to protect people online. So unlike many of the other 46

inventions you have studied, the full impact of the internet is yet to be known. 47

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A history of humanity in 12 inventions · 2019-10-21 · 1. Johannes Gutenberg Inventor of the...

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