A History of Great Inventions

A History of Great Inventions
Author: James Dyson
Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2001
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780786709038

A handsome, lavishly illustrated volume celebrates the human genius for invention from the dawn of civilization to the beginning of the new millennium.

Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries

Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries
Author: Rodney Carlisle
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 711
Release: 2008-04-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0470306920

A unique A-to-Z reference of brilliance in innovation and invention Combining engagingly written, well-researched history with the respected imprimatur of Scientific American magazine, this authoritative, accessible reference provides a wide-ranging overview of the inventions, technological advances, and discoveries that have transformed human society throughout our history. More than 400 entertaining entries explain the details and significance of such varied breakthroughs as the development of agriculture, the "invention" of algebra, and the birth of the computer. Special chronological sections divide the entries, providing a unique focus on the intersection of science and technology from early human history to the present. In addition, each section is supplemented by primary source sidebars, which feature excerpts from scientists' diaries, contemporary accounts of new inventions, and various "In Their Own Words" sources. Comprehensive and thoroughly readable, Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries is an indispensable resource for anyone fascinated by the history of science and technology. Topics include: aerosol spray * algebra * Archimedes' Principle * barbed wire * canned food * carburetor * circulation of blood * condom * encryption machine * fork * fuel cell * latitude * music synthesizer * positron * radar * steel * television * traffic lights * Heisenberg's uncertainty principle

The Greatest Invention

The Greatest Invention
Author: Silvia Ferrara
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2022-03-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0374601631

In this exhilarating celebration of human ingenuity and perseverance—published all around the world—a trailblazing Italian scholar sifts through our cultural and social behavior in search of the origins of our greatest invention: writing. The L where a tabletop meets the legs, the T between double doors, the D of an armchair’s oval backrest—all around us is an alphabet in things. But how did these shapes make it onto the page, never mind form complex structures such as this sentence? In The Greatest Invention, Silvia Ferrara takes a profound look at how—and how many times—human beings have managed to produce the miracle of written language, traveling back and forth in time and all across the globe to Mesopotamia, Crete, China, Egypt, Central America, Easter Island, and beyond. With Ferrara as our guide, we examine the enigmas of undeciphered scripts, including famous cases like the Phaistos Disk and the Voynich Manuscript; we touch the knotted, colored strings of the Inca quipu; we study the turtle shells and ox scapulae that bear the earliest Chinese inscriptions; we watch in awe as Sequoyah single-handedly invents a script for the Cherokee language; and we venture to the cutting edge of decipherment, in which high-powered laser scanners bring tears to an engineer’s eye. A code-cracking tour around the globe, The Greatest Invention chronicles a previously uncharted journey, one filled with past flashes of brilliance, present-day scientific research, and a faint, fleeting glimpse of writing’s future.

Concise History of Science & Invention

Concise History of Science & Invention
Author: Jolyon Goddard
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2010
Genre: History
ISBN: 1426205449

A global view of science and technology as it developed over the centuries.