Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Gadgets & Tech Greatest Inventions Of The 20th Century

Just had a few thoughts running around my head, what inventions do you consider to be great?

Personally, my top 3 would be:

- Digital Camera's
- Compact Discs (CD's leading onto DVD's et al)
- The Internet

Penicillin in 1929....?
Cellular phones in 1979 nad Digital phones in 1988?

I mean tech inventions (hence being posted in the Digital forums). Penecillin wasnt really an "invention" as such anyway, and whilst it is awsome, it killed off phage therapy, which I feel is actually a massive blow to our health system.

Surely none of the above would have been possible without the microprocessor? The silicon chip, if you want to make it even more fundamental than that.


Brian.

Of course, but that is still my 3. And no amount of argument will change that.

Oh, OK, *great*, not *the greatest*. All right, I'll agree with you on the internet. I reckon your standard hard drive is more impressive than the CD/DVDs. And how about gigabit switches for the third one? Bloody impressive, I call them.


Brian.

Hehe, CD's to me were more important in the 20th century, I dunno why tbh, but hard drives never really "changed" the way we use and share data. They have always seemed pretty boring, but I do agree, where the hell would be without them haha!

I think whilst hard drives have remained quite static and boring, CD's, in one form or another, progressed to change our lives so much in the 80's and 90's. Hard Drives really became exceptional in the very latter 90's, when they finally started reaching decent capacities and breaking technological barriers.

GigE's were mega for the 20th century too, they really made the internet "flow" like it should do, and opened up the future of high bandwidth internet leading to the 10GigE and 100GigE ports.

The MiniDisc
The Panasonic 3DO
The Phillips CDI

real filthy women

He's OLD SKOOL!!!

Tis all good hehe, although I always preferred DCC and DAT to MD.

They were actually invented in 412BC, by Gnaeus POMPeii

IMHO Minidisc was the fore father to MP3.

and the 3do and CDI brought on Gaming on CD's which lead to the likes of the PSX and the dreamcast and beyond (not forgetting the sega mega cd tho)

I know its not strictly Digital..but it could be applied to the Digital World....

I personally think Cable Ties are the greatest Invention ever. Whoever invented them must be a millionaire...

What about good old coaxial cable.

no, i mean real filthy ones lol... not just a quick poke at the oven