Prehistoric
Neolithic
Ancient
Classical
Medieval
Early Modern
Industrial
Modern
Information Age
Stone Tools
~3.3M BCE
Controlled Fire
~1.0M BCE
Language
~100K BCE
Bow and Arrow
~64K BCE
Fermentation
~10K BCE
Plant Domestication
~10K BCE
Animal Domestication
~8K BCE
Fortifications
~8K BCE
Kiln / High-Temperature Firing
~6K BCE
Irrigation
~6K BCE
Copper Smelting
~5K BCE
The Plow
~4K BCE
Glass Manufacturing
~4K BCE
The Wheel
~4K BCE
Writing
~3K BCE
Bronze Alloying
~3K BCE
Sailing Ships
~3K BCE
Lever / Simple Machines
~3K BCE
Money and Abstract Exchange
~3K BCE
Trade Routes and Knowledge Networks
~3K BCE
Legal Codes
~2K BCE
Property Rights and Rule of Law
~2K BCE
The Lathe
~1K BCE
Iron Smelting
~1K BCE
Engineered Road Networks
~500 BCE
Waterwheel
~300 BCE
Roman Hydraulic Concrete
~300 BCE
Paper
105
Gunpowder
850
Compass
1040
University System
1100
Cannon and Firearms
1326
Printing Press
1440
Scientific Method
1600
Optics (Science of Light)
1620
Steam Engine
1712
Vacuum Technology
1650
Vaccination
1796
Interchangeable Parts
1820
Electromagnetism
1820
Thermodynamics
1824
Electric Generator / Dynamo
1831
Cell Theory
1839
Precision Metrology
1850
Bessemer Steel Process
1856
Germ Theory
1862
Internal Combustion Engine
1876
AC Power Grid
1886
Automobile
1886
Radio
1895
Powered Flight
1903
Vacuum Tubes
1904
Synthetic Polymers
1907
Haber-Bosch Process
1909
Assembly Line
1913
Quantum Mechanics
1926
Antibiotics / Penicillin
1928
Nuclear Fission
1938
Jet Engine
1939
Nuclear Reactor
1942
Military Cryptography
1943
Nuclear Weapons
1945
Stored-Program Computer
1945
Transistor
1947
Information Theory
1948
DNA Structure
1953
Orbital Rocketry
1957
Integrated Circuit
1958
Green Revolution
1961
Internet (ARPANET)
1969
GPS (Global Positioning System)
1978
CRISPR Gene Editing
2012