Below is a list of 20th century inventions, many of which greatly impacted the lives of our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. (Note: some of the dates may be in dispute as they can either reflect the year an invention was patented or the year it became commercially available. It typically took several years for an invention to become widely used.)
To learn more about an invention and the personal impact it had, ask your parents and grandparents to share their memories of growing up in the 20th century.
~ 20th Century Inventions ~
1900-1910
1900 – The Escalator1901 – The Vacuum Cleaner1902 – The Air Conditioner1903 – Crayons and Airplane1904 – The Tractor1905 – E=mc21906 – Sonar and Corn Flakes1907 – Color Photography1908 – The Model T1909 – Instant Coffee1910-1920
1912 – The Motorized Movie Camera1913 – The Bra1916 – Stainless Steel1918 – Fortune Cookie1919 – The pop-up Toaster1921 – The Lie Detector1923 – Frozen Food1926 – The Television and Liquid Fueled Rockets1928 – Penicillin1930-1940
1930 – Scotch Tape and the Jet Engine1932 – Polaroid Photography1933 – The FM Radio1934 – Monopoly1935 – Nylon1936 – The Colt Revolver1937 – The Photocopier1938 – The Ball Point Pen, Teflon and first Turboprop1939 – The Helicopter and Electron Microscope1940-1950
1940 – The Color Television1941 – The Neutron Reactor1943 – The Slinky1944 – Kidney Dialysis1945 – The Atomic Bomb1946 – The Microwave Oven1948 – The Frisbee, Velcro and the Jukebox1950-1960
1950 – The first Credit Card1951 – The Video Tape Recorder1952 – Mr. Potato Head1953 – The Transistor Radio1954 – McDonalds and the Birth Control Pill1955 – Optic Fiber1956 – Liquid Paper1958 – The modern Computer, Laser and the Hula Hoop1959 – The Micro Chip, Barbie Doll, and the Pacemaker1960-1970
1960 – The Halogen Lamp1962 – The Audio Cassette and TV Satellite Launched1963 – The Video Disk1965 – AstroTurf and the Compact Disc1967 – The Hand held Calculator1968 – The Computer Mouse and RAM1969 – The Artificial Heart and the ATM1970-1980
1970 – The Floppy Disc1971 – The VCR1972 – The Word Processor and Video Game1973 – The Ethernet1974 – Liposuction and Post it Notes1975 – The Laser Printer1976 – The Ink Jet Printer1977 – Magnetic Resonance Imaging1979 – The Cell Phone, Walkman and Roller Blades (what a year!)1980-1990
1981 – The IBM PC1983 – Apple Lisa1984 – The CD ROM and Apple Macintosh1985 – Microsoft Windows1986 – The Disposable Camera1987 – Disposable Contact Lenses and Fax Machine1988 – The Digital Cell Phone1989 – High Definition Television1990-2000
1990 – The World Wide Web and HTML1991 – The Digital Answering Machine1993 – The Portable Personal Computers1995 – The DVD and JAVA1996 – Web TV
Ask your parent and grandparents what they consider the greatest invention in their lifetime and let us know in the comment section below!.
To learn more about 20th century inventions and your family history, check out my post: ‘Grandparent Interview Questions’.
Capture your parent or grandparent’s life story, family history and life lessons for your family to know!
Here at Family Tree Video we produce Legacy Videos, modern-day memoirs that weave a filmed interview together with family photos, documents, maps and other memorabilia. The result is a beautiful “moving” portrait capturing your loved one as they recount their life story, family history and memories – a gift your family will treasure for generations to come.
To learn more about capturing your parent or grandparent’s life story in a Legacy Video, visit us at FamilyTreeVideo.com.
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20th Century Inventions
~ 20th Century Inventions ~
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20th Century Inventions
~ Legacy Videos ~
~ 20th Century Inventions ~
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