Test your basic knowledge |

Timeline Of Historic Inventions

Subjects : trivia, history
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Sakia gear in Hellenistic Egypt






2. Friction Match - John Walker






3. Turbine in Africa (province) - Roman Empire






4. Floating dock in Venice - Venetian Republic






5. Bow






6. The first working phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison






7. Parachute (with frame) in Renaissance Italy






8. Lateen sail in Roman Empire






9. Pottery






10. Floating crane in Rhineland - Holy Roman Empire






11. High pressure steam engine - Richard Trevithick and Oliver Evans - independently






12. Segmental arch bridge (e.g. Pont-Saint-Martin or Ponte San Lorenzo) in Italy - Roman Republic






13. Catapult in Ancient Greece (incl. Sicily)






14. Pointed arch bridge (Karamagara Bridge) in Cappadocia - Eastern Roman Empire






15. Arch-gravity dam (e.g. PuyForadado Dam or Kasserine Dam) in Roman Empire






16. Lateen sail in Roman Empire






17. Numerical zero in Ancient India - The concept of zero as a number - and not merely a symbol for separation is attributed toIndia. In India - practical calculations were carried out using zero - which was treated like any other number by the 9th centu






18. Mariner's compass (wet compass) in Ancient China - The earliest recorded use of magnetized needle for navigational purposes at sea is found in Zhu Yu's book Pingzhou Table Talks of 1119 (written from 1111 to 1117). The typical Chinese navigational co






19. Arch dam (Glanum Dam) in Gallia Narbonensis - Roman Republic (see also List of Roman dams)






20. Eyeglasses in Italy






21. Dry dock some time after Ptolemy IV (221






22. Glue in Italy






23. First use of nuclear power to produce electricity for households in Arco - Idaho






24. DVD is an optical disc storage format - invented and developed by Philips - Sony - Toshiba - and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.






25. Wind power in an open air stream is thus proportional to the third power of the wind speed; the available power increases eightfold when the wind speed doubles. Wind turbines for grid electricity therefore need to be especially efficient at greater w






26. Mechanization of papermaking (paper mill) in X






27. Thomas Newcomen builds the first steam engine to pump water out of mines. Newcomen's engine - unlike Thomas Savery's - used a piston.






28. Canal lock (possibly pound lock) in Ancient Suez Canal under Ptolemy II (283






29. Paddle wheel boat (in De rebus bellicis) in Roman Empire






30. Rebreather - Henry Fleuss was granted a patent for the first practical rebreather






31. Spiral stairs (Temple A) in Selinunte - Sicily (see also List of ancient spiral stairs)






32. Spiral stairs (Temple A) in Selinunte - Sicily (see also List of ancient spiral stairs)






33. James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny.






34. Paper in Ancient China - Although it is recorded that the Han Dynasty (202 BC






35. Thomas Newcomen builds the first steam engine to pump water out of mines. Newcomen's engine - unlike Thomas Savery's - used a piston.






36. The pattern-tracing lathe (actually more like a shaper) is completed by Thomas Blanchard for the U.S. Ordnance Dept. The lathe could copy symmetrical shapes and was used for making gun stocks - and later - ax handles. The lathe's patent was in force






37. Dry dock some time after Ptolemy IV (221






38. Crank and connecting rod (Hierapolis sawmill) in Asia Minor - Roman Empire






39. A CD-ROM (an acronym of 'Compact Disc Read-only memory') is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to - but not writable by - a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985






40. Cast iron in Ancient China - Confirmed by archaeological evidence - the earliest cast iron was developed in China by the early 5th century BC during the Zhou Dynasty (1122






41. Cloth woven from flax fiber






42. Fire and then cooking






43. Segmental arch bridge (e.g. Pont-Saint-Martin or Ponte San Lorenzo) in Italy - Roman Republic






44. Movable type in Ancient China - The first record of a movable type system is in the Dream Pool Essays written in 1088 - which attributed the invention of the movable type to Bi Sheng. In the 15th century - Johannes Gutenberg independently invented th






45. Friction Match - John Walker






46. Shelter construction






47. Floating crane in Rhineland - Holy Roman Empire






48. Stephen Hales takes measurements of blood pressure.






49. Arc lamp - Humphry Davy (exact date unclear; not practical as a light source until generators)






50. Crank motion (rotary quern) in Celtiberian Spain