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. The electric light bulb was first patented in England by 1878 by Joseph Swan after having experimented since about 1850. Thomas Edison in the U.S. was working on improving the bulb patented by Swan and was granted a U.S. patent in 1879.






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






3. Glue in Italy






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






5. Twisted rope






6. Noria in Roman Empire






7. 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






8. Railway steam locomotive - Richard Trevithick






9. World Wide Web by a British national in Geneva - Switzerland - The World Wide Web was first proposed on March 1989 by English engineer and computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee - now the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium. The project was pub






10. Crossbow in Ancient China and Ancient Greece - In Ancient China - the earliest evidence of bronze crossbow bolts dates as early as mid-5th century BC in Yutaishan - Hubei.In Ancient Greece - the terminus ante quem of the gastraphetes is 421 BC.






11. Shelter construction






12. Printing press in Mainz - Germany - The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 - based on existing screw presses. The first confirmed record of a press appeared in a 1439 lawsuit against Gutenberg.






13. Fore-and-aft rig (spritsail) in Ancient Greece






14. Jacquard loom (loom controlled by punched card) - Joseph Marie Jacquard






15. 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






16. Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invents the alcohol thermometer.






17. Parachute (with frame) in Renaissance Italy






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






19. Water wheel in Hellenistic kingdoms described by Philo of Byzantium (ca. 280






20. Morphine in Paderborn - Germany - Morphine was discovered as the first active alkaloid extracted from the opium poppy plant in December 1804 by Friedrich Sert






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






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






23. Brace in Flandres - Holy Roman Empire






24. Mechanization of papermaking (paper mill) in X






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. Pottery






27. Friction Match - John Walker






28. Twisted rope






29. Crane in Ancient Greece






30. Floating dock in Venice - Venetian Republic






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






32. Papyrus paper invented by ancient Egyptians by interlocking the stems of the Papyrus plant in the lower Nile.






33. 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






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






35. Eyeglasses in Italy






36. Turbine in Africa (province) - Roman Empire






37. Fire and then cooking






38. Multiple arch buttress dam (Esparragalejo Dam) in Hispania - Roman Empire






39. Parachute (with frame) in Renaissance Italy






40. Banknote in Tang Dynasty China - The banknote was first developed in China during the Tang and Song dynasties - starting in the 7th century. Its roots were in merchant receipts of deposit during the Tang Dynasty (618






41. Stephen Hales takes measurements of blood pressure.






42. Mariner's astrolabe on Portuguese circumnavigation of Africa






43. Jacquard loom (loom controlled by punched card) - Joseph Marie Jacquard






44. Watermill (grain mill) by Greek engineers in Eastern Mediterranean (see also List of ancient watermills)






45. The electric light bulb was first patented in England by 1878 by Joseph Swan after having experimented since about 1850. Thomas Edison in the U.S. was working on improving the bulb patented by Swan and was granted a U.S. patent in 1879.






46. Friction Match - John Walker






47. Multiple arch buttress dam (Esparragalejo Dam) in Hispania - Roman Empire






48. Buttress dam in Roman Empire






49. Noria in Roman Empire






50. Crossbow in Ancient China and Ancient Greece - In Ancient China - the earliest evidence of bronze crossbow bolts dates as early as mid-5th century BC in Yutaishan - Hubei.In Ancient Greece - the terminus ante quem of the gastraphetes is 421 BC.