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Test your basic knowledge |
Timeline Of Historic Inventions
Start Test
Study First
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. Gunpowder in Ancient China - Gunpowder was - according to prevailing academic consensus - discovered in the 9th century by Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality. Evidence of gunpowder's first use in China comes from the Five Dynas
9th c.
563
1560
Before 421 BC
2. Papyrus paper invented by ancient Egyptians by interlocking the stems of the Papyrus plant in the lower Nile.
563
28 ka
Early 3rd c. BC
9th c.
3. 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.
1119
1878
Before 71 BC (possibly 3rd c. BC)
4th
4. 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
1605
1990
1088
5th c. BC
5. 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.
5th c. BC
5th/6th c.
1605
160
6. Waterway connecting two seas (Ancient Suez Canal) by Greek engineers under Ptolemy II (283
672
28 ka
7th c.
Early 3rd c. BC
7. Jacquard loom (loom controlled by punched card) - Joseph Marie Jacquard
1801
5th c. BC
160
c. 480 BC
8. Lateen sail in Roman Empire
60 ka
1801
500 thousand years ago (ka)
2nd c. (or 1st c. BC)
9. 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
c. 480 BC
28 ka
1888
1826
10. 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.
1439
5th c. BC
408
Before 71 BC (possibly 3rd c. BC)
11. Multiple arch buttress dam (Esparragalejo Dam) in Hispania - Roman Empire
1st c.
Early 3rd c. BC
5th/6th c.
1915
12. Twisted rope
28 ka
4th
2nd c. (or 1st c. BC)
500 thousand years ago (ka)
13. 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
5th c. BC
7th c.
672
c. 480 BC
14. High pressure steam engine - Richard Trevithick and Oliver Evans - independently
1804
1st c. BC
1800-01
14th c.
15. 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
28 ka
7th c.
160
1605
16. The first working phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison
1st c. BC
1800-01
1877
2nd
17. Stephen Hales takes measurements of blood pressure.
1st c. BC
Ca. 300
c. 515 BC
1733
18. Eyeglasses in Italy
1804
1286
14th c.
1800-01
19. Pendentive dome (Hagia Sophia) in Constantinople - Eastern Roman Empire
7th c.
1439
563
1712
20. 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
5th c. BC
1605
200 ka
1990
21. Water wheel in Hellenistic kingdoms described by Philo of Byzantium (ca. 280
3rd c. BC
1439
1088
Late 3rd
22. Eyeglasses in Italy
1826
Early 3rd c. BC
1286
1st c.
23. Bow
60 ka
3rd c. BC
672
1877
24. 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
1977
2nd c.
1119
16 ka
25. Spears in Germany
400 ka
1088
After 205 BC
Early 3rd c. BC
26. Floating crane in Rhineland - Holy Roman Empire
7th c.
14th c.
1286
1560
27. Arc lamp - Humphry Davy (exact date unclear; not practical as a light source until generators)
2nd c. BC
400 ka
1712
1802
28. Glue in Italy
1712
1420s
5th c. BC
200 ka
29. Morphine in Paderborn - Germany - Morphine was discovered as the first active alkaloid extracted from the opium poppy plant in December 1804 by Friedrich Sert
1282
1878
1804
1480s
30. Catapult in Ancient Greece (incl. Sicily)
c. 240 BC
Before 421 BC
1733
1420s
31. Co-creation of the integrated circuit by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce.
1958-59
5th c. BC
1282
14th c.
32. Twisted rope
1717
28 ka
Before 71 BC (possibly 3rd c. BC)
1494
33. Brace in Flandres - Holy Roman Empire
1420s
1878
Late 3rd
5th/6th c.
34. Flute in Germany
9th c.
35 ka
60 ka
Early 3rd c. 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.
563
1712
December 20 - 1951
1088
36. 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.
1878
1958-59
1605
400 ka
37. Dry dock some time after Ptolemy IV (221
2nd c. BC
After 205 BC
1470s
9th c.
38. Arch dam (Glanum Dam) in Gallia Narbonensis - Roman Republic (see also List of Roman dams)
1470s
1st c. BC
408
9th c.
39. Paper in Ancient China - Although it is recorded that the Han Dynasty (202 BC
1494
36 ka
1119
2nd c. BC
40. Crankshaft in Augusta Raurica - Roman Empire
5th c. BC
1480s
2nd c.
4th
41. Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invents the alcohol thermometer.
408
1826
1709
7th c.
42. Shelter construction
500 thousand years ago (ka)
1877
1764
16 ka
43. Shelter construction
160
9th c.
500 thousand years ago (ka)
1742
44. Crank motion (rotary quern) in Celtiberian Spain
5th c. BC
1800-01
1420s
1877
45. Mechanization of papermaking (paper mill) in X
2nd c. BC
5th c. BC
1282
200 ka
46. 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
Early 3rd c. BC
1494
160
1888
47. Stephen Hales takes measurements of blood pressure.
1733
9th c.
400 ka
1st c. BC
48. Cloth woven from flax fiber
36 ka
14th c.
2nd c. BC
1802
49. Pointed arch bridge (Karamagara Bridge) in Cappadocia - Eastern Roman Empire
563
Before 71 BC (possibly 3rd c. BC)
5th/6th c.
1764
50. Canal lock (possibly pound lock) in Ancient Suez Canal under Ptolemy II (283
2nd c.
Early 3rd c. BC
1826
Before 71 BC (possibly 3rd c. BC)