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






2. 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.






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.






4. Wheelbarrow in Attica - Ancient Greece






5. 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






6. Double-entry bookkeeping system codified by Luca Pacioli






7. Pendentive dome (Hagia Sophia) in Constantinople - Eastern Roman Empire






8. Turbine in Africa (province) - Roman Empire






9. Parachute (with frame) in Renaissance Italy






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






11. Friction Match - John Walker






12. Three-masted ship (mizzen - on Syracusia) under Hiero II of Syracuse - Sicily






13. 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






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






15. Railway steam locomotive - Richard Trevithick






16. 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






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






18. 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






19. 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.






20. Greek fire in Constantinople - Byzantine Empire- Greek fire - an incendiary weapon likely based on petroleum or naphtha - was invented by Kallinikos - a Greek refugee to Constantinople - as described by Theophanes. However - the historicity and exact






21. Floating crane in Rhineland - Holy Roman Empire






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






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






24. Stephen Hales takes measurements of blood pressure.






25. Burial






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






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






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






29. Newspaper (Relation) - Johann Carolus in Strassburg - Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (see also List of the oldest newspapers)






30. Brace in Flandres - Holy Roman Empire






31. 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






32. Crankshaft in Augusta Raurica - Roman Empire






33. 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






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






35. 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






36. Buttress dam in Roman Empire






37. 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






38. Dry dock some time after Ptolemy IV (221






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






40. Crankshaft in Augusta Raurica - Roman Empire






41. Spears in Germany






42. Fire and then cooking






43. Waterway connecting two seas (Ancient Suez Canal) by Greek engineers under Ptolemy II (283






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






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






46. Parachute (with frame) in Renaissance Italy






47. 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






48. Double-entry bookkeeping system codified by Luca Pacioli






49. Twisted rope






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