What Is Technology And How It Evolved?

We are living in a digital world where we share our views and opinions with others through technology. Through this article, we will be discussing what is technology and how it evolved.

So let’s start the discussion with what is technology?

Definition Of Technology

Technology is basically a mixture of various skills that are used to produce a product that solves people’s problems.

Technology is a science through which it can be embedded in various products to make them work independently.

Products that are built-in with technology that takes input and produces an output are called technological products.

The basic form of technology is the development and use of various products.

Technology can be defined as entities that can be a product or a service in order to gain value. Here it refers to products or services used to solve people’s problems.

Some Examples:

Examples of technological products are computer, software, mobiles etc.

Examples of technological services are software development, information security, mobile services, etc.

After all, let’s discuss the difference between Science, Engineering, and Technology together. This will tell us what is technology and how it evolved.

Science, Engineering, And Technology

Science is a knowledge of the physical or material world that is gained through various experiments. Technologies are not always a product of science, because they satisfy requirements such as utility, usability, and safety.

Engineering is a small branch of science and technology concerned with its respective fields. Some basic engineering fields are Computer Science, Aeronautical, etc.

Technology is basically a byproduct of science and engineering, yet technology beats them both. For example, in science we do experiments but they are only possible with technological instruments.

Now let’s discuss how technology evolved.

Timeline of Technology

This will give a brief to us that what is technology and how it evolved.

Ancient Times:

3.5 Million years ago: Humans made the first tool from stone, wood, and bones

2 Million years ago: Humans discover fire

1000 BCE: First Boats made

6000-7000 BCE: Handmade bricks for construction in Middle East

4000 BCE: Iron for making ornaments

3500 BCE: Glass introduction

3500 BCE: Wheel introduction

2500 BCE: Introduction to crude version of paper

2000 BCE: Copper alloy metals introduced

1700 BCE: Semites of Mediterranean develop the alphabet

1000 BCE: Iron and Steel widely used for making weapons

600 BCE: Static electricity discovery

500 BCE: Hot air balloons

400 BCE: China experiments to fly kites

250 BCE: Chinese invent compasses

150 BCE: Clockwork Machines introduction

50 BCE: Turbines by romans

62 CE: Steam engines by Greek scientist Alexandria

105 CE: Ts’ai Lun made first paper in China

200 CE: Romans develop first basic concrete called pozzolana

600 CE: Wind Turbines invented in middle east

700 CE: Chinese invent gunpowder

1000 CE: Chinese invent glasses by fixing lenses to frames

1206 CE: Toilets by Arabic engineer al-Jazaari

1232 CE: Space rockets made by chinese

1450: Printing press by Johannes Getenberg

1470: First parachute sketched on paper

16th Century:

1530: Gerardus Mercator introduced navigation

1590: Dutch spectacle maker Zacharias Janssen made the first compound microscope

1596: John Harington described modern flush toilets

17th Century:

1600: Galileo designs basic thermometer

1600: William Gilbert introduced a study on Earth’s scientific magnetism

1609: Galileo builds first space telescope

1643: Mercury barometer made for measuring air pressure

1650: Criststiaan Huygens develops the pendulum clock

1687: Sir Issac Newton formulated three law of motion

18th Century:

1700: Bartolomeo Cristofori invents piano

1701: Farmer Jethro Tull invented horse drawn seed drill

1703: Binary number system introduced by Gottfried Leibniz

1712: Thomas Newcomen built first practical steam engine

1737: William Champion extracted zinc

1757: John Campbell invented Sextant

1780: Josiah Wedgwood invented Pyrometer

1783: French brothers Joseph and Jacques made first practical air baloon

1791: Reverend discovers menachite, later called titanium

19th Century:

1800: Italian Alessandro Volta made the first battery

1803: Henry and Sealy developed papermaking machine

1806: Humphry Davy developed electrolysis

1806: William Congreve developed long range military rockets

1807: Humphry Davy developed electric arc lamp

1814: George Stephenson builds the first practical steam locomotive

1827: Joseph Niepce makes the first modern photograph

1830: William Sturgeon develops the first practical electric motor

1839: Charles Goodyear finally perfects a durable form of rubber

1840: Scotsman Alexander Bain invents a primitive fax machine based on chemical technology

1850: Italian Giovanni Caselli develops a mechanical fax machine called the pantelegraph

1860: James Clerk Maxwell figures out that radio waves must exist

1860: Fire extinguishers invention

1876: Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone

1877: Thomas Edison develops the phonograph

1877: Edward Very invents the flare gun

1880s: Thomas Edison patents the modern incandescent electric lamp

1880: Pierre and Paul-Jacques Curie discover the piezoelectric effect

1880: Thomas Edison opens the world’s first power plants

1886: Josephine Cochran invents the dishwasher

1888: Friedrich Reinitzer discovers liquid crystals

1890: German engineer Rudolf Diesel develops his diesel engine

1895: German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovers X rays

1895: American Ogden Bolton, Jr. invents the electric bicycle

1898: Nikola Tesla invents remote

20th Century:

1901: The first electric vacuum cleaner

1903: Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright build the first engine-powered airplane

1905: Albert Einstein explains the photoelectric effect

1905: Samuel J. Bens invents the chainsaw

1906: Willis Carrier pioneers the air conditioner

1906: Mikhail Tswett discovers chromatography

1907: Alva Fisher invents the electric clothes washer

1908: Frederick Gardner Cottrell develops the electrostatic smoke precipitator

1908: American industrialist and engineer Henry Ford launches the Ford Model T

1909: German chemists Fritz and Zygmunt develop the glass electrode

1912: Hans Geiger develops the Geiger counter

1919: Francis Aston pioneers the mass spectrometer

1920: John Logie Baird develops mechanical television

1920: Philo T. Farnsworth invents modern electronic television.

1920: German engineer Gustav and American Paul independently develop OCR scanning systems

1920: Albert W. Hull invents the magnetron

1921: Karel Capek and his brother coin the word “robot”

1921: John Larson develops the polygraph (“lie detector”) machine

1928: Thomas Midgley, Jr. invents coolant chemicals for air conditioners and refrigerators

1930s: Frank of England and Hans of Germany develop rival jet engines

1930s: Peter Goldmark pioneers color television

1930: Wallace Carothers develops neoprene

1930: Arnold Beckman develops the electronic pH meter

1931: Harold E. Edgerton invents the xenon flash lamp

1936: W.B. Elwood invents the magnetic reed switch

1938: Chester Carlson invents the principle of photocopying

1939: Igor Sikorsky builds the first truly practical helicopter

1949: Bernard Silver and N. Joseph Woodland patent barcodes

1950: Percy Spencer accidentally discovers how to cook with microwaves

1960: Joseph-Armand Bombardier perfects his Ski-Doo® snowmobile

1962: Nick Holonyak invents the LED

1968: Alfred Y. Cho and John R. Arthur, Jr invent MBE

1969: Astronauts walk on the Moon

1973: Martin Cooper develops the first handheld cellphone

1975: Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman invent public-key cryptography

1989: Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web

1995: Broadcast.com becomes one of the world’s first online radio stations

1995: Pierre Omidyar launches the eBay auction website

21st Century:

2000,2001: Apple revolutionizes music listening by unveiling its iPod MP3 music player

2001: Wikipedia online encyclopedia is founded by Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales

2001: Bram Cohen develops BitTorrent file-sharing

2002: iRobot Corporation releases the first version of its Roomba® vacuum cleaning robot

2007: Amazon.com launches its Kindle electronic book (e-book) reader

2007: Apple introduces a touchscreen cellphone called the iPhone

2010: Apple releases its touchscreen tablet computer, the iPad

2019: Google claims to have achieved “quantum supremacy”

There is no end to what is technology and how it evolved. Future is all dependent on technology and its changes.

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