Just 200 years ago, the world lived without electricity, good transport, without television, mobile phones, the Internet and without many other things that we cannot do without today. Unfortunately many modern technologies were not invented by Russian inventors and scientists. But in fact, our country has something to brag about. Here are the most significant Russian inventions created by our compatriots.
Carbon filter mask
Who invented: N. D. Zelinsky
N. D. Zelinsky invented a protective mask against exposure of people to poisonous gases, which were used by the enemy during the First World War. The mask was based on absorbent carbon, which successfully neutralized most of the poisonous gases used in those years.
Backpack parachute
Who invented: Kotelnikov G.E.
The world's first backpack parachute, which in principle is still used to this day, was invented by the self-taught Russian inventor Gleb Kotelnikov. The first parachute test took place in 1912.
According to legend, Gleb saw a woman in the theater with a piece of fabric folded on her back, who then, through simple manipulations, turned the folded fabric into a large scarf. This is precisely what was possible and illuminated the inventor who came up with new way folding the parachute.
Mortar
Who invented: Gobyato L.N.
Gobyato Leonid Nikolaevich during the Russian-Japanese War in 1904-1905 invented a mortar, which was a classic cannon on wheels that used mortar mines to fire. A new device (mortar) made it possible to launch mines along a ballistic trajectory. This made it possible to fire from a cannon at enemy trenches and mines at a certain angle and from a high trajectory of the projectile.
Torpedo
Who invented: Alexandrovsky I.F.
Ivan Fedorovich Aleksandrovsky is the author of the first Russian mobile mine (torpedo), as well as the creator in 1865 of the first Russian submarine.
The first Russian assault rifle
Who invented: Fedorov V.G.
Vladimir Grigorievich Fedorov is the author of the first Russian automatic rifle, which can safely be called an “automatic”, since the rifle could fire bursts.
The machine was created before the outbreak of the First World War. Beginning in 1916, the Fedorov rifle began to be used in combat.
Radio
Who invented: Popov A.S.
Who invented the radio receiver? The debate has been going on for a long time. And it is quite possible that its author is our Russian scientist, Russian physicist and electrical engineer Alexander Stepanochiv Popov.
Popov showed his first radio receiver in 1895 at a meeting of the Physico-Chemical Committee in St. Petersburg.
Unfortunately, the scientist did not patent it. As a result, the Nobel Prize for the invention of radio was given to G. Marconi.
Inventor of television and electrically based television broadcasting
Who invented: Zvorykin V.K.
Zvorykin Vladimir Kozmich developed the iconoscope, kinescope and color television. However, he made most of his inventions in the United States, where he immigrated from Russia in 1919.
Video recorder
Who invented: Ponyatov A.M.
Like Zvorykin, Alexander Matveevich Ponyatov immigrated to the United States during the Russian Civil War, where he founded the Ampex company, which in 1956 introduced the world's first commercial video recorder. One of the authors of the invention is A.M. Ponyatov.
The world's first movie camera
Who invented: Timchenko I.A.
It is officially believed that cinema was born in 1895, when brothers Louis and Auguste Lumières announced the invention of the movie camera and received a patent for it. At the end of 1895, the brothers also organized the world's first paid film show in Paris.
But in fact, the first movie camera was invented by our Russian scientist Joseph Timchenko, who, even before 1895, had already demonstrated the first movie camera to the public.
The world's first film show took place in 1893 in Odessa, where the author of the invention showed the public footage of cavalrymen on a white sheet of paper.
Plaster casts
Who invented: Pirogov N.I.
During the Caucasian War in 1847, Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov invented the world's first plaster casts. He used dressings soaked in starch, which proved very effective.
Compression-distraction device
Who invented: Ilizarov G.A.
Ilizarov Gabriel Abramovich created a compression-distraction device that can be used in orthopedics, traumatology, surgery, for curvature of bones, fractures and other defects of the limbs.
The world's first machine for the treatment of cardiopulmonary diseases
Who invented: Bryukhonenko S.S.
Russian Soviet physiologist, Doctor of Medical Sciences, created the world's first artificial blood circulation apparatus and proved that a person can recover from clinical death. Also, Sergei Sergeevich Bryukhonenko proved to the whole world that open heart surgery is not science fiction. In addition, the invention of the Russian scientist made it possible to transplant organs, including the possibility of heart transplantation.
Founder of Transplantology
Who invented: Demikhov V.P.
Vladimir Petrovich Demikhov invented the technology of human organ transplantation, becoming the founder of high-tech medicine in the field of transplantology. By the way, Vladimir Demikhov became the first in the world to transplant lungs and create a model of an artificial heart.
Thanks to his numerous experiments on dogs and his knowledge as a scientist, his technology for human organ transplants has saved thousands of lives.
Glaucoma treatment technology
Who invented: Fedorov S.N.
Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Fedorov made a huge contribution to the development of radial keratotomy. In 1973, he was the only one in the world to perform eye surgery on patients with early stages of glaucoma. A year later, the doctor began to use his own technology for treating myopia, using certain cuts on the cornea. Fedorov invented the entire technology of eye surgery himself.
Today, thousands of operations are performed all over the world using Fedorov’s method.
Electric lamp
Who invented: Lodygin A.N.
Russian engineer Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin invented the first electric light bulb, which was a vacuum flask with an internal core.
Arc lamp
Who invented: Yablochkov P.N.
The great inventor Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov invented arc lamps. These disposable lamps were even used in Europe to light streets.
Over the past few centuries, we have made countless discoveries that have helped to significantly improve the quality of our Everyday life and understand how the world around us works. Assessing the full importance of these discoveries is very difficult, if not almost impossible. But one thing is for sure - some of them literally changed our lives once and for all. From penicillin and screw pump before X-rays and electricity, here is a list of the 25 greatest discoveries and inventions of mankind.
25. Penicillin
If Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming had not discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic, in 1928, we would still be dying from diseases such as stomach ulcers, abscesses, streptococcal infections, scarlet fever, leptospirosis, Lyme disease and many others.
24. Mechanical watch
Photo: pixabay
There are conflicting theories about what the first mechanical watch actually looked like, but most often researchers adhere to the version that they were created in 723 AD by the Chinese monk and mathematician Ai Xing (I-Hsing). It was this seminal invention that allowed us to measure time.
23. Copernican heliocentrism
Photo: WP/wikimedia
In 1543, almost on his deathbed, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus unveiled his landmark theory. According to the works of Copernicus, it became known that the Sun is our planetary system, and all its planets revolve around our star, each in its own orbit. Until 1543, astronomers believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe.
22. Blood circulation
Photo: Bryan Brandenburg
One of the most important discoveries in medicine was the discovery of the circulatory system, which was announced in 1628 by the English physician William Harvey. He became the first person to describe the entire circulatory system and properties of the blood that the heart pumps throughout our body from the brain to the tips of the fingers.
21. Screw pump
Photo: David Hawgood / geographic.org.uk
One of the most famous ancient Greek scientists, Archimedes, is considered the author of one of the world's first water pumps. His device was a rotating corkscrew that pushed water up a pipe. This invention took irrigation systems to the next level and is still used in many wastewater treatment plants today.
20. Gravity
Photo: wikimedia
Everyone knows this story - Isaac Newton, the famous English mathematician and physicist, discovered gravity after an apple fell on his head in 1664. Thanks to this event, we learned for the first time why objects fall down and why planets revolve around the Sun.
19. Pasteurization
Photo: wikimedia
Pasteurization was discovered in the 1860s by French scientist Louis Pasteur. It is a process heat treatment, during which pathogenic microorganisms are destroyed in certain foods and drinks (wine, milk, beer). This discovery has had a significant impact on public health and development. Food Industry worldwide.
18. Steam engine
Photo: pixabay
Everyone knows that modern civilization was forged in factories built during the Industrial Revolution, and that it all happened using steam engines. The steam engine was created a long time ago, but over the last century it has been significantly improved by three British inventors: Thomas Savery, Thomas Newcomen and the most famous of them, James Watt.
17. Air conditioning
Photo: Ildar Sagdejev / wikimedia
Primitive climate control systems have existed since ancient times, but they changed significantly when the first modern electric air conditioner was introduced in 1902. It was invented by a young engineer named Willis Carrier, a native of Buffalo, New York.
16. Electricity
Photo: pixabay
The fateful discovery of electricity is attributed to the English scientist Michael Faraday. Among his key discoveries, it is worth noting the principles of electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis. Faraday's experiments also led to the creation of the first generator, which became the forerunner of the huge generators that today produce the electricity we are familiar with in everyday life.
15. DNA
Photo: pixabay
Many believe that it was the American biologist James Watson and the English physicist Francis Crick who discovered it in the 1950s, but in fact this macromolecule was first identified in the late 1860s by the Swiss chemist Friedrich Maischer Miescher). Then, several decades after Maischer's discovery, other scientists conducted a series of studies that finally helped us clarify how an organism passes its genes to the next generation and how the work of its cells is coordinated.
14. Anesthesia
Photo: Wikimedia
Simple forms of anesthesia, such as opium, mandrake and alcohol, have been used by people for a long time, and the first mention of them dates back to 70 AD. But pain management moved to a new level in 1847, when American surgeon Henry Bigelow first introduced ether and chloroform into his practice, making extremely painful invasive procedures much more tolerable.
13. Theory of relativity
Photo: Wikimedia
Comprising Albert Einstein's two related theories, special and general relativity, the theory of relativity, published in 1905, transformed all of 20th century theoretical physics and astronomy and eclipsed Newton's 200-year-old theory of mechanics. Einstein's theory of relativity has become the basis for much of the scientific work of our time.
12. X-rays
Photo: Nevit Dilmen / wikimedia
German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen accidentally discovered X-rays in 1895 when he observed fluorescence produced by a cathode ray tube. For this pivotal discovery, the scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1901, the first of its kind in the physical sciences.
11. Telegraph
Photo: wikipedia
Since 1753, many researchers have experimented with establishing long-distance communication using electricity, but a significant breakthrough did not come until several decades later, when Joseph Henry and Edward Davy invented the electrical relay in 1835. Using this device they created the first telegraph 2 years later.
10. Periodic table of chemical elements
Photo: sandbh/wikimedia
In 1869, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev noticed that if you arrange chemical elements Based on their atomic mass, they are conditionally arranged into groups with similar properties. Based on this information, he created the first periodic table, one of the greatest discoveries in chemistry, which was later called the periodic table in his honor.
9. Infrared rays
Photo: AIRS/flickr
Infrared radiation was discovered by British astronomer William Herschel in 1800 when he was studying the heating effect of light different colors, using a prism to split light into a spectrum, and measuring the changes with thermometers. Today, infrared radiation is used in many areas of our lives, including meteorology, heating systems, astronomy, tracking heat-intensive objects and many other areas.
8. Nuclear magnetic resonance
Photo: Mj-bird / wikimedia
Today, nuclear magnetic resonance is continually used as an extremely accurate and effective diagnostic tool in the medical field. This phenomenon was first described and calculated by American physicist Isidor Rabi in 1938 while observing molecular beams. In 1944, the American scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery.
7. Moldboard plow
Photo: wikimedia
Invented in the 18th century, the moldboard plow was the first plow that not only dug up the soil, but also stirred it, making it possible to cultivate even very stubborn and rocky soil for agricultural purposes. Without this weapon Agriculture, as we know it today, would not have existed in northern Europe or central America.
6. Camera obscura
Photo: wikimedia
The forerunner of modern cameras and video cameras was the camera obscura (translated as dark room), which was an optical device used by artists to create quick sketches while traveling outside their studios. A hole in one of the walls of the device served to create an inverted image of what was happening outside the chamber. The picture was displayed on the screen (on the wall of the dark box opposite the hole). These principles have been known for centuries, but in 1568 the Venetian Daniel Barbaro modified the camera obscura by adding converging lenses.
5. Paper
Photo: pixabay
The first examples of modern paper are often considered to be papyrus and amate, which were used by ancient Mediterranean peoples and pre-Columbian Americans. But it would not be entirely correct to consider them real paper. References to the first production of writing paper date back to China during the reign of the Eastern Han Empire (25-220 AD). The first paper is mentioned in chronicles dedicated to the activities of the judicial dignitary Cai Lun.
4. Teflon
Photo: pixabay
The material that keeps your pan from burning was actually invented completely by accident by American chemist Roy Plunkett when he was looking for a replacement refrigerant to make household life safer. During one of his experiments, the scientist discovered a strange, slippery resin, which later became better known as Teflon.
3. Theory of evolution and natural selection
Photo: wikimedia
Inspired by his observations during his second voyage of exploration in 1831-1836, Charles Darwin began writing his famous theory of evolution and natural selection, which, according to scientists around the world, became a key description of the mechanism of development of all life on Earth
2. Liquid crystals
Photo: William Hook / flickr
If the Austrian botanist and physiologist Friedrich Reinitzer had not discovered liquid crystals while testing the physicochemical properties of various cholesterol derivatives in 1888, today you would not know what LCD televisions or flat-panel LCD monitors are.
1. Polio vaccine
Photo: GDC Global / flickr
On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Jonas Salk announced that he had successfully tested a vaccine against polio, a virus that causes a severe chronic disease. In 1952, an epidemic of the disease diagnosed 58,000 people in the United States and claimed 3,000 innocent lives. This spurred Salk on a quest for salvation, and now the civilized world is safe at least from this disaster.
Every year on the last Saturday of June, Russia celebrates Inventor and Innovator Day. Our country is rich in great scientists and inventors who have made a significant contribution not only to Russian progress, but also to the world. We invite you to get acquainted with the brilliant fruits of the engineering thought of our compatriots, which you can rightfully be proud of!
1. Galvanoplasty
We so often come across products that look like metal, but are actually made of plastic and only covered with a layer of metal, that we have stopped noticing them. There are also metal products coated with a layer of another metal - for example, nickel. And there are metal products that are actually a copy of a non-metallic base. We owe all these miracles to the genius of physics Boris Jacobi - by the way, the older brother of the great German mathematician Carl Gustav Jacobi.
Jacobi's passion for physics resulted in the creation of the world's first electric motor with direct shaft rotation, but one of his most important discoveries was electroplating - the process of depositing metal on a mold, allowing the creation of perfect copies of the original object. In this way, for example, sculptures were created on the naves of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Galvanoplasty can be used even at home.
The electroforming method and its derivatives have found numerous applications. With its help, everything has not been done and is still not being done, right down to the cliché of state banks. Jacobi received the Demidov Prize for this discovery in Russia, and a large gold medal in Paris. Possibly also made using this same method.
In the last third of the 19th century, the world was gripped by a form of electrical fever. That's why electric cars were made by everyone. This was the golden age of electric cars. The cities were smaller, and a range of 60 km on a single charge was quite acceptable. One of the enthusiasts was engineer Ippolit Romanov, who by 1899 had created several models of electric cabs.
But that’s not even the main thing. Romanov invented and created in metal an electric omnibus for 17 passengers, developed a scheme of city routes for these ancestors of modern trolleybuses and received permission to work. True, at your own personal commercial peril and risk.
The inventor was unable to find the required amount, to the great joy of his competitors - owners of horse-drawn horses and numerous cab drivers. However, the working electric omnibus aroused great interest among other inventors and remained in the history of technology as an invention killed by the municipal bureaucracy.
It is difficult to say what is considered the first real pipeline. One can recall the proposal of Dmitry Mendeleev, dating back to 1863, when he proposed to deliver oil from the production sites to the seaport at the Baku oil fields not in barrels, but through pipes. Mendeleev's proposal was not accepted, and two years later the first pipeline was built by the Americans in Pennsylvania. As always, when something is done abroad, they begin to do it in Russia. Or at least allocate money.
In 1877, Alexander Bari and his assistant Vladimir Shukhov again came up with the idea of pipeline transport, already relying on American experience and again on the authority of Mendeleev. As a result, Shukhov built the first oil pipeline in Russia in 1878, proving the convenience and practicality of pipeline transport. The example of Baku, which was then one of the two leaders in world oil production, became infectious, and “getting on the pipe” became the dream of any enterprising person. In the photo: a view of a three-furnace cube. Baku, 1887.
Nikolai Benardos comes from Novorossiysk Greeks who lived on the Black Sea coast. He is the author of more than a hundred inventions, but he went down in history thanks to the electric arc welding of metals, which he patented in 1882 in Germany, France, Russia, Italy, England, the USA and other countries, calling his method “electrohephaestus”.
Benardos's method spread across the planet like wildfire. Instead of fiddling with rivets and bolts, it was enough to simply weld pieces of metal. However, it took about half a century for welding to finally take a dominant position among installation methods. It seems like a simple method - create electric arc between the melting electrode in the hands of the welder and the pieces of metal that need to be welded. But the solution is elegant. True, it did not help the inventor meet old age with dignity; he died in poverty in 1905 in an almshouse.
It’s hard to believe now, but just over a hundred years ago it was believed that a multi-engine aircraft would be extremely difficult and dangerous to fly. The absurdity of these statements was proved by Igor Sikorsky, who in the summer of 1913 took into the air a twin-engine aircraft called Le Grand, and then its four-engine version, the Russian Knight.
On February 12, 1914, in Riga, at the training ground of the Russian-Baltic Plant, the four-engine Ilya Muromets took off. There were 16 passengers on board the four-engine plane - an absolute record at that time. The plane had a comfortable cabin, heating, a bath with toilet and... a promenade deck. In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the aircraft, in the summer of 1914, Igor Sikorsky flew on the Ilya Muromets from St. Petersburg to Kyiv and back, setting a world record. During World War I, these aircraft became the world's first heavy bombers.
Igor Sikorsky also created the first production helicopter, the R-4, or S-47, which the Vought-Sikorsky company began producing in 1942. It was the first and only helicopter to serve in World War II, in the Pacific theater of operations, as a staff transport and for casualty evacuation.
However, it is unlikely that the US military department would have allowed Igor Sikorsky to boldly experiment with helicopter technology if not for the amazing rotary-wing machine of George Botezat, who in 1922 began testing his helicopter, which the American military ordered him. The helicopter was the first to actually take off from the ground and be able to stay in the air. The possibility of vertical flight was thus proven.
Botezat's helicopter was called the "flying octopus" because of its interesting design. It was a quadcopter: four propellers were placed at the ends of metal trusses, and the control system was located in the center - exactly like modern radio-controlled drones.
Color photography appeared at the end of the 19th century, but photographs of that time were characterized by a shift to one or another part of the spectrum. The Russian photographer was one of the best in Russia and, like many of his colleagues around the world, dreamed of achieving the most natural color rendition.
In 1902, Prokudin-Gorsky studied color photography in Germany with Adolf Miethe, who by that time was a worldwide star of color photography. Returning home, Prokudin-Gorsky began to improve the chemistry of the process and in 1905 he patented his own sensitizer, that is, a substance that increases the sensitivity of photographic plates. As a result, he was able to produce negatives of exceptional quality.
Prokudin-Gorsky organized a number of expeditions across the territory Russian Empire, photographing famous people (for example, Leo Tolstoy), and peasants, temples, landscapes, factories - thus creating an amazing collection of colored Russia. Prokudin-Gorsky's demonstrations aroused great interest in the world and pushed other specialists to develop new principles of color printing.
As you know, the idea of a parachute was proposed by Leonardo da Vinci, and several centuries later, with the advent of aeronautics, regular jumps from balloons began: parachutes were suspended under them in a partially opened state. In 1912, the American Barry was able to leave the plane with such a parachute and, importantly, landed on the ground alive.
The problem was solved in every possible way. For example, the American Stefan Banich made a parachute in the form of an umbrella with telescopic spokes that were attached around the pilot’s torso. This design worked, although it was still not very convenient. But engineer Gleb Kotelnikov decided that it was all about the material, and made his parachute from silk, packing it in a compact backpack. Kotelnikov patented his invention in France on the eve of the First World War.
But besides the backpack parachute, he came up with another interesting thing. He tested the opening ability of the parachute by opening it while the car was moving, which literally stood rooted to the spot. So Kotelnikov came up with a braking parachute as an emergency braking system for aircraft.
The history of this musical instrument, which produces strange “cosmic” sounds, began with the development of alarm systems. It was then that the descendant of the French Huguenots, Lev Theremin, in 1919, drew attention to the fact that changing the position of the body near the antennas of the oscillatory circuits affects the volume and tonality of the sound in the control speaker.
Everything else was a matter of technique. And marketing: Theremin showed his musical instrument to the leader of the Soviet state, Vladimir Lenin, an enthusiast of the cultural revolution, and then demonstrated it in the States.
The life of Lev Theremin was difficult; he knew ups, glory, and camps. His musical instrument still lives today. The coolest version is the Moog Etherwave. The theremin can be heard among the most advanced and quite pop performers. This is truly an invention for all times.
Vladimir Zvorykin was born into a merchant family in the city of Murom. Since childhood, the boy had the opportunity to read a lot and carry out all sorts of experiments - his father encouraged this passion for science in every possible way. Having started studying in St. Petersburg, he learned about cathode ray tubes and came to the conclusion that the future of television lay in electronic circuits.
Zvorykin was lucky; he left Russia on time in 1919. He worked for many years and in the early 30s he patented a transmitting television tube - an iconoscope. Even earlier, he designed one of the variants of the receiving tube - a kinescope. And then, already in the 1940s, he split the light beam into blue, red and green colors and got color TV.
In addition, Zvorykin developed a night vision device, an electron microscope and many other interesting things. He invented all his long life and even in retirement he continued to surprise with his new solutions.
The AMPEX company was created in 1944 by Russian emigrant Alexander Matveevich Ponyatov, who took three letters of his initials for the name and added EX - short for “excellent”. At first, Ponyatov produced sound recording equipment, but in the early 50s he focused on developing video recording.
By that time, there had already been experiments in recording television images, but they required a huge amount of tape. Ponyatov and colleagues proposed recording the signal across the tape using a block of rotating heads. On November 30, 1956, the first previously recorded CBS News aired. And in 1960, the company, represented by its leader and founder, received an Oscar for its outstanding contribution to the technical equipment of the film and television industry.
Fate brought Alexander Ponyatov together with interesting people. He was a competitor of Zvorykin, Ray Dolby, the creator of the famous noise reduction system, worked with him, and one of the first clients and investors was the famous Bing Crosby. And one more thing: by order of Ponyatov, birch trees were necessarily planted near any office - in memory of the Motherland.
A long time ago, 30 years ago, the “Pentamino” puzzle was popular in the USSR: you had to place various figures consisting of five squares on a lined field. Even collections of problems were published, and the results were discussed.
From a mathematical point of view, such a puzzle was an excellent test for a computer. And so, a researcher at the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Alexey Pajitnov, wrote such a program for his computer “Electronics 60”. But there wasn’t enough power, and Alexey removed one cube from the figures, that is, he made a “tetromino”. Well, then the idea came to have the figures fall into the “glass”. This is how Tetris was born.
It was the first computer game from behind the Iron Curtain, and for many people the first computer game at all. And although many new toys have already appeared, Tetris still attracts with its apparent simplicity and real complexity.
In this article you will find the 10 most outstanding inventors in the world, I offer information in the usual rating format. Go!
No. 10. Leonardo da Vinci
Is there no limit to your surprise that such a famous inventor opens the top ten? There is a simple explanation for this: his inventions were ahead of science for decades, and therefore it was almost impossible to implement them. Leonardo had a well-developed imagination, he could create all sorts of innovations in his mind, but, unfortunately, he was never able to invent anything truly necessary and real. In addition, he was a fickle person and his interests replaced each other so quickly that Leonardo did not have time to fully penetrate his ideas. Such structures as: a submarine, a tank, a glider are included in the list of his inventions.
No. 9. Edwin Lan
The physicist and more famous inventor Edwin Land, originally from Connecticut, is not the direct inventor of photography, but he did much more to ensure that everything connected with it reached our times and was improved. As a first-year student at Harvard in 1926, the future scientist created the new kind polarizer, combining and complementing plastic sheet with crystals, he gave his perfection the name Polaroid. Later he applied the principle of polarization to light filters, optics devices and film processes and became the founder of the Polaroid Corporation. 535 US patents added to his treasury of awards and achievements.
No. 8. Benjamin Franklin
Ben Franklin, who truly was a versatile person, this amazing scientist was involved in writing, politics, social and government activities, was a satirist, a postmaster, a great scientist, a diplomat, but few people know that Franklin was also a legendary inventor. He provided the whole world with a lightning rod, thanks to which countless houses were saved from fires and lightning, Armonica glass, a stove that got its name in honor of the scientist, bifocal glasses and the now famous flexible urinary catheter and many more inventions. But unfortunately, many of them have been forgotten, the reason for this was that Franklin did not patent his innovations, wanting them to be available to the whole world.
No. 7. Heron of Alexandria
All his inventions could have turned history around and given impetus to the industrial revolution back in 50 AD, if Heron had told the whole world about them. But the great scientist of those years was mistaken, considering the steam engine just a personal amusement; in his opinion, there were many slaves in Rome, and the invention of such a unit for the entire people would be useless! The same brilliant inventor made many other objects needed in life, for example, a pump, a syringe, a fountain, a windmill - it’s hard to imagine that all these works were carried out during the pre-industrial era. Many of his inventions remained just projects.
No. 6. Jerome "Jerry" Hal Lemelson
Lemelson is considered one of many inventors whose results have reached the highest levels. His inventive fruits helped him obtain 605 patents. His crazy number of inventions also include automated warehouses, industrial robots, wireless phones, faxes, video players, video cameras and magnetic tapes, tapes for Walkman players from Sony. But Jerome didn’t even think about stopping there and sent his patents in the field of medical equipment that can see cancer and begin treating it; he is also the author of diamond coating and also has a patent for consumer electronics and television
No. 5. George Westinghouse
Electricity systems operating on the basis of alternating current became a grandiose scientific discovery (the work was based on the works of Nikola Tesla); in the end, they became an order of magnitude higher than Edison’s device, which in turn operated on constant current, and became, in a way, the progenitors of modern energy systems. But before leapfrogging Edison's achievements, George Westinghouse invented brakes. railways based on air masses. He was also one of many who attempted to invent a perpetual motion machine. But his labors were in vain. Earned 361 patents.
No. 4. Alexander Graham Bell
Everyone knows this wonderful inventor of telephones, young and old. But, in addition to telephones, he also has very useful inventions, for example, a device for detecting icebergs, and a well-known metal detector, which has survived to this day.
No. 3. Thomas Edison
Yes, yes, the famous and talented inventor, whose number of patents has exceeded a thousand, is not the first number on our top list. In fact, everything is very simple. Even though he invented the light bulb, the phonograph, the movie camera, and brought light to New York, a lot of his work was created with the help of people who worked under his direction or it was a team invention, which does not make him, ultimately the main inventor.
No. 2. Nikola Tesla
Like many great scientists, Nikola Tesla's fame came after his death, although thanks to his work, commercial electricity now exists. After all, it was the theory and patents he developed that became a kind of basis for modern system power based on alternating current, as well as the multiphase electrical distribution system of alternating current, with the help of which another revolution took place in the industrial sector. But this is far from his only merit to the world; Tesla left his mark in the field of robotics, created a starting point in improvement remote control, radar, and information technology, and, very importantly, took part in scientific research in the field of ballistics, nuclear physics and theoretical physics. There is information about his hobbies in antigravity, teleportation and lasers, alas, there is no evidence of this. However, he is the holder of 111 patents and is considered the best innovator in the whole world.
No. 1. Archimedes of Syracuse
So we got to the leader of our top ten. And again it’s your turn to wonder why exactly a scientist from Ancient Greece took the top of the list? To begin with, he is the greatest scientist in the field of mathematics. In particular, he, like no one else, determined the most specific calculation of the value of Pi, compiled a formula for determining the area under the arc of a parabola, this list can be supplemented forever, this is exactly the person whom even modern schoolchildren dislike in mathematics lessons. In addition, his works include the development of machines, siege weapons, and few people know that he invented a device that could burn Roman ships to the ground, only with the help of a simple mirror, by using the “sunbeam effect.” Well, the most powerful argument in his favor is that all his discoveries were made more than two thousand years ago, when the age of technology was practically in its infancy. And what is equally important, Archimedes was self-taught and acquired all his knowledge on his own, by trial and error!
It is difficult for us today to imagine that 200 years ago people did not know anything about electricity, most modern species transport, television, not to mention mobile phones, Skype, the Internet and other components of the modern information society.
In this regard, it will be interesting to consider the authorship of which inventions that became fateful for the development of mankind belong to Russian inventors. Of course, it is impossible to cover all areas of invention, so this article will contain a certain degree of selectivity and subjectivity. Let us immediately make a reservation that in the Russian state the main components of patent law (which is directly related to establishing the primacy of an invention) have been formed only since the 30s. XIX century, while in the West they became acquainted with this concept a little earlier. And therefore, the phrases “first to invent” and “first to patent” were not always identical.
Military affairs, weapons
1. G. E. Kotelnikov - inventor of the backpack parachute. While in the theater, the inventor saw in the hands of one lady a tightly rolled piece of fabric, which, after a little effort of the hands, turned into a loose scarf. So, the principle of a parachute’s operation appeared in Kotelnikov’s head. Unfortunately, the novelty initially gained recognition abroad, and only during the First World War did the tsarist government remember the existence of this useful invention.
Gleb Kotelnikov with his invention.
By the way, the inventor had other ideas that have not yet been implemented
2. N. D. Zelinsky - invented a filtering carbon gas mask. Despite the Hague Convention prohibiting the use of toxic substances? first world war The use of gas poisoning substances became a reality and therefore representatives of the warring countries began to look for ways to protect themselves from these dangerous weapons. It was then that Zelinsky offered his know-how - a gas mask, which used as a filter Activated carbon, which, as it turned out, successfully neutralized all toxic substances.
Russian soldiers in Zelinsky gas masks on the front line during the First World War
3. L. N. Gobyato - inventor of the mortar-mortar. The invention appeared in the field during the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Faced with a problem - the need to knock out enemy forces from trenches and trenches located in the immediate vicinity, Gobyato and his assistant Vasiliev proposed using these conditions are easy 47 mm naval gun on wheels. Instead of conventional shells, homemade pole mines were used, which were fired at a certain angle along a hinged trajectory.
Mortar of the Gobyato system on the positions of Mount Vysokaya. D. Buzaev
4. I. F. Aleksandrovsky - inventor of a self-propelled mine (torpedo) and the first mechanically driven submarine in the Russian fleet.
Aleksandrovsky submarine
5. V. G. Fedorov - creator of the world's first machine gun. Actually, the machine gun was originally understood as an automatic rifle, which Fedorov began to create even before the start of the First World War - in 1913. Only since 1916 did the invention gradually begin to be used in combat, although, of course, the machine gun became a weapon of mass distribution during the Second World War .
Automatic machine of the Fedorov system
Communications, information transfer
1. A. S. Popov - inventor of radio. On May 7, 1895, at a meeting of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society at St. Petersburg University, he demonstrated the operation of a radio receiver he had invented, but did not manage to patent it. The Italian G. Marconi received a patent and a Nobel Prize (together with K. F. Brown) for the invention of radio.
Radio Popova
2. G. G. Ignatiev - for the first time in the world, he developed a system of simultaneous telephone and telegraphy over one cable.
3. V.K. Zvorykin - inventor of television and television broadcasting based on the electronic principle. He developed an iconoscope, a kinescope, and the basics of color television. Unfortunately, he made most of his discoveries in the USA, where he emigrated in 1919.
4. A. M. Ponyatov - inventor of the video recorder. Like Zworykin, he emigrated from Russia during the Civil War, and, once in the USA, continued his developments in the field of electronics. In 1956, Ampex, under the leadership of Poniatov, released the world's first commercial video recorder.
Ponyatov with his brainchild
5. I. A. Timchenko - developed the world's first movie camera. In 1893, in Odessa, the world’s first two films, “The Javelin Thrower” and “The Galloping Horseman,” were shown on a large piece of white sheet. They were demonstrated using a movie camera designed by mechanic-inventor Timchenko. In 1895, Louis Jean Lumiere, who together with his brother are considered the founders of cinema, received a patent for the invention of the cinema camera.
Medicine
1. N.I. Pirogov - the first use of anesthesia in military field surgery during the Caucasian War in 1847. It was Pirogov who began to use bandages soaked in starch, which turned out to be very effective. In addition, he introduced a fixed plaster cast into medical practice.
Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov was the first to use anesthesia in military field surgery
2. G. A. Ilizarov - the name of this inventor is named after the device he designed in 1953. It is used in orthopedics, traumatology, and surgery. The device is an iron structure consisting of rings and spokes, and is mainly widely known for healing fractures, straightening deformed bones, and straightening legs.
Layout diagrams of the Ilizarov apparatus
3. S. S. Bryukhonenko - created the world's first artificial blood circulation apparatus (autojector). With the help of experiments he proved that revival human body after clinical death, it is possible in the same way as open heart surgery, organ transplantation and the creation of an artificial heart.
Today, surgeons can no longer do without artificial blood circulation machines, and the credit for their creation belongs to our compatriot
4. V.P. Demikhov is one of the founders of transplantology. He was the first in the world to perform a lung transplant, and the first to create a model of an artificial heart. Experimenting on dogs in the 1940s. was able to transplant a second heart, and then replace the dog’s heart with a donor one. Experiments on dogs later saved thousands of lives
5. Fedorov S.N. - radial keratomy. In 1973, for the first time in the world, he developed and performed operations to treat glaucoma in the early stages (the deep sclerectomy method, which subsequently gained international recognition). A year later, Fedorov began performing operations to treat and correct myopia by applying anterior dosed incisions to the cornea using a technique he developed. In total, over 3 million such operations have already been performed worldwide.
Among other things, Academician Fedorov was the first in the country to perform an operation to replace the lens of the eye
Electricity
1. A. N. Lodygin - incandescent electric light bulb. In 1872, A. N. Lodygin patented the world's first incandescent electric light bulb. It used a carbon rod that was placed in a vacuum flask.
Lodygin was not only able to develop an incandescent lamp, but also patent it
2. P. N. Yablochkov - invented the arc lamp (went down in history under the name “Yablochkov’s candle”). In 1877, some streets of European capitals were illuminated by Yablochkov’s “candles”. They were disposable, burned for less than 2 hours, but they shone quite brightly.
Yablochkov’s “candle” illuminated the streets of Paris
3. M. O. Dolivo-Dobrovolsky - three-phase power supply system. At the end of the 19th century. A Russian inventor with Polish roots invented something that is now familiar to any electrician and is successfully used all over the world.
The three-phase system developed by Dolivo-Dobrovolsky is still successfully used today
4. D. A. Lachinov - proved the possibility of transmitting electricity through wires over significant distances.
5. V.V. Petrov - developed the world's largest galvanic battery, discovered the electric arc.
Transport
1. A.F. Mozhaisky - creator of the first aircraft. In 1882, Mozhaisky built an airplane, but during tests near St. Petersburg, the airplane separated from the ground, but, being unstable, tilted to the side and broke the wing. This circumstance in the West is often used as an argument that the inventor of the aircraft should be considered the one who was able to fly above the ground in a horizontal position, i.e. Wright brothers.
Mozhaisky airplane model
2. I. I. Sikorsky - creator of the first production helicopter. Back in 1908-1910. designed two helicopters, but none of the helicopters built could take off with a pilot. Sikorsky returned to helicopters in the late 1930s, already working in the USA, having designed a model of the single-rotor helicopter S-46 (VC-300).
Sikorsky at the controls of his first “flying” helicopter
