Classification of Inventions According to Significance to Mankind, Essay Example

The people of America enjoy many modern conveniences through the magnificent inventions of scientists and other learned people that wonderfully minds geared toward education and invention. People have their own personal views about what invention was most significant in time and that depends on what was of personal importance to them. Was it the light bulb, electricity, telephone, paper, video, computer, fire or other you may have in your mind? The purpose of this paper is to divide and classify various inventions in the past centuries and make a determination why each was a powerful contribution to the American society by particularly justifying the usage of the invention to man.

Electricity is a basic part of nature and most widely used form of secondary sources of energy from coal gas and oil. The principles of electricity began to be understood in the 1800’s beginning with Benjamin Franklin’s experiment with a kite on a stormy night in Philadelphia. Around 1840 with the use of the telegraph was probably the first use of electricy. Today, electricity is used in industry, transportation, commercial and residential use. It is one of the most essential natural resources known to man today.

The people of Africa began to use fire for cooking about 800,000 years ago. The basis for this invention was that cooked food was easier to digest than raw food. Today fire is used to heat coals, to make tools, to make chemical reactions (with heat) and many others.

The telephone, invented by Alexander Graham Bell is used for communications. Johann Philipp Reis, a German scientist, was the first to come up with the idea of the transmission of sound through electricity. He also built an apparatus that could transmit sound, which is known as the Reis Telephone. This is pretty much straight forward. Communication is essential to keep the economy going and for every day life to progress. Other forms of communication were developed out of the inspiration of the telephone such as cellular phones and mobile phones.

Early Chinese paper appears to have been made by from a suspension of hemp waste in water, washed, soaked, and beaten to a pulp with a wooden mallet. From China, papermaking moved to Korea, where production of paper began as early as the 6th century AD. From Samarkand, papermaking spread to Baghdad in the 8th century AD and into Damascus, Egypt, and Morocco by the 10th century. Paper is essential for commercial and private use. People use paper for writing, cleaning their hands, to carry their groceries home, as toilet paper for our personal use, etc. It is a very convenient item to have in our life. Businesses use paper for copying, for lettering and other business reasons.

Tommy Flowers and Max Newman invented the colossus computer. From this first invention other computers were inspired. A computer is a piece of modern technology and a modern marvel. Computers are used by scientists’ to track and record data, by people to write papers, by IT specialists to develop programs, by students to learn new topics and by teachers to deliver instructions to students. There are many more essential reasons that computers are useful but these are only a few.

In conclusion all of these inventions are very important in both business and personal uses. I feel the most important is the invention of electricity though because without electricity there would be no operation of electronic devices, there would be on air conditioning, and there would be inconvenience posed to cooking and eating which is an essential need for humans to survive.