The Iron Age spreads
Across the Near East, South Asia and eventually Europe and East Asia, iron smelting displaced bronze as the working metal of tools and weapons.
Humanity
115 events across three thousand years — chosen to be multi-regional and honest about uncertainty. Follow a thread to trace one capability through time, or filter by region and kind.
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The Industrial Revolution
Machinery, factories, coal and canals reorganized production in Britain — then everywhere — moving work from home to mill and most people from field to town.
Watt's separate condenser
James Watt's improvement cut the fuel hunger of the Newcomen engine; with Matthew Boulton he industrialized engine-making itself.
Edison lights the night
Edison's Menlo Park lab delivered a practical incandescent lamp, then the Pearl Street station (1882) to power it — light sold as a service.
The transistor, three weeks after Christmas
Bardeen and Brattain demonstrated a point-contact transistor at Bell Labs on December 23, 1947, with Shockley's team driving the solid-state program.
Chronology
The Iron Age spreads
Across the Near East, South Asia and eventually Europe and East Asia, iron smelting displaced bronze as the working metal of tools and weapons.
The Industrial Revolution
Machinery, factories, coal and canals reorganized production in Britain — then everywhere — moving work from home to mill and most people from field to town.
Watt's separate condenser
James Watt's improvement cut the fuel hunger of the Newcomen engine; with Matthew Boulton he industrialized engine-making itself.
Edison lights the night
Edison's Menlo Park lab delivered a practical incandescent lamp, then the Pearl Street station (1882) to power it — light sold as a service.
The transistor, three weeks after Christmas
Bardeen and Brattain demonstrated a point-contact transistor at Bell Labs on December 23, 1947, with Shockley's team driving the solid-state program.