22 inventions that changed the world
22项改变世界的发明
From the wheel 5,500 years ago to the birth control pill, these 20 inventions had huge ramifications and have helped humans shape the world around us.
从5500年前的轮子到避孕药，这20多种发明对世界产生了巨大影响，并帮助人类塑造了周围的世界。
Humans are naturally curious and creative, two traits that have led our species to many scientific and technological breakthroughs. Since our earliest ancestors bashed a rock on the ground to make the first sharp-edged tool, humans have continued to innovate.
好奇和创造力是人类的两个天生特质，促使我们在科学和技术上取得了许多突破。从我们最早的祖先用石头砸地制作出第一件锋利工具开始，人类就一直在不断地创新。
From the debut of the wheel to the launch of Mars rovers, several of these key advancements stand out as especially revolutionary. Some inventions are thanks to one eureka moment, but most of our most pioneering inventions were the work of several innovative thinkers who made incremental improvements over many years.
从轮子的问世到火星探测器的发射，一些关键进展尤其具有革命性。有些发明源自一次“恍然大悟”的瞬间，但大多数开创性的发明都是由多位创新思考者共同努力，通过多年的渐进式改进实现的。
Here, we explore 22 of the most important inventions of all time, along with the science behind the inventions and how they came about.
在这里，我们将探讨历史上最重要的22项发明，以及它们背后的科学原理，以及它们是如何出现。
1. GPS
全球定位系统
Global navigation used to be a difficult endeavor. Compasses, maps, marine chronometers and the stars helped humans populate almost every corner of Earth, but those methods are far less useful for precisely navigating an aircraft or unknown landscape on foot.
全球导航曾经是一个艰难的任务。指南针、地图、航海计时器和星星帮助人类开辟了地球上的几乎每一个角落，但这些方法的实用性对精确导航飞机或探索未知的陆地环境还远远不够。
Enter the Global Positioning System (GPS), a network of satellites that constantly transmit signals that anyone on Earth can use to determine their precise position — provided they possess a simple GPS receiver. It has revolutionized transportation and allowed for navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze.
全球定位系统（GPS）是由卫星组成的网络，不断传输信号，地球上的任何人只要拥有一个简单的GPS接收器，就可以用来确定自己的精确位置。它彻底改变了交通运输，并使得像谷歌地图和Waze这样的导航应用成为可能。
Today, there are 31 operational GPS satellites in Earth orbit, up from an initial 24 launched by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) between 1978 and 1993 and not including the 42 decommissioned satellites still in orbit. These are operated alongside the three other satellite navigation constellations: Russia’s GLONASS, China’s BeiDou, and the European Union’s Galileo.
如今，地球轨道上有31颗正在运行的GPS卫星，远高于1978年至1993年间美国国防部（DOD）发射的最初24颗卫星，并且还不包括仍在轨道上的42颗退役卫星。与此同时，俄罗斯的GLONASS、中国的北斗和欧盟的伽利略三大卫星导航系统也在运行。
GPS saves lives every day: Emergency workers use it in wilderness rescues, police use it to track suspects, and those traveling off the beaten path use it to return to civilization.
GPS每天都在拯救生命：急救人员利用它在野外救援，警察利用追踪嫌疑人，偏离常规路线的旅行者也利用它返回文明世界。
An unusual aspect of GPS that contributed to its rapid adoption is that it is operated for free by the U.S. government. That rollout happened in the wake of a tragic incident in 1983, in which a South Korean passenger aircraft was shot down after mistakenly entering Soviet airspace. In response, then-President Ronald Reagan decided the system should be open to the public to prevent similar events from happening.
GPS之所以能迅速普及，原因在于美国政府免费提供使用。这一决定源于1983年的一场悲剧：一架韩国客机误入苏联领空，被苏联击落。为了防止类似事件再次发生，当时的美国总统里根决定将GPS系统开放给公众。
2. Smartphones
智能手机
Although the telephone is already on this list, the smartphone has driven a revolution in personal, portable computing since its invention in the past few decades.
尽管电话已经列入了这份名单，但智能手机自发明以来的从过去几十年，它已经推动了个人便携计算的革命。
The exact moment when cellphones crossed the barrier to smartphones is hard to define. An early device worthy of the title is 1994's IBM Simon, a multi-functional phone that could also send emails and contained a personal organizer. However, almost nobody used it. Other noteworthy entries include the Blackberry, which was unveiled in 2000 and revolutionized mobile web browsing, and, of course, the first iPhone, which, in 2007, introduced the touch-screen design that's ubiquitous today.
很难定义手机突破界限成为智能手机的时刻。早期称得上智能手机的设备是1994年的IBM Simon，这是一款多功能手机，既能发送电子邮件，又含有个人组织者功能。然而，当时几乎没有人使用它。其他值得提及的设备包括2000年发布的黑莓手机，它革命性地改变了移动网页浏览。当然，还有2007年推出的第一款iPhone，它引入了如今无处不在的触摸屏设计。
Smartphones have been a launchpad for social media and instant messaging apps and have combined multiple forms of technology into one small device. Most people use their smartphones as a combination of cellphone, computer, camera and organizer, but these mobile devices can also act as smart sensors, navigational devices, microphones, wallets and more.
智能手机为社交媒体和即时通讯应用提供了平台，并将多种技术形式结合成一个小型设备。大多数人将智能手机当作手机、电脑、相机和组织工具的组合使用，但智能手机还可以充当智能传感器、导航设备、麦克风、钱包等多种功能设备。
3. Wheel
轮子
Before the invention of the wheel in 3500 B.C., humans were severely limited in how much stuff we could transport over land, and how far. The wheel itself wasn't the most difficult part of "inventing the wheel." When it came time to connect a non-moving platform to that rolling cylinder, things got tricky, according to David Anthony, an emeritus professor of anthropology at Hartwick College.
在公元前3500年发明轮子之前，人类在陆地上运输物品的数量和距离上受到严重限制。轮子本身并不是“发明轮子”中最难的部分。哈特维克学院的人类学名誉教授大卫·安东尼表示，将一个静止的平台与这个滚动的圆柱连接起来，才是最具挑战性的部分。
"The stroke of brilliance was the wheel-and-axle concept," Anthony previously told Live Science. "But then making it was also difficult." For instance, the holes at the center of the wheels and the ends of the fixed axles had to be nearly perfectly round and smooth, he said. The size of the axle was also a critical factor, as was its snugness inside the hole (not too tight, but not too loose, either).
“最具智慧的创意是轮轴概念。”安东尼曾在接受《生活科学》采访时说：“实际制造它也很困难。”例如，轮子中心的孔和固定轴的两端必须几乎完美地圆滑。轴的大小也是一个关键因素，其尺寸必须适合孔中（既不能太紧，也不能太松）。
The hard work paid off, big time. Wheeled carts facilitated agriculture and commerce by enabling the transportation of goods to and from markets, as well as easing the burdens of people travelling great distances. Now, wheels are vital to our way of life, found in everything from clocks to vehicles to turbines.
这些努力得到了巨大的回报。轮式推车让商品能够进出市场，促进了农业和商业的发展，也减轻了人们长途旅行的负担。如今，轮子已成为我们生活方式中至关重要的一部分，从时钟到车辆，再到涡轮机，无处不在。
4. Printing press
印刷术
German inventor Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press sometime between 1440 and 1450. Key to its development was the hand mold, a new molding technique that enabled the rapid creation of large quantities of metal movable type. Though others before him — including inventors in China and Korea — had developed movable type made from metal, Gutenberg was the first to create a mechanized process that transferred the ink (which he made from linseed oil and soot) from the movable type to paper.
德国发明家约翰内斯·古腾堡在1440年到1450年间发明了印刷机。其发展的关键是一种新的铸造技术——手工模具，使得大量金属活字的快速生产成为可能。尽管在他之前，包括中国和朝鲜的发明家在内的其他人已经发明了金属活字，古腾堡却是第一个创建了一种机械化工艺，将墨水（由他用亚麻油和烟灰制成）从活字转移到纸张上的人。
With this movable type process, printing presses exponentially increased the speed with which book copies could be made, and thus they led to the rapid and widespread dissemination of knowledge for the first time in history. In her bookThe Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2012), late historian Elizabeth L. Eisenstein wrote, “printers’ workshops would be found in every important municipal center by 1500.” It has been estimated that up to twenty million volumes had been printed in Western Europe by 1500, although Eisenstein estimates that it was around eight million.
通过这种活字印刷工艺，印刷机极大地提高了书籍复制的速度，在历史上首次让知识以快速且广泛的方式传播。已故历史学家伊丽莎白·L·艾森斯坦在她的著作《早期现代欧洲的印刷革命》（剑桥大学出版社，2012年）中写道：“到1500年，每个重要的市中心都有了印刷车间。”艾森斯坦估计到1500年，西欧已经印刷了800万卷书籍，有一些人估计超过2000万卷。
5. Penicillin
青霉素
It's one of the most famous discovery stories in history. In 1928, the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming noticed a bacteria-filled Petri dish in his laboratory with its lid accidentally ajar. The sample had become contaminated with a mold, and everywhere the mold was, the bacteria was dead. That antibiotic mold turned out to be the fungus Penicillium, and over the next two decades, chemists purified it and developed the drug penicillin, which fights a huge number of bacterial infections in humans without harming the humans themselves.
青霉素的发现是历史上最著名的发现故事之一。1928年，苏格兰科学家亚历山大·弗莱明在实验室中发现一个充满细菌的培养皿，其盖子意外地开着。样本被一种霉菌污染，而霉菌所在的地方细菌都死了。那种抗生素霉菌后来被确定为青霉菌，在接下来的二十年里，化学家们将其提纯并开发出了青霉素这种药物。青霉素能够治疗大量的人类细菌感染，而且不会伤害人体。
Penicillin was being mass-produced and advertised by 1944. This poster attached to a curbside mailbox advised World War II servicemen to take the drug to rid themselves of venereal disease.
到1944年，青霉素开始大规模生产并进行广告宣传。海报上贴在街头信箱上，建议二战时期的军人使用该药物治疗性病。
About 1 in 10 people have an allergic reaction to the antibiotic, according to a study published in 2003 in the journalClinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology. Even so, most of those people go on to be able to tolerate the drug, researchers said.
根据2003年发表在《临床过敏与免疫学评论》杂志上的一项研究，大约10%的人会对青霉素产生过敏反应。研究人员表示，即便如此，大多数人有过敏的人最终仍然能够耐受这种药物。
6. Compass
指南针
Ancient mariners used the stars for navigation, but this method didn’t work during the day or on cloudy nights, making it dangerous to travel far from land.
古代航海者使用星星进行导航，但这种方法在白天或多云的夜晚无法使用，因此远离陆地的旅行极为危险。
The first compass was invented in China during the Han dynasty between the 2nd Century B.C. and 1st Century A.D.; it was made of lodestone, a naturally-magnetized iron ore, the attractive properties of which they had been studying for centuries. However, it was used for navigation for the first time during the Song Dynasty, between the 11th and 12th centuries.
大约在公元前2世纪到公元1世纪之间的中国汉朝时期，出现了最早的指南针，由天然磁化的磁铁制成。磁铁的吸引特性已经被古人研究了好几个世纪。然而，指南针首次用于航海是在宋朝，约在公元11到12世纪。
Soon after, the technology spread to the West through nautical contact. The compass enabled mariners to navigate safely far from land, opening up the world for exploration and the subsequent development of global trade. An instrument still widely used today, the compass has transformed our knowledge and understanding of the Earth forever.
不久之后，这项技术通过航海联系传播到西方。指南针使航海者在远离陆地时也能安全航行，为世界探索和随之而来的全球贸易发展打开了大门。作为今天仍能广泛使用的工具，指南针永远改变了我们对地球的认知和理解。
7. Light bulb
电灯泡
The invention of the light bulb transformed our world by removing our dependence on natural light, allowing us to be productive at any time, day or night. Several inventors were instrumental in developing this revolutionary technology throughout the 1800s; Thomas Edison is credited as the primary inventor because he created a completely functional lighting system, including a generator and wiring as well as a carbon-filament bulb in 1879.
电灯泡的发明通过消除了我们对自然光的依赖，使我们无论是白天还是黑夜的任何时候，都能够保持生产力。在整个19世纪，多个发明家对这一革命性技术的发展起到了关键作用。托马斯·爱迪生被认为是电灯泡的主要发明人，因为他在1879年发明了一个完全可用的照明系统，包括发电机、线路以及一个碳丝灯泡。
As well as initiating the introduction of electricity in homes throughout the Western world, this invention also had a rather unexpected consequence of changing people's sleep patterns. Instead of going to bed at nightfall (having nothing else to do) and sleeping in segments throughout the night separated by periods of wakefulness, we now stay up except for the 7 to 8 hours allotted for sleep, and, ideally, we sleep all in one go.
除了在整个西方世界推动家庭用电的普及之外，这项发明还带来了一个意想不到的后果：改变了人们的睡眠模式。过去，人们在夜幕降临后就上床睡觉（因为没有其他事情可做），并在整晚分段睡眠，中间穿插着清醒的时间。而现在，我们除了分配给睡眠的7到8小时之外，都会保持清醒状态，并且理想情况下，我们整晚都会连续睡眠。
8. Telephone
电话
Several inventors did pioneering work on electronic voice transmission — many of whom later filed intellectual property lawsuits when telephone use exploded — but it was Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell who was the first to be awarded a patent for the electric telephone on March 7, 1876. Three days later, Bell made the first telephone call to his assistant, Thomas Watson, saying "Mr. Watson, come here — I want to see you," according to author A. Edward Evenson in his bookThe Telephone Patent Conspiracy of 1876: The Elisha Gray-Alexander Bell Controversy and Its Many Players (McFarland, 2015).
许多发明家对电子语音传输做出了开创性的工作，其中许多人在电话使用爆炸式增长后提起了知识产权诉讼，但是苏格兰发明家亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔于1876年3月7日首次获得了电话的专利。三天后，贝尔打出了第一通电话，致电他的助手托马斯·沃森，说：“沃森先生，过来，我想见见你。” 这段话出自作者A·爱德华·埃文森在其著作《1876年电话专利阴谋：埃利沙·格雷与亚历山大·贝尔的争议及其众多参与者》（麦克法兰，2015年）中的描述。
Bell’s inspiration for the telephone was influenced by his family. His father taught speech elocution and specialized in teaching the deaf to speak, his mother, an accomplished musician, lost her hearing in later life and his wife Mabel, who he married in 1877, had been deaf since the age of five, according to Evenson. The invention quickly took off and revolutionized global business and communication. When Bell died on Aug. 2, 1922, all telephone service in the United States and Canada was stopped for one minute to honor him.
贝尔发明电话的灵感受到了家庭的影响。据埃文森所述，他的父亲教授语言修辞，专门教聋人说话；他的母亲是一位杰出的音乐家，晚年失聪；他的妻子梅布尔（于1877年结婚）从五岁起就一直是聋人。电话这个发明很快得到了推广，并彻底改变了全球商业和沟通方式。1922年8月2日，贝尔去世时，美国和加拿大的所有电话服务都停顿了一分钟，以表示对他的敬意。
9. Internal combustion engine
内燃机
In these engines, the combustion of fuel releases a high-temperature gas, which, as it expands, applies a force to a piston, moving it. Thus, combustion engines convert chemical energy into mechanical work. Decades of engineering by many scientists went into designing the internal combustion engine, which took its (essentially) modern form in the latter half of the 19th century. The engine ushered in the Industrial Age, as well as enabling the invention of a huge variety of machines, including modern cars and aircraft.
在这些引擎中，燃料的燃烧释放出高温气体，气体在膨胀过程中施加力于活塞，推动活塞运动。这就是内燃机将化学能转化为机械功的过程。经过许多科学家数十年的工程设计，内燃机在19世纪下半叶最终形成了现代形式。内燃机引领了工业时代的到来，也使得各种机器的发明成为可能，包括现代汽车和飞机。
Pictured are the operating steps of a four-stroke internal combustion engine. The strokes are as follows: 1) Intake stroke — air and vaporised fuel are drawn in. 2) Compression stroke - fuel vapor and air are compressed and ignited. 3) Power stroke — fuel combusts and the piston is pushed downwards, powering the machine. 4) Exhaust stroke — exhaust is driven out.
下图展示了四冲程内燃机的工作步骤。步骤如下：1) 吸气冲程——空气和气化燃料被吸入；2) 压缩冲程——燃料蒸气和空气被压缩并点燃；3) 动力冲程——燃料燃烧，活塞向下推动，驱动机器；4) 排气冲程——废气被排出。
10. Contraceptives
避孕措施
Not only have birth control pills, condoms and other forms of contraception sparked a sexual revolution in the developed world by allowing men and women to have sex for leisure rather than procreation, they have also drastically reduced the average number of offspring per woman in countries where they are used. With fewer mouths to feed, modern families have achieved higher standards of living and can provide better for each child. Meanwhile, on the global scale, contraceptives are helping the human population gradually level off; our number will probably stabilize by the end of the century. Certain contraceptives, such as condoms, also curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
避孕药、避孕套和其他形式的避孕措施推动了发达国家的性革命，使得男女间的性生活成为娱乐而非生育，还大幅减少了使用避孕措施的国家的女性的平均生育子女数量。随着养育的孩子减少，现代家庭达到了更高的生活水平，能够为每个孩子提供更好的生活。同时，从全球范围来看，避孕措施帮助全球人口增长逐渐趋于平稳；到本世纪末，全球人口数量可能会稳定下来。某些避孕措施，如避孕套，还能抑制性传播疾病的传播。
Natural and herbal contraception has been used for millennia. Condoms or ‘sheaths’ have existed in one form or another since ancient times, according to scholar Jessica Borge in her bookProtective Practices: A History of the London Rubber Company and the Condom Business (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020), with the rubber condom developed in the 19th century. Meanwhile, the FDA approved the first oral contraceptive pill in the United States in 1960 and by 1965, more than 6.5 million American women were on the pill, according to author Jonathan Eig in his book, The Birth of the Pill: How Four Pioneers Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution (W. W. Norton & Company, 2015).
数千年来，自然和草本避孕法一直在使用。根据学者杰西卡·博尔赫在她的著作《保护实践：伦敦橡胶公司与避孕套行业的历史》（麦吉尔-昆士大学出版社，2020年）中的描述，避孕套或“套子”自古代以来就有不同形式的存在，橡胶避孕套则是在19世纪开发的。同时，根据作者乔纳森·艾格在《避孕药的诞生：四位先驱如何重塑性生活并引发革命》（W.W.诺顿出版社，2015年）中的描述，美国食品和药物管理局（FDA）在1960年批准了第一种口服避孕药，到1965年，超过650万美国女性开始使用口服避孕药。
Scientists are continuing to make advancements in birth control, with some labs even pursuing a male form of "the pill." A permanent birth-control implant called Essure was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2002, though in 2016, the FDA warned the implant would need stronger warnings to tell users about serious risks of using Essure.
科学家们继续在避孕领域取得进展，甚至有些实验室正在研究男性口服避孕药。2002年，FDA批准了一种名为Essure的永久性避孕植入物。然而在2016年，FDA警告说该植入物需要更强的警告，告知用户使用Essure可能带来的严重风险。
11. Internet
互联网
The internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that is used by billions of people worldwide. In the 1960s, a team of computer scientists working for the U.S. Defense Department's ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) built a communications network to connect the computers in the agency, called ARPANET, the predecessor of the internet. It used a method of data transmission called "packet switching", developed by computer scientist and team member Lawrence Roberts, based on prior work of other computer scientists.
互联网是一个数十亿人使用的、全球互联的计算机网络系统。在1960年代，美国国防部的高级研究计划局（ARPA）的一组计算机科学家建立了一个通信网络，连接该机构内部的计算机，名为ARPANET，即互联网的前身。ARPANET采用了分组交换技术，这一技术由计算机科学家劳伦斯·罗伯茨在借鉴前人研究的基础上开发。
This technology was progressed in the 1970s by scientists Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf, who developed the crucial communication protocols for the internet, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), according to computer scientist Harry R. Lewis in his bookIdeas That Created the Future: Classic Papers of Computer Science (MIT Press, 2021). For this, Kahn and Cerf are often credited as inventors of the internet.
根据计算机科学家哈里·R·刘易斯在《创造未来的思想：计算机科学经典论文》（麻省理工大学出版社，2021年）一书中的描述，这项技术在1970年代得到了科学家罗伯特·卡恩和文顿·瑟夫的进一步发展，他们开发了互联网的重要通信协议：传输控制协议（TCP）和互联网协议（IP）。因此，卡恩和瑟夫通常被认为是互联网的发明人。
In 1989, the internet evolved further thanks to the invention of the World Wide Web by computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee while working at CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research). According to CERN, "the basic idea of the WWW was to merge the evolving technologies of computers, data networks and hypertext into a powerful and easy to use global information system." The development of the WWW opened up the world of the internet to everybody and connected the world in a way that it had never been before.
1989年，得益于计算机科学家蒂姆·伯纳斯-李在欧洲核子研究组织（CERN）工作时发明了万维网（WWW），互联网进一步发展。根据CERN的说法，“万维网的基本理念是将不断发展的计算机、数据网络和超文本技术融合成一个强大且易于使用的全球信息系统。”万维网的发展使互联网的世界对每个人开放，并以前所未有的方式将世界连接在一起。
12. Nails
钉子
This key invention dates back more than 2,000 years to the Ancient Roman period and became possible only after humans developed the ability to cast and shape metal. Previously, wood structures had to be built by interlocking adjacent boards geometrically — a much more arduous construction process.
在人类掌握了铸造和加工金属的技术后，钉子的发明才能得以实现，而钉子的发明可以追溯到2000多年前的古罗马时期。在此之前，木结构必须通过几何拼接相邻的木板来建造，过程比使用钉子要更为艰苦。
Until the 1790s and early 1800s, hand-wrought nails were the norm, with a blacksmith heating a square iron rod and then hammering it on four sides to create a point, according to the University of Vermont. Nail-making machines came online between the 1790s and the early 1800s. Technology for crafting nails continued to advance; After Henry Bessemer developed a process to mass-produce steel from iron, the iron nails of yesteryear slowly waned and by 1886, 10 percent of U.S. nails were created from soft steel wire, according to the University of Vermont. By 1913, 90 percent of nails produced in the U.S. were steel wire.
根据佛蒙特大学的资料显示，直到1790年代和1800年代初期制造钉子的机器问世，手工锻造的钉子是常态，铁匠将方形铁棒加热后，在四面锤打成尖端。制造钉子的技术继续进步：亨利·贝塞麦开发了一种将铁冶炼成钢的大规模生产的工艺后，昔日的铁钉逐渐减少，到1886年，美国生产的钉子中有10%是用软钢丝制成的。到1913年，美国生产的钉子中有90%是钢丝钉。
Meanwhile, the invention of the screw — a stronger but harder-to-insert fastener — is usually ascribed to the Greek scholar Archimedes in the third century B.C., but was probably invented by the Pythagorean philosopher Archytas of Tarentum, according to David Blockley in his bookEngineering: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2012).
与此同时，人们通常把更强但更难插入的紧固件——螺丝的发明归功于公元前3世纪的希腊学者阿基米德。但根据大卫·布洛克利在《工程学：简短入门》一书中的描述，螺丝可能是由毕达哥拉斯学派哲学家塔伦图姆的阿基塔斯发明的。
13. Use of fire
火的使用
The use of fire is one of humankind's most powerful early inventions and radically changed the way our ancient ancestors lived. Offering warmth and the ability to cook foods such as meat, the campfire was also a social gathering place. Fire also provided some protection against predators.
火的使用是人类最早的强大发明之一，它彻底改变了我们古代祖先的生活方式。火提供了温暖和烹饪食物（如肉类）的能力，营火也是一个社交聚集的场所。火还提供了某种程度的保护，抵御掠食者。
The exact date fire was discovered has long remained a mystery, with some studies suggesting it was first used by hominins in Kenya 1 million years ago to cook meat. Other evidence suggests that Neanderthals in Europe and Asia harnessed fire, while Homo sapiens evolving in Africa mastered the skill of creating fire. More recently, archaeologists in Israel found evidence of hominin fire use dating to 1.5 million to 2 million years ago.
长期以来，火的发现确切时间一直是个谜，一些研究表明，人族（Hominin）在约100万年前首次在肯尼亚使用火来烹饪肉类。其他证据表明，欧洲和亚洲的尼安德特人掌握了火的使用，而在非洲进化的智人则掌握了生火的技能。最近，以色列的考古学家发现了人族（Hominin）使用火的证据，时间可追溯到150万到200万年前。
14. Concrete
混凝土
Ancient Romans are credited as one of the first societies to use concrete in architecture, with Roman bathhouses and iconic sites such as the Colosseum and Pantheon dome constructed using concrete mixed with volcanic ash, lime, and seawater. Incredibly, many of these ancient buildings are not only standing, but remain in good condition some 2,000 years later — a testament to the longevity of Roman concrete. However, the ancient Egyptians used a crude form of concrete in their buildings much earlier in 3000 B.C., employing forms of concrete mixed with ash and salt water to create mortar. One study concluded that parts of the Great Pyramids of Giza might have been built using concrete.
古罗马被认为是最早在建筑中使用混凝土的社会之一，罗马的浴室和象征性建筑如斗兽场和万神殿穹顶，都是使用混合火山灰、石灰和海水的混凝土建造的。令人惊讶的是，许多这些古老的建筑不仅至今屹立不倒，而且在2000年后仍然保持良好的状态，证明了罗马混凝土的持久性。然而，古埃及人早在公元前3000年就已在他们的建筑中使用了原始形式的混凝土，采用了与灰烬和盐水混合的混凝土来制作砂浆。一项研究认为，吉萨大金字塔的部分结构可能是用混凝土建造的。
Concrete is strong in compression but breaks easily in tension, so the invention of reinforced steel-concrete toward the end of the 19th century in France, which lends concrete some of steel's tensile strength, enabled concrete to be used more widely in construction.
混凝土在抗压方面强，但在抗拉方面容易断裂，因此，19世纪末法国发明的钢筋混凝土，为混凝土提供了钢铁的抗拉强度，使得混凝土可以在建筑中更广泛地应用。
15. Magnifying glass
放大镜
Franciscan friar and Oxford University scholar Roger Bacon first developed the magnifying glass in 1268. Sometimes dubbed "Britain's first scientist," Bacon's magnifying glass built on research by Muslim scholars.
方济各修士、牛津大学学者罗杰·培根于1268年首次提升了放大镜。培根有时被称为“英国的首位科学家”，他的放大镜是在穆斯林学者研究的基础上开发的。
However, the use of optical tools dates back much further. Evidence suggests that as early as 700 B.C., people in ancient Egypt noticed that they could look through crystals to improve vision.
然而，光学工具的使用可追溯得更远。证据表明，早在公元前700年，古埃及人就发现利用水晶可以改善视力。
16. Batteries
电池
The first battery dates back to 1800, when Italian physicist Alessandro Volta wrapped stacked discs of copper and zinc in a cloth, submerged it in salty water and discovered that it conducted energy. In 1802, Scottish professor William Cruickshank invented a variation of Volta's design known as the trough battery, which consisted of 50 discs of copper and zinc in a wooden box filled with a salt solution to conduct energy. However, it was French physicist Gaston Planté who invented the first practically used battery, in 1859. Modern variations on Planté's rechargeable lead-acid battery are still used in cars today.
第一个电池可以追溯到1800年，当时意大利物理学家亚历山德罗·伏特将铜和锌的堆叠圆盘包裹在布料，浸入盐水中，发现它能够导电。1802年，苏格兰教授威廉·克鲁克尚发明了伏打设计的变体——槽形电池，它由50个铜锌圆盘组成，放置在充满盐水的木箱中以导电。然而，第一种实际可用的电池是由法国物理学家加斯顿·普朗特于1859年发明。基于普朗特可充电铅酸电池的现代变种电池至今仍在汽车中使用。
17. Marine chronometer
航海天文钟
The 15th century marked the beginning of the great voyages of discovery by adventurers and sea merchants and the development of a global ocean trade network. Trading vessels carried highly prized silk, spices, salt, wine and tea across often-treacherous seas for months on end. After the loss of four ships at sea in the Scilly naval disaster of 1707, seafarers realized they needed an accurate way to determine longitude when out of sight of land.
15世纪的开始以冒险家和海上商人的伟大航海探索为开始，全球海洋贸易网络的发展也因此促成。商船装载着珍贵的丝绸、香料、盐、葡萄酒和茶叶穿越危险的海洋，过程往往长达数月之久。1707年，锡利群岛海难导致四艘船的失事，海员们意识到，当看不见陆地时，他们需要一种精确的方式来确定经度。
In 1714, the British parliament offered a prize of 20,000 pounds to anyone who could solve the problem. Carpenter John Harrison won the bounty in 1735 with his marine chronometer. What is perhaps even more remarkable is that Harrison was a self-taught clockmaker. His ingenious timekeeping device was powered by the rocking motion of the ship rather than by gravity and could be used by sailors to accurately calculate longitude at sea.
1714年，英国议会发起一笔2万英镑的奖金，征求任何能解决这一问题的人。1735年，木匠约翰·哈里森凭借其航海天文钟赢得了奖励。或许更为值得称道的是，哈里森是一位自学成才的钟表匠。他巧妙的计时装置不适用重力，而是通过船只的摇摆运动来驱动，并且可以帮助海员准确地计算海上的经度。
18. Airplane
飞机
The ability for humans to fly has captured the imagination of inventors for centuries, with the first human-operated flight taking place in 1783 when Joseph-Michael and Jacques-Ètienne Montgolfier took to the skies in a hot air balloon. In 1853 British engineer George Cayley designed the first glider to successfully take flight, but it wasn’t until 1903 that Orville and Wilbur Wright's plane became the first airplane to have a successful voyage. It not only took off from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina using its own power; it flew and landed without destruction, unlike many earlier aircraft inventions. The Wright brothers were inspired by watching birds in flight. The glider took a page from birds' wings but had a 32-foot (10 meters) wingspan.
数百年来，人类翱翔天空的梦想一直激发着发明家们的想象力。1783年，当时约瑟夫-迈克尔和雅克-埃蒂安·蒙哥菲尔驾驶热气球飞上了天空，是首次人类操控的飞行。1853年，英国工程师乔治·凯利设计了第一架成功飞行的滑翔机。但直到1903年，奥尔维尔和威尔伯·莱特的飞机才成为第一架成功飞行的飞机。这家飞机利用自身动力不仅在北卡罗来纳州的基蒂霍克成功起飞，而且它与许多早期的飞行器发明有着不同的结果——在飞行和着陆时没有出现破坏。莱特兄弟的灵感来源于观察飞翔的鸟类。滑翔机借鉴了鸟类翅膀的结构，但机翼展长达32英尺（约10米）。
19. Refrigerator
冰箱
Refrigeration in some form has been around for thousands of years. Depending on the climate, ice or cold water was used to keep food cold in ancient times. But artificial refrigeration didn't come until 1748, when the physician William Cullen first demonstrated evaporative cooling. Further breakthroughs came in 1834, when a vapor-compression system was developed by American engineer Jacob Perkins. In 1876, German engineer Carl von Linde came up with a process of liquifying the gas, ushering in the era of commercial refrigeration. In 1913, American engineer Fred Wolf invented the first domestic refrigerator, and as demand for fresh produce grew, so did the number of households with refrigerators.
几千年来就已经有了某些形式的制冷。根据气候的不同，古代人用冰或冷水为食物保持低温。然而，直到1748年才出现人工制冷，当时外科医生威廉·卡伦首次展示了蒸发冷却技术。进一步的突破发生在1834年，当时美国工程师雅各布·帕金斯开发了一种蒸汽压缩系统。1876年，德国工程师卡尔·冯·林德提出了一种气体液化工艺，开启了商业制冷的时代。1913年，美国工程师弗雷德·沃尔夫发明了第一台家用冰箱，随着对新鲜产品需求的增加，拥有冰箱的家庭数量也随之增加。
20. Nuclear energy
核能
Nuclear energy was first discovered in the 1930s by Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, who found that bombarding atoms with neutrons could split them, generating huge amounts of energy. He went on to develop the first nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago. This successful experiment led to the development of several nuclear plants in the 1950s, with Idaho launching the first nuclear plant in 1951 with electricity produced from atomic energy at its Experimental Breeder Reactor I site. Obninsk in the former Soviet Union became the first grid-connected nuclear power plant in the world in 1954, while Shippingport nuclear plant, Pennsylvania became the first commercial nuclear plant in 1957.
1930年代，意大利物理学家恩里科·费米发现通过中子轰击原子可以将其分裂，能够释放出巨大的能量，即核能。随后，他在芝加哥大学开发了第一个核链式反应。这个成功的实验促成了1950年代多个核电厂的建设，1951年，爱达荷州启动了首座核电厂，在其实验性滋生反应堆一号现场利用原子能生产电力。1954年，前苏联的奥布宁斯克成为世界上首座并入电网的核电站，1957年，宾夕法尼亚州的Shippingport核电厂成为首座商业核电厂。
Nuclear power remains widely used around the world today, generating approximately 10% of global energy.
如今，核能仍在全球范围内广泛使用，约占全球能源的10%。
One problem is that existing nuclear power plants use fission to split atoms, and this produces radioactive substances that take ages to decay. And the risks of nuclear disasters, such as those at Chernobyl and the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant, highlight the challenges of fission-based nuclear power.
一个问题是，现有的核电厂使用裂变来分裂原子，会产生放射性物质，而这些物质需要很长时间才能衰变。而类似切尔诺贝利和福岛第一核电站等核灾难的风险，突显了基于裂变的核电面临的严重挑战。
So scientists are working to create usable nuclear fusion reactors, which could theoretically generate clean, limitless energy. In 2022, scientists reported a minor breakthrough: a fusion reactor that generated more energy than was put into it. However, we're still a long way from a usable fusion reactor, experts say.
因此，科学家们正在努力开发可用的核聚变反应堆，理论上这可以产生无限的清洁能源。2022年，科学家报告了一项小突破：一个核聚变反应堆产生的能量超过了输入的能量。然而，专家表示，我们离实现可用的聚变反应堆仍然很遥远。
21. Vaccines
疫苗
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately 2 million to 3 million lives are saved annually thanks to vaccinations against contagious diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus and measles.
世界卫生组织（WHO）估计，每年有约200万至300万人因接种疫苗而免于患上如白喉、破伤风和麻疹等传染病，生命得以拯救。
The earliest rudimentary vaccination is thought to date back to the 10th century in China, when people inoculated small scratches in the skin with small doses of smallpox to provide protection against the disease. But in 1796, English physician Edward Jenner discovered that milkmaids rarely caught or died of smallpox because they were previously infected by the cowpox virus, also called Vaccinia.
最早的原始疫苗可追溯到10世纪的中国，当时人们通过在皮肤的小伤口上注射小剂量天花病毒进行免疫接种，用以提供对天花的保护。但在1796年，英国医生爱德华·詹纳发现，挤奶女工们很少感染天花或死于天花，因为她们以前曾感染过牛痘病毒，即痘苗病毒。
So he used cowpox to develop a smallpox vaccine. He inoculated an 8-year-old boy with cowpox and then with smallpox, and the boy never caught the deadly scourge. Jenner's experiment led to the creation of a smallpox vaccine and his work is regarded as the start of immunology. In 1980, smallpox was declared officially eradicated by WHO. But scientists continue to develop new life-saving vaccines — most notably, the coronavirus vaccines that played a large role in combatting the pandemic.
因此，他利用牛痘病毒开发了天花疫苗。他用牛痘病毒接种了一个8岁男孩，然后再接种天花病毒，结果这个男孩并没有感染天花。詹纳的实验促成了天花疫苗的发明，他的工作被认为是免疫学的起点。1980年，世界卫生组织正式宣布天花已被正式根除。然而，科学家们继续研发新的救命疫苗——最著名的就是在抗击新冠疫情中发挥重要作用的新冠疫苗。
22. X-rays
X射线
Like many famous inventions, the X-ray was discovered by accident. In 1895, German engineer and physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was undertaking a two-month study into the potential of radiation. In an experiment testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass, he noticed that the radiation was able to pass through screens of considerable thickness, leaving a shadow of solid objects.
像许多著名的发明一样，X射线也是一次偶然的发现。1895年，德国工程师和物理学家威廉·康拉德·伦琴正在进行为期两个月的辐射潜力研究。在一次实验中，他测试了阴极射线是否能穿透玻璃，结果他发现这些辐射能够穿透厚度相当大的屏幕，留下固体物体的阴影。
He soon discovered that X-rays could pass through human tissues to show a clear picture of the skeleton and organs. A year later, a group of physicians took the earliest X-rays on patients. These observations led to the development of radiology as we know it today and has since helped medical professionals diagnose broken bones, tumors, organ failures and more.
他很快发现，X射线能够穿透人体组织，显示出清晰的骨骼和器官影像。一年后，一组医生对病人进行了最早的X射线拍摄。这些观察结果促成了现代放射学的发展，自此，X射线一直在帮助医学专业人员诊断骨折、肿瘤、器官衰竭等疾病。
