Important Inventions & Discoveries (Check Important GK Questions)

It is often said that curiosity is the mother of Invention. However, it is true that not all of us are curious enough to do revolutionary discoveries. Thankfully, there have been many notable people on the earth who changed mankind completely. GK questions based on the various inventions and discoveries are often asked on various competitive exams including SSB, RRB, Bank, UPSC, etc.

As per many experts, “Inventions & Discoveries” is one of the crucial sections of Static Gk. You can maximum marks in this section with minimum effort. To help students prepare, we are sharing the list of top inventions and Discoveries. In addition to this, we are also going to share important GK questions on Inventions and Discoveries that are often asked in the examinations.

List of all important Inventions and Discoveries in the world

Most of the important discoveries and inventions in the history of mankind are given below. Candidates should check the list of Important Inventions & Discoveries PDF for future references.

1. Barometer by Evangelista Torricelli in 1643

2. Vacuum pump by Otto von Guericke in 1650

3. Friction machine by Otto von Guericke in 1663

4. Piano by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit in 1709

5. Artificial refrigeration machine by William Cullen in 1755

6. Steam engine by James Watt in 1765

7. Weighing scale by Richard Salter in 1770

8. Boring machine by John Wilkinson in 1774

9. Screw-cutting lathe by Jesse Ramsden in 1775

10. Mechanical air compressor by John Wilkinson in 1776

11. Steamboat by Claude de Jouffroy in 1783

12. Manned hot air balloon by Joseph-Ralf and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier in 1783

13. threshing machine by Andrew Meikle in 1786

14. Electrolysis technique by Martinus van Marum in 1785

15. Sewing machine by Thomas Saint in 1790

16. Modern semaphore telegraph by Claude Chappe in 1792

17. Modern Cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793

18. Hydraulic Press by Joseph Bramah in 1795

19. Plywood by Samuel Bentham in 1797

20. First motorized air compressor by George Medhurst in 1799

21. Paper Machine by Louis Nicolas Robert in 1799

22. Arc lamp by Humphry Davy in 1802

23. Morphine by Friedrich Serturner in 1804

24. Steam Locomotive by Richard Trevithick in 1804

25. Wristwatch by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1810

26. Printing press by Friedrich Koeing in 1811

27. Safety lamp by William Reid Clanny in 1812

28. Modern planing machine by James Fox in 1814

29. Electric telegraph by Francis Ronalds in 1816

30. Stirling engine by Robert Stirling in 1816

31. Tunnelling shield by Marc Isambard Brunel in 1818

32. Electromagnet by William Sturgeon in 1825

33. Friction Match by John Walker in 1826

34. Reaping Machine by Patrick Bell in 1828

35. Compound Air Compressor by William Mann in 1829

36. Computer (Father of the computer) by Charles Babbage

37. Lawn Mower by Edwin Budding in 1830

38. Electromagnetic induction by Michael Faraday in 1831

39. Morse code by Samuel Morse in 1837

40. Steam Hammer by James Nasmyth in 1839

41. Photovoltaic effect by Edmond Becquerel in 1839

42. Portland cement by Issac Charles Johnson in 1845

43. Superphosphate (man-made fertilizer) by John Bennet Lawes in 1842

44. Fuel Cell by William Robert Grove in 1842

45. Printing Telegraph by Alexander Bain in 1841

46. Pneumatic drill by Jonathan J. Couch in 1848

47. Lead acid battery (1st Rechargeable battery) by Gaston Plante in 1859

48. Geissler tube by Heinrich Geissler in 1857

49. Reinforced concrete by Francois Coignet in 1853

50. Chemical vapor deposition by Robert Bunsen in 1852

51. Hydraulic Accumulator by Sir William Armstrong in 1850

52. Dynamite by Alfred Nobel in 1867

53. Pasteurization by Louis Pasteur in 1864

54. Carbon Fibers by Joseph Swan in 1860

55. Pelton Wheel by Lester Allan Pelton in 1878

56. Phonograph by Thomas Edison in 1877

57. Telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876

58. First Electric Tram by Fyodor Pirostsky in 1875

59. Crookes radiometer by Sir William Crookes in 1873

60. Stainless steel by Stainless steel in 1872

61. Steam Engine by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884

62. Safety Bicycle by John Kemp Starley in 1885

63. Carbon arc welding by Nikolay Banardos in 1881

64. First petrol or gasoline powered auto-mobile by Karl Benz in 1886

65. Zipper by Whitcomb in 1891

66. Radiograph (x-rays) by Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen in 1895

67. Ballpoint Pen by John J. Loud in 1888

68. Cinematograph by Léon Bouly in 1892

69. Diesel engine by Rudolf Diesel in 1893

70. Rotary-wing aircraft by Paul Cornu in 1907

71. Cellophane by Jacques E. Brandenberger in 1908

72. Haber process by Fritz Haber in 1909

73. Kaplan turbine by Viktor Kaplan in 1913

74. Crystal Oscillator by Alexander M. Nicholson in 1917

75. Quartz clock by Warren Marrison and J.W. Horton in 1927

76. Ball Screw by Rudolph G. Boehm in 1929

77. Electron Microscope by Ernst Ruska in 1931

78. FM Radio by Edwin H. Armstrong in 1933

79. Supersonic combusting ramjet by Frank Whittle in 1930

80. Polyester by British scientists John Whinfield and James Dickson in 1941

81. Atomic clock by United States’s National Bureau of Standards in 1948

82. Holography by Dennis Gabor in 1947

83. Video tape recorder by Norikazu Sawazaki 1953.

84. Hard disk drive by IBM in 1956

85. Sputnik 1 (first artificial satellite) by Soviet Union in 1957

86. Intermodal container by Malcom McLean in 1955

87. Video tape recorder by Norikazu Sawazaki in 1953

88. Functioning laser by Theodore Maiman in 1960

89. Email by Ray Tomlinson in 1971

90. Self-driving car by the Tsukuba Mechanical Engineering Laboratory in 1977

91. Flash Memory by Fujio Masuoka in 1980

92. World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1990

93. Stereolithography by Chuck Hull in 1983

94. Bluetooth by Ericsson Mobile in 1994

95. Lithium-ion battery by John B. Goodenough, Rachid Yazami and Akira Yoshino in 1985

96. Blockchain by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008

97. Blu-ray optical disc format by Sony in 2000

98. Portable MP3 player by SaeHan Information Systems in 1998

99. Extreme ultraviolet lithography machine by ASML in 2010

100. First RNA vaccine for Covid – 19 by Pfizer and BioNTech in 2020.

Sample GK Questions on Important Inventions & Discoveries

Question – 1: Who invented the Typewriter?

1. Peter Mitterhofer
2. Henri Giffard
3. Mary Anderson
4. Edward Butler

Answer: 1 (Peter Mitterhofer)

Question – 2: In which year did Graham Bell discover the telephone?

1. 1870
2. 1875
3. 1876
4. 1880

Answer: 3 (1876)

Question – 3: Who discovered the sewing machine?

1. Claude Chappe
2. Thomas Saint
3. Eli Whitney
4. Alois Senefelder

Answer: 2 (Thomas Saint)

Question – 4: Who invented the first petrol or gasoline powered auto mobile car?

1. Karl Benz
2. Heinrich Hertz
3. Nikolay Benardos
4. Thomas Edison

Answer: 1 (Karl Benz)

Question – 5: Which company is credited with the invention of hard disk?

1. Apple
2. Microsoft
3. IBM
4. Google

Answer: 3 (IBM)

Question – 6: FM Radio is patented by which inventor?

1. Edwin H. Armstrong
2. Ernst Zernike
3. Frank Whittle
4. Konarf Zuse

Answer: 1 (Edwin H. Armstrong)

Question – 7:  Sir James Martin invents the ejector seat, inspired by the death of his friend and test pilot Captain Valentine Baker in an aeroplane crash in 1942. Which country does Sir James Martin belongs to?

1. England
2. Scotland
3. Ireland
4. Argentina

Answer: 3 (Ireland)

Question – 8: The pocket calculator is invented in which of the following country?

1. USA
2. Japan
3. Germany
4. China

Answer: 2 (Japan)

Question – 9: Who is known for the discovery of the theory of evolution?

1. Charles Darwin
2. Galileo
3. Christiaan Ejikman
4. Henrik Dam

Answer: 1 (Charles Darwin)

Question – 10: Which scientist is credited with the invention of a Xerox Machine?

1. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen
2. Mary Anderson
3. Chester Carlson
4. Tim Berners Lee

Answer: 3 (Chester Carlson)