Invention/Energy Timeline

    * 3,000,000 BCE
          o First precursor to humans appears (according to fossil 
remains); upright-walking, with opposable thumbs: "Australopithecine" 
ape-man
    * 1,000,000 BCE
          o Patterned tools first used by anthropoids.
    * 400,000-360,000 BCE
          o Man begins to use fire
    * 50,000 BCE
          o Neanderthal man appears in Western Europe.
    * 40,000 BCE
          o First tent site (discovered in Molodova, Russia) developed.
    * 38,000 BCE
          o Homo sapiens develops from Neanderthal man, using fishhooks 
and tools made from bone.
    * 25,000 BCE
          o European fishermen develop baited toggles, which wedge at an 
angle.
    * 7700 BCE
          o Humans settle in the "Fertile Crescent," the area between and 
near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
    * 7500 BCE
          o Earliest canoe paddle dated (Yorkshire, UK).
    * 6500 BCE
          o The wheel is invented in the Tigris-Euphrates Basin by 
Sumerians.
    * 6300 BCE
          o Earliest dug-out canoe dated.
    * 6000 BCE
          o Earliest known bricks appear in the Iranian Plateau.
    * 4500 BCE
          o An early inventor in the Sumerian city of Ur develops the 
first stringed harp.
    * 4400 BCE
          o First loom, Egypt.
    * 4000 BCE
          o First man-made bridge built.
          o First cosmetics, Egypt.
          o First drums used, in Upper Nile & Bohemia.
    * 3800 BCE
          o Oldest known map appears in Mesopotamia.
    * 3600 BCE
          o Southwestern Asians begin using bronze, which unlike smelted 
copper, can hold an edge.
    * 3500 BCE
          o The dawn of Sumerian civilization in the Fertile Crescent.
          o Animal-drawn wheeled vehicles.
          o Bronze is used for objects as well as tools.
          o Cuneiform alphabet of idegram pictures is created.
          o Animals are used for other agricultural purposes.
    * 3400 BCE
          o First dynasty in Egypt, the Thinite, after the union of north 
and south kingdoms in Egypt.
    * 3200 BCE
          o Egyptians invent the first black ink
    * 3000 BCE
          o Sumerians, boiling alkalis together, create soap.
          o "Gilgamesh" is written in cuneiform.
          o The Sahara desert is changing from a green, fertile area to an 
arid desert from over-use and abuse.
          o Glass originates in Western Asia.
          o Earliest button dated (discovered in Indus Valley).
          o Egyptians and Mesopotamians begin using reed boats.
          o Humans began using petroleum. Mesopotamians of that era used 
rock oil in architectural adhesives, ship caulks, medicines, and roads. 
The Chinese of two millennia ago refined crude oil for use in lamps and in 
heating homes.
    * 2980 BCE
          o Imhotep, counselor to Zoser (a leader of the third Egyptian 
dynasty) erects a pyramid at Sakkara.
    * 2900 BCE
          o Great Pyramid of Cheops built at Giza, Egypt.
    * 2850 BCE
          o Great Sphinx at Giza carved.
    * 2800 BCE
          o Sickle invented by the Sumerians for harvesting grain.
          o Chinese emperor Fu Hsi originates "yin-yang" theory.
          o Sumerian clay tablets record oil sales by amphorae. This olive 
oil is used in Sumerian lamps and in cooking.
    * 2500 BCE
          o The iron age begins in the Middle East, where artisans use new 
metal at high temperatures Sumerians develop cuneiform script alphabet.
    * 2500-2000 BCE
          o The dome is first used in architecture, in Crete's Mesara 
Plain.
    * 2350 BCE
          o Akkadian empire dominates Mesopotamia.
    * 2205 BCE
          o Xia dynasty comes to power in China.
    * 2000 BCE
          o The Minoans of Crete develop the first flush toilet.
    * 1950 BCE
          o Hammurabi's code of laws created after he becomes king of 
Mesopotamia, laws such as "eye for an eye".
    * 1900-1600 BCE
          o Stonehenge is erected in the UK somewhere around this period 
by Britons still in the Stone Age.
    * 1800 BCE
          o Earliest corset invented (as dated by a Cretian statue).
    * 1700 BCE
          o Babylonians create the first windmills, which pump water for 
irrigation.
          o Judaism founded by Abraham. Judaism, Christiantiy and Islam 
all trace their roots to Abraham.
    * 1600 BCE
          o Minoan civilization begins on isle of Crete.
    * 1500 BCE
          o Chinese begin weaving with silk.
          o Sandals first worn in Egypt.
    * 1470 BCE
          o A volcanic eruption on Thera deposits ashes on Crete that 
destroy Minoan civilization.
    * 1450 BCE
          o Egyptians are the first to use the sundial.
    * 1417 BCE
          o Amenhotep III is last great ruler of Egyptian New Kingdom.
    * 1400 BCE
          o Egyptians begin using brush tools.
    * 1380 BCE
          o First canal built merging the Nile and the Red Sea.
    * 1374 BCE
          o Monotheism recognized in Egypt.
    * 1349 BCE
          o King Tut is buried at Thebes.
    * 1300 BCE
          o The Sumerian alphabet script is further refined.
    * 1193 BCE
          o Troy falls to the Greeks in the Trojan War.
    * 1100 BCE
          o Scattered records exist of the use of coal as a fuel.
    * 1000 BCE
          o The umbrella and kite are both invented in China.
    * 850 BCE
          o Iliad and Odyssey said to have been written.
    * 814 BCE
          o Carthage founded in North Africa.
    * 776 BCE
          o Olympics first recorded.
    * 700 BCE
          o Earliest known musical notation appears in India.
          o Gunpowder first used in Chinese rockets.
          o Etruscans are the first to use false teeth.
    * 658 BCE
          o City of Byzantium founded.
    * 609 BCE
          o Over 120,000 will die trying to build a new canal from the 
Nile to the Red Sea for Pharoah Necho.
    * 597 BCE
          o Height of Babylonian society; the hanging gardens are one of 7 
wonders in the world.
    * 592 BCE
          o Anarcharis of Scythia invents the first ship anchor.
    * 586 BCE
          o Jerusalem's Great Temple is destroyed.
    * 565 BCE
          o Taoism is founded by Lao Zi, China.
    * 528 BCE
          o Buddhism is founded by Siddhartha, former prince.
    * 509 BCE
          o Rome becomes a republic.
    * 500 BCE
          o First highways built by Persians.
    * 495 BCE
          o Confucius, former prime minister of China, begins spreading 
his tenets.
    * pre-440 BCE
          o Archery is used in ancient Crete.
          o Celts dominate UK
          o The Acropolis built (Greece)
    * 399 BCE
          o Socrates drinks hemlock as punishment for his subversive 
views.
    * 347 BCE
          o Plato's Republic written
    * 300-280 BCE
          o Pharos of Alexandria, in ancient Greece, is one of the first 
permanent light-houses built.
    * 246 BCE
          o Qin dynasty takes hold in China, uniting many states. The 
Great Wall is built around this time.
    * 200 BCE
          o First practical use of natural gas is attributed to the 
Chinese. They used it to make salt from brine in gas-fired evaporators, 
boring shallow wells with crude percussion rigs and conveying the gas to 
the evaporators via bamboo pipes.
    * 100 BCE
          o Paper first used in China.
    * 45 BCE
          o Julian calendar intro'd.
    * 250 - 400 CE
          o Near Arles in France, the Romans built a water-powered mill 
with 16 wheels that had an output of over 40 horsepower.
    * 500 CE
          o Assyrians & Babylonians begin using the arch in their 
architecture.
          o Chess is invented in India.
    * 600 CE
          o Arab and Persian chemists discovered that petroleum's lighter 
elements could be mixed with quicklime to make Greek fire, the napalm of 
its day.
    * 629 CE
          o Mohammed returns to Mecca with the Koran. Sharia legal system 
becomes recognized.
    * 800-1500 CE
          o Viking ships use wind energy to dominate the oceans.
    * 874 CE
          o Iceland received its first inhabitants from Norway. Geothermal 
energy keeps them warm.
    * 1223 CE
          o Genghis Khan invades China & then Persia & Russia.
    * 1231 CE
          o Gunpowder's composition is first published by Roger Bacon in 
his Secrets of Art and Nature.
    * 1271 CE
          o Marco Polo journeys to China.
    * 1400 CE
          o The invention of firebricks, which made chimneys cheap to 
build, helped create a home heating market for coal.
    * 1475 CE
          o First muzzle-loaded rifles developed in Italy and Germany.
    * 1485 CE
          o da Vinci designs the first parachute, Italy.
    * 1500 CE
          o Wooden tramways, the precursor to railroads, are built in 
Transylvania.
    * 1543 CE
          o Nicolaus Copernicus' "On The Revolution of Heavenly Bodies," 
explaining theory of earth revolving around the sun.
    * 1570 CE
          o Despite its drawbacks (smoke and fumes), coal was firmly 
established as a domestic fuel. The total amount of coal consumed in the 
United States in all the years before 1800 was an estimated 108,000 tons, 
much of it imported. The U.S. market for coal expanded slowly and it was 
not until 1885 that the young and heavily forested nation burned more coal 
than wood.
    * 1590 CE
          o Compound microscope is invented by Zacharias Janssen, the 
Netherlands.
    * 1593 CE
          o Galileo Galilei develops the first thermometer, Italy.
    * 1605 CE
          o Hans Lippershey of the Netherlands develops the telescope.
    * 1609 CE
          o Galileo Galilei creates the astronomical telescope, Italy.
    * 1656 CE
          o Pendulum clock, Christian Huygens, Netherlands.
    * 1700 CE
          o A French military officer noted that Indians living near Fort 
Duquesne (now the site of Pittsburgh) set fire to an oil slicked creek as 
part of a religious ceremony.
          o Nearly all energy in the United States is still supplied by 
muscle power and fuel wood with small amounts of coal used to make 
coke--vital for casting the cannon.
          o Mills made use of waterpower, and wind power enabled transport 
by ship.
    * 1765 CE
          o Steam engine invented by James Watt.
    * 1771 CE
          o First system of factory farming, developed by farmer named 
Moody in Nottinghamshire, UK.
    * 1793 CE
          o Hot air balloon, Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier, France.
    * 1800-1826 CE
          o First electric battery made.
          o In England, the Domesday Book survey of 1806 counted 5,624 
mills in the south and east (found throughout Europe and elsewhere) and 
were used for a wide variety of mechanical tasks in addition to milling, 
from pressing oil to making wire. Some installations were surprisingly 
large.
          o Humphrey Davy built a battery-powered arc lamp.
          o The first energy utility in US was founded.
          o The relationship between electricity and magnetism was 
confirmed.
          o First electric motor developed by Faraday.
          o Ohms Law published.
    * 1804 CE
          o Richard Trevithick works on the first steam-powered 
locomotive, UK.
    * 1830-1839 CE
          o Michael Faraday built an induction dynamo based on principles 
of electromagnetism, induction, generation and transmission.
          o First industrial electric motors built.
          o First fuel cell designed.
    * 1835 CE
          o Work starts on the first "analytical engine," precursor to the 
computer, by Charles Babbage, UK.
          o Samuel Colt invents the revolver pistol, US.
    * 1837 CE
          o The telegraph is invented by Samuel F. B. Morse, US.
    * 1840-1865 CE
          o Experiments were conducted with battery powered electric 
trains.
          o A giant 72-foot waterwheel with an output of 572 horsepower, 
dubbed Lady Isabella, was erected at a mine site on the Isle of Mann.
    * 1852 CE
          o Gyroscope invented by Leon Foucault, France.
    * 1859 CE - Begining of The Age of Oil
          o The first oil well, Edwin L. Drake's homemade drilling rig at 
Titusville, Pennsylvania, struck oil on August 27, 1859.
    * 1864 CE
          o Mathematical theory of electromagnetic fields published. 
Maxwell combined the four laws of electrodynamics to unified magnetism, 
electricity and light which led to electric power, radios, and television.
    * 1867 CE
          o Dynamite created by Alfred Nobel, Sweden
    * 1870-1880 CE
          o Draft animals accounted for more than half of the total 
horsepower of all prime movers.
          o Gas turbine patented.
          o First combustion engine designed to use alcohol and gasoline 
was made.
          o Edison Electric Light Co. (US) and American Electric and 
Illuminating (Canada) founded.
          o First commercial power station opens in San Francisco using 
brush generator and arc lights.
    * 1876 CE
          o Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone, US.
    * 1877 CE
          o Thomas A. Edison develops the gramophone and phonograph.
    * 1881-1887 CE
          o Thomas Edison opened the first electricity generating plant 
(in London) in January 1881.
          o Edison's Pearl Street Station opened in New York as the first 
American plant to generate electricity. Within a month after the first 
electricity generating plant in America began operating, it was feeding 
1,300 lightbulbs. Within a year, it was feeding 11,000 bulbs--each a 
hundred times brighter than a candle.
          o First hydroelectric station opens (Wisconsin).
          o Transformer invented.
          o Steam turbine invented.
          o Stanley develops transformer and invents the alternating 
current electric system.
          o Tesla invented the induction motor with a rotating magnetic 
field. This made unit drives for machines and AC power transmission 
economically feasible.
          o Electron discovered.
    * 1885 CE
          o Automobile with internal combustion engine, 250 rpm, is 
developed by Karl Benz, Germany.
    * 1886 CE - Beginning of the Age of Corporations
          o Supreme Court case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific 
Railroad. "Though the court did not make a ruling on the question of 
'corporate personhood,' thanks to misleading notes of a clerk, the 
decision subsequently was used as precedent to hold that a corporation was 
a 'natural person.' "
            ReclaimDemocracy.org
    * 1893 CE
          o Thomas Edison is the first to take advantage of current 
techniques of showing "moving pictures" to create the modern "movie".
    * 1900-1910 CE
          o Highest voltage transmission line (60 Kilovolt) built.
          o Texas's vast Spindletop Oil Field was discovered.
          o 5-Megawatt turbine was built for Fisk St. Station (Chicago).
          o First successful gas turbine built (France).
          o World's first all turbine station begins operation (Chicago).
          o Shawinigan Water & Power installs world's largest generator 
(5,000 Watts) and world's longest and highest voltage line (136 Km and 50 
Kilovolts) to Montreal.
          o A 5 megawatt steam-driven turbine generator (the first of its 
type and the largest of any generator then built) was commissioned.
          o First geothermal electricity commercialization began in Italy.
          o First electric vacuum cleaner produced.
          o First electric washing machine sold.
          o Henry Ford's Model T designed to use ethanol, gasoline, or any 
combination of the two fuels.
          o First pumped storage plant (Switzerland).
    * 1903 CE
          o Airplane invented by Orville and Wilbur Wright, USA.
    * 1905 CE
          o Einstein first published the equation E=mc2 (energy is equal 
to mass multiplied by the speed of light squared) in 1905 in the journal 
Annalen der Physik. He went on to fully generalise the equivalence of mass 
and energy in 1907.
    * 1908 CE
          o Henry Ford develops the "conveyor belt" system in his 
factories.
    * 1914 CE
          o World War I begins
    * 1918 CE
          o World War I ends
    * 1924 CE
          o Clarence Birdeye invents method of "frozen food", US.
    * 1939
          o World War II Begins
    * 1945 CE
          o Atomic bomb developed in Los Alamos US
          o World War II ends
    * 1948 CE
          o Mohammed Gandhi is assasinated
    * 1970 CE
          o US Oil peaks. See PeakOil.

.