German inventions and discoveries are ideas, objects, processes or techniques invented, innovated or discovered, partially or entirely, by Germans. Often, things discovered for the first time are also called inventions and in many cases, there is no clear line between the two. Germany has been the home of many famous inventors, discoverers and engineers. Ottomar Anschütz and the Skladanowsky brothers were early pioneers of film technology, while Paul Nipkow and Karl Ferdinand Braun laid the foundation of television with their Nipkow disk and cathode ray tube respectively. Hans Geiger was the creator of the Geiger counter, while Carl von Linde developed the modern refrigerator. Konrad Zuse built the first fully automatic digital computer (Z3) and the first commercial computer (Z4). German inventors, engineers and industrialists as Ferdinand von Zeppelin, Otto Lilienthal, Karl Drais, Werner von Siemens, Hans von Ohain, Henrich Focke, Gottlieb Daimler, Rudolf Diesel, Hugo Junkers and Karl Benz helped shape transportation technology; Drais invented the bicycle, Benz created the first practical car, and Lilienthal has been hailed as the "father of aviation". Aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun developed the first space rocket and later became a prominent member of NASA, developing the Saturn V Moon rocket. Heinrich Hertz's work in the domain of electromagnetic radiation was pivotal to the development of modern telecommunication. Karl Ferdinand Braun invented the phased array antenna in 1905, which led to the development of radar, smart antennas and MIMO, sharing the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Guglielmo Marconi "for their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy". Philipp Reis constructed the first device to transmit a voice via electronic signals and for that the first modern telephone, while also coining the term. Georgius Agricola gave chemistry its modern name. He is generally referred to as the father of mineralogy and as the founder of geology as a scientific discipline, while Justus von Liebig is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. Otto Hahn is the father of radiochemistry and discovered nuclear fission, the scientific and technological basis for the utilization of atomic energy. Emil Behring, Ferdinand Cohn, Paul Ehrlich, Robert Koch, Friedrich Loeffler and Rudolph Virchow were among the key figures in the creation of modern medicine, while Koch and Cohn were also founders of microbiology. Johannes Kepler was one of the founders and fathers of modern astronomy, the scientific method, natural and modern science. Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays. Albert Einstein introduced the special relativity and general relativity theories for light and gravity in 1905 and 1915 respectively. Along with Max Planck, he was instrumental in the creation of modern physics with the introduction of quantum mechanics, in which Werner Heisenberg and Max Born later made major contributions. Einstein, Planck, Heisenberg and Born all received a Nobel Prize for their scientific contributions; from the award's inauguration in 1901 until 1956, Germany led the total Nobel Prize count. Today the country is ranked third with 115 winners. The movable-type printing press was invented by German blacksmith Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century. In 1997, Time Life magazine picked Gutenberg's invention as the most important of the second millennium. In 1998, the A&E Network ranked Gutenberg as the most influential person of the second millennium on their "Biographies of the Millennium" countdown. The following is a list of inventions, innovations or discoveries known or generally recognised to be German.
Anatomy
17th century: First description of duct of Wirsung by Johann Georg Wirsung 1720: Discovery of the ampulla of Vater by Abraham Vater 1745: First description of crypts of Lieberkühn by Johann Nathanael Lieberkühn 19th century: First description of Auerbach's plexus by Leopold Auerbach 19th century: First description of Meissner's plexus by Georg Meissner 19th century: Discovery of Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system by Theodor Schwann 1836: Discovery and study of pepsin by Theodor Schwann 1840: First medical report on poliomyelitis (Heine-Medin disease), and the first to recognize the illness as a clinical entity, by Jakob Heine 1852: First description of tactile corpuscle by Georg Meissner and Rudolf Wagner 1868: Discovery of Langerhans cell by Paul Langerhans 1869: Discovery of islets of Langerhans by Paul Langerhans 1875: First description of Merkel cell by Friedrich Sigmund Merkel 1882: First successful cholecystectomy by Carl Langenbuch in Berlin 1906: Discovery of the Alzheimer's disease by Alois Alzheimer 1909: First description of Brodmann area by Korbinian Brodmann 1977: Plastination by Gunther von Hagens
Animals
1907: Modern zoo (Tierpark Hagenbeck) by Carl Hagenbeck in Hamburg 1916: Guide dog; the world's first training school, established by Dr. Gerhard Stalling in Oldenburg
Archaeology and paleontology
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