Major innovations in materials technology
BC 28,000 BC – People wear beads, bracelets, and pendants 14,500 BC – First pottery, made by the Jōmon people of Japan. 6th millennium BC – Copper metallurgy is invented and copper is used for ornamentation (see Pločnik article) 2nd millennium BC – Bronze is used for weapons and armor 16th century BC – The Hittites develop crude iron metallurgy 13th century BC – Invention of steel when iron and charcoal are combined properly 10th century BC – Glass production begins in ancient Near East 1st millennium BC – Pewter beginning to be used in China and Egypt 1000 BC – The Phoenicians introduce dyes made from the purple murex. 3rd century BC – Wootz steel, the first crucible steel, is invented in ancient India 50s BC – Glassblowing techniques flourish in Phoenicia 20s BC – Roman architect Vitruvius describes low-water-content method for mixing concrete
1st millennium 3rd century – Cast iron widely used in Han dynasty China 300 – Greek alchemist Zomius, summarizing the work of Egyptian alchemists, describes arsenic and lead acetate 4th century – Iron pillar of Delhi is the oldest surviving example of corrosion-resistant steel 8th century – Porcelain is invented in Tang dynasty China 8th century – Tin-glazing of ceramics invented by Muslim chemists and potters in Basra, Iraq 9th century – Stonepaste ceramics invented in Iraq 900 – First systematic classification of chemical substances appears in the works attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Latin: Geber) and in those of the Persian alchemist and physician Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (c. 865–925, Latin: Rhazes) 900 – Synthesis of ammonium chloride from organic substances described in the works attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Latin: Geber) 900 – Abū Bakr al-Rāzī describes the preparation of plaster of Paris and metallic antimony 9th century – Lustreware appears in Mesopotamia
2nd millennium 1000 – Gunpowder is developed in China 1340 – In Liège, Belgium, the first blast furnaces for the production of iron are developed 1448 – Johann Gutenberg develops type metal alloy 1450s – Cristallo, a clear soda-based glass, is invented by Angelo Barovier 1540 – Vannoccio Biringuccio publishes first systematic book on metallurgy 1556 – Georg Agricola's influential book on metallurgy 1590 – Glass lenses are developed in the Netherlands and used for the first time in microscopes and telescopes 1664 – In the pipes supplying water to the gardens at Versailles, cast iron is used
18th century 1717 – Abraham Darby makes iron with coke, a derivative of coal 1738 – Metallic zinc processed by distillation from calamine and charcoal patented by William Champion 1740 – Crucible steel technique developed by Benjamin Huntsman 1774 – Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen Johann Gottlieb Gahn discovers manganese Karl Wilhelm Scheele discovers chlorine 1779 – Hydraulic cement (stucco) patented by Bryan Higgins for use as an exterior plaster 1799 – Acid battery made from copper/zinc by Alessandro Volta
19th century 1821 – Thermocouple invented by Thomas Johann Seebeck 1824 – Portland cement patent issued to Joseph Aspdin 1825 – Metallic aluminum produced by Hans Christian Ørsted 1839 – Vulcanized rubber invented by Charles Goodyear 1839 – Silver-based photographic processes invented by Louis Daguerre and William Fox Talbot 1855 – Bessemer process for mass production of steel patented by Henry Bessemer 1861 – Color photography demonstrated by James Clerk Maxwell 1883 – First solar cells using selenium waffles made by Charles Fritts 1893 – Thermite Welding developed and soon used to weld rails
20th century 1902 – Synthetic rubies created by the Verneuil process developed by Auguste Verneuil 1908 – Cellophane invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger 1909 – Bakelite hard thermosetting plastic presented by Leo Baekeland 1911 – Superconductivity discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes 1912 – Stainless steel invented by Harry Brearley 1916 – Method for growing single crystals of metals invented by Jan Czochralski 1919 – The merchant ship Fullagar has the first all welded hull. 1924 – Pyrex invented by scientists at Corning Incorporated, a glass with a very low coefficient of thermal expansion 1931 – synthetic rubber called neoprene developed by Julius Nieuwland (see also: E.K. Bolton, Wallace Carothers) 1931 – Nylon developed by Wallace Carothers 1935 – Langmuir–Blodgett film coating of glass was developed by Katharine Burr Blodgett, creating "invisible glass" which is >99% transmissive 1938 – The process for making poly-tetrafluoroethylene, better known as Teflon discovered by Roy Plunkett 1939 – Dislocations in metals confirmed by Robert W. Cahn 1947 – First germanium point-contact transistor invented 1947 – First commercial application of a piezoelectric ceramic: barium titanate used as a phonograph pickup 1951 – Individual atoms seen for the first time using the field ion microscope 1953 – Metallic catalysts which greatly improve the strength of polyethylene polymers discovered by Karl Ziegler 1954 – Silicon solar cells with 6% efficiency made at Bell Laboratories 1954 – Argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) refining invented by scientists at the Union Carbide Corporation 1959 – Float glass process patented by the Pilkington Brothers 1962 – SQUID superconducting quantum interference device invented 1966 – Stephanie Kwolek invented a fibre that would later become known as Kevlar 1968 – Liquid crystal display developed by RCA 1970 – Silica optical fibers grown by Corning Incorporated 1980 – Duplex stainless steels developed which resist oxidation in chlorides 1984 – Fold-forming system developed by Charles Lewton-Brain to produce complex three dimensional forms rapidly from sheet metal 1985 – The first fullerene molecule discovered by scientists at Rice University (see also: Timeline of carbon nanotubes) 1986 – The first high temperature superconductor is discovered by Georg Bednorz and K. Alex Müller
See also Timeline of scientific discoveries Timeline of historic inventions List of inventions named after people Materials science Roman metallurgy
References