The United States is known for its scientific and technological innovations and the production of innovative products. 69% of research and development funding comes from the private sector. In World War II, the United States spearheaded the invention of the atomic bomb and laid the groundwork for a new nuclear age. At the beginning of the Cold War, the United States made great strides in space science and technology and launched the Space Race. During this time the United States made progress in rockets, weapons, materials, sciences, computers, and other fields. The heyday of technology was first seen when Neil Armstrong first landed on the moon in July 1969 with the help of Apollo 11. In the same way, the United States created the Internet, and before that the ARPANET. The United States controls most of its infrastructure.
Americans have won many Nobel Prizes in science, especially physiology and medicine. The National Institutes of Health is the US Center for Biomedicine, and the privately funded Celera Genomics has helped to complete the Human Genetics Project. NASA's role is very important for aviation and space. Boeing and Lockheed Martin are also important. Check out the American inventions list below. Although, it is not the complete list but covered most Americans' inventions.
Timeline of American inventions (1881-2007):
- Judge James Finley is internationally recognized as the first designer and builder of the modern suspension bridge in 1801.
- George Speck, who was a chef, invented the potato chips in 1853.
- Gail Borden Jr invented a process in 1853 to make sweetened condensed milk in 856.
- Thomas Alva Edison was an inventor and businessman who invented the greatest devices in fields such as sound recording, mass communication, electric power generation. He invented the electric light bulb in 1879. Also, he invented the phonograph in 1887.
- George Eastman invented the photographic film in 1885.
- Emil Berliner invented the gramophone record (disc record) in 1887.
- Richard Gatling invented the Gatling, which is supposed to be the first machine gun in 1861.
- William Le Baron Jenney was an engineer who built the first skyscraper in 1885.
- William Morrison and John C. Wharton invented cotton candy in 1897.
- William C. Hooker invented the spring-loaded mousetrap in 1894.
- The Wright Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright invented the Airplane in 1903.
- Francis William "Frank" Epperson invented the ice pop in 1905.
- Lester Farnsworth Wire invented the electric traffic light in 1912 at Salt Lake City.
- Robert H. Goddard invented the world's first liquid-fueled rocket in 1926.
- Sam Foster created the mass-produced sunglasses made from celluloid.
- Clarence Frank Birdseye II was the founder of the modern frozen food in 1929.
- Ruth Graves Wakefield was a chef. She invented the first chocolate chip cookies in 1930.
- Edwin Land invented polarized sunglasses, an inexpensive filter for polarizing light in 1937.
- George Robert Stibitz invented the modern first digital computer in 1937.
- Wallace H. Carothers was the inventor of organic chemistry. He invented nylon and neoprene in 1938.
- Percy Lebaron Spencer invented the microwave in 1945.
- J. Robert Oppenheimer, credited with being the "father of the atomic bomb", invented the first nuclear weapon in 1945.
- American company Diners Club International created the credit card in 1950.
- Marion Donovan invented the first waterproof disposable diaper in 1950.
- Ernest G Rice invented the sheer tights (pantyhose) in 1956.
- Jack St. Clair Kilby invented the integrated circuit in 1958.
- Forrest Parry invented the Magnetic stripe card used for Credit cards in 1960.
- Theodore Harold Maiman invented the first laser in 1960.
- Nick Holonyak Jr invented the light-emitting diode (LED) in 1962.
- Stephanie Louise Kwolek invented Kevlar (heat-resistant and strong synthetic fiber) in 1965.
- Tom Kelly designed the lunar module in 1968.
- Gary Keith invented the laser printer and color management in 1969.
- John Blankenbaker invented the first personal computer in 1971.
- Ray Tomlinson, who executed the first email program on the ARPANET system. He sent the first email using Arpanet in 1971.
- Martin Cooper and his company invented the first cellular mobile phone in 1973.
- George Mueller and his team built the first space shuttle in 1981. George got the nickname, "the father of the space shuttle."
- US National Science Foundation founded The internet Protocol Suite in 1982.
- The United States' air force created the Global Positioning System (GPS) in 1994.
- Leonard Adleman introduced DNA computing in 1994.
- Bell Laboratories' team invented the Quantum cascade laser in 1994.
- The scroll wheel (or the mouse wheel) was invented by Eric Michelman in 1995.
- JavaScript was first created by Brendan Eich in 1996.
- American researchers at the University of Southern California in collaboration with the USA Army Research Laboratory invented Virtual reality therapy in 1997.
- Richard P. Binzel invented the Torino scale in 1999.
- Deborah S. Jin and his team invented the first atomic fermionic condensate in 2003.
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