Agriculture
50 000 to 4000 BC: Humans learn to plant seeds and use simple farming tools.
3000 BC: Egyptian farmers use cattle and horses as draft animals.
2500 BC: Irrigation used for farming in Egypt, the Middle East, and India.
1000 BC: Chinese farmers use plant-based insecticides on crops.
100 BC: Agriculture develops in sub-Saharan Africa, north of the equator.
100 AD: Agriculture spread in southern Africa.
700 AD: Water wheels used to turn grind stones in flour mills in Europe.
1500 to 1650 AD: Crops grown by Aboriginal peoples in the Americas, such as potatoes, tobacco, tomatoes, introduced into Europe.
1550 to 1800: New methods of crop rotation, seed selection, and mechanization bring Agricultural Revolution to Western Europe.
1785: Cast iron plow shares, drawn by horses, developed in England.
1829: First steam-powered tractor developed in United States.
1884: First chemical fungicide and fertilizers.
1889: First tractor with internal combustion engine.
1980s: First genetically engineered plants and animals developed for commercial use.
1990s: Computerized management of livestock herds becomes common.
Manufacturing and Industry
50 000 to 4000 BC: fire used to melt copper, tin, gold, and silver to craft metal jewelry, tools, and utensils.
3500 BC: In Egypt and Middle East, copper and tin mixed to make a stronger alloy, bronze.
100 AD: Use of iron spreads in southern Africa.
615 AD: Petroleum, known as “burning water”, used in Japan.
720 to 800 AD: Arab scientists begin the study of chemistry.
1400 AD: Crank and connecting rod mechanical system developed in Germany, allowing inventors to turn lateral motion (e.g. a piston) into rotary motion (e.g. the wheels of a car).
1705: Development of steam engine starts the Industrial Revolution.
1800: Development of the battery ushers in age of electricity.
1860: First internal combustion engine, developed in France, brings new industrial growth and makes automobile possible.
1933: Electron microscope developed in Germany, allowing for developments in micro-biology and nuclear medicine.
1962: First industrial robots mass produced in United States.
1980s and 1990s: Production becomes increasingly automated and computerized.
High Technology
2500 BC: The abacus, developed in Babylon, spreads through the ancient world.
600 AD: Book printing in China.
1645: Blaise Pascal develops the first calculating machine.
1833: Charles Babbage develops the Analytical Engine, the forerunner of the modern computer.
1876: Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.
1895: X-ray developed.
1920s: first commercial radio broadcasts.
1929: Discovery of penicillin revolutionizes human ability to control disease.
1951: First commercially manufactured computer.
1962: First commercial telecommunications satellite.
1967: First heart transplant, in South Africa.
1978: Birth of first “test-tube baby”.
1990: The internet links computers worldwide through telecommunications satellites.
1997: First cloning of a mammal announced.