First edition · Atlas
Master timeline Seven lanes, one history. Filter a volume to fade the rest. Click a node for the article. Prehistory is compressed; the centuries after 1750 are stretched so the acceleration is visible.
All lanes Mechanics Electronics Automobiles Chemicals Semiconductors Communications Transportation
I Mechanics II Electronics III Automobiles IV Chemicals V Semiconductors VI Communications VII Transportation 3.3 mya 3000 BCE 1 CE 1750 1900 1950 2000 now Stone tools c. 3.3 million years ago — Stone tools Controlled fire c. 1.5 million years ago — Controlled fire Wheel and axle c. 3500 BCE — Wheel and axle c. 260 BCE (described) — Lever, pulley, and screw Writing c. 3200 BCE — Writing c. 3300 BCE — Bronze smelting Iron and steel c. 1200 BCE (iron); 1856 (Bessemer steel) — Iron and steel 1856 — Bessemer converter Paper 105 CE (imperial report); earlier Chinese use — Paper Sail and hull by 3000 BCE — Sail and hull c. 9th century — Gunpowder c. 8th–9th century (mature stills) — Distillation 984 (Pound lock, China); later Europe — Canal lock late 13th century — Mechanical clock Movable-type printing c. 1040 (Bi Sheng); 1450s (Gutenberg) — Movable-type printing Steam engine 1765 (Watt’s separate condenser) — Steam engine c. 1798–1820s — Interchangeable parts Voltaic pile 1800 — Voltaic pile 1807 (Clermont service) — Steamship Public railway 1825 (Stockton & Darlington) — Public railway 1831 (Faraday); commercial dynamos 1870s — Dynamo Electric telegraph 1837–1844 — Electric telegraph 1856 — Synthetic dye (mauveine) Internal combustion engine 1876 (Otto four-stroke) — Internal combustion engine 1876 — Telephone 1878–1879 (Swan and Edison practical lamps) — Electric light 1886 — Benz Motorwagen 1888 — Pneumatic tire Radio 1895–1906 — Radio Wright Flyer 1903 — Wright Flyer 1904 (Fleming valve); 1906 (De Forest triode) — Vacuum tube 1907 — Bakelite 1908 (car); 1913 (moving line) — Ford Model T Haber–Bosch ammonia 1909 (Haber); 1913 (Bosch industrial) — Haber–Bosch ammonia 1912 — Electric starter Moving assembly line 1913 — Moving assembly line 1927 (Farnsworth); 1930s broadcasts — Electronic television 1935 (British Chain Home era) — Radar Jet engine 1937 (Whittle run); 1939 (von Ohain flight) — Jet engine 1939 (Hydra-Matic) — Automatic transmission 1940s (industrial fermentation) — Penicillin production 1940s (Colossus, ENIAC, Manchester) — Electronic digital computer Transistor 1947 — Transistor Containerization 1956 — Containerization 1958–1959 — Integrated circuit 1958 (Boeing 707; Comet earlier, then grounded) — Jet airliner MOSFET 1959 — MOSFET 1961 (Unimate on a GM line) — Industrial robot 1960s (planar process) — Photolithography 1965 — Moore’s observation Packet internet 1969 (ARPANET); 1983 (TCP/IP cutover) — Packet internet Microprocessor 1971 (Intel 4004) — Microprocessor 1975 (U.S. auto mandate era) — Catalytic converter 1970s–1980s — ABS and airbag World Wide Web 1989 (proposal); 1991 (public) — World Wide Web Lithium-ion battery 1991 (Sony commercial cell) — Lithium-ion battery GPS as a system 1995 (full operational capability) — GPS as a system 1990s — CMOS image sensor 1997 (Prius); 2012 (mass-luxury EV landmark) — Hybrid and EV platforms 1999 (GeForce 256); 2012 (AlexNet moment) — GPU and accelerators Smartphone 2007 (iPhone as mass template) — Smartphone 2015 (first orbital-class booster landing) — Reusable orbital rocket
Time is stretched after 1750 so later centuries are readable. Node size marks editorial impact, not a score.
Chronotech
First edition: outstanding landmarks only. Written for students from middle school through university. English / 繁體中文.