The ability to draw water uphill, against the flow of gravity revolutionised irrigation and the supply of water. Designed in 213 BCE, the Archimedes screw is still used in irrigation today.

The printing press

In 1455, Johannes Gutenberg developed the first mechanised printing press. He converted an old wine press to enable a heavy screw to press a printing block against paper. His machine enabled a huge reduction in the cost of producing books and would remain in use until the steam driven press in the 19th Century.

Calculator

A very primitive form of calculator was developed by Blaise Pascal

Pendulum Clock

In 1656, Christiaan Huygens developed a pendulum clock which kept time accurate to within a few seconds. His pendulum clock was based on the 'Grandfather clock designing with weights and a pendulum swinging.)

The Telescope

The first reflecting telescope was built in 1668 by Sir Isaac Newton. Previous telescopes had been designed, but Newton used parabolic mirrors instead of lenses and operated using reflection. His telescope designs would later be used in mapping the stars and gaining a much better understanding about the earth's position in the Universe.

The Internal Combustion Engine

The internal combustion engine, enabled the development of the modern motor car and related transport.

Radio

Enabled popular entertainment to be broadcast into every home. It also became an important source of news and propaganda. In the second world war, the radio was instrumental in influencing public opinion. For example, Churchill's famous speeches were broadcast on radio and reached nearly the whole population. Previously, great speeches could have taken weeks to reach the rest of the population. The allies even used BBC world service to broadcast coded messages to agents in occupied territories.

TV

TV brought cinema to people's home. It also revolutionised the distribution of news and information. Since the second world war, society has spent more time watching TV than any other leisure activity. Often TV is bland entertainment. But, TV images has also shaped public opinion in a way, the written or spoken word couldn't. For example, images of casualties in Vietnam made the war deeply unpopular. TV images of starving children in Africa led to world wide charity drives.

Enigma machine

The enigma machine was a prototype of the computer. The real importance of the enigma machine is that it allowed the allies to break the German high commands secret code and give Allied commanders information in real time. This helped them know about troop movements and morale in the German forces.

Computer.

When Charles Babbage created a first type of computer, no-one could have realised how later computers would influence the world. Even when the first micro computers were sold in the 1970s, few saw how powerful and wide ranging they would become. The pace of computer development took most people by surprise It enabled more efficient communication and databases. Through the internet computers have been used to reduce the distance of communication.

via Machines That Changed the World | Biography Online.

People love to stereotype and over the years I have suffered the derision that all engineers receive. Everybody hears the usual put downs about how engineers are geeky, no personality, pathologically shy and awkward, only interested in technical things, etc. etc.

So here is my effort to cut through all that crap and educate you women as to why an engineer is a prime candidate for marriage. Pay attention.

1. We can fix stuff. When something breaks or gets out of whack, we intuitively know how to fix it without making things worse. We even notice things that are candidates for getting broken and apply preventative measures before something happens. This often occurs without you even knowing it, thus keeping things around the house working smoothly 99% of the time.

2. We can assemble IKEA furniture, actually anything that requires assembly and usually without the instructions. This, together with item #1 can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars and a great deal of frustration over a lifetime.

3. We will be adored by your mom and dad. They are interested in grandkids and have seen too many of their friends children get divorced. They know that we will be there for the duration.

4. You don’t have to worry about us being unfaithful. There are two reasons for this. First, we don’t tend to attract the attention of other females due to our shy, sometimes quirky personalities (or lack thereof). Second, we are so thankful that we have a life partner that we wouldn’t even think of risking that. We constantly remind ourselves that if we split up, you would quickly find someone else and we would be sitting at home eating pizza wishing we hadn’t screwed up a good thing. Also, we hate the idea of you getting half of our tools and gadgets.

5. We are good in the bedroom. This may surprise you since it is in direct opposition to the engineer stereotype and may not be obvious to impressionable young women who fantasize about Antonio Banderas or Gilles Marini or the mythical guy in Calvin Klein ads. The reality is we consider your pleasure to be our reward and take great pride in our ability to keep you happy. In summary, we try harder.

6. We will be honest with you. This is not simply because we don’t have adequate social skills to lie convincingly (unlike lawyers or salesmen). Rather it is because we always have a well thought out reason for everything we do and we rarely do anything without first weighing the pros and cons.

7. Your computer will keep working. You will also have your own website if you want one.

8. We will help around the house. This is partly because we genuinely feel like it should be a shared responsibility, but mainly because we have convinced ourselves that we can do things more efficiently than you can, and we like to prove it to ourselves on a regular basis. That last rationale is something we keep to ourselves.

9. We can change a light bulb, set up a home network, program the coffee maker, design and build a sprinkler system, build a doghouse, put together a storage shed, hook up the electrical on a U Haul trailer, follow a recipe, change a diaper, build furniture, lay tile, rewire the bathroom, cover the house with Christmas lights without starting a fire, organize a camping trip, help the kids with their homework, mix a martini, plumb a Jacuzzi, fix the lawnmower and bring you coffee in the morning.

10. You don’t need any more reasons. If you were an engineer you would know that I already listed 28 reasons. Send this to all your girlfriends and tell them to wake up and smell the coffee.

Footnote: My apologies to female engineers. I know that female engineers have all the same strengths outlined above and I suppose I could have written this gender neutral, but you ladies don’t need any help in this department. You can have power over both men and machines and will someday rule the world.

via Technology ≠ The Simple Life: 10 Reasons Why Engineers Make Good Husbands.