Inventions Facts for Kids
Genius facts about great inventions
NASA used Velcro extensively in the Apollo space programme to stop objects floating away in zero gravity. Today, the International Space Station uses over 10,000 patches of Velcro to keep items in place.
Evidence shows that early humans were using and controlling fire at least one million years ago in South Africa. Learning to cook food with fire allowed early humans to extract more nutrients and may have helped their brains grow larger.
Humans first made glass objects around 3500 BC in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, most likely as a by-product of metalworking. The technique of glass-blowing, which allows hollow vessels to be made, was only invented around 50 BC.
The piano was invented around 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence, Italy, who worked as the keeper of instruments for a Medici prince. He called it the 'gravicembalo col piano e forte', meaning 'harpsichord with soft and loud'.
Blue jeans were invented by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis in 1873, originally made for California gold miners who needed tough workwear. The metal rivets at stress points — such as pocket corners — were Davis's key idea to stop seams tearing.
Modern chewing gum developed from chicle, a natural tree sap that Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna brought to the United States in the 1860s. American inventor Thomas Adams began selling chicle gum in 1871.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as a playing card company in Kyoto, Japan — nearly 90 years before it made video games. The company did not release its first home video game console until 1977.
Kevlar is five times stronger than steel by weight, yet it is light and flexible enough to be woven into fabric. As well as bulletproof vests, it is used in aeroplane hulls, racing car body panels, and cut-resistant gloves.
Ancient Egyptians used rice bran, jasmine, and lupine extracts to protect their skin from the sun. The first commercial sunscreen was developed in 1936 by chemist Eugène Schueller, the founder of L'Oréal.
The microchip, or integrated circuit, was independently invented by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1958–1959. Today, a single microchip can contain billions of tiny transistors.