15 inventions that changed America
The course of American history has been changed by countless inventions, from the tiny things that made everyday life different to huge landmark projects that made history. To compile a list of 15 inventions that changed America, Stacker looked at lists like ones from the Atlantic and philosophical STEM brain trust Edge.org along with a healthy dose of food history. The rest is a mix of marquee events like the launch of Sputnik and the invention of the internet and some wildcards that you probably can't imagine your life without.
What are the parameters here? Well, we've left out inventions from before the idea of "America" even existed, so a rough cutoff of the year 1500. Yes, the Gutenberg printing press influenced America, but it already existed when maps first began to reflect Amerigo Vespucci's name in the 1500s. The compass, many kinds of clocks, many kinds of weapons, the scientific method—these ideas date way back and underpin the development of much of the world, not just America. Eyeglasses and steel already existed.
We can't promise everything you imagine will be on this list, but the items represent everything from manufacturing and computers to personal care and convenience foods. Ice cream wasn't invented in the United States, but Thomas Jefferson brought the first recipe known to be made in the U.S. after his travels in France. Some major inventors were known briefly but largely forgotten, like the handwashing pioneer who helped Florence Nightingale save lives during the Crimean War. Other breakthroughs, like aspirin, were only formal inventions following years of, in that case, treatments made from willow bark.
Some of the best ideas aren't inventions, so you won't find those here either. Democracy and evolution are great, but we're sticking with concrete inventions or at least concrete methods, like the calculus that helps describe how real objects act and the notation system people made up to use it. Charles Darwin didn't invent the idea of evolution, but scientists who began to sequence the human genome invented the techniques and systems to do that laboratory work. Let's jump in and learn about some important inventions.
