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Typically that means big-ticket items. One thinks of dazzling
intellectual breakthroughs: the telescope, the steam engine, the
airplane, the wheel.... Those were all tremendous, of course.
But often it's some mundane little nothing of a device that changes
history. It might be no more than a slight improvement on some earlier
invention. If it intersects with a historic moment, it can become a
pivot. Then, like the lever that lifts the elephant, it produces
consequences far out of proportion to the ingenuity of the thing itself.
2.
Concrete.
Some might say concrete wasn't an invention because it already existed
in nature. That's like saying the airplane wasn't an invention because
birds could already fly. The Romans figured out how to make artificial
concrete by mixing lime, sand, and bits of broken rock with a certain
pink volcanic ash. Then they reinforced it with bronze rods. This
invention had a precious property: It set and hardened when wet--even
underwater. Reinforced concrete could span distances as bricks and
stones never could. Using concrete, Romans could build seawalls to
protect coastal towns. They could bridge just about any waterway. Rome's
conquest of the world and its ability to hold its conquests together
rested largely on its ability to build walls, bridges, roads, aqueducts,
and monumental buildings. Concrete was the key to all that. The rule of
law is often called Rome's greatest contribution to civilization, and
maybe so--but concrete has to come in a close second. Check out a
historical timeline of concrete
and info
for kids about concrete. |
