Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century

How many of the 20th century's greatest engineering achievements will you use today? A car? Computer? Telephone? Explore our list of the top 20 achievements and learn how engineering shaped a century and changed the world.


Computer
The machine depicted on the cover of the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics magazine sounded impressive—"World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models"—and at a price of $397 for the parts, it seemed like quite a bargain. In truth, the Altair 8800 was not a minicomputer, a term normally reserved for machines many times as powerful. Nor was it easy to use. Programming had to be done by adjusting toggle switches, the memory held a meager 256 bytes of data, and output took the form of patterns of flashing lights.


Internet
The conference held at the Washington Hilton in October 1972 wasn't meant to jump-start a revolution. Staged for a technological elite, its purpose was to showcase a computer-linking scheme called ARPANET, a new kind of network that had been developed under military auspices to help computer scientists share information and enable them to harness the processing power of distant machines. Traffic on the system was still very light, though, and many potential users thought it was too complex to have much of a future.


Health Technology
In 1900 the average life expectancy in the United States was 47 years. By 2000 it was nearing 77 years. That remarkable 30-year increase was the result of a number of factors, including the creation of a safe water supply. But no small part of the credit should go to the century's wide assortment of medical advances in diagnosis, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other forms of treatment.