Dmitry Rumyantsev

Many years ago, the creators of the dystopia "The Matrix" told the audience about a world in which the ideas of Hans Moravek, a leading roboticist from Mellon Carnegie University, were brought to the point of absurdity (or to their logical end).

This name became known outside the scientific world after he published the book “Children of the Mind” in 1988, dedicated to intelligent machines capable of such accomplishments that a person cannot even imagine. In his book, Moravec talked about entire corporations of robots (he wanted to write “monsters”), which would gradually take over all routine operations, leaving a person with pure art: various rhymes, oohs, sighs, paintings, and so on.

Somewhat naive now seem to be such, for example, his maxims: "People will be able to boycott corporations of robots, whose products or policies seem hostile to people." According to Moravec, in the end, in search of raw materials, the machines will go into outer space, where they will launch a storm of activity to turn matter into various devices that process information. And here it is within easy reach of the so-called cyberspace, which "counts and models with greater and greater efficiency." Moravec's cyberspace will eventually be more interesting in some ways than the physical universe. And most people will gladly (as Moravec argued) give up their mortal shells of flesh and blood in order to gain greater freedom and immortality of cyberspace. However, Moravec did not rule out the possibility that there would always be "aggressive primitive people who would say: 'We don't want to join the machines'." But, Moravec concluded, “in the end, the Earth is just a piece of dirt in the system, and it is not of great historical importance,” but machines that will see Earth only as raw materials will always be able to make its last inhabitants accept a new home in cyberspace. .

Brrr... Chill on the skin... In general, in my opinion, the creators of the Matrix "invented their script in vain, and did not exactly follow the ideas of Moravec. Gloomy ideas, it should be noted. Hans Moravek himself, who once uttered the phrase with a laugh: ‘Art-like activities that people sometimes get carried away with, do not seem very deep in the sense that they are the primary types of modeling,’ was a follower of the English chemist J. D. Bernal. Bernal published in 1929 (and he was then in his 28th year) an essay entitled The World, the Flesh and the Devil, in which he argued that science would soon give the strength to mankind to control their own evolution. At first, Bernal reasoned (by the way, he did not miss the opportunity to note that he was a Marxist), humanity will try to improve itself through genetic engineering (this, I remind you, was written in 1929), but in the end will leave their mortal bodies inherited by natural selection , for more actionable projects. “Little by little the inheritance in the direct line of mankind will diminish, then disappear altogether, preserved, perhaps, as some curious relic, while a new life, which retains none of the essences, but the whole spirit, takes its place and continues its development. . Eventually, consciousness itself may end or disappear in humanity, which has become completely incorporeal, becoming a mass of atoms in space, exchanging information with the help of radiation, and, ultimately, perhaps completely turning into light. This may be the end and the beginning, but from here everything is already inscrutable.” Cool! (yeah, this is a singularity. - approx. Remo).

However, it is not surprising that such thoughts visited someone at the beginning of the 20th century. In fact, the background against which the scientists of that time had to work was painfully gloomy. In general, it seems to me that there cannot be a “pure” science and technology that can be considered in isolation from the general history of civilization. And the 20th century provided food for thought for those who wanted to think. Immediately, not allowing the European man, who was maddened by a series of discoveries of the century, to come to his senses, the twentieth century threw out such concepts as a machine gun, khaki, scorched earth tactics and a concentration camp. Of course, it was already difficult for Europe to be embarrassed by large losses in the war, but it was so easy to destroy 20 thousand women and children in concentration camps, whose only fault was that they were members of the families of the Boers who rebelled against the arbitrariness of British officials - this was already too much. In short, Europe was in tetanus. In general, it should be noted that by the 20th century, humanity (or rather, its European part) was highly politicized and overgrown with various terrible ideas, among which the idea of ​​controlling information and, more broadly, the problem of information began to play an ever greater and greater role. True, no new inventions in the field of computer technology appeared until the 1930s. In terms of computer technology, the first third of the 20th century was, so to speak, stagnant.

Who today does not know this abbreviation? This name - International Business Machines - appeared in 1924 as the name of a new corporation created as a result of the merger of three firms. But if the first - Tabulating Machine Company - had to do with computing systems (because, as dear readers remember, it was engaged in the release of tabulators), which Herman Hollerith, who created it, took care of, then the other two, to put it mildly, had a very remote relation to computers. The second division of the future IBM was created by Charles Flint in 1900 (at the height of the ebullient activity of Kitchener of Khartoum to create concentration camps). This company was called International Time Recording and was engaged in the production of watches (attentive readers can see here a certain continuity of the Renaissance, because at that time computing devices were made in the image and likeness of clockwork. As for the third component of the future IBM, it was engaged in ... the production of scales and machines The Computing Tabulating and Recording Company (CTR) was born in 1911 from the fusion of these varied ingredients.

The name International Business Machines was coined in 1917 for the Canadian branch of CTR, in 1924 Thomas Watson (since 1914 he worked as the general manager of CTR) decided to name the entire corporation after the Canadian branch.

Up until the outbreak of World War II, IBM's main business was the production of tabulators that worked with punched cards. Then it was a very progressive company with a dynamically growing level of income (greatly increased during the Second World War). And no one could have thought that in the 70s, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates would call IBM none other than Big Brother, alluding to the book “1984”, Orwell’s gloomy dystopia. However, we are too far ahead of ourselves...

Other bells and whistles

So what, really, in the first third of the 20th century, something else did not appear, except for a company for the production of tabulators and technologies for the mass extermination of the population of the Earth? By and large, the best minds of that time worked on purely practical things for the military industry or on global projects (like the theory of relativity). Therefore, only two inventions are worthy of mention, without which it is impossible to imagine modern computers (which, of course, does not make all other inventions of the 20th century less significant).

Today, hardly anyone would be tempted by the idea of ​​working on a computer without a display. But the future creator of Microsoft wrote his first program as a child (these were tic-tac-toe, of course, Bill Gates wrote them in his favorite BASIC) on a machine equipped only with a printing device (on a PDP-11 school mini-computer) ! And then it didn't bother anyone. Just think, it’s all business: enter the data and wait a bit until the program prints the result of its work. Meanwhile, the cathode ray tube (CRT) - the basis of most displays of the past generation - was invented more than half a century before the commercial operation of computers.

It happened in 1907. The inventor was our compatriot, a descendant of the Russified Germans, professor of physics at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology Boris Lvovich Rosing. On May 11, 1907, Rosing demonstrated to his colleagues the first session of image transmission over a distance using the still combined electronic-mechanical television system. From one room

to another, only a few meters away, an image of the intersection of two horizontal and two vertical stripes was broadcast.

The case of Boris Rosing was continued by his assistant Vladimir Kozmovich Zworykin. In 1919, Admiral Kolchak sent him on some assignment to the North American United States (as the United States was called at that time). In the USA, Vladimir Zworykin came to grips with television and today is known as the father of television (Zvorykin himself, however, denied this title, repeating that “he just invented the kinescope” - he also came up with this name).

Another invention, without which there would be no modern computers, was also made by a Russian scientist - Mikhail Alexandrovich Bonch-Bruevich. In 1918 he created an electronic relay. A year later, the Englishmen W. Eccles and F. Jordan, independently of Bonch-Bruevich, invented the same device and called it a "trigger".

In fact, the English word trigger means "trigger", and the mechanism that was designated by this word has been known since time immemorial - certainly since the time of crossbows for sure. What does the trigger have to do with computing? The most direct. The advantage of an electronic (as well as any other) trigger is that it is always in one of two states, which is convenient to use to denote zero and one. If, say, we combine eight triggers into a single package in such a way as to somehow change the state of each of them and, more importantly, be able to determine what state each of the eight triggers is in, then we will get a one-byte memory cell! And if we take several thousand 8-trigger packages and connect them together, then we will get electronic RAM.

The basis of modern flip-flops are two transistors, which, in fact, provide a stay in one of two states. Well, on one silicon plate 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm, modern technology allows you to fit more than tens of millions of transistors. And you know the rest: there are different memories and so on - this is “only” many, many millions of triggers on one square centimeter.

But more on that some other time.

horror story

The dubious palm in the invention of concentration camps belongs to compatriot Charles Babbage. The name of this fanatic with an inhuman face and a distorted mind is Lord Kitchener of Khartoum and Broome Horace Herbert.

During the second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), in which the terrible inventions of the “progressive” mankind were tested in the wrong direction, he commanded the British troops.

So much for the British - they ignored the analytical engine of Charles Babbage, but made Kitchener of Khartoum Minister of War for his heroic deeds in the Transvaal. By the way, if anyone is interested in the problem of the transmigration of souls and other near-mystical things, then Kitchener of Khartoum departed for another world in 1916 - the ship on which he sailed to Russia hit a mine and sank. His most famous image is preserved on the English military poster “Your country needs You!” -

prototype of our famous “Have you signed up as a volunteer?”.

So, on this very poster, Kitchener is like two drops of water similar to Corporal Adolf Hitler from his front-line photo of 1916 of the same year. As Sherlock Holmes said after a memorable dinner at the Baskerville estate: “This is how you start studying family portraits and believe in the transmigration of souls” ... In general, a terrible story

Color TV

The founder of modern color television is another Russian inventor, engineer-technologist Alexander Appolonovich Polumordvinov, who proposed an original color television system based on an additive three-component color model (the system still remains so).

In 1900, he submitted an application to the Department of Trade and Manufactories of the Ministry of Finance of Russia for his invention. At that time, this department included the patent authorities and dealt with the issuance of patents. The invention was legally formalized by granting the inventor a privilege for “Light distributor for an apparatus used to transmit images over a distance with all colors and their shades and all shadows”. The system for transmitting a color image over a distance, proposed by Polumordvinov, was brought to life by the creation of the Telephot device, which represented the most important constructive and technological discovery.

Polumordvinov reported on his wonderful invention at the First Electrotechnical Congress, held at the end of December 1899 in St. Petersburg.

Since ancient times, people have tried to translate dreams and fantasies into reality in order to simplify and diversify their lives. We will list several inventions of the 20th century that changed the usual outlook on life.

1. X-rays

The KVN joke says that the X-ray was invented by the deacon Ivanov, who told his wife: "I can see right through you, bitch." In fact, electromagnetic radiation was discovered at the end of the 19th century by the German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen. Turning on the current in the cathode tube, the scientist noticed that a nearby paper screen, covered with barium platinocyanide crystals, emits a green glow. According to another version, the wife brought X-ray dinner, and when she put the plate on the table, the scientist noticed that her bones were visible through the skin. It is authentically known that Wilhelm for a long time refused to receive a patent for an invention, not considering his research as a full-fledged source of income. X-rays can be safely attributed to the discoveries of the 20th century.

2. Plane

Since ancient times, people have tried to create an aircraft and rise above the ground. But only in 1903, the American inventors, the Wright brothers, managed to successfully test their Flyer - 1, equipped with an engine. He was in the air for a full 59 seconds and flew over the Kitty Hawk Valley 260 meters. This event is considered the moment of the birth of aviation. Today, without aircraft, it is impossible to imagine either business development or recreation. "Steel Birds" is still the fastest mode of transport.

3. Television

Not so long ago, the TV was considered a prestigious thing that emphasizes the status of the owner. At different times, many minds worked on its development. Back in the 19th century, the Portuguese professor Adriano De Paiva and the Russian inventor Porfiry Bakhmetiev independently put forward the idea of ​​the first device capable of transmitting an image over wires. In 1907, Max Dieckmann demonstrated the first television receiver with a 3x3 screen. In the same year, Boris Rosing, a professor at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, proved the possibility of using a cathode ray tube to convert an electrical signal into a visible image. In 1908, the Armenian physicist Hovhannes Adamyan received a patent for a two-color apparatus for transmitting signals. In the late 20s of the 20th century, the first television was developed in America, assembled by Russian emigrant Vladimir Zworykin. He managed to break the light beam into blue, red and green colors and get a color image. He called his sample "iconoscope". However, in the West, the "father of television" is considered the Scotsman John Lodge Bird, who patented a device that creates an image of eight lines.

4. Mobile phone

The first telephone was demonstrated at the end of the 19th century, and the first mobile phone appeared in the 70s of the twentieth century. When Martin Cooper, an employee of Motorola from the department for the development of portable devices, showed his colleagues a kilogram tube, they did not believe in the success of the new invention. Walking around Manhattan, he called from his "brick" Joel Engel, head of research at competitor Bell Laboratories, and was the first to put new technologies into practice. Fifteen years before Cooper, the Soviet scientist Leonid Kupriyanovich also successfully conducted a similar experiment. Therefore, the question of who owns the palm in the field of portable devices is quite controversial. One way or another, "mobile phones" became the discovery of the 20th century, and have already firmly entered our lives.

5. Computer

Today it is difficult to imagine life without a computer, laptop or tablet. But until recently, such devices were used exclusively for scientific purposes. In 1941, the German Konrad Zuse created the Z3 mechanical computer, which had all the properties of a modern computer, but worked on the basis of telephone relays. A year later, American physicist John Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry began to develop the first electronic computer, but never completed the project. In 1946, John Mauchly continued the baton and presented the world with the first electronic computer, ENIAC. Decades passed before huge machines that took up entire rooms turned into compact devices. The first personal computers appeared only in the late 70s of the last century.

6. Internet

Scolding those who like to sit in front of the TV, we forget that the main danger is the World Wide Web, the Network, the Matrix, the ubiquitous Internet. The idea to create high-quality and reliable communication, which is difficult to eavesdrop, arose in the 50s of the twentieth century. During the Cold War, the US Department of Defense used the ARPA project to transmit data over a distance without the use of mail and telephone. The Universities of California, Santa Barbara, Utah and the Stanford Research Center developed and implemented the ARPAnet. In 1969, she connected the computers of these universities, after 4 years other institutions joined, and with the invention of E-mail, the number of people who wanted to communicate on the network began to grow exponentially. There are already 3 billion Internet users in the world today.

7. VCR

In 1944, the Russian communications engineer Alexander Mikhailovich Ponyatov founded the AMPEX company in America, naming it with his initials and adding EX - short for "excellent" ("excellent"). Poniatov was engaged in the production of sound recording equipment, but in the early 50s he focused on the development of video recording. He fixed the signal across the tape with a rotating head unit, and on November 30, 1956, the first recorded CBS news went on the air. And in 1960, his company received an Oscar for outstanding contribution to the technical equipment of the film and television industry.

More than 30 years ago, the Pentomino puzzle was popular in the USSR: on a checkered sheet of paper, it was necessary to correctly fold curly blocks of five squares. From a mathematical point of view, such a puzzle was considered an excellent test for a computer. And Aleksey Pajitnov, a researcher at the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, wrote a program for his Electronics 60. Due to the lack of power, one cube had to be removed, and it turned out "Tetramino". Later, the figures began to fall into the "glass". This is how Tetris was born. It was the first computer game from behind the Iron Curtain. And although many new toys have appeared since then, Tetris remains the discovery of the 20th century and still attracts with its apparent simplicity and real complexity.

9. Electric car

In the last third of the 19th century, a real "electrical fever" swept the world. Many inventors struggled to create an electric car. In small towns, a mileage of 60 km on a single charge was quite acceptable. By 1899, the enthusiastic engineer Ippolit Romanov created several models of electric cabs, as well as an electric omnibus for 17 passengers. He also developed a scheme of city routes and received a work permit, however, under his own responsibility. Then the project of Ippolit Romanov was considered commercially unprofitable. However, his omnibus became the progenitor of the modern trolleybus, the appearance of which undoubtedly belongs to the achievements of the 20th century.

10. Parachute

For the first time the idea of ​​​​creating a parachute came to mind Leonardo da Vinci. And a few centuries later, with the advent of aeronautics, regular jumps from balloons began, to which half-open parachutes were hung. In 1912, the American Barry jumped with such a parachute from an airplane, and was able to land successfully. And engineer Gleb Kotelnikov made a silk parachute and packed it into a compact satchel. To test how quickly it opens, tests were carried out on a moving car. So the brake parachute was invented as an emergency braking system. On the eve of the First World War, the scientist patented his invention in France, and it became an achievement of the 20th century.

The last century was full of life-changing discoveries, and the inventions of the 20th century have changed the lives of many generations. Watch Absolute Geniuses on Eureka HD to learn more about the people who changed the course of history.

To important inventions The 20th century can be attributed to those achievements that did not turn the world upside down, but made a certain contribution to the life and life of people.

Vacuum cleaner, 1901

The English inventor Cecil Booth came up with a device that sucked dust in train cars. This gasoline-powered device was driven through the streets on a horse-drawn cart by a team of four.

On August 30, 1901, the representative of the southwestern part of England, Herbert Cecil Booth received a patent for his device that performs the functions of a vacuum cleaner.

Disposable blades, 1909

Disposable blades were invented by American inventor King Camp Gillette, founder of The Gillette Company, as an inexpensive alternative to using a razor. These are important inventions for men.

Motor plane, 1903

American inventors Orville and Wilber Wright invented the first powered airplane. Through a lot of trial and error, testing the wing design, the aircraft was completed and they were able to climb 37 meters in 12 seconds. The design, further improvements in safety and handling have resulted in sustained flight from the ground with a pilot. This is an important invention, which is why today we see the impact of aircraft and aviation technology in the military and transport industries.

Parachute, 1913

With the invention of the airplane, it was quite natural to invent the parachute. Although the idea of ​​a parachute has been around since the 15th century since the time of Leonardo da Vinci, but it has not been applied in practice. American inventor Stefan Banich gave the invention to the military in the early 20th century. He donated a US patent to the US Army and earned the inventor's respect.

There is also a patent for the invention of the Russian inventor of the backpack parachute Gleb Kotelnikov, which he registered in France on March 20, 1912. The tsarist government was not interested in staffing pilots. However, after the tragedies of aeronauts, the development of this means of salvation resumed. Several types were made from RK-1 to RK-4 (RK-Russian Kotelnikova).

The parachute was already widely used during World War II. Today, parachutes are still used in military and civilian aircraft.

Liquid rocket propellant, 1914

Fueled by liquid oxygen and gasoline, the rocket's first flight took place on March 16, 1926. American professor Robert H. Godart launched a liquid fuel rocket to a height of 12.5 meters in 2.5 seconds. She demonstrated that it is possible to use liquid fuels. Ultimately, with the help of this fuel, spacecraft are now launched.

Electronic television, 1923

Russian émigré American inventor Vladimir Zworykin is credited with inventing the first all-electronic television (as opposed to an electromechanical television). Vladimir Zworykin invented the final design of the transmitting tube iconoscope, which became the basis of the future electronic television system.

Sliced ​​bread, 1928

Otto Frederick Rouvedder Davenport invented the first machine to slice one loaf of bread at a time. Other inventors stood on the sidelines of this invention, cutting the sandwich off the crust for the lazy.

Antibiotics, 1928

Although the ancient Chinese used antibiotics 2,500 years ago, they didn't use them until well into the 20th century. Scottish biologist and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming, who accidentally discovered the unique properties of a well-known antibiotic, penicillin. After working through some germ cultures, he noticed areas in some cultures where bacteria did not grow, and it turned out that fungi affected these areas. After separating the extract, he identified them as part of the penicillin genus. Now penicillin is used to treat cellulitis, gonorrhea, meningitis, pneumonia, and syphilis. So yes, penicillin is a good antibiotic.

Ballpoint pen, 1938

Hungarian inventor Lazio Biro created this possible replacement for a fountain pen. The ballpoint pen is cheap, reliable and serviceable. The ink dries almost immediately after contact with the paper. These important inventions of ballpoint pens help in many ways.

Spiralka, 1945

Elegant and ingenious in its simplicity, the spiral is one of the greatest toys ever. No one can resist the charm of a toy moving down stairs or just rocking back and forth. In 1943, after observing the movement of a torsion spring, engineer Richard James told his wife, Betty, the opportunity to make this toy. After various tests and materials, they invented the toy we know and love today.

Microwave oven, 1945

This common kitchen appliance was discovered by accident. While working as an engineer, Percy Spencer noticed that the chocolate in his pocket began to melt while he was working on an active radar set. It was a microwave radar that caused a sticky mess. He then deliberately cooked popcorn, then an egg. Spencer then isolated the microwaves in a metal box, moving the food inside the box. After Percy Spencer filed a US patent where the first microwave oven was built in 1947. It was a 1.8 m oven, weighing 340 kg and costing about $5,000, consuming 3,000 watts (compared to today's standard of 1,000 watts). Today, microwave ovens are slightly smaller and more economical.

These simple and important inventions led to.

Almost everyone who is interested in the history of the development of science, engineering and technology has at least once in his life thought about how the development of mankind could go without knowledge of mathematics or, for example, if we didn’t have such a necessary item as a wheel, which became almost basis for human development. However, only key discoveries are often considered and paid attention to, while less known and widespread discoveries are sometimes simply not mentioned, which, however, does not make them insignificant, because each new knowledge gives humanity the opportunity to climb a step higher in its development.

The 20th century and its scientific discoveries have turned into a real Rubicon, crossing which progress has accelerated its pace several times, identifying itself with a sports car that is impossible to keep up with. In order to stay on the crest of the scientific and technological wave now, not hefty skills are needed. Of course, you can read scientific journals, various kinds of articles and works of scientists who are struggling to solve a particular problem, but even in this case, it will not be possible to keep up with progress, and therefore it remains to catch up and observe.

As you know, in order to look into the future, you need to know the past. Therefore, today we will talk about the 20th century, the century of discoveries, which changed the way of life and the world around us. It should be noted right away that this will not be a list of the best discoveries of the century or any other top, it will be a brief overview of some of those discoveries that have changed, and possibly are changing the world.

In order to talk about discoveries, it is necessary to characterize the concept itself. We take the following definition as a basis:

Discovery - a new achievement made in the process of scientific knowledge of nature and society; the establishment of previously unknown, objectively existing patterns, properties and phenomena of the material world.

Top 25 Great Scientific Discoveries of the 20th Century

1. Planck's quantum theory. He derived a formula that determines the shape of the spectral radiation curve and the universal constant. He discovered the smallest particles - quanta and photons, with the help of which Einstein explained the nature of light. In the 1920s, quantum theory developed into quantum mechanics.
2. Discovery of X-rays - electromagnetic radiation with a wide range of wavelengths. The discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Roentgen greatly influenced human life, and today it is impossible to imagine modern medicine without them.
3. Einstein's theory of relativity. In 1915, Einstein introduced the concept of relativity and derived an important formula relating energy and mass. The theory of relativity explained the essence of gravity - it arises due to the curvature of four-dimensional space, and not as a result of the interaction of bodies in space.
4. Discovery of penicillin. The fungus Penicillium notatum, getting into the culture of bacteria, causes their complete death - this was proved by Alexander Flemming. In the 40s, a production was developed, which later began to be produced on an industrial scale.
5. De Broglie waves. In 1924, it was found that wave-particle duality is inherent in all particles, not just photons. Broglie presented their wave properties in a mathematical form. The theory made it possible to develop the concept of quantum mechanics, explained the diffraction of electrons and neutrons.
6. Discovery of the structure of the new DNA helix. In 1953, a new model of the structure of the molecule was obtained by combining the X-ray diffraction information of Rosalyn Franklin and Maurice Wilkins and the theoretical developments of Chargaff. She was brought out by Francis Crick and James Watson.
7. Rutherford's planetary model of the atom. He deduced a hypothesis about the structure of the atom and extracted energy from atomic nuclei. The model explains the fundamentals of the laws of charged particles.
8. Ziegler-Nath catalysts. In 1953 they carried out the polarization of ethylene and propylene.
9. Discovery of transistors. A device consisting of 2 p-n junctions, which are directed towards each other. Thanks to his invention by Julius Lilienfeld, the technique began to shrink in size. The first working bipolar transistor was introduced in 1947 by John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain.
10. Creation of a radiotelegraph. Alexander Popov's invention, using Morse code and radio signals, first saved a ship at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. But the first to patent a similar invention was Gulielmo Marcone.
11. Discovery of neutrons. These uncharged particles with a mass slightly larger than that of protons made it possible to penetrate the nucleus without obstacles and destabilize it. Later it was proved that under the influence of these particles, the nuclei are divided, but even more neutrons are produced. So the artificial one was discovered.
12. Method of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Edwards and Steptoe figured out how to extract an intact egg from a woman, created optimal conditions for her life and growth in a test tube, figured out how to fertilize her and at what time to return her back to her mother's body.
13. The first manned flight into space. In 1961, it was Yuri Gagarin who was the first to realize this, which became the real embodiment of the dream of the stars. Mankind has learned that the space between the planets is surmountable, and bacteria, animals and even humans can easily live in space.
14. Discovery of fullerene. In 1985, scientists discovered a new kind of carbon - fullerene. Now, due to its unique properties, it is used in many devices. Based on this technique, carbon nanotubes were created - twisted and cross-linked layers of graphite. They show a wide variety of properties: from metallic to semiconductor.
15. Cloning. In 1996, scientists succeeded in obtaining the first clone of a sheep, named Dolly. The egg was gutted, the nucleus of an adult sheep was inserted into it and planted in the uterus. Dolly was the first animal that managed to survive, the rest of the embryos of different animals died.
16. Discovery of black holes. In 1915, Karl Schwarzschild put forward a hypothesis about the existence of a black hole whose gravity is so great that even objects moving at the speed of light - black holes - cannot leave it.
17. Theory. This is a generally accepted cosmological model, which previously described the development of the Universe, which was in a singular state, characterized by infinite temperature and matter density. The model was started by Einstein in 1916.
18. Discovery of relic radiation. This is the cosmic microwave background radiation, which has been preserved since the beginning of the formation of the Universe and fills it evenly. In 1965, its existence was experimentally confirmed, and it serves as one of the main confirmations of the Big Bang theory.
19. Approaching the creation of artificial intelligence. It is a technology for building intelligent machines, first defined in 1956 by John McCarthy. According to him, researchers to solve specific problems can use methods of understanding a person that may not be biologically observed in humans.
20. The invention of holography. This special photographic method was proposed in 1947 by Dennis Gabor, in which, with the help of a laser, three-dimensional images of objects close to real are recorded and restored.
21. Discovery of insulin. In 1922, the pancreatic hormone was obtained by Frederick Banting, and diabetes mellitus ceased to be a fatal disease.
22. Blood groups. This discovery in 1900-1901 divided the blood into 4 groups: O, A, B and AB. It became possible to properly transfuse blood to a person, which would not end tragically.
23. Mathematical information theory. Claude Shannon's theory made it possible to determine the capacity of a communication channel.
24. Invention of Nylon. Chemist Wallace Carothers in 1935 discovered a method for obtaining this polymeric material. He discovered some of its varieties with high viscosity even at high temperatures.
25. Discovery of stem cells. They are the progenitors of all existing cells in the human body and have the ability to self-renew. Their possibilities are great and are just beginning to be explored by science.

There is no doubt that all these discoveries are only a small part of what the 20th century showed to society, and it cannot be said that only these discoveries were significant, and all the rest became just a background, this is not at all the case.

It was the last century that showed us the new boundaries of the Universe, saw the light, quasars (superpowerful sources of radiation in our Galaxy) were discovered, the first carbon nanotubes with unique superconductivity and strength were discovered and created.

All these discoveries, one way or another, are just the tip of the iceberg, which includes more than a hundred significant discoveries over the past century. Naturally, all of them have become a catalyst for changes in the world in which we now live, and the fact remains undeniable that the changes do not end there.

The 20th century can be safely called, if not the “golden”, then certainly the “silver” age of discoveries, but looking back and comparing new achievements with the past, it seems that in the future we will have quite a few interesting great discoveries, in fact, the successor of the last century, the current XXI only confirms these views.