Over the past two centuries, many people have used their knowledge, skills and experience in order to create a host of inventions that have made the world a much better place for us to live. (For more, check out Top 5 Patent Holders.)
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Here are eight paramount discoveries and innovations that have improved our standard of living, and have given us the opportunity to pursue our personal and business endeavors in a more comfortable and prosperous fashion.
Financial Services
Banknote (paper currency) - Tang Dynasty of China - 7th Century
China is not only credited with having invented paper, but it is also generally recognized to have been the first country in the world to use paper money. The paper money system helped improve economies worldwide as it moved them from a barter economy of trade.
Healthcare
Vaccinations - Edward Jenner - 1796
Edward Jenner's work is widely regarded as the foundation of immunology. Mr. Jenner is well renowned throughout the world for his innovative contribution to immunization and the ultimate eradication of the smallpox disease.
Local Anesthesia - William Morton - 1846
William Morton was the first to show how ether could be used to allay the pain of operations. His use of anesthesia was displayed at a public demonstration to the surgeons of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on Oct. 16, 1846, where John Collins Warren excised a tumor from a patient's neck. William Morton was neither the inventor nor the discoverer of anesthetics, and for 20 years acrimony, vituperation and litigation surrounded the credit for the development of anesthesia.
Antibiotics - Alexander Fleming - 1928
Alexander Fleming discovered the active substance that he termed "penicillin" while working on the influenza virus. Fleming made this discover by observing that mold had developed accidentally on a staphylococcus culture plate and that the mold had created a bacteria-free circle around itself. He was inspired to further experiment and he found that a mold culture prevented the growth of staphylococci, which verified his discovery. To this day, penicillin is used to treat a host of bacterial infections.
Food and Drink
Pasteurization - Louis Pasteur - 1862
Louis Pasteur developed the process now known as "pasteurization," which is a process of heating a food to a specific temperature for a definite length of time and then cooling it immediately in order to reduce the number of viable pathogens that may cause disease. Dairy products, canned foods, juices, syrups, water and wines are the primary products that are pasteurized today. (To learn more, see