BrushCoating

Technology Timeline

Each comparison is placed by the period in which the older technology emerged. Follow the line from early tools to the late twentieth century, then meet their modern successors.

  1. Before 1800

    Technologies from this long period were made largely by hand and driven by muscle, wind, water, or careful mechanical craft. Writing, printing, calculation, timekeeping, and navigation all advanced through skilled workmanship and slow accumulation of practice, and knowledge often traveled at the speed of a horse or a ship.

  2. 1800–1899

    The nineteenth century brought steam power, factory production, and the first practical uses of electricity. Telegraph wires, photography, and machines for the office and the shop appeared, and many everyday systems began to be standardized, tying distant places together for the first time in a lasting way.

  3. 1900–1949

    Electricity reached ordinary homes, and electronics took shape around the vacuum tube. Radio, the telephone network, sound recording, and early television grew into mass media, while engines and machines were refined for a public that increasingly expected them to be dependable and widely available.

  4. 1950–1979

    The transistor and the integrated circuit began to replace tubes, and computers moved from a few specialized institutions toward wider use. Magnetic tape and disks became common storage, portable electronics appeared, and consumer entertainment increasingly meant media you could bring home and play yourself.

  5. 1980–1999

    Personal computers, compact discs, and the first consumer networks reached homes and offices in this period. Digital formats began to replace analog ones, and the public internet emerged toward the end, setting up many of the online services and habits that later became routine.