Ingenious European Inventions

[Treffie]

Something quite quirky looking which we use everyday without even thinking about.

The equality sign, equals sign, or "=" is a mathematical symbol used to indicate equality. It was invented in 1557 by Welshman Robert Recorde.

[poiuytrewq0987]

Greek Fire

Greek fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines typically used it in naval battles to great effect as it could continue burning even on water. It provided a technological advantage, and was responsible for many key Byzantine military victories, most notably the salvation of Constantinople from two Arab sieges, thus securing the Empire's survival.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_fire

[Foxy]

- The computer (Charles Babbage).
- The world wide web (Tim Berners-Lee).

Sorry Aemma.

A lot of very important parts of the computer hardware were invented and realized by Italians.
Try again.

sources: microchip was invented by Federico Faggin druing the 60s.
Plastic was first used for common objects by Giulio Natta during the 60s. Program 101, considered the first personal computer 1962 by Giorgio Pierotto.

[poiuytrewq0987]

Maps

Greeks invented the art of cartography, which means map (chartis) and writing (graphein). Wall paintings of cities and regions existed for centuries before the Greeks came along, but they were the first to create, draw and print maps, as early as the sixth century B.C.

Anaximander, a philosopher from Miletus, is historically accepted as the creator of the first map of the world, which consisted of three large land areas (Europe, Asia and Libya) surrounded by ocean and divided by the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The creation of the map greatly improved navigation and trade. Geographia, the world's first treatise on cartography, was written by Ptolemy during the second century and provided tips on how to draw maps and use topographic lists.

[Vasconcelos]

Europeans were arguably the first to make ships capable of sailing far from the shores, thus enabling them to discover and explore exotic areas of the World.

[Wyn]

A lot of very important parts of the computer hardware were invented and realized by Italians.
Try again.

I guess it's pretty easy to make add-ons when the hard work's been done for you.
Try again.

Anyway, back to English inventions:

Rubber bands.

[poiuytrewq0987]

Odometer



Possibly the first evidence for the use of an odometer can be found in the works of Pliny (NH 6. 61-62) and Strabo (11.8.9). Both authors list the distances of routes travelled by Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BC) as measured by his bematists Diognetus and Baeton. However, the high precision of the bematists's measurements rather indicates the use of a mechanical device. For example, the section between the cities Hecatompylos and Alexandria Areion, which later became a part of the silk road, was given by Alexander's bematists as 529 English miles long, that is with a deviation of 0.4% from the actual distance (531 English miles).

An odometer for measuring distance was first described by Vitruvius around 27 and 23 BC. The actual invention may have been by Archimedes of Syracuse during the First Punic War. Hero of Alexandria describes a similar device in chapter 34 of his Dioptra. The machine was also used in the time of Roman Emperor Commodus (c. 192 AD), although after this point in time there seems to be a gap between its use in Roman times and that of the 15th century in Western Europe.

[Foxy]

I guess it's pretty easy to make add-ons when the hard work's been done for you.
Try again.

Anyway, back to English inventions:

Rubber bands.

If microchip is secondary for you in the computer work...
Not only, the first electronic calculator was made by Federico Fermi (Italian) during the project CEP.
Computer was made not by one only inventor, therefore it is an international invention.

[Allenson]

The Apricity.

[Eldritch]

Everybody knows Finns will go to any lenghts to avoid having to talk. That's we invented ....



... the text message! Ta-dah!

Another simple Finnish innovation is the dish drying cabinet:



Also the spring-free disc tumbler lock is a Finnish invention.