1. Jethro Tull was one of the first of the scientific farmers. He saw that the usual way of sowing seed by scattering it across the ground was wasteful. Many of the seeds failed to take root. He solved this problem with an invention called the Seed Drill in 1701. The Seed Drill allowed farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows at specific depths.

2. Around 1764, a textile worker named James Hargreaves invented the Spinning Jenny. Hargreaves’ Spinning Jenny allowed one spinner to work eight threads at a time.

3. In 1765, James Watt figured out a way to make the steam engine work faster and more efficiently while burning less fuel. Steam Engines were used in factories, trains and steam ships!

4. American inventor, pioneer, mechanical engineer, and manufacturer Eli Whitney is best remembered as the inventor of the Cotton Gin. Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin in 1794.

5. Henry Bessemer invented the first process for mass producing steel in 1855.

6. Edward Jenner was an English scientist who was the first doctor to introduce and study the small pox vaccine. Around this time, smallpox was greatly feared because one in three people who contracted the disease died. The invention of the small pox vaccine occurred in 1796.

7. Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist who discovered bacteria in the 1860s. He is also known for creating the first vaccine for rabies.

8. Thomas Edison “invented” the light bulb in 1879. Technically Edison did not invent the light bulb, but he improved a 50-year-old idea. In 1892 Edison’s company joined with a competitor and became General Electric. Does the name sound familiar???

9. Karl Benz invented the Gasoline Engine in 1886. He also developed the first practical automobile. Does his name sound familiar?

10. American, Samuel Morse, invented the telegraph in 1835. Morse used pulses of electrical current to produce a code that could be transmitted by wire (the telegraph). The code was named Morse Code. Once received, the code would then be translated into letters and words to send the information.