by Malvika Bose

Created on: February 29, 2008

There are millions of inventors some very well known and some less known and some totally unknown who have slogged for may be hours, days, years and each of them has given us something through the ages which helped us to take the next leap towards where we are today. I want to list some of those inventors in my article whose inventions have changed the world completely.

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931): In his lifetime Edison patented about a thousand inventions, the most famous of them being the incandescent light bulb. He improved upon the ideas of Humphrey Davy, an English chemist and Joseph Wilson Swan, an English physicist and came up with a practical and longer-lasting electric light bulb in 1879, which had a carbon fiber filament. But his greatest contribution was in fact construction of the first viable model for generating and distributing power. By the time Edison died, lights lighted entire cities. The credit for lighting the world truly goes to Thomas Alva Edison. Edison's other major contributions include development of the Phonograph' and the Kinetoscope'. He also improved the original designs of the telegraph and the telephone. He believed in developing technologies and worked relentlessly for years. "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration" is his most famous Quote.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955): Einstein gave us the theory of relativity. His theories of Special and General relativity explained the phenomena of bending of light and presence of black holes.Einstein proved in 1905 that atoms do exist and he explained the photoelectric effect in the same year. Einstein also derived the famous equation, E = mc, which reveals that matter contains enormous amounts of energy. Many people associate Einstein with the development of the atomic bomb or nuclear energy as his theory led to more research and invention of the atomic bomb. Einstein received the Nobel price in 1921 for his work on relativity, the photoelectric effect and blackbody radiation.

Although Einstein himself did not invent the modern gadgets we use today, his theories on light, space and time have led to many technological innovations. The GPS system, Television, Modern computers, Digital camera's, CD/DVD and Laser beams all use Einstein's Theories. He continues to inspire scientists even today and the term Genius' has become a Synonym with Einstein.

Johannes Gutenberg (c1400-1468): Around 1450 Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press capable of mass

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