A board of events
One of the possible journeys from prehistoric to historic ages: how events, technology and energy usage are linked and intertwined.
500,000 years ago
Technological Evolution
DISCOVERY OF FIRE AND ITS USE
- ENERGY UPGRADE
ILLUMINATION OF CAVES
HEATING THE CAVES
COOKING OF FOODS
DRAINAGE OF WATERLOGGED LANDS
DEFENSE FROM THE HEAVY ANIMALS
METAL PROCESSING AND MANIFACTURE OF WEAPONS AND TOOLS
Ancient history
6,000 B.C.
Age of Copper
4,000 B.C.
First WRITING forms of a language
3,000 B.C.
Bronze Age
1,200 B.C.
Iron Age
Ancient History - Middle Ages
476
Fall of the Roman Empire
1492
Discovery of the Americas
Technological Evolution
Hydraulic Wheel
(already used by the Greek and the Romans)
Roman Vertical Watermill
Roman Aqueduct
ENERGY UPGRADE
Converting the potential energy of waterways into mechanical energy to satisfy agricultural and social needs
Management of water resourses for periods of prolongued drought
Accumulation and canalization of water reserves for grinding wheat
Building of an urban network for water distribution
Modern History
1789
French Revolution
XIX sec.
First and Second Industrial Revolution
Technological Evolution
1666 Leibniz’ «Dissertation on the Art of Combinations”
1763-1775 Developement of Steam Engine by James Watt
1800 Invention of the Battery (Voltaic Pile) by Alessandro Volta
1804 First operating Steam Locomotive by Richard Trevithick
1822 The Difference Engine (project) by Charles Babbage
1824 Nicolas Carnot and the First Law of Thermodynamics
1831 Joseph Henry first design of an electric motor
1831 Faraday lays the foundation for the development of the electric generator
1854 George Boole and «An Investigation of the Laws of Thought»
1861 First four-stroke engine by Nikolaus Otto
1876 Invention of the Telephone by Alexander Bell
1888 Heinrich Rudolf Hertz proves the existence of electromagnetic waves
1895 Guglielmo Marconi’s study of radio transmission and the invention of radio
ENERGY UPGRADE
The First and Second Industrial Revolutions transformed a largely agrarian economy into an industrial economy
Mechanization of factories and farms
Transportation, steamships, railroads and the expansion of industry
COAL, and PETROLEUM: fossil fuels become prominent in industry and transportation in the second half of the XIX century
Deep mining and coal extraction: new techniques
New industrial processes and Mass Production
Oil and Steel at the close of the XIX century
Contemporary Age to nowadays
JULY 1914
World War I
SEPTEMBER 1939
World War II
NOVEMBER 1989
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Technological Evolution
1936 Alan Turing’s Machine
1946 Alan Turing’s Automatic Computing Engine
1956 First Russian Nuclear Power Plant (Obninsk)
1957 First American Nuclear Power Plant (Shippingport)
1957 Launch of the first artificial satellite : the Sputnik
1973 First Mobile Phone by Motorola
1977 First Commercial PC by APPLE
1980 The World Wide Web (INTERNET)
1981 First Space Shuttle Flight
After the Year 2000: Smart Phones, Sylicon Valley, Social Network