Curated category
German inventions
- CocaineThe coca plant Erythroxylum coca grows in the high-altitude regions of South America. Indigenous communities have chewed these leaves for thousands of years…
- PolyethyleneHans von Pechmann prepared a white, waxy substance in 1898 while investigating diazomethane. His colleagues Eugen Bamberger and Friedrich Tschirner…
- AccordionIn 1829, a patent was filed in Vienna by Cyrill Demian for an instrument called the accordion. This document described a device that combined melody and…
- AmphetamineIn 1887, Romanian chemist Lazăr Edeleanu synthesized a new chemical compound in Germany and named it phenylisopropylamine.
- Diesel engineOn the 17th of February 1894, a small engine ran under its own power for the first time inside a factory in Augsburg. This machine was not yet the diesel…
- Electron microscopeIn 1931, Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska generated the first magnified images of mesh grids placed over an anode aperture. This device used two magnetic lenses to…
- BicycleThe year 1817 marked a quiet moment in Mannheim, Germany. Baron Karl von Drais introduced his Laufmaschine to the public that spring.
- CarThere are over 1.6 billion cars in use worldwide as of 2025, and the count is still climbing fast. A car is a motor vehicle with wheels that runs primarily…
- TelevisionThe word television first appeared in print on the 24th of August 1900. A Russian scientist named Constantin Perskyi used it during a paper presentation at…
- Integrated circuitA modern integrated circuit can pack many billions of transistors into an area the size of a human fingernail. That single fact captures a transformation…