Inventions and Discoveries

Discovery

Discovery means the Act of finding something. More precisely, the term 'Discovery' can be described as 'The act of becoming aware of something previously existing but unknown.' Two million years of stone technology represent the first long era of Discovery at the start of human history.  Over the years since the advent of Humanity, various Discoveries have been made. Some have been accidental and some have originated as result of research and observation. There are many kinds of Discoveries from Geographical to Mathematical ones.

Discoveries can be broadly categorised into two types

Factual Discoveries - These are related to discoveries of facts and laws which complete an unfinished theory

Conceptual Discoveries - These are concerned with discoveries which change a viewpoint from explicit facts to implicit unknown relations.

Majority of the Discoveries have benefitted living beings in one or the other way. But Discoveries have had their disadvantages too. For example Discovery of Atom did brought about various developments and scientific breakthroughs but at the same time it also led to the Invention of Atom Bomb which changed the history of the world. Discovery is also linked with a period in history starting in the 15th century and continuing into the 17th century. This period is known as 'The Age of Discovery' or 'The Age of Exploration'. It has been named so as it was during this period that the Europeans and their descendants explored and mapped the world in a very intensive manner. The Age of Discovery is also referred to as the period of Portuguese and Spanish pioneer oceanic explorations, between the 15th and 16th centuries, that established links with Africa, Asia and the Americas in search for an alternative trade route to Asia, moved by the trade of gold, silver and spices. These explorations in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were soon followed by France, England and the Netherlands, who explored the Portuguese and Spanish trade routes into the Pacific Ocean, reaching Australia in 1606 and New Zealand in 1642. European exploration spanned until accomplishing the global mapping of the world, resulting in a new worldview and distant civilizations acknowledging each other, reaching the most remote boundaries much later.

The Age of Discovery is of even greater significance as it marks the passage from the feudal Middle Ages of the 15th century to the Early Modern Period which also saw the rise of European nation-states in the 16th century. This period also acted as a catalyst for the start of Modern era, ushering in a new age of scientific and intellectual inquiry. European overseas expansion led to the rise of colonial empires, with the contact between the Old and New Worlds producing the Columbian Exchange, involving the transfer of plants, animals, foods, human populations (including slaves), communicable diseases, and culture between the Eastern and Western hemispheres, in one of the most significant global events concerning ecology, agriculture, and culture in history.

Top 10 Accidental Discoveries

Penicillin
LSD - Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
Potato Chips
Microwave
Teflon
Brandy
Artificial Sweetener
Popsicles
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Viagra

These are some of man’s greatest Discoveries which have been made entirely by accident and not by Invention.  If it weren’t for these Discoveries, life would have been different from what it is today.

Invention

Invention means a Creation which could be a New Device or Process, resulting from study and experimentation.  Inventions are based on laws which have been created as a result of findings and research done by scientists. An invention can also be defined as something which has been created by someone or something that utilises a discovery. Inventions are often invented by several inventors around the same time, or may be invented in an impractical form many years before another inventor improves the invention into a more practical form. Inventions have been borrowed and copied and spread more widely, in an accelerating process which made a necessity of one age, the luxury of the next age. Stone Age artefacts such as winged arrow-heads or hooks carved in bone are considered the earliest inventions. The invention of textiles is the single most liberating step in human history. Previously people have had a choice only of going naked in warm regions or wearing rough and clumsy furs in colder climates. The most elementary of fabrics - Felt - is probably the first to be developed for garments. The Wheel is also considered as the single most important advance in early technology. It is sometimes said to have evolved from the Potter's Wheel which was invented around 3000 BC.

Similar to the 'The Age of Discovery', 'The Age of Inventions' refers to the time during 1800 to 1900 's when new machines and new ways of producing goods and services altered life forever. This period saw the rapid expansion of industry, fuelled in part by hundreds of inventions. In turn, these inventions caused great changes in cultural, political, economic, and social life. In the 1800s, several inventions revolutionized communication. The 1900s became known for inventions in transportation. In the 1900s, inventors also began to work together toward a common goal. Inventions made it possible for people to work longer and faster and more efficiently. New ways of making goods created jobs and a modern economy.

Top 10 Historical Inventions that changed the World

Language
Cooking
Tools
Plumbing
Printing Press
Anaesthetic
Antibiotics
Birth Control
The Internet
Alcohol

Inventions have had a long history. Something or the other has been invented every now and then, whenever something productive is invented it changes the natue of our lives, in some small or big way. Over time, these little inventions and some big ones have changed our lives, to the like we have never imagined before.

Difference between Invention and Discovery

The terms, Discovery and Invention are generally used in conjunction. They are also used as Synonyms. However they both are different from each other. Discovery  is Natural and Invention is Artificial. Discovery often leads to an Invention, the same cannot be said about Inventions, as they rarely lead to a Discovery. One of the example to understand the difference is - America. It  was discovered. America already existed and so it could not be invented. It had to be discovered. On the other hand an engine was invented as it did not exist and it had to be invented.