What scientific discovery has changed the world the most?
I've given it some thought and I'm unable to put my finger on any single one.
There have been so many over the last three hundred years or so... any thoughts?
Maddog said
Mar 13 9:00 PM, 2025
The internet.
jackb said
Mar 13 9:15 PM, 2025
Maddog wrote:
The internet.
I had to think about that for a few minutes MD but certainly a good contender.
-- Edited by jackb on Thursday 13th of March 2025 09:17:06 PM
Red Okktober said
Mar 13 9:43 PM, 2025
Railways, books and the internet
Not sure what order though
Anonymous said
Mar 13 10:38 PM, 2025
That electrons behave differently when they are being observed. It has huge implications about our perception of reality and what we assumed we knew about the basic essence of the world. The scientists who discovered this won an award , fairly recently I believe. Possibly another poster may be able to elaborate further than I but it's mindblowing.
Vam said
Mar 13 10:39 PM, 2025
Anaesthetic.
Syl said
Mar 13 11:46 PM, 2025
Electricity.
Magica said
Mar 14 12:44 AM, 2025
Telephone
jackb said
Mar 14 1:11 AM, 2025
Internal combustion engine?
jackb said
Mar 14 1:19 AM, 2025
Mobile phones?
They have had a truly revolutionary effect world wide.
Communication with anyone anywhere on the planet at anytime plus entertainment of various kinds and built in high quality video cameras in every pocket.
jackb said
Mar 14 1:21 AM, 2025
Actually some of our answers are incorrect because the question isn't about inventions it's about discoveries!
Maddog said
Mar 14 2:00 AM, 2025
jackb wrote:
Mobile phones? They have had a truly revolutionary effect world wide. Communication with anyone anywhere on the planet at anytime plus entertainment of various kinds and built in high quality video cameras in every pocket.
The cell phone was cool, but it wasn't that cool until we attached the internet to it.
Now we can communicate with the world from almost anywhere.
And read a scientific report, or watch a porno, sporting match or a TV show..
Anonymous said
Mar 14 1:22 PM, 2025
jackb wrote:
Actually some of our answers are incorrect because the question isn't about inventions it's about discoveries!
I guess an early one was fire and how to make it
How to hunt and gather food and store it for lean times
More recently(ish) - that people who contracted cowpox were protected from smallpox, leading to the development of vaccines.
Magica said
Mar 14 4:10 PM, 2025
Discovering the various planets, and landing on the moon.
Digger said
Mar 14 4:22 PM, 2025
The discovery of DNA
Barksdale said
Mar 14 7:27 PM, 2025
The pill.
Barksdale said
Mar 14 7:31 PM, 2025
Syl wrote:
Electricity.
I might want to change my answer.
It's a toss up between that and the pill.
Magica said
Mar 14 7:32 PM, 2025
Heart transplant
jackb said
Mar 14 8:22 PM, 2025
Digger wrote:
The discovery of DNA
By Francis Crick under the influence of LSD.
Every weekend he'd go on a pleasure trip.
All week long he would be racking his brains on How on earth could all this stuff be happening.
On his weekend trip on one occasion there in front of him is a double helix self folding amazing coded system... DNA was discovered.
The more he delved the more and more complicated it seemed to get and then he realised it was a computer programme.
Who though programmed it?
He couldn't believe in God so he declared it had to be a very advanced civilisation that had found a way to fire out this information into the universe in the hope it would find somewhere it could replicate and survive but no way could this programming be the result of accidents in a world of mud and lightening!
Digger said
Mar 14 9:04 PM, 2025
jackb wrote:
Digger wrote:
The discovery of DNA
By Francis Crick under the influence of LSD.
Every weekend he'd go on a pleasure trip.
All week long he would be racking his brains on How on earth could all this stuff be happening.
On his weekend trip on one occasion there in front of him is a double helix self folding amazing coded system... DNA was discovered.
The more he delved the more and more complicated it seemed to get and then he realised it was a computer programme.
Who though programmed it?
He couldn't believe in God so he declared it had to be a very advanced civilisation that had found a way to fire out this information into the universe in the hope it would find somewhere it could replicate and survive but no way could this programming be the result of accidents in a world of mud and lightening!
It took the experience and experimental skills of Rosalind Franklin to obtain high-quality X-ray diffractograms that contained the definitive information that Watson and Crick needed to propose their famous DNA model.
Franklin was never nominated for a Nobel Prize. She died at 37 in 1958. Her work was a crucial part in the discovery of DNA's structure, which, along with subsequent related work, led to Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins being awarded a Nobel Prize in 1962
What scientific discovery has changed the world the most?
I've given it some thought and I'm unable to put my finger on any single one.
There have been so many over the last three hundred years or so... any thoughts?
I had to think about that for a few minutes MD but certainly a good contender.
-- Edited by jackb on Thursday 13th of March 2025 09:17:06 PM
Not sure what order though
Anaesthetic.
They have had a truly revolutionary effect world wide.
Communication with anyone anywhere on the planet at anytime plus entertainment of various kinds and built in high quality video cameras in every pocket.
The cell phone was cool, but it wasn't that cool until we attached the internet to it.
Now we can communicate with the world from almost anywhere.
And read a scientific report, or watch a porno, sporting match or a TV show..
I guess an early one was fire and how to make it
How to hunt and gather food and store it for lean times
More recently(ish) - that people who contracted cowpox were protected from smallpox, leading to the development of vaccines.
The discovery of DNA
The pill.
I might want to change my answer.
It's a toss up between that and the pill.
By Francis Crick under the influence of LSD.
Every weekend he'd go on a pleasure trip.
All week long he would be racking his brains on How on earth could all this stuff be happening.
On his weekend trip on one occasion there in front of him is a double helix self folding amazing coded system... DNA was discovered.
The more he delved the more and more complicated it seemed to get and then he realised it was a computer programme.
Who though programmed it?
He couldn't believe in God so he declared it had to be a very advanced civilisation that had found a way to fire out this information into the universe in the hope it would find somewhere it could replicate and survive but no way could this programming be the result of accidents in a world of mud and lightening!
It took the experience and experimental skills of Rosalind Franklin to obtain high-quality X-ray diffractograms that contained the definitive information that Watson and Crick needed to propose their famous DNA model.
Franklin was never nominated for a Nobel Prize. She died at 37 in 1958. Her work was a crucial part in the discovery of DNA's structure, which, along with subsequent related work, led to Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins being awarded a Nobel Prize in 1962