Over the centuries, human life has been made easier with time as scientific discoveries and inventions continue to be made. Most of these discoveries have led to major revolutions in the life of mankind, with others improving the quality of life tremendously. Here’s a list of 6 scientific discoveries that made people happy by bringing solutions to major problems and making tasks much easier.
Antibiotics
Many years ago, many people would die from diseases that are easily treatable nowadays. This changed in 1928 when Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, a compound containing antibiotic properties. He acquired it using fungi and mold in his lab. Fleming’s discovery led to massive use of antibiotics for the rest of the 20th century. Most infections were now treatable and many lives were saved. Antibiotics have contributed to a much better quality of life and longer life spans too.
Electricity
Nowadays, it would be hard to imagine what you would do without electricity. Well, before the 19th century, people did not enjoy the benefits of having electric power just a switch away. In 1821, British scientist Michael Farady made his first discovery in relation to electricity. This was the power of electromagnetism which led to the development of the electric motor. A decade later he made another discovery, production of an electric current by moving a wire in a magnetically charged field. The first generator was invented on the basis of this discovery. Afterwards, larger generators that produce electricity were made.
Blood circulation
In 1628, William Harvey made a major contribution to medicine through his discovery of the blood circulatory system. He described how the system worked, and this allowed for other breakthroughs in medicine.
Vaccines
Before vaccination, a lot of lives were lost to deadly diseases that no one had any idea how to prevent or treat. At a time when smallpox was one of the major killers, people in parts of Turkey, Africa and China had discovered that inoculating themselves with the smallpox pus would immunize them against the disease. However, it was Edward Jenner’s similar discovery in 1796 that would later lead to mass production of vaccines that would bring diseases such as polio, measles and diptheria under control. In Jenner’s case, he used cowpox pus, a much milder bovine ailment, to inoculate against smallpox.
Anesthesia
Surgery procedures nowadays are painless experiences while they happen, but this wasn’t always the case. With only the help of some unrefined anesthetics such as alcohol, opium, mandrake or sometimes none, surgical patients before 1847 had to put up with a lot of pain. It was in 1847 that Henry Bigelow, an American scientist began the use of ether and chloroform as the first general anesthetics, making surgery bearable at last.
Air conditioning
Summer and winter would be unbearable without the wonders of air conditioning. While various forms of air conditioning were in use since the olden times, it wasn’t until 1902 that Willis Carrier, a young engineer from Buffalo, New York invented the electrical air conditioning unit. This one was so much more efficient and effective.
