The engineering achievements of the 20th century helped create the world we know today. See which 20th-century achievements you have used.

1903 – The first sustained flight with a powered, controlled airplane.

1913 – The first electric dishwasher is put on the market for consumers.

1922 – The first American car is made with four-wheel hydraulic brakes.

1930s – The Artificial pacemaker is invented by practitioner cardiologist Albert S. Hyman to resuscitate patients if their hearts stop beating. 

1933 – Edwin Howard Armstrong creates FM radio.

1946 – The first electronic computer was put into operation by John Mauchly and John Presper Eckert. It weighed 30 tons and included 18,000 vacuum tubes, 6,000 switches, and 1,500 relays.

1968 – The Apollo 8 flight to the Moon views Earth from lunar orbit.

1969 – Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon.

1979 – The first laptop computer is designed.

1981 – IBM releases a personal computer.

1983 – The Internet (ARPANET), and all networks attached to it, officially adopts the TCP/IP networking protocol. 

1991 – The World Wide Web becomes available to the general public.

Learn about other achievements and inventions that took place in the 20th century by visiting Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century.

Inspire the next generation of engineers. The TryEngineering Summer Institute is currently accepting scholarship applications until 6 March 2020. This two-week program gives students ages 13 – 17 the opportunity to learn about engineering in a fun, hands-on way. Learn more about the scholarship program today.