Name It

[disciple Clint]

In your opinion, what is the greatest scientific discovery, invention, tool, breakthrough, idea, attempt, contribution, mistake, catastrophe, hoax, joke, or whatever of all time?

how to make and use fire

 

[Kylie]

Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar.
One says, “I think I’ve lost an electron.”
The other says, “Are you sure?”
The first replies, “Yes, I’m positive…”

A neutron walks into a bar and asks, "How much for a beer?"

The bartender says, "For you? No charge."

 

[sjastro]

A neutron walks into a bar and asks, "How much for a beer?"

The bartender says, "For you? No charge."

I'm sorry to ruin your joke but a neutron is composed of three quarks which have a fractional charge.
The correct joke is a neutrino walked into a bar...
The bartender is displaying a shocking ignorance of particle physics which one would not expect from a bartender.
(Neutrinos have a zero charge.)

 

[Kylie]

I'm sorry to ruin your joke but a neutron is composed of three quarks which have a fractional charge.
The correct joke is a neutrino walked into a bar...
The bartender is displaying a shocking ignorance of particle physics which one would not expect from a bartender.
(Neutrinos have a zero charge.)

 

[SelfSim]

 

[Leaf473]

Less than half of the items listed for good or evil can be properly described as the product of science (mine is not), but TEL can.

Figuring out how to manufacture in bulk, that's on ChE's.

That's a good point. I took "scientific" in the OP as modifying only "discovery" and not items such as "idea" or "mistake". There's some ambiguity there imo.

 

[Leaf473]

There we are, the greatest product of science and technology: the animated gif.

 

[BPPLEE]

How horrible. I can bus or tram+train to my work, though I tend to cycle because of the aforementioned saving the planet thing, and because I am 6 miles from work, not 60.

All on wheels I believe

 

[Aryeh Jay]

South American civilizations prior to the arrival of Europeans had thriving, rich cultures that didn't use the wheel for anything other than kids toys. It's a common go to, but I don't think it's as important an invention as people think

Exactly, one just needs to see how much the Inca and Aztec empires have grown and prospered without the wheel since the Spanish arrived.

 

[Tanj]

Exactly, one just needs to see how much the Inca and Aztec empires have grown and prospered without the wheel since the Spanish arrived.

Not entirely convinced that the wheel crushed those civilisations, but ready to see your evidence.

 

[Tanj]

All on wheels I believe

Never said it wasn't a clever idea. I just wouldn't put it at number 1, which I would argue belongs to agriculture.

 

[sjastro]

The reaction of a bartender who doesn't know his particle physics.

 

[sjastro]

The Egyptians who built the Great Pyramid in the 4th dynasty did not have the wheel.
The wheel made its appearance in Egypt some 800 years later.

Hi Steven,
As far as we know the wheel was introduced to Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period (13th - 17th Dynasties) by the ‘Hyksos’ group who originated somewhere in the Levant. So, it would not have been in use at the time of the construction of the Giza pyramids. As arras we are aware, the large stone blocks that were used to build the pyramids were hauled along, probably on sleds or similar, by ropes.
Best wishes,
Chris

Dr Chris Naunton, Egyptologist
@chrisnaunton / www.chrisnaunton.com
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[Bradskii]

Never said it wasn't a clever idea. I just wouldn't put it at number 1, which I would argue belongs to agriculture.

I'm going with that. Speech came before it but I'd say that was an evolutionary process, not an invention or discovery. The control of fire was useful but limited to begin with. But with agriculture you have the beginnining of society. People could stay in one place. Build more permanent shelters. Store food. And the more people you have, the more that individual abilities become beneficial to the whole. It's what kick starts literally everything.

Speech leads to writing. Fire leads to cooking and metalurgy. The domestication of animals. Nation states. If you were lucky enough that you lived where crops were easily grown (the Fertile Crescent) then you had a head start and he rest, as they say...

With thanks to Jared Diamond.

 

[jacks]

The Egyptians who built the Great Pyramid in the 4th dynasty did not have the wheel.
The wheel made its appearance in Egypt some 800 years later.

I bet the slaves wish they would have at least used wheels for pulleys.

 

[Bradskii]

I bet the slaves wish they would have at least used wheels for pulleys.

I think the consensus is that they used logs or carved stone as simple pulleys. But you'd think that someone might have thought to put a couple of logs under the weight being moved so it would roll rather than dragging it. And then only a short step to cutting the ends of the log off and fitting an axle.

 

[sjastro]

I bet the slaves wish they would have at least used wheels for pulleys.

It is believed the workers who built the 4th dynasty pyramids were not slaves but a well looked after work force of volunteers.
Giza Secret Revealed: How 10,000 Pyramid Builders Got Fed

Compare this to the building of the town of Amarna in the 18th dynasty when the wheel was available, the evidence points to child labour where the kids were worked to death.
Children may have built archeological city of Amarna

 

[AV1611VET]

I think the consensus is that they used logs or carved stone as simple pulleys. But you'd think that someone might have thought to put a couple of logs under the weight being moved so it would roll rather than dragging it. And then only a short step to cutting the ends of the log off and fitting an axle.

Exodus 14:24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,
25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

 

[jacks]

...not slaves but a well looked after work force of volunteers.

I bet the "well looked after work force of volunteers" wish they would have at least used wheels for pulleys.

 

[Bradskii]

Exodus 14:24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,
25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

That was a story that was meant to have happened a thousand years after the pyramids were built.