The Kodak camera, the CT scanner, the steam turbine, the telephone--such inventions not only changed the course of history, but also changed our understanding of what the human race could achieve. An authoritative guide to the remarkable history of human innovation, this second edition, published in collaboration with London’s Science Museum, brings readers up to date with insightful examinations of the new, present-day technologies society already takes for granted--from magnetic resonance imaging to the Internet. Organized chronologically, the book begins with a look at scientific achievement in the early Middle Ages and the navigational tools that mapped the New World before moving on to the steam-powered machines of the Industrial Revolution, the lifesaving medicines of World Wars I and II, and the dynamically designed consumer goods of the 1950s and 1960s. An essay about each invention, written by an expert from London’s Science Museum, includes a short history of the invention’s creation, use, and significance.