10 Ideas That Changed the World

The 10 ideas that changed the world are the theories, concepts, practices or discoveries that changed the course of history, the life of human beings or the precepts of a discipline or science. For example: LIsaac Newton's law of universal gravitation.

These ideas were produced to satisfy different needs (economic, nutritional, political, communicational, vital, among others), to learn more about a matter, a procedure or an event or because of the curiosity of one or more persons.

These ideas were not always developed by a single person, since in some cases they were elaborated by one or various groups of individuals or arose as a result of research, theory, or practice by others thinkers.

Examples of ideas that changed the world

1. Democracy. It emerged in Ancient Greece in 500 BC. C., although many historians maintain that by that time there were already civilizations that used a system similar to democracy to make relevant decisions. This idea consists in that all or most of the citizens elect their representatives or participate in a direct sovereignty and changed the world in the Modern Age, because many countries adopted it as a system of government.
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2. evolution theory. It was developed by Charles Darwin in The origin of species (1859). According to this theory, all species have the same origin and evolve, that is, they change physiologically over time, because they present variations that they transmit to their descendants. To support this idea, the naturalist introduced the concept of natural selection, which assumes that only species whose physical traits allow them to adapt to their environment survive. Furthermore, this notion implies that, over time, these traits are passed on to descendants and, together with other mutations, give rise to a new species. However, it is recognized that there were antecedents that allowed Darwin to formulate this theory, such as the ideas outlined by Georges Louis Leclerc and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. The theory of evolution changed the world, because it revolutionized the way of understanding the origin, development and modifications of living beings and because it had a strong influence on different areas of knowledge, such as biology and the genetic.
3. assembly line. It began to be applied in 1901 in some factories in the United States and is a production system in which each worker performs a specific task in the manufacturing process of an object. To achieve this, there is generally a belt or a chain that transports objects that the workers modify. This idea changed the world, because it spread to different places, such as European factories and because brought great advantages, such as increased production and profits and economic growth. However, it also produced disadvantages, such as the difficulty of producing new and different objects and the monotony of the work.
4. General Theory of Relativity. It was developed by Albert Einstein at the beginning of the 20th century and assumes that the planets do not revolve around the Sun only by forces gravitational (as Isaac Newton had established), but rather because of the curvature produced by this star in the space time. This idea was the most important in physics of the 20th century, because it modified the interpretation that was held of the universe and the planetary orbits and because it has the acceptance of the entire community scientific.
5. Pythagoras theorem. It was developed by Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher and mathematician, in the 6th century BC. c. and is used to show that the hypotenuse of any right triangle measures the same as the square root of the sum of the squares of the legs (represented in the formula h = √ca²+co²). This theorem changed the world, because it is a formula that had and has application in different disciplines, such as construction, geography, geometry, topography, astronomy and navigation.
6. Heliocentric theory. It was developed by Aristarchus of Samos, a Greek astronomer and mathematician, in the 3rd century BC. C.; but it was not accepted as valid until the sixteenth century, when Copernicus justified it with astronomical and geometric demonstrations. According to this theory, all the planets revolve around the Sun and this star is the center of the universe. The first hypothesis was demonstrated, but the second was discarded in the 20th century, since it was holds that there is more than one galaxy in the universe and therefore the Sun cannot take the place central. Heliocentrism was very important, because it led to the refutation of geocentrism (the theory that all planets revolve around the Earth) and because he founded essential precepts for space physics, astronomy and philosophy.
7. Periodic table. It was developed by Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian chemist, in 1869 and contains all the existing elements that are represented by chemical symbols and ordered according to their atomic number, their electronic configuration and their characteristics. Although the first version had 63 elements, others were added over time and currently it has 118. This idea revolutionized chemistry and other natural sciences.
8. atom structure. Although Democritus in 450 a. c. proposed the existence of the atom, it was not until the 19th century that a chemist and mathematician, John Dalton, described its internal structure using scientific bases. Dalton's model was discarded because it had some errors and was replaced by others until the accepted model was reached. present, the quantum-wave, which was the result of the work of different scientists, such as Niels Bohr, Arnold Sommerfeld and Erwin Schrodinger. Knowing the structure of the atom is essential to understand how matter behaves, therefore, this idea has modified the history and precepts of chemistry, biology and medicine.
9. Big Bang Theory. It was developed by Georges Lemaître in 1927 and later by George Gamow in 1948 and assumes that matter, space and time originated 13.8 billion years ago from the explosion of the first and only atom existing. This theory revolutionized science and the way of understanding the world, since it is the most accepted explanation of the origin and behavior of the universe.
10. farming. It arose approximately in 9500 a. c. and it is an activity that is carried out with the aim of producing food on earth. This procedure was fundamental in the history of humanity, because people stopped moving to get food and, therefore, they were able to build villages in a fixed place, which, in some cases, later became large cities and gave rise to important civilizations.

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