• Question: What would you say is the best scientific discovery (or invention) in history and why?

    Asked by Charis to Francesca, Laura, Matthew, Andrew, Rebecca on 13 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by BethBeebeedaniel.
    • Photo: Laura Schofield

      Laura Schofield answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      I’d say electricity is the best discovery because I can’t go a day without it! Can you imagine not having lights or a phone or the internet or computers or a tv or an oven or a kettle or a PS4 or Xbox??? No? Me either!

    • Photo: Matthew Camilleri

      Matthew Camilleri answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      I’d have to go for either the wheel or fire. This was done by people who were not called scientists, but yet they discovered ways how to make their life easier.

      I would probably still be able to live without electricity, although it is very important in my life (remember, up to a 100 or so years ago only the rich had electricity). Would I be able to live without knowing how to make a fire? How would I be able to cook? And when it comes to transporting things there is no way you can do it without the wheels (the Aztec might argue against this, cause they never managed to discover the wheel).

      The best discoveries in science are not the ones that are shown on tv, or those that are made after a splurge of billions of dollars/pounds. The best discoveries are those that manage to infiltrate every home without anyone realising, those that have turned our lives for the better. The first of these type of discoveries were fire and the wheel, which were probably followed by electricity

    • Photo: Francesca Palombo

      Francesca Palombo answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      I believe it is the discovery of flight. The possibility to fly and reach any part of the planet and beyond that, flying across the universe, is just phenomenal, unprecedented. This has changed our history for good, modified society, cultures and the entire world.

    • Photo: Rebecca Ingle

      Rebecca Ingle answered on 14 Nov 2014:

      For me it’s probably quantum mechanics. I think all the other scientists have highlighted some very practical and useful discoveries but I think the formulation of quantum mechanics was essentially heralding in the new era of science. It’s certainly completely changed the things we can study and our understanding of how so many things work and it has already found its way into numerous practical applications too.

    • Photo: Andrew McKinley

      Andrew McKinley answered on 14 Nov 2014:

      I think language/communication is the best invention in history – communicating our knowledge to future generations is what has allowed us to have all the technology we have today. You wouldn’t have your smart phones without people passing their findings onto others – no one person in total isolation over a lifetime could possibly discover everything you would need to discover in order to even have the glass for the screen, let alone anything else!

      Just hold your phone in your hand and think – what discoveries had to be made to make your phone… from making perfectly flat glass to cover the screen, to the electronics in the display. How do you control each and every one of those tiny lights? Come to think of it, how do you even get a clock to keep time? OK, you’ve seen cogs and wheels, but do you know how each of them work? How they link together? The rate of our scientific progress is directly related to how quickly and easily we can communicate what we have discovered to other people – they then don’t need to rediscover it, and they can use your discovery to make further discoveries.

      Animals communicate as well of course, but they do not have the complexity of language that we have in order to communicate complex ideas – hence why I nominate language as a contender for best invention in history!

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