Inventions That Shook the World

Inventions in the decade include jet engines; computers and microwave ovens.

Weather satellites; video game console; taser; industrial robots.

Inventions of the 1950s included transistor radios, Sputnik and flight data recorders.

Radios, airplanes, disposable razors and air conditioners are among the inventions.

War is the driving force behind much of the innovation in the 1940s. The microwave is born after a self-taught inventor realizes that military equipment is responsible for melting a chocolate bar in his pocket. And, a sailor returns home and hits pay dirt with an invention that finally brings cats in from the cold: kitty litter.

Television, sound in movies, lie detectors and refrigerators.

DNA profiling; nicotine patch; the Internet; capsule endoscopy; MIR station.

Inventions include portable walkie-talkies, electric guitars, parking meters and copy machines.

Hubble Space Telescope; windup radio; neurotrophic electrode; camera phone; airbag system.

The cell phone and the digital camera.