Inventions That Shook the World Episode Rating Graph

The decade that kicked off the 20th Century was responsible for two inventions that helped define the next 100 years. The airplane and the radio set the planet on a course to becoming truly a global village.

The decade saw The Great War, The Flu Epidemic and the Titanic disaster. Ten years into the 20th Century and the world is grappling with some serious growing pains. In a decade racked by conflict, there were inventions that made the world both safer and infinitely more dangerous.

The roaring '20s marked a decade of unprecedented prosperity. It's no wonder the inventions that defined the 1920s are all about entertainment and convenience. Motion picture and television are two of the greatest inventions since sliced bread - both of which were invented during this time.

In a decade dominated by the Great Depression, the inventors of the 1930s are desperately trying to make a living. They come up with some simple yet ingenious inventions that are still practical necessities in our fast-paced life.

It was a decade of big bands and big bangs. During the Second World War, the 1940s bring us some of the greatest inventions of all time. And in the peaceful years that followed, all that inventing know-how would carry on in ways we never imagined.

Welcome to the decade of Rock 'n Roll, drive-ins and McCarthyism. An America flush with cash and terrified of the "Red Menace" defines the inventions of the 1950s.

The inventions of the 1960s were all about transforming science fiction into fact. Robots, satellites and a trip to the moon help make what was once only fantasy, become a reality.

This decade is best remembered for disco and Watergate. But with inventions like the cell phone and the digital camera, the 1970s mark the beginning of the digital age to-come.

It's the decade of Ronald Reagan and Margret Thatcher; cold war and glasnost; big beats, big hair and fashions that seemed like a good idea at the time. The inventions of the 1980s have us looking inward at our own DNA and outward to the far reaches of space.

The last decade of the 20th Century sets us on course for the next 100 years. With inventions like Global Positioning Satellites and The Hubble Space Telescope, the inventions of the 1990s help us see where we've been and where we're going.