Stone to Silicon

Timeline · 74 technologies

Materials

c. 202,000 years ago to December 2025. Each one is placed by when it first worked.

Open the living tree

  1. c. 202,000 years agoBirch tar adhesiveThe first synthetic material, cooked from birch bark to glue tools.
  2. c. 31,000 years agoFired clay figurinesClay shaped into figurines and hardened by fire.
  3. c. 20,000 years agoPotteryFired clay vessels for cooking, storing and carrying.
  4. c. 16,000 years agoLime plasterBurned limestone that sets back into stone.
  5. c. 8,500 BCENative copper workingPure copper nuggets hammered into beads and awls.
  6. c. 5,000 BCECopper smeltingHeat and charcoal pull metal out of rock.
  7. c. 4,700 BCELost-wax castingA wax model melted from a clay mold leaves a perfect metal copy.
  8. c. 4,650 BCEBronzeCopper alloyed with tin: harder, castable, and worth trading for.
  9. c. 4,500 BCEPotter's wheelA rotating wheel helps potters thin and shape vessels built from clay coils.
  10. c. 4,000 BCEFaienceGlazed quartz ceramic in brilliant blue-green.
  11. c. 3,500 BCESilkFilament from domesticated silkworms, the fiber of empires.
  12. c. 2,500 BCEGlassSand, soda and lime melted into a transparent solid.
  13. c. 2,000 BCEIron smelting (bloomery)Iron ore becomes metal, centuries before iron tools become common.
  14. c. 1,600 BCEMesoamerican rubberLatex blended with morning glory juice makes bouncing balls.
  15. c. 500 BCECast iron (China)Early blast furnaces melt iron so it can be poured into molds.
  16. c. 300 BCECrucible (wootz) steelIron and carbon sealed in a clay crucible make uniform high-carbon steel.
  17. c. 200 BCERoman concreteLime and volcanic ash make a mortar that sets even underwater.
  18. c. 50 BCEGlassblowingAn iron blowpipe inflates glass into cheap, thin vessels.
  19. c. 100 CEDistillationBoil, condense, collect: separating liquids by volatility.
  20. c. 100 CEPorcelainKaolin fired at about 1300 C gives hard, white, translucent ware.
  21. c. 850 CEGunpowderSaltpeter, sulfur and charcoal: the first chemical explosive.
  22. c. 1200Blast furnace (Europe)Water-driven bellows make a tall furnace flow with liquid iron.
  23. c. 1450Venetian clear glassNearly colorless cristallo from the furnaces of Murano.
  24. 1709Coke-fired iron smeltingCoal baked into coke replaces scarce charcoal in the blast furnace.
  25. c. 1740Huntsman crucible steelMolten steel of even quality, for springs, blades and tools.
  26. 1746Sulfuric acid (lead chamber)Industrial sulfuric acid, the most produced chemical on Earth.
  27. 1756Hydraulic limeA mortar that sets hard in water, rediscovered by testing.
  28. 1784PuddlingStirring molten pig iron makes wrought iron in bulk with coal.
  29. 1791Leblanc soda processSalt and sulfuric acid yield soda ash for glass and soap.
  30. 1824Portland cementA fired limestone-clay powder, the binder of modern concrete.
  31. 1828Hot blastPreheating the furnace air cuts fuel use by about two thirds.
  32. 1839VulcanizationSulfur and heat make rubber durable in heat and cold.
  33. 1847NitroglycerinGlycerol nitrated with mixed acids: a powerful, dangerous explosive.
  34. 1856Bessemer steelBlowing air through molten iron makes steel in minutes.
  35. 1856Synthetic dye (mauveine)A teenage chemist makes purple from coal tar and starts an industry.
  36. 1862ParkesineThe first human-made plastic, from nitrated cellulose.
  37. 1864Solvay processAmmonia-soda process makes soda ash cleanly and cheaply.
  38. 1865Open-hearth steelA regenerative furnace makes large, controllable steel batches.
  39. 1867DynamiteNitroglycerin absorbed into clay, safe enough for construction.
  40. 1867Reinforced concreteIron bars carry the tension that concrete cannot.
  41. 1886Aluminum (Hall-Heroult)Electrolysis turns aluminum from a precious metal into a commodity.
  42. 1895Liquid air (Linde)Liquefied air supplies pure oxygen and nitrogen at industrial scale.
  43. 1898High-speed steelTool steel that stays hard red-hot, tripling cutting speeds.
  44. 1900Electric arc furnaceElectric arcs melt scrap into new steel.
  45. 1907Synthetic plastic (Bakelite)The first fully synthetic plastic, moldable and heat-resistant.
  46. 1909Synthetic rubberRubber made from petrochemicals instead of trees.
  47. 1913Stainless steelChromium makes steel that does not rust.
  48. 1916Czochralski crystal pullingPulling a seed from a melt grows a single perfect crystal.
  49. 1923Cemented carbideTungsten carbide bonded with cobalt, nearly as hard as diamond.
  50. 1926Plasticized PVCFlexible vinyl for waterproof fabrics and electrical insulation.
  51. 1932Glass fiberGlass drawn into fine fibers for insulation and composites.
  52. 1933High-pressure polyethyleneThe simplest polymer, now the world's most produced plastic.
  53. 1935NylonThe first synthetic fiber strong enough to replace silk.
  54. 1937Kroll process (titanium)Magnesium reduction makes titanium metal in usable amounts.
  55. 1948Basic oxygen steelmakingPure oxygen blown into iron makes a heat of steel in under an hour.
  56. 1950Zone refiningA moving molten zone sweeps impurities out of a crystal.
  57. 1952Float glassGlass floated on molten tin makes flat, perfect sheets.
  58. 1953High-pressure synthetic diamondGraphite squeezed at high pressure and heat becomes diamond.
  59. 1953Ziegler-Natta catalystsCatalysts that build polymers at low pressure with precise structure.
  60. 1958Carbon fiberCarbonized fibers stronger than steel at a fraction of the weight.
  61. 1965KevlarAn aramid fiber five times stronger than steel by weight.
  62. 1985BuckminsterfullereneA 60-atom carbon soccer ball reveals a new form of carbon.
  63. 1986High-temperature superconductorsCeramics that superconduct far above earlier limits.
  64. 1991Carbon nanotubesRolled sheets of carbon atoms with extraordinary strength.
  65. 1999Metal-organic frameworksCrystalline sponges with vast internal surface area.
  66. 2000MetamaterialsEngineered structures that bend waves in ways no natural material can.
  67. 2004GrapheneA single layer of carbon atoms, peeled off with sticky tape.
  68. 2007Gorilla GlassIon-exchanged glass tough enough for touchscreens.
  69. 2011Composite airliner (787)An airliner built half from carbon fiber composites.
  70. 2018Magic-angle grapheneTwo graphene sheets twisted by 1.1 degrees become a superconductor.
  71. 2021Hydrogen-reduced steelIron ore reduced with hydrogen instead of coke.
  72. 2023AI materials discovery (GNoME)A neural network predicts 380,000 stable new crystals.
  73. July 2025Wafer-scale 2D InSeTwo-inch wafers of an atomically thin semiconductor that beats silicon roadmaps.
  74. December 2025First commercial furnace in orbitA free-flying satellite lights a 1,000 °C furnace to make crystals in space.

Projections 4

  1. around 2030AI-driven materials discoveryModels propose new compounds and robotic labs synthesise and test them in days.
  2. around 2033Hydrogen-reduced green steelHydrogen replaces coke in making iron, removing a major source of industrial CO2.
  3. around 2045Gigatonne-scale carbon removalMachines and mineral processes pull a billion tonnes of CO2 a year back out of the air.
  4. around 2055Room-temperature superconductorA material that carries current with zero resistance at everyday temperature and pressure.