The youngest inventors of the last 100 years
Who said that decades of experience are needed to make revolutionary inventions? In fact, there are many examples of precocious young minds in the world capable of imagining, developing and creating the most disparate inventions.
From social networks to the iPod, from artificial intelligence to augmented reality, today we tell you about some of the inventions of the brightest and youngest people of the last 100 years.
GPS, global positioning system
Inventor: Roger L. Easton Jr.
In the 1960s, Roger L. Easton Jr., at just 25 years old, contributed significantly to the development of GPS. While working at the Naval Research Laboratory, Easton developed satellite timing and tracking technologies that are the basis of the modern GPS system, used today throughout the world for navigation and tracking.
Java language
Inventor: James Gosling
James Gosling, a Canadian computer scientist, was only 29 years old when he began developing Java in 1991. Working for Sun Microsystems, Gosling created Java to provide a programming language that could run on any device, regardless of architecture. Java has become one of the most popular programming languages in the world, critical for developing web, mobile, and enterprise applications.
iPod
Inventor: Tony Fadell
At just 30 years old, Tony Fadell created the iPod, Apple’s revolutionary portable music player. Launched in 2001, the iPod transformed the way people listen to music, allowing you to carry thousands of songs with you in one compact device. Fadell is often called the “father of the iPod” for his central role in the product’s development.
Facebook
Inventor: Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg was just 19 years old when he launched Facebook in 2004. Initially developed as a platform to connect students at Harvard University, Facebook quickly grew to become the largest social network in the world, with billions of active users. Zuckerberg has transformed the way people communicate and share information online.
Flexible electronics
Inventor: Zhenan Bao
Zhenan Bao, a young Chinese-American scientist, began working on flexible electronics in her early thirties. In 2016, at the age of 33, Bao and his team at Stanford University developed flexible artificial skin with sensors that can detect touch. This invention opened new frontiers in robotics and medical prosthetics.
Virtual reality
Inventor: Palmer Luckey
Palmer Luckey was just 21 years old when he developed the first prototype of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset in 2012. His invention revolutionized the world of video games and entertainment, bringing virtual reality to a wider audience and spurring further technological developments in sector.
AI for image recognition
Inventor: Fei-Fei Li
Fei-Fei Li, at 27, revolutionized the field of artificial intelligence by developing ImageNet, a vast image database used to train deep learning algorithms. His work at Stanford University has enabled enormous advances in image recognition, leading to innovations in areas such as autonomous driving and medical diagnostics.
