1830s: Charles Babbage develops the principles of the mechanical computer
1847: rotary printing press invented
1858-9: theory of evolution put forward by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace
1857-66: first transatlantic telegraph cable laid
1867: typewriter invented (with QWERTY keyboard)
1876: telephone patented
1879: first practical light bulb
1903: first sustained flight by a power driven aircraft (Wright bros.)
1904: first "electronic valve"
1915: Einstein's general theory of relativity
1921: teleprinter invented
1944: IBM produced a mechanical calculating machine
1945: first nuclear bombs made and tested
1948: transistor invented
1950s: magnetic recording developed
1953: structure of DNA determined
1955: computers enter into commercial use, and common by 1960
1956: nuclear power on an industrial scale
1957: Sputnik I launched
1966: first heart transplant
1960s: integrated circuits developed
1969: first Moon landing, Apollo 11
1970s-80s: Innovation in solid state electronics led to an information boom as personal computers, fax machines, and satellite communication systems became internationally accessible
For more information on the history of science and technology, try the WWWVL History of Science, Technology & Medicine.