Seven Wonders of Science and Technology

[dvandom]

According to the International Conference on Physics Education 2007 attendees (Full text here). Attendees voted on science and technology things that they felt had the greatest impact on modern life:

1. The World Wide Web
   
2. Nanotechnology
   
3. Satellite Communications
   
4. Medical and Industrial Imaging
   
5. Transistors
   
6. Lasers
   
7. Wireless Communications
   

Obviously, there's some overlap. Airplanes and electrical generators tied for 8^th place, one vote behind wireless communications.

Edit: Please read the linked article before arguing with what you think it must have said. :)

Comments

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Nanotechnology? Seriously?

I mean, I can see putting it on a list of, say, the top seven things you think are going to have a big impact on future life, but to say it's already affected modern life more than the airplane or the dynamoelectric generator when it's still almost entirely without working practical applications seems a bit... wrong.

[hooper-x.livejournal.com]

Holy christ, they're looking too small in focus.

TOP FIVE:
Germ theory.
Indoor plumbing.
Electrical generation.
Air conditioning/refrigeration.
THEN the internet, maybe.

[querldox.livejournal.com]

Are they mixing "computers" in general with the Web and transistors?

And something everyone leaves out of these lists; battery technology, particularly portable batteries.