What do you think is the most significant invention of recent times? That is to say, in the last 100 years. What invention stands out as the most life-changing, that had the greatest influence, the device which, had it not been invented, would have made our lives very difficult. Please note: I’m referring to a device as in something which is created. Compass? Magnet?

My argument is for the aeroplane.

There is nothing else that humankind has produced which changed the position of people in their ability to move from one part of the Earth to another, and eventually even into space. That is unique to the aeroplane. And yet, when it was first, not so much invented as presented to humankind, it was not accepted as such. It’s acknowledged that the first aeroplane that was successful was produced by the Wright brothers in 1903. And yet, initially, at least for 15 years, it was not acknowledged as such.

Samuel Langley was acknowledged as achieving the first successful self-propelled heavier-than-air flight, even though his most famous aircraft, the Aerodrome A, crashed on its first test flight, just two weeks before the Wright brothers’ first flight.

By contrast, the first successful aircraft by the Wright brothers initially flew no more than 36 m, which grew to 260 m and, after a short interval, the Wright brothers were flying distances of up to I km. But Langley got all the kudos for managing to get off the ground and stay off the ground. No-one wants to argue that this should not have happened, but we are talking about what was the most significant invention in the last 100 years.

Today, no one can remember who Langley was, except for the fact that the CIA headquarters are named after him. Go back to what we have recorded as significant inventions. What was the most significant invention?

We have allocated an invention (admittedly of some significance) as being the most significant thing to have occurred and that invention is the movement of devices off the ground under their own power.

It is not in any way unusual for this to happen. There are aeroplanes (which are the devices in question) which pass over my house every day. I do not know what’s travelling in those aeroplanes and, to be candid, I neither care nor think it would be particularly significant to find out. In fact, the flight of such devices is both miraculous and normal. The question is: Can we guess what will be the device to replace such devices or if the movement of such devices is just a lucky accident?

Why has it taken so long for something different to appear? When World War I started, the aeroplanes which flew were simple, crude devices and while they were effective, they could hardly be used for flight as a means of transport. The aeroplanes of World War II largely came about because the aeroplanes of World War I were redeveloped.

Modern aeroplanes are based on jet propulsion and are improved in all ways, including comfort, speed, fuel efficiency, and so on, but hardly at the rate at which World War I and World War II aeroplanes were developed. The question is: What is there that will replace or come to equal in a greater way aeroplanes in their significant influence on humankind? Would it be necessary to have a third world war to have such a development?

I believe there is going to be a requirement for a development which will provide this impetus and will effectively put all aeroplanes into insignificance by replacing them with devices which become, in an as-yet-unknown way, vastly improved. Will I be alive to see the change, and will I be able to appreciate it? I can always hope, but, on the other hand, I was lucky to be around for the changes brought about by the Wright brothers. As a consequence, I don’t have to expect too much.

Another way of looking at the subject is how long it took for the changes to be presented to the society of that time and to wonder whether developments have been made which have not yet been presented to today’s society.