John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of a working television system on January 26, 1926. Now over 99% of households have one.

The first digital electronic computer, invented by Claude Shannon in 1940, was a turning point for the programmable devices that are now commonplace. The personal computer entered the commercial market in 1977. It was touted as a tool that would entertain, help calculate finances and boost creative development.

On April 3, 1973, mobile pioneer Dr Martin Cooper called his rival, Dr Joel S. Engel, the head of research at AT&T's Bell Labs, as he walked down a New York City street, talking on the first Motorola DynaTAC prototype in front of reporters.

the first artificial satellite was Sputnik 1 (pictured), launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. According to NASA there are over 3000 useful satellites in Earth's orbit.

Invented by Donald Keck, Peter Schultz and Robert Muir, fibre optics allow transmission of data at high speeds over long distances.

The internet, first used for military communications, has grown into a web of links too complex to navigate by yourself. It's now impossible to imagine society without it.