American inventions

thumb|upright=1.35|Flat-panel display|Flat-screen television receivers on display for sale at a consumer electronics store in May 2008

thumb|An old rotary dial telephone thumb|AT&T push button telephone made by [[Western Electric, model 2500 DMG black, 1980]]

An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research.

general-purpose programming language

electronic game with user interface and visual feedback

JavaScript (JS) is a programming language and core technology of the Web, alongside HTML and CSS. It was created by Brendan Eich in 1995. As of 2025, the overwhelming majority of websites (98.9%) uses JavaScript for client side webpage behavior.

object-oriented programming language

explosive device that gets its destructive force from nuclear reactions

Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings each day. Coca-Cola ranked No. 94 in the 2024 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue. Based on Interbrand's "best global brand" study of 2023, Coca-Cola was the world's sixth most valuable brand.

hand-held device used to move a pointer on a computer display

thumb|MOSFET|Metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), showing gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (white).

Curium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Cm and atomic number 96. This transuranic actinide element was named after eminent scientists Marie and Pierre Curie, both known for their research on radioactivity. Curium was first intentionally made by the team of Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, and Albert Ghiorso in 1944, using the cyclotron at Berkeley. They bombarded the newly discovered element plutonium (the isotope 239Pu) with alpha particles. This was then sent to the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago where a tiny sample of curium was eventually separated and

data storage device

thumb|An electronic pocket calculator with a seven-segment display|seven-segment [[liquid-crystal display (LCD) that can perform arithmetic operations]] thumb|upright=.6|A modern scientific calculator with a dot-matrix display

high-capacity public transport generally used in urban areas

fully automatic mounted or portable firearm

thumb|upright=1.5|A telescope in the Very Large Telescope system producing four orange [[laser guide stars |alt=A telescope emitting four orange laser beams]]

multi-paradigm (object-oriented) programming language

machine used to stitch fabric

A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, ), is a type of form-fitting underwear that is primarily used to support and cover a woman's breasts. A typical bra consists of a chest band that wraps around the torso, supporting two breast cups that are held in place by shoulder straps. A bra usually fastens in the back, using a hook and eye fastener, although bras are available in a large range of styles and sizes, including front-fastening and backless designs. Some bras are designed for specific functions, such as nursing bras to facilitate breastfeeding or sports bras to minimize discomfort dur

thumb|upright|Shure Brothers microphone, model 55S, multi-impedance "Small Unidyne" dynamic from 1951

form of computer data storage

computer intended for use by an individual person

stand-alone electronic visual display for computers connected via a cable and usually externally powered

thumb|300px|right|A game of Texas hold 'em with eight players in progress.

communication code with signals representing letters, punctuation marks and numbers

machine which washes clothes automatically

In computing, a compiler is software that translates computer code written in one programming language (the source language) into another language (the target language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that translate source code from a high-level programming language to a low-level programming language (e.g. assembly language, object code, or machine code) to create an executable program.

Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Though Perl is not officially an acronym, there are various backronyms in use, including "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language".

measuring the strength ("size") of earthquakes

right|thumb|upright|A kerosene bottle, containing blue-dyed kerosene

mobile computer with integrated display, circuitry and battery

food prepared and served quickly

device that uses air to suck up dirt and other substances

electronic circuit formed on a small, flat piece of semiconductor material

BASIC ('''Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code''') is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College in 1964. They wanted to enable students in non-scientific fields to use computers. At the time, nearly all computers required writing custom software, which only scientists and mathematicians tended to learn.

payment card issued to users as a system of payment

thumb|USB 80 Gbit/s port logo Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical interfaces, and communication protocols to and from hosts, such as personal computers, to and from peripheral devices, e.g. displays, keyboards, and mass storage devices, and to and from intermediate hubs, which multiply the number of a host's ports.

thumb|upright|Hi-fi speaker system for home use with three types of dynamic drivers The hole below the lowest woofer is a port for a bass reflex system.

non-destructive technique for imaging internal structures of objects or organisms

kitchen cooking appliance

sausage in bun, usually with toppings

Fortran (; formerly FORTRAN) is a third-generation, compiled, imperative programming language designed for numeric computation and scientific computing.

thumb|A pair of jeans thumb|right|Microscopic image of faded fabric

thumb|A typical Stop & Shop supermarket in [[Long Branch, New Jersey]] thumb|upright=1.35|Inside an Asda supermarket in the United Kingdom A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections under one roof. The supermarket retail format first appeared around 1930 in the United States as the culmination of almost two decades of retail innovations to the grocery store, and began to spread to other countries after extensive worldwide publicity in 1956. In everyday American English usage, "grocery store" is often used inte

device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image

Cola is a carbonated soft drink flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, citrus oils, and other flavorings. The name, however, comes from the kola nut (Cola acuminata), which imbues the beverage with caffeine (though other sources of caffeine are generally used in modern formulations). A stimulating soda using kola appeared circa 1880.

writing implement

electric or acoustic bass instrument

A microprocessor is a computer processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circuitry required to perform the functions of a computer's central processing unit (CPU). The IC is capable of interpreting and executing program instructions and performing arithmetic operations. The microprocessor is a multipurpose, clock-driven, register-based, digital integrated circuit that accepts binary data as input, processes it according to instructions stored

thumb|upright=1.5|The IBM Blue Gene|Blue Gene/P supercomputer "Intrepid" at [[Argonne National Laboratory (pictured 2007) runs 164,000 processor cores using normal data center air conditioning, grouped in 40 racks/cabinets connected by a high-speed 3D torus network.]] A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. Supercomputers play an important role in the field of computational science, and are used for a wide range of computationally intensive tasks in various fields including quantum mechanics, weather forecasting, climate

electrified guitar; fretted stringed instrument with a neck and body that uses a pickup to convert the vibration of its strings into electrical signals

thumb|Zippers with common teeth variations: metal teeth (top), coil teeth and plastic teeth

thumb|A Universal Product Code|UPC-A barcode A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable symbolic form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, commonly referred to as linear or one-dimensional (1D), can be scanned by optical scanners known as barcode readers.

interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system for running video games

thumb|A user operating a touchscreen thumb|Smart thermostat with touchscreen

light source

thumb|A twisted-pair cable as commonly used for Ethernet thumb|100px|Symbol used by Apple Inc.|Apple and [[Google on some devices to denote an Ethernet connection]] thumb|100px|Symbol recommended by Microsoft as part of the [[PC System Design Guide to denote an Ethernet connection]]

removable disk storage medium