Pennsylvania helped launch the modern world. Count down five tech firsts from the Keystone State — from the railroad air brake and the first big oil well to ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic computer — plus two bonus picks you’d never guess started there.
#5: Railroad air brake (Pittsburgh, 1869)
Early trains were hard to stop in a hurry. George Westinghouse, 23, tested his air brake in Pittsburgh. Compressed air worked the brakes on every car at once. On the test run it stopped just short of a wagon on the tracks.
#4: KDKA radio broadcast (East Pittsburgh, 1920)
On election night 1920, people heard the news by radio. Westinghouse station KDKA aired it from East Pittsburgh. A true pioneer of the radio stations we tune in to today. It grew out of an engineer’s hobby shows from his garage.
#3: Commercial oil well (Titusville, 1859)
This well was drilled on purpose to pump oil from the ground. Edwin Drake struck oil near Titusville in August 1859. He drove iron pipe down to keep the hole from caving in. Drake was a former railroad conductor, not an oilman.
#2: Lightning rod (Philadelphia, 1752)
Lightning used to set homes and church steeples on fire. Ben Franklin worked out the lightning rod in Philadelphia. A pointed rod and a wire carry the strike into the ground. In the colonies, pointed rods became a jab at the King.
#1: ENIAC computer (Philadelphia, 1946)
ENIAC was the first general-purpose electronic computer. Built at the University of Pennsylvania, unveiled in 1946. It did 12 hours of hand math in about 30 seconds. Six women programmed it — and got little credit for decades.
Bonus Picks From Pennsylvania
The emoticon 🙂 (Pittsburgh, 1982). Online jokes kept getting taken the wrong way. In 1982 Scott Fahlman of Carnegie Mellon typed :-). Tilt your head — it’s a smile, and the emoji’s ancestor.
The Jeep (Butler, 1940). The Army wanted a small, tough scout car — and fast. American Bantam built the first one in Butler in 1940. The deadline to deliver a working model: just 49 days.
Tech From Every State
This is part of my Tech From Every State series: the top tech inventions and firsts from each of the 50 states, told with simple animations. Watch the whole series on YouTube and subscribe to The Tech Ranch so you don’t miss your state.
Did we miss something invented in Pennsylvania? Tell me in the YouTube comments — and give the video a thumbs up if you learned something.
