A question on inventions 1810-1900 that's too difficult to properly word in the title.

mad orc

Banned
Ok.
So I have seen threads that enquire.
1)What if the Internal Combustion engine was never invented.
2)What if man went steampunk .
3)Dieselpunk AHC
4)What if Zepplins were invented in the 1870s

Or threads like
1)How would science be different if Germany never unified.


The OP are always excited. The first few people provide satisfactory answers.
But then some experienced science oriented alt historian comes and proves that inventions like the Internal Combustion engine were all but invietable or that there is a 85% chance of Steampunk never being possible due to science related factors. Or that people in the 1870s simply didn't have the knowledge to make the strong cloth to make Zepplins that people in 1910 had !


So here is my question .
In
A timeframe from 1810-1910, which alternate inventions can be made or can not be made(Luke for ex no steamengines) or which alternate path can science take due to political and economic factors(Like no German unification) that can massively or slightly effect Human history, the history of war and anything else and most importantly.................
Like I said above, the answers should be very very possible and even science oriented alt historians must at least partially approve of them.

Notice: No penicillin answers wanted. I know that already.

THANK You.
 

Driftless

Donor
4)What if Zepplins were invented in the 1870s

Henri Giffard flew a functional dirigible in 1852. The big problem for him (and others in that era) was the need for a light-weight powerplant with sufficient output to overcome the winds at altitude. That was also a devil that challenged heavier-than-air flight.
 
So here is my question .
In
A timeframe from 1810-1910, which alternate inventions can be made or can not be made(Luke for ex no steamengines) or which alternate path can science take due to political and economic factors(Like no German unification) that can massively or slightly effect Human history, the history of war and anything else and most importantly.................
Like I said above, the answers should be very very possible and even science oriented alt historians must at least partially approve of them.

Notice: No penicillin answers wanted. I know that already.
.

There are literally thousands, to be fair. Every inventions, discovery, mode of thought or way of thinking is the product of countless circumstances and each one impacts a million other things. The list is, quite probably, nearly limitless. There are lots of 'near misses' of course, penicillin being a big one, but nearly any invention could be sped up, slowed down or radically altered by only a few small changes. if we start including mega events like German unification....it is just overwhelming.
 

mad orc

Banned
You too.
That's exactly what I want to avoid.


It should be plausible to the P.
Nobody should be able to contest it.
 
I don't see why German unification would have been a critical factor, since so many inventions sprung up all over Europe (and America) as inventors seemingly freely built on each other's work. It would, though, affect commerce.
 
people in the 1870s simply didn't have the knowledge to make the strong cloth to make Zepplins
Really?
No penicillin answers
So you know penicillin could actually have been discovered in the 19th Century?

What else? Internal combustion engines before 1860. I'm thinking voice radio might be possible; the science could've been stumbled on by somebody working on lightbulbs, or some other electrical invention. Assembly lines might be; something crude was conceived around 1810. I want to say fuel cells; IIRC, they were conceived in 1842, but never built. I'm also inclined to say liquid-fuelled rockets, but that might require chemistry that's too sophisticated, unless it's done (more/less accidentally, at first) by somebody looking for an IC motor fuel.
 
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