Modern Technologies That Are Way Older Than You Think

Microphone - 1876

Shortly after Alexander Graham Bell unveiled his newly invented telephone, German clerk Emile Berliner realized the device's transmitter was fairly weak. So, with only a rudimentary knowledge of electricity, Berliner set to work on a so-called loose-contact transmitter, which amplified the noise that came from Bell's existing model. Bell's company, the American Bell Telephone Company, was so impressed with Berliner's work that it hired him as an assistant in its lab.