Inventors That Saved The Most Lives

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Top Eight Inventors That Saved The Most Lives
Life expectancy among humans has only ever been increasing. The world average human lifespan increased by about 30 years since 1955 according to a 2017 United Nations research study. And a lot of that has to do with scientific and technological advancements made by the world’s curious pioneers who asked the question, “how can we make this better?” From seat belts to genetic mapping, it’s no wonder we’re living longer than ever before. But surely some inventions did more heavy lifting than others along the way. Obviously, saving lives is its own reward and being a good person isn’t a competition... but if it were, these folks would win. So join us as we honor the Top Eight Inventors That Saved The Most Lives.

4. John Harrington, inventor of the Flush Toilet
You may laugh, but one of the most important physical inventions of the past millenia is the flush toilet. And the author Sir John Harrington is credited with being the first ever to invent the flush toilet, having devised the Ajax system and installed it in his manor in Kelston, England, around 1591. The forerunner to the modern flush toilet, the Ajax was a primitive design but clearly the modern commode’s predecessor. The term "John" is thought by some to be a reference to its inventor, but this etymology is unproven. The United Nations estimates that 2.5 billion people do not have access to safe, clean toilets. Around 15% of the world today lives without one, and most who go without are forced to defecate in the open. Where there are no clean toilets, diarrhea is the second largest killer of children under five, trailing only respiratory infection. The Center for Disease Control estimates that diarrheal diseases kill 800,000 children yearly and are responsible for one of every nine child deaths worldwide. Extrapolating from that, it’s easy to make the case that Water.org states on their website: “no other invention has saved more lives.”


3. Edward Jenner, inventor of Vaccines
Edward Jenner is often referred to as “the father of immunology,” and for good reason. The 18th century British scientist and physician is credited with pioneering vaccine technology. While most folks were looking for cures to the deadly disease, Jenner found a different path. Legend has it that Jenner observed that among all walks of life it was only milkmaids, the ladies that milked the cows, that never contracted the deadly smallpox disease. Investigating a cause as to why this perplexing phenomenon was occurring, he found that milkmaids were infected with a different ailment named Cowpox, a much less lethal cousin of smallpox, and that once the milkmaids had had cowpox run through their immune systems the deadly disease was no longer an issue for them. Armed with this knowledge, Jenner developed a treatment that infected people with cowpox instead, essentially protecting them against the more severe and harmful smallpox disease. He published his findings in 1796 in his work “Inquiry into the Variolae vaccinae known as the Cow Pox.” The name “vaccine” itself comes from the Latin root “vaca,” meaning “cow.” In 2002 he was named in the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons. It is not entirely unlikely that vaccinations have prevented enough deadly diseases to have saved the lives of over a billion people.



2. Norman Borlaug, inventor of Dwarf Wheat
Bread is life, and no one is more responsible for the curation of that life in recent memory than the agriculturalist Norman Borlaug. Dr. Borlaug led initiatives across the world, and none were more successful or impactful than his research and development in wheat. See, the problems with wheat are many: it’s prone to disease, it takes up a lot of space, and it’s topheavy by harvesting time so it sometimes goes bad in the fields. Borlung developed semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant Dwarf Wheat varieties that took up less space, were less prone to infection, and didn’t collapse under its own weight thanks to being shorter stalked than traditional wheat varieties. Thanks to the man called “the father of the Green Revolution,” Mexico went from food insecurity to a net exporter of wheat in 5 years time. India’s wheat crop increased from 11 million tons to 60 million tons annually after Dr. Borlung’s wheat varieties were introduced. Dr. Borlung won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply. By the time he died at the age of 95 in 2009 Dr. Borlung and the Green Revolution were credited with saving 1 billion lives thanks to those innovations.
We’re closing in on the top spot, and only one inventor yet remains. But we’d like to hear from you! What inventors and innovators do you think we missed that could qualify for our list? Leave your entries in the comments!




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