9 Brilliant Inventors from the 18th Century

I plan to do three lists about inventors this year, each focusing on either the 18th, 19th or 20th centuries. Since I’m kind of a slave to chronology, I’ll start here in the 18th century (the 1700s for those of you still confused by all that). Home to a host of revolutions, both political and otherwise, the 18th century was both a time of chaos and development. While wars raged and monarchs rose and fell, men (pretty exclusively at this point unfortunately) were just beginning to delve into steam power, mechanical propulsion, mass production and other technologies that would improve efficiency and displace labor. Since I am not an engineer or scientist of any kind, these entries will focus on the inventors themselves and touch on their various inventions in layman’s terms. As always, I hope you enjoy.

1. Bartolomeo Cristofori

We begin our list in the land of the Renaissance. Bartolomeo was an Italian born inventor whose life is shrouded in mystery despite the fact that his most famous creation is known by all and beloved by many. The documents pertaining to his life and death amount to no more than his birth records, two versions of his will, some bills, a single interview (with accompanying notes) and his death records. What we do know is that Bartolomeo was a master musical instrument maker and came to be employed by the waning Medici family. While he crafted a number of conventional instruments for his Italian patrons, he also crafted one of his own design. The first recorded instance of Bartolomeo’s piano making an appearance in the Medici court can be traced to around 1700. By 1711 it is believed he may have built two more of these ‘proto-pianos’. These early models were lighter and more limited in musical range than the pianos we know today, but the invention seems to have kept Bartolomeo in the good graces of his patrons; he became custodian of the Medici musical collection in 1716. Unfortunately the fall of the Medici meant the fall of Cristofori as well. Out of the employ of the once powerful Medici’s, he spent the rest of his life perfecting his musical invention, even selling one to the King of Portugal. Eventually growing ill, he died at 75 in 1731, leaving everything to his caretakers. After his death, some came to believe that a German inventor had actually invented the piano, but later scholarship has corrected this untruth. Only three of Bartolomeo’s pianos exist today and the exact number he made during his lifetime is unknown.