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Forbes 85th Anniversary
A Celebration Of Business Innovators And Ideas
12.05.02, 6:30 PM ET

Innovation is the spark of capitalism. To celebrate our 85th anniversary, we have selected 85 business breakthroughs that have changed our lives in a profound way since Forbes started publishing. We also highlight 15 more that promise to do the same in the future.

Our past and future picks are a provocative and comprehensive challenge to anyone who thinks the age of prosperity is behind us. But, as always, we value your views. Post them to our 85th Anniversary discussion forum.

As this is an anniversary event, we've drawn up an interactive business-history time line that recalls the 85 years that span the Model T and the Internet, and retells a little of our company history. There is video to watch, vintage Forbes covers to recall and classic cover stories to read.

Finally, try the When Was That Invented? quiz and see how you do against other readers.

Slide Shows

Innovations That Changed The Way We Live

Forbes Covers Through The Years

Nineteen notable thinkers on 85 years of breakthroughs.

Video

1910s

1920s

1930s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

15 People Who Will Reinvent Your Future

Seeing the Light

Scott Woolley

Richard Friend's supermolecules will give us paper-thin display screens--and much more.

The Secrets of Scent

Daniel Lyons

Linda Buck maps the brain using her nose.

Steely Dan

Lea Goldman

Daniel Branagan and his heroic metal.

Mister Natural

Benjamin Fulford

Masatsugu Taniguchi tries to create the first nonpolluting economy in the world--and a profit.

Plastic Man

Monte Burke

Bob Langer may help you grow a new heart.

Millions Served

Lynn J. Cook

Florence Wambugu feeds her country with food others have the luxury to avoid.

The Titan of the Teensy

Elizabeth Corcoran

Charles Lieber sees lots of cheap, tiny devices in your future.

Mr. Burns' Dilemma

Jonathan Fahey

Larry Burns has a new engine.

Science Beyond Belief

Robert Langreth

Steve Quake wants to speed up drug discovery by setting off a million reactions at once--all in a one-inch-square slab of rubber.

A New Kind of Entitlement

Kerry A. Dolan

Hernando de Soto's radical plan to end world poverty.

A Dirty Business

Robert Langreth

Chaitan Khosla makes drugs from soil.

Safe at any Speed

Nathan Vardi

Steven Wallman tries to make the market more efficient for individual investors.

The Matchmaker

Rob Wherry

Vanessa Kirsch reinvents charity.

The Biggest Damn Opportunity

Quentin Hardy

Charles Simonyi's smarter software.

Brave New World

Monte Burke

Will Wright's videogames simulate life--or at least the life we might live in the future.

Classic Forbes Cover Stories

1917	The Inaugurative Forbes Magazine	1918	The First Rich List

1921	Are You Working With Your Employer Or Merely For His Money?	1925	Wall Street's Boom--Is It Going On Or Ending?

1929	Research--The Aladdin Of Progressive Capital	1930	What Caused The Panic?

1935	How Many People Own America's Corporations?	1939	In The Business Spotlight

1942	Business Goes To War	1945	Television Looks To The Future

1949	Forbes' First Annual Report On American Industry	1950	The Economy

1955	Wall Street - Loaded Laggards	1958	Personalities--Penn-Texas--Landslide

1960	Mutual Fund Ratings--The $300 Million Question	1967	Electronic Money

1969	The Great Gourmet Boom	1973	The Rockers Are Rolling In It

1977	Why Everybody's Jumping On The Accountants These Days	1977	The Trials Of Amory Houghton Jr.

1980	Iraq: The Oil, C'est Moi	1983	Are All These Consultants Really Necessary?

1984	Watch Your Assets	1985	The Smarter They Are, The Harder They Fall

1986	Are We Spending Too Much On Education?	1988	How The Government Subsidizes Leveraged Takeovers

1989	Satisfaction Guaranteed	1992	Dow Jones Interactive

1997	Steel Versus Silicon	1998	The Hustling Of Rated Shelters

2001	Life During Wartime	2002	Conquering Cancer

A Comment From Steve Forbes

85 years' worth of seminal people, products, services and companies...

1917 - 1938

1939 - 1947

1947 - 1955

1956 - 1958

1959 - 1971

1972 - 1987

1987 - 2000

Some Well-Intentioned Failures

Older Than You Thought
by Michael Maiello

Ben Stein
How to Stop Innovation

David Brooks
Business' Real Heroes

George Gilder
Why I Trust Ken Lay

James Surowiecki
Dollars, Trust and Trade

John Steele Gordon
Why Pioneers Fail


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