The Most Significant Discovery 

What is the most significant discovery or invention by humans? This question might appear quite vague at first glance but trust me, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. I will answer the question in the form of an essay. The essay that follows will unpack the question and discuss how this discovery was made. I will also argue why this discovery is worthy of attention and then dive into the inventions that came about on the account of this discovery. In my opinion, this discovery was a major role player in many of the different revolutions that took place all over the world. The importance of this discovery will become more and more evident as the essay progresses. I’m sure you’re asking yourself what this invention is and what makes it so important. This discovery is fire. Fire is a process in which substances combine chemically with oxygen from the air and typically give out bright light, heat, and smoke; combustion or burning (Oxford Dictionaries | English, 2018). This might sound a bit confusing but the chemical composition of the fire is not important. The important thing here is how it impacted humans and led to the betterment of their lives and the invention of many products following this discovery. However, the question still remains. How was this discovery made and what makes it significant ? Fire is a natural occurrence and did not need to be invented. It existed long before humans decided to learn how to create and in some way control or manage it. Initially, humans didn’t know how to make fires. The idea was that If a natural fire occurred, they would harness it and use it while they could.

In my opinion, this is what intrigued and amazed humans causing them to have a great interest in the commodity. Humans then decided to investigate ways in which they could start fires themselves and be able to use them whenever they needed to in a controlled manner. “According to the Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. Many Native American cultures believe an animal such as a wolf, woodpecker, or coyote brought fire to people after stealing it from an evil being. Legends from the Caroline Islands in the Pacific say a young boy, Olofat, gave fire to humans by letting a bird fly from heaven with fire in its beak. There are even different scientific theories about when humans first controlled fire. ” (Wonderopolis. org, 2018) This discovery was very important because it paved the way for a new era in terms of how humans did things. They would not eat raw food anymore, which meant they were healthier because the cooking of food detoxifies it. Raw food does not provide as much calories to the body than cooked food does. More calories also meant that brain development was promoted. Bigger is certainly always better, and bigger brains meant that humans could become more creative and discover even more that would benefit them. “Our hominid ancestors could never have eaten enough raw food to support our large, calorie-hungry brains, Richard Wrangham claims. The secret to our evolution is cooking” (Gorman, 2018) He was indeed onto something when he said this. Think about it, could humans ever survive without food? Without a doubt! And what better way to enjoy it than when it is cooked.

Humans, unlike animals, react badly to raw food because their digestive systems struggle to digest raw food. So in terms of health, we can say fire also brought down the amount of strain that was brought about by raw food. Fire also provided humans with warmth on those cold winter evenings, before this they were exposed to the cold weather and couldn’t necessarily do much about it. But then again, what happened when the fires got too hot ? This actually led to an even better invention. While humans were still harnessing fires and didn’t know how to control them, they could get too hot. Humans then became innovative, they started using animal skin to protect themselves from these fires piercing their skin. So it can also be said that the discovery of fire led to the invention of fur clothing. This just shows how important the discovery of fire was to the world because the idea of clothing came from these fur items made of animal skin. Fire was also an integral part of development in the industrial sphere. It was the most important resource in the device that epitomised the industrial revolution, the steam engine. The steam engine is said to be one of the greatest inventions, and rightly so. It operated by burning coal to heat up water and the steam generated from this burning would power machine. It’s astonishing to think those big machines achieved such high speeds on steam power alone! See the effects of fire? This invention led to more and more innovations after it. People started to try and think of more efficient ways of travel and from the steam engine we went onto gasoline powered engines and now electric powered vehicles.

Where would we be without this incredible resource – Fire. It doesn’t stop there. More and more engagement was done by humans based on this idea of fire and a great deal of research took place in this regard. Millions of products were then thought of and developed. Items ranged from ceramics, metal working and even the nuclear industry came into the picture. Our mobile devices that we so love and can’t stay away from? We have fire to blame for that. But then again, these things have made our lives as humans a lot easier so rather we have fire to thank for them. Fire underpinned the development of modern technologies and was without a doubt the deciding factor in this regard. This discovery was indeed of crucial importance.

In agriculture, when humans had acquired the skill to manage and control fires, they used it to clear their lands of unnecessary or harmful commodities. Lands that were burnt also provided a better environment for game animals so it wasn’t only beneficial to humans but to the animals around them as well. Fire also promoted migration, believe it or not. Migration was a very common implementation by people in the early days of human life. They were trying to find the most ideal places to establish themselves and this meant that a lot of travelling would take place. The discovery of fire meant that people would be able to keep warm on their commutes and it also meant that they could improve the “shelf-life” of the food they travelled with. It also provided them with light when it became dark. Fires were also a protective barrier for them from external threats. Seems like the advantages of this discovery are endless. It isn’t necessarily sunshine and rainbows when it comes to fire though. There are some negative health implications that come with It. Breathing in the toxins released by fire can cause damage to lungs and have a long term effect on one’s health.

The weakening of humans lungs also brought about tuberculosis because when they breathed these toxins in they would start coughing. They sat fairly close to each other around the fires and when they coughed the disease would spread easily. Tuberculosis took the lives of many people initially because there had not yet been a cure developed for it. Fire also meant that there was more pollution and the ozone layer was being attacked. But in my opinion, all the advantages of fire outweigh all the negative aspects of it which makes fire a very beneficial and significant discovery. Ever heard the term keep up with the times? Well that’s exactly what fire helped humans achieve. Fire improved the quality of life of human beings drastically. A lot came from the discovery and it is still an important resource to this day and still will be for many years to come. It is clear that fire is a very important commodity. “It is a timeless and unlimited commodity. You might say we use fire to shape the world around us, but it is fire that has truly made us human.

Fire is, without a doubt, the source of our humanity. ” (Alternet, 2018) If you are still not convinced that fire was the most significant discovery by humans, then you probably didn’t read the essay attentively. Even Charles Darwin considered this as a very significant discovery together with language (Gowlett, 23 May 2016) but then again it could be that you’re smarter than Charles Darwin and there’s absolutely no problem with that. In my opinion fire was the most significant and important discovery by humans and I hope my argument is well portrayed in this essay.