Forrest Mars Sr., the owner of Mars Inc., invented the chocolate bar in the 1930s. The product was first manufactured in Great Britain at the Slough factory of the firm in 1967.

Inventions are unique products or processes – something that’s never been made or done before, using technology to solve specific problems.

While all inventions begin with an idea, not every idea can be called an invention, and abstract ideas can’t be patented. To be eligible for a patent, an invention must be novel, involve an inventive step, and be capable of practical application.

Innovation isn’t the same as invention. Innovation identifies and uses the potential of an invention to fill a gap in the market. In other words, the invention creates something new; innovation creates something that sells.

The worldwide web (www) was invented in 1989 by British scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee, while working as a software engineer at CERN, the European nuclear research organisation.

It was originally conceived and developed for automated information-sharing among scientists in universities and institutes around the world. CERN put the software in the public domain, which allowed the web to flourish as a system of interlinked documents across the internet.

The worldwide web opened up the internet to everyone, connecting the world in a way that has transformed how we get and share information and communicate.

Two men had the idea for an integrated circuit almost simultaneously.

In 1961, the first patent for an integrated circuit was awarded to US engineer Robert Noyce. This happened while an application by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments was still being scrutinised. Both men are now acknowledged as having independently thought of the concept.

An integrated circuit (IC) – also called a monolithic integrated circuit – is a set of circuits that connects electronic components. The circuits are contained within a microchip – a small flat piece of semiconductor material, usually silicon.

Integrated circuits are the fundamental building block of all modern electronic devices, including computers.

The concept of virtual reality was around in literature and art as far back as the 1860s, but what we know today as virtual reality (VR) came into being a century later.

In 1968, American computer scientist Ivan Sutherland and his students developed what is widely considered to be the first modern virtual reality design – a head-mounted display system with a screen inside for viewing computer-generated simulation of 3D images or environment.

Today, virtual reality has multiple applications, including online and console gaming, healthcare training, and in the space and military sectors.

Thomas Edison was a prolific inventor whose innovations have had a huge influence on modern life.

Among Edison’s innovations were:

• The motion picture camera.
• The incandescent light bulb.
• The phonograph.

And he improved the telephone and telegraph.

Edison was also an astute businessman, manufacturing his inventions and marketing them to the public.

He acquired well over 1,000 patents during his life (1847-1932) and some of them led to momentous legal battles. For example, Edison’s patent lawsuits sabotaged the early US film industry, reducing production mainly to two companies – Edison, and Biograph, in which he had shares.

1. The computer. English mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage (1791-1871) is widely recognised as the inspiration behind present-day computers. Based on his Analytical Engine, computers were first patented in 1946.

2. The internet. The internet began life in 1973 as ARPANET – the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network developed by the US Department of Defense.

3. The microwave oven. Patented in 1947, the microwave oven came about when American physicist Percy Spencer (1894-1970) realised microwaves were melting a chocolate bar in his pocket.

4. Penicillin. Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 when he saw that bacteria in a Petri dish had become infected with a mould that killed the microbes.

5. X-rays. In 1895, German physics professor Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (1845-1923) detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength we now know as X-rays.

6. The printing press. German inventor Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press sometime in the mid-1400s.

7. Velcro. Velcro revolutionised clothing and was invented in the 1940s when Swiss engineer George de Mestral developed a fabric with tiny loops and hooks that stick when pressed together.

8. The oral contraceptive. The first birth control pill available commercially was made by American chemist Frank Colton in 1960.

9. The airplane. American brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright are largely credited with making the first successful plane, in 1903.

10. The bagless vacuum cleaner. James Dyson set up his own company to launch his invention of the bagless vacuum cleaner, based on the principle of cyclonic separation. The machine was patented in 1986.

While an invention creates something totally new, a scientific discovery can change our lives by recognising for the first time something that already exists but nobody has noticed before.  Some discoveries have transformed the world so radically they’ve won a Nobel prize – the prestigious annual international awards for exceptional work in different fields.

Polish scientist Marie Curie was the first person to win two Nobel prizes – the physics prize in 1903 for discovering radioactivity, and the chemistry accolade in 1911 for discovering the elements radium and polonium.

Albert Einstein, who created the world’s most famous equation, E = mc², won the Nobel prize in physics in 1921 for discovering what caused the photoelectric effect – emission of electrons when atoms are bombarded with light.

The 1945 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine went to Sir Alexander Fleming and two colleagues – Sir Howard Florey and Ernst Chain – for their discovery of penicillin.

In 1946, American Hermann Muller won the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for discovering that radiation causes mutations.

Copyright can protect some invention design elements but in itself is unlikely to make any money for the inventor – with the unlikely exception that someone would want to publish the inventor’s notebook or make a movie out of it.

Inventors typically earn money through patents on their inventions. These give the patent owner exclusive right to features and processes of the invention, in return for paying royalties – a percentage of net revenues – to the inventor.

Although copyright doesn’t protect the functional aspects of an invention, it can protect its non-functional artistic elements such as pictorial depictions or graphics.

Copyright protects your work and prevents others from using it without your permission.

Most copyright safeguards are automatic and free, and you can simply mark your work with the copyright symbol © if you wish.

From the instant you finish your creative work, it’s automatically copyrighted as yours. However, registering a copyright is recommended because it establishes a record that you claimed the copyright. This can be a big help in any copyright disputes.

In the US, the standard fee to register copyright with the Copyright Office is over $50. It costs less if you’re registering only one item, you’re the sole credited creator, and you didn’t create it as part of your job.