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Bicycle - In 1817, Karl Drais presented his single-track, so-called "Laufmaschine" (running machine). Later it was called "Draisine," and established itself as an alternative to the horse. Drais introduced it to the public in Paris in 1818.

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Electric tram - The first commercially successful electric tram in the world was built in Lichterfelde, a suburb of Berlin, and went in service in 1881. It remains a very environmentally-friendly means of transportation.

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Cars - Germany is nicknamed "Autoland." The first modern car was built by Carl Benz in 1886, and German automakers like Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche are among the best car brands in the world.

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Fanta -

The drink's name comes from the German word "fantastisch," which means fantastic. The soft drink was invented out of necessity. Since the German population had to handle the war-related shortage of raw materials for Coca-Cola, they invented a new beverage in 1940. And now Fanta is refreshing people all over the world.

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Haribo - Haribo stands for Harald Riegel (founder) and Bonn (founding place). The company became known for its sweets, especially the "Goldbären," which made the company famous in 1922.

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Aldi - Aldi, founded in 1913, is the world's most successful discount supermarket chain in terms of gross sales (€83.3 billion in 2017). The name is an acronym and stands for Albrecht Diskont. Until their deaths, Karl and Theo Albrecht, the sons of Aldi founder Karl Albrecht, Sr., were the richest people in Germany.

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Lidl - When it comes to number of branches worldwide, another German discount supermarket chain is the leader. Lidl, which was founded in 1930, operates 10,200 branches in 29 countries.

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Coffee filter - One day, Melitta Bentz took the blotter sheets from her son's exercise books and placed them in a tin can that had been pierced with nails, creating the prototype for the coffee filter in the process. When this simple technique met with general enthusiasm among her friends, she decided to market her idea. In 1908, she patented her filter paper, and the famous "Melitta" brand was born.

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Ring binder - German efficiency: the ring binder was invented in 1886 by Friedrich Soennecken in Bonn.

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Hole puncher - The same German who invented the ring binder also invented the hole puncher in 1886.

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Transparent cellophane tape - In 1935, German company Beiersdorf AG developed a transparent adhesive film. The British equivalent, Sellotape, hit the market two years after Tesafilm.

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Contact lenses - Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick invented the contact lens in 1888. His first model was made from heavy brown glass, and was later improved by several innovators.

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NIVEA skin cream - NIVEA Creme was the first stable water-in-oil emulsion created. It was introduced in 1911 by German company Beiersdorfer. The emulsifying agent Eucerit is made from lanolin, found in sheep's wool, and is the key to NIVEA Creme's unique properties.

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Bepanthen - Introduced by Bayer in Germany in 1950, it's still one of the leading brands in the country when it comes to wound healing and care. Today, Bepanthen is very popular in the tattoo scene.

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Aspirin - In 1897, Felix Hoffmann succeeded in synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) from salicylic acid and acetic anhydride while working at Bayer under Arthur Eichengrün. It was found to be an analgesic, antipyretic, and anti-inflammatory substance. In 1899, it was marketed for the first time under its trade name, Aspirin.

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X-ray - When the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen received the first Nobel Prize in Physics. Why? In 1895, he produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays or Röntgen rays.

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Television - In 1897, Karl Ferdinand Braun built the first cathode-ray tube (CRT) and cathode-ray tube oscilloscope, which became the cornerstone in developing fully electronic television. To this day, the CRT is still called the "Braun tube."

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Gramophone and record - In 1887, Emil Berliner filed for a patent for a disk-shaped object, the "Schallplatte" (record). Part of the patent was also for a recording and playback device—the original gramophone.

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MP3 - The MP3 format was developed in 1982 under the direction of Hans-Georg Musmann by a group led by Karlheinz Brandenburg at the Fraunhofer Institute. It's a process for compression of digitally-stored audio data, and nowadays there are a number of technically advanced options that are derived from it.

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Printing - Modern letterpress printing was invented in the 15th century by Johannes Gutenberg. It laid the foundation for modern media. The mass dissemination of knowledge, news, and opinions has been possible ever since.

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Electric drill - Invented by Wilhelm Emil Fein in 1895, the electric hand drill was one of the first power tools. A young Robert Bosch worked in Fein's company in 1879-80, and later founded the now famous company Bosch. Bosch developed the percussion drill in 1917.

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Printed Advent calendar -

German publisher Gerhard Lang produced the first printed Advent calendar in 1908. Around 1926, Lang introduced pieces of chocolate to the calendar, sweetening Christmas for children ever since.

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Kindergarten -

Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel was a German educator. The first kindergarten was founded by him in 1840. International Kindergarten Day is celebrated on April 21, his birthday.

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Social insurance - In 1883, German chancellor Otto von Bismarck introduced statutory health insurance, then accident insurance, and, finally, pension insurance. This was the birth of social insurance. The model was adopted by other countries worldwide.

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Levi's jeans - When German-born Löb Strauß emigrated to the US, he changed his name to Levi Strauss. In 1853, he founded his own clothing company in San Francisco. The modern jeans we love today hit the market in the 1920s.

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Hugo Boss - The company was founded in 1924 by Hugo Ferdinand Boss. During WWII, the company produced the German army's uniforms. Today, Hugo Boss is one of the most famous German fashion brands in the world.

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Birkenstock - The German company produces sandals notable for their contoured cork and rubber footbeds. The history of the "shoemaker dynasty" Birkenstock dates back as far as 1774, when shoemaker Johann Adam Birkenstock was first officially mentioned.

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Adidas -

From 1925 onwards, Adolf Dassler and his brother Rudolf produced special sports shoes for footballers and runners. Their accomplishments include inventing a shoe with studs, being worn by Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympic Games when he won four gold medals, and outfitting West Germany when they won the FIFA World Cup in 1954. The Adidas brand would only grow from there.

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Puma -

But after a dispute between the two Dassler brothers, Rudolf founded the Puma brand in 1948. Today, both Puma and Adidas are successful brands in the apparel industry worldwide.

See also: The stories behind accidental food inventions

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