© iStock

World Wide Web - The United States takes credit for the invention of the internet, but the World Wide Web was the result of brainstorming by British and Belgian scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

© iStock

Dynamite - The deadly explosive was created by Swedish engineer Alfred Nobel in Germany in 1867.

© iStock

USB flash drive - The flash drive was invented in 1999 by Israeli company M-Systems.

© iStock

Military bands - The concept of a marching military band was started by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire. The earliest definitive records of the military bands go back to the 13th century.

© iStock

Velcro - Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral brought us this touch fastener in 1948.

© iStock

Speedometer - In Croatia in 1888, Josip Belušić made it possible for drivers all over the world to track their speed.

© iStock

Submarine - The credit for the modern submarine goes to Irish engineer John Philip Holland. He built a model in the late 1800s that he then sold to the United States Navy.

© iStock

Camera film - The French Lumière brothers were the first filmmakers in history, taking credit for creating the first motion picture in 1895.

© iStock

Postal codes - The modern postal code goes back to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the 1930s. It became the first to extend divided regions of cities into rural areas and assign postal district numbers to them.

© iStock

Kerosene lamp - The modern kerosene lamp was brought to us by Polish inventor Ignacy Łukasiewicz in 1853.

© iStock

Zero - The number zero existed as a placeholder and symbol prior, but it was first used in calculations and mathematics in India.

© iStock

Volkswagen Beetle - The cute and classic car was the product of an idea by Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. The concept behind its invention was an attempt to create  a people’s car—an affordable and practical vehicle that the ordinary person could own.

© iStock

Speed enforcement camera - If you receive a speeding ticket in the mail, you can thank the Netherlands, or more specifically, Dutch company Gatsometer BV for making it easier for law enforcement to catch speeding drivers.

© iStock

Color TV - Color transmission was introduced in 1928 in Scotland by John Baird.

© iStock

Glasses - Eyeglasses date back to 13th-century Italy.

© iStock

Aerosol spray - Although the idea extends farther back in time, the actual modern aerosol spray was invented by Norwegian chemical engineer Erik Rotheim in 1926.

© iStock

Toilet paper - The first recorded official toilet paper dates back to 6th-century China and was used mainly by Chinese Imperial courts and wealthy persons.

© iStock

Buttons - The fastening device was invented in the Indus Valley Civilization, in what is Pakistan and northwest India today. The earliest known button is made of seashell and is 5,000 years old, according to website Slate.

© iStock

IMAX - In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Canadian filmmakers Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, Robert Kerr, and William Shaw introduced the first IMAX cinema projection standards.

© Shutterstock

High fructose corn syrup - The sweetener was invented in Japan by Yoshiyuki Takasaki between 1965 and 1970 at the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

© Shutterstock

Ugg boots - The sheepskin boot originated in Australia in the 1920s. The UGG brand was started by Californian Brian Smith in 1978 after he adopted the Australian fashion style.

© Shutterstock

Electric motor - The device went through multiple stages of development but Hungarian physicist Ányos Jedlik created the modern electric motor after conducting experiments with electromagnetic coils.

© Shutterstock

Firefighting foam -

The substance used by firefighters to suppress and extinguish fires was invented in Russia in 1902 by Russian engineer and chemist Aleksandr Loran.

See also: The fraught and frightening world of the firefighter.

© Shutterstock