List of lost inventions

• Artificial petrifaction of human cadavers invented by Girolamo Segato. • The Electronium, an early synthesizer capable of algorithmic composition. • Greek fire, a Byzantine incendiary weapon used to set enemy ships on fire. ==Questionable examples==

It is unknown whether these inventions truly existed, had all of their described properties, or were truly novel. • Archimedes' heat ray, a device that Archimedes is purported to have used to burn attacking Roman ships during the siege of Syracuse. • Polybolos, an ancient Greek repeating ballista. A MythBusters episode built and tested a replica, concluding that it plausibly could have existed. However, the replica machine was prone to breakdowns. • Roman flexible glass, whose inventor was reportedly beheaded so that gold and silver would not be devalued. • Mithridate, said to have functioned as a panaceaic antidote. • Stradivarius stringed instruments, considered some of the finest instruments ever made. Theories explaining their purported quality include denser wood unique to the time period due to solar activity, treatment with other materials like calcium and aluminum which have been found in a 2016 shaving, and technique. • Starlite is an intumescent material claimed to be able to withstand enormous amounts of heat. Hong-sen Yan claims that they do not reach the seismoscope's historically reported level of accuracy and range. == Misconceptions ==

These technologies can be recreated, but are sometimes claimed to be lost. • The Blaschkas' Glass Flowers and glass sea creatures at Harvard are attributed to the extraordinary skill of the craftsmen. • Damascus steel was valued for its hardness and technique of creation, but has been supplanted by modern methods. Similar modern processes have also been devised. • Human lunar landing, while theoretically possible to recreate in the manner of the six Apollo Moon landings, is not currently practical without the no longer extant infrastructure needed to construct the required spacecraft. • The Iron pillar of Delhi, notable for the rust-resistant composition of the metals used in its construction. == See also ==