Eiffel Tower, ketchup, live TV: Top 10 world fair inventions ahead of Dubai Expo 2020

Eiffel Tower, ketchup, live TV: Top 10 world fair inventions ahead of Dubai Expo 2020

For 170 years, World Expos have shaped the course of human history, showcasing the possibilities of tomorrow and an opportunity for history-making innovations to be unveiled to the planet.

First opening in London in 1851 and quickly spreading to countries across the globe, Expos – also known as World Fairs - have brought far-flung nations together to explore inventions and ideas.

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It has consequently been the birthplace of some of humankind’s greatest inventions, with the computer, television, and even tomato ketchup being among the hundreds of thousands of life-changing creations passed through the hallowed halls of World Expos over the years.

This year the United Arab Emirates will host Expo 2020 Dubai – the first event of its kind in the Middle East.

As the countdown continues, here are the top 10 legacies of World Expos.

France, 1889: The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower, the iconic Parisian monument, was built for the 1889 Expo in France.

The brainchild of entrepreneur Gustave Eiffel and his team of engineers, its construction was opposed by French artists and intellectuals who referred to it as a “stupefying folly.”

However, it drew more than two million people coming to