Printed circuit board
In 1943, the Austrian Paul Eisler, working in the United Kingdom, patented a method of etching the conductive pattern, or circuits, on a layer of copper foil attached to a hard base that did not conduct electricity. Eisler's technique was noticed by the US military and they started to use it in new weapons including proximity fuzes in World War II.  His idea became very useful in the 1950s when the transistor was introduced.  Up to that point, vacuum tubes and other components were so large that the traditional mounting and wiring methods were all that was needed. With the introduction of transistors, however, the components became very small, and manufacturers needed to use printed circuit boards so the connections could also be small.