10 Biggest Advancements In Star Trek History

10. Artificial Gravity

Most fans don't know that Starfleet's artificial gravity technology was actually reverse engineered from recovered alien tech.

In the Animated Series episode The Slaver Weapon, we learned that an ancient species known as the Slavers once ruled most of the galaxy a billion years before the 23rd century. The only remnants of their society that remained in the 23rd century were mysterious 'stasis boxes' found randomly across the galaxy. These boxes contained technology that once belonged to the Slavers, including what Spock referred to as a 'flying belt'. He explained that this device helped Earth find the key to creating an artificial gravity field. Once the Humans learned the flying belt worked, they were able to incorporate the tech into their vessels.

It was never explained how artificial gravity functions, but we know that it's generated by 'gravity plating' all throughout a vessel's interior.

Earth-like gravity is extremely important for Humans. Spending too much time in a zero-G environment can really harm our bodies, so artificial gravity was completely necessary for long-term space missions.