10 Biggest Advancements In Star Trek History

In the 20th century, Albert Einstein proved that matter and energy are interchangeable; different forms of the same things. In Star Trek, Emory Erickson used this knowledge in 2124 to create the first functional transporter.

The transporter can convert anything into a stream of pure energy, which can then be directed somewhere else and reconstructed into it's original form.

Several people died during the early trials of this technology, leaving humanity with a general distrust for beaming until closer to the 23rd century. For a while it was most almost exclusively used for transporting non-living things. Transporter use eventually skyrocketed, and, by the time of Star Trek: Picard, Earth was dotted with public transporters that could send you all across the planet in an instant.

Of course, the transporter was actually created by the writers of The Original Series as a cheaper way to move characters from the ship to a planet. Landing the ship or a shuttle on a new planet each week would've eaten up the budget.