Hard to choose just one. Anything to do with sanitation has been very important in allowing humans to live in towns and cities without making each other ill all the time.
In order to not replicate previous answers, I’d maybe go with the Computer – there’s lots of modern science that couldn’t have been done without the ability to process, store and share large quantities of data.
The printing press – all inventions require the sharing of knowledge, so I’ll go for the invention that actually allowed information to be shared on a scale that couldn’t be achieved previously (and for the same reason, add the internet as a more modern equivalent)
All the inventions mentioned are really important which have shaped our world to what it is today. I’d say another crucial discovery is Vaccination. Discovered in 1796 by Edward Jenner. And now protects millions of people from diseases all around the world.
So that I do not replicate previous answers: the bicycle! When it became available, it enabled people to travel much further than on foot quite cheaply. One of the effects is that young people could meet and then marry people from other villages, which resulted in wider genetic diversity, and healthier children, who grew to be taller than their parents!
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