| 1851 | Birth of Emile Berliner in Hanover, Germany, on May 20. |
| 1865 | Year of his last formal schooling. |
| 1870 | Emigrated to Washington, D.C. Spent three years working in the dry-goods store Gotteilf, Behrend and Co. |
| 1875 | Worked as a cleanup man in laboratory of Constantine Fahlberg in New York City. Became interested in laboratory experimentation. |
| 1876 | Invented the loose-contact telephone transmitter. Began to work for American Bell Telephone Company. |
| 1881 | Married Cora Adler. Became an American citizen. |
| 1886 | Began work on the gramophone. |
| 1887 | First gramophone patent. |
| 1888 | Successful lecture-demonstration at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Began to produce experimental discs stamped out in celluloid, then in hard rubber. |
| 1889 | Went to Germany to demonstrate gramophone and while there made agreement with toy firm of Kammerer and Reinhardt for the production of little toy discs and hand-turned players. |
| 1890 | First lateral-cut disc records produced in Germany, but on a small basis. |
| 1893 | Formation of the United States Gramophone Company of Washington, D.C., to enter the commercial market. |
| 1894 | United States Gramophone Company began business in the D.C. area. |
| 1895 | Establishment of the Berliner Gramophone Company of Philadelphia. First discs from Duranoid. |
| 1896 | Establishment of the National Gramophone Company of New York. Eldridge R. Johnson's machine shop in Camden, New Jersey, became the main supplier of gramophone playback machines. |
| 1897 | Dispatch of William Barry Owen to England. Loss of Washington laboratory in powerhouse fire. |
| 1898 | Formation of the Berliner Gramophone Company of London. Beginning of expansion into Europe. Appearance of first illegal competitor. |
| 1899 | Appearance of illegal competitors Vitaphone and Zonophone. Berliner composed "Columbian Anthem." |
| 1900 | Court injunction in June effectively shut down Berliner's business. He turned over his patent rights to Eldridge R. Johnson of Camden, New Jersey. |
| 1906 | Berliner began work on helicopter. |
| 1909 | Berliner's helicopter lifted two men from the ground. New building at the Starmont Tuberculosis Sanitarium dedicated to Berliner's father. |
| 1913 | Berliner awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal by the Franklin Institute. He obtained a patent for a revolving cylinder motor. |
| 1919 | Berliner very active in field of health and hygiene. Took part in production of book Muddy Jim, for which he wrote all the rhymes. Devoted much time during this period to the Zionist cause. |
| 1924 | Bureau of Health Education established in new building built by Berliner. |
| 1926 | Development of the acoustic tile. |
| 1929 | Death of Emile Berliner on August 3 at the age of 78. |
