Shakespeare. Newton. Pascal. Bill Gates. The printing press (yes, the Chinese had a press. We knew what to do with it). Sterile surgery. Tolkien. "Canterbury Tales", Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes, television, Apollo program...
Gunpowder is like the press. They invented it be we knew what to do with it. We made firearms and for the first time in human history the lightly trained peon or barely trained farmer was able to stand up to the strongest and the bravest and best trained and have a prayer of winning. The degree to which this has rewritten the way the world works is largely under estimated. Before the firearm non military civilians had no hope of successful revolt against a professional arm. Most other weapons require full time exercise and training to acquire and retain enough proficiency to prevail on the the field of combat.