Some amount of bias (selection? availability?) there, in that part of why we think of your first paragraph examples is because they did make major news. There were probably others that were mostly ignored and so are much harder to think of. (Invention of the bifurcated needle, used for smallpox inoculations? What else has turned out to be really important in retrospect?)
For big jumpy events, look at the reactions to nuclear chain reactions, Sputnik, ENIGMA, penicillin, the Wright brothers, polio vaccine...
Then consider the process of gradual change with respect to the Internet, solar power, crop yields...
Some amount of bias (selection? availability?) there, in that part of why we think of your first paragraph examples is because they did make major news. There were probably others that were mostly ignored and so are much harder to think of. (Invention of the bifurcated needle, used for smallpox inoculations? What else has turned out to be really important in retrospect?)