[1][2][3] Immediately prior to the development of the Boehm system, flutes were most commonly made of wood, with an inverse conical bore, eight keys, and tone holes (the openings where the fingers are placed to produce specific notes) that were small in size, and thus easily covered by the fingertips.
Boehm's work was inspired by an 1831 concert in London, given by soloist Charles Nicholson, who, with his father in the 1820s, had introduced a flute constructed with larger tone holes than were used in previous designs.
In 1832 Boehm introduced a new conical-bore flute, which achieved a fair degree of success.
The cylindrical Boehm flute was introduced in 1847, with the instrument gradually being adopted almost universally by professional and amateur players in Europe and around the world during the second half of the 19th century.
Many further refinements have been made, and countless design variations are common among flutes today (the "offset G" key, addition of the low B foot, etc.)