English inventions and discoveries
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
English inventions and discoveries are objects, processes or techniques which owe their existence either partially or entirely to a person born in England; in some cases, their Englishness is determined by the fact that they were born in England, of non-English people working in the country. Often, things which are discovered for the first time, are also called "inventions", and in many cases, there is no clear line between the two.
The following is a list of inventions or discoveries often held to be in some way English:
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
[edit] Agriculture
[edit] Astronomy
- Discovery of the planet Uranus[2] and the moons Titania, Oberon, Enceladus, Mimas [3] by Sir William Herschel
[edit] Chemistry
- Marsh test for Arsenic - James Marsh
- Dalton's law and Law of multiple proportions - John Dalton
- Discovery of Buckminsterfullerene - Sir Harry Kroto
- First isolation of Sodium - Humphry Davy
[edit] Communications
- Uniform Penny Post - Rowland Hill et al.
- Clockwork radio [4] - Trevor Baylis
- The World Wide Web - Sir Tim Berners-Lee
[edit] Computing
- Analytical engine [5] - Sir Charles Babbage
- ACE and Pilot ACE [6] - Alan Turing
- Bombe [6] - Alan Turing
- Colossus computer [7] - Tommy Flowers
- Difference engine [5] - Sir Charles Babbage
- World Wide Web [8] - Sir Tim Berners-Lee
- ZX Spectrum - Sir Clive Sinclair
[edit] Clock making
- Anchor escapement [9] - Robert Hooke
- Balance spring [10] - Robert Hooke (disputed - possibly invented by Christiaan Huygens of the Netherlands)
- Grasshopper escapement, Gridiron pendulum, H1, H2, H3 and H4 watches (a watch built to solve the longitude measurement problem)[11] - John Harrison
[edit] Clothing manufacturing
- Derby Rib (stocking manufacture) - Jedediah Strutt
- Flying shuttle - John Kay
- Mauveine, the first synthetic organic dye - William Henry Perkin
- Power loom - Edmund Cartwright
- Spinning frame - John Kay
- Spinning jenny - James Hargreaves
- Spinning mule - Samuel Crompton
- Polyester - John Rex Whinfield
[edit] Cryptography
[edit] Engineering
- Adjustable spanner - Edwin Beard Budding
- Cavity Magnetron - Dr Harry Boot
- First coke-consuming blast furnace - Abraham Darby I
- First working universal joint - Robert Hooke
- First Compression-Ignition engine aka Diesel Engine - Herbert_Akroyd_Stuart
- Steam Engine - Thomas Savery
- Newcomen steam engine - Thomas Newcomen
- Modified version of the Newcomen steam engine (Pickard engine) - James Pickard
- Pendulum Governor - Frederick Lanchester
- The first screw-cutting lathe - Henry Maudslay
- Disc Brakes - Frederick Williams
- Internal combustion engine - Samuel Brown
- Jet Engine - Sir Frank Whittle
[edit] Food
[edit] Household appliances
- Ballbarrow - James Dyson
- Collapsible baby buggy - Owen Maclaren
- Dyson DC01 - James Dyson
- Fire extinguisher - George William Manby
- Lawn mower - Edwin Beard Budding
- Rubber band - Stephen Perry
- Light Bulb - Joseph Wilson Swan
- Tin Can - Peter Durand
- Corkscrew - Reverend Samuell Henshall
- Mouse trap - James Henry Atkinson
- Sewing machine - Thomas Saint
- Postage Stamp - Rowland Hill
- Toilet Paper - British Perforated Paper Company
- Vacuum cleaner - Hubert Cecil Booth
[edit] Industrial processes
- English crucible steel - Benjamin Huntsman
- Steel production Bessemer process - Henry Bessemer
- Hydraulic press - Joseph Bramah
- Parkesine, the first man-made plastic - Alexander Parkes
- Portland cement - Joseph Aspdin
- Sheffield plate - Thomas Boulsover
- Water frame - Richard Arkwright
- Stainless Steel - Harry Brearley
- Rubber Masticator - Thomas Hancock
[edit] Medical
- First correct description of circulation of the blood - William Harvey
- Smallpox vaccine - Edward Jenner
- Antisepsis in surgery - Joseph Lister
- Artificial intraocular lens transplant surgery for cataract patients - Harold Ridley
- Clinical thermometer - Thomas Clifford Allbutt. [12]
- Colour blindness first described by John Dalton in Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours [13]
- Computed Tomography - Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield
- Viagra - Peter Dunn, Albert Wood, Dr Nicholas Terrett
- EKG (underlying principles) - various
[edit] Military
- Congreve rocket - William Congreve
- High explosive squash head - Sir Charles Dennistoun Burney
- Puckle Gun - James Puckle
- Shrapnel shell - Henry Shrapnel
- Harrier Jump Jet - unknown
- Tank - unknown
- Dreadnought Battleship
- Bailey Bridge - Donald Bailey
[edit] Mining
[edit] Musical instruments
[edit] Photography
- Ambrotype - Frederick Scott Archer
- Calotype - William Fox Talbot
- Collodion process - Frederick Scott Archer
- Stereoscope - Charles Wheatstone
[edit] Science
- Compound microscope with 30x magnification - Robert Hooke
- Universal Joint - Robert Hooke
- The Iris diaphragm - Robert Hooke
- Anchor escapement and the balance spring, which made more accurate clocks possible - Robert Hooke
- Correct theory of combustion - Robert Hooke
- Barometer, anemometer, and hygrometer (invented or improved) - Robert Hooke
- Hooke's Law (equation describing elasticity) - Robert Hooke
- Electrical generator (dynamo) - Michael Faraday
- Galvanometer - William Sturgeon
- Infrared radiation - discovery commonly attributed to William Herschel.
- Newtonian telescope - Sir Isaac Newton
- Micrometer - Sir William Gascoigne
- the first bench micrometer that was capable of measuring to one ten thousandth of an inch - Henry Maudslay
- Sinclair Executive, the world's first small electronic pocket calculator - Sir Clive Sinclair
- Slide rule - William Oughtred [14]
- Synthesis of coumarin, one of the first synthetic perfumes, and cinnamic acid via the Perkin reaction- William Henry Perkin
- The Law of Gravity - Sir Isaac Newton
- Newton's laws of motion - Sir Isaac Newton
- DNA fingerprinting - Sir Alec Jeffreys
- Smallpox Vaccination - Edward Jenner
- Electromagnet - William Sturgeon
- Dew Point Hygrometer - John Frederic Daniell
- Periodic Table - John Alexander Newlands
- Seismograph - John Milne
- Theory of Evolution - Charles Darwin
[edit] Transport
[edit] Railways
- First working railway steam locomotive - Richard Trevithick
[edit] Locomotives
- Blücher - George Stephenson
- Puffing Billy -William Hedley
- Locomotion No 1 - Robert Stephenson
- Sans Pareil - Timothy Hackworth
- Stephenson's Rocket - George and Robert Stephenson
[edit] Other railway developments
- Displacement lubricator, Ramsbottom safety valve, the water trough, the split piston ring - John Ramsbottom
[edit] Roads
- Bowden cable - Frank Bowden
- Cat's eye - Percy Shaw [15]
- Caterpillar track - Sir George Cayley
- Hansom cab - Joseph Hansom
- Seat belt - George Cayley
- Sinclair C5 - Sir Clive Sinclair
- Belisha beacon - Leslie Hore-Belisha
[edit] Sea
- Plimsol line - Samuel Plimsoll
- Hovercraft - Christopher Cockerell
- Lifeboat - Lionel Lukin
- Resurgam - George Garrett
- Turbinia, the first steam turbine powered steamship, designed by the Irish engineer Sir Charles Algernon Parsons and built in Newcastle upon Tyne
- Submarine - William Bourne
[edit] Air
- Aeronautics and flight - George Cayley
- Jet Engine - Sir Frank Whittle
[edit] Sport
- Football - Rules as know today were established in 1848 at Cambridge University
- Rugby - William Webb Ellis (questionable)
- Cricket - The world's second-most popular sport can be traced back to the 13th Century
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Daylight saving time - William Willett [16]
- Bayko - Charles Plimpton
- Linoleum - Frederick Walton [17]
- Meccano - Frank Hornby
- Crossword puzzle - Arthur Wynne
- Gas Mask - John Tyndall and others
- Steel-ribbed Umbrella - Samuel Fox
[edit] See also
- Welsh inventions and discoveries
- Scottish inventions and discoveries
- Northern Irish inventions and discoveries
[edit] References
- ^ Tiscali encyclopaedia: Seed drill.
- ^ Account of a Comet, By Mr. Herschel, F. R. S.; Communicated by Dr. Watson, Jun. of Bath, F. R. S., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Volume 71, pp. 492-501
- ^ Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers.
- ^ About TREVOR BAYLIS the inventor of the windup technology.
- ^ a b From the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 70, 517-526, 645 (Errata) (1910) By Major-General H. P. Babbage.
- ^ a b Turing biography.
- ^ Annals of the History of Computing, Volume 5, Number 3, July 1983 . p239, The Design of Colossus, THOMAS H. FLOWERS.
- ^ Frequently asked questions by the Press - Tim BL.
- ^ The Origin and Evolution of the Anchor Clock Escapement.
- ^ A. R. Hall, "Horology and criticism: Robert Hooke", Studia Copernicana, XVI, Ossolineum, 1978, 261-81
- ^ Longitude clock comes alive (11 March, 2002).
- ^ "1866." The People's Chronology. Ed. Jason M. Everett. Thomson Gale, 2006. eNotes.com. 2006. 13 May, 2007 <http://history.enotes.com/peoples-chronology/year-1866/medicine>
- ^ Dalton J, 1798 "Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours: with observations" Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester 5 28-45
- ^ The Oughtred Society: Slide Rule History.
- ^ The day Percy saw the light!.
- ^ The Waste of Daylight, 1907.
- ^ Frederick Walton : Oxford Biography Index entry
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