This is a list of people of
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
origin who are recognised as innovators or inventors who have made notable contributions to technical or theoretical world advancements.
*
Edward George Bowen pioneer of radar. Worked at 'Woomera Rocket Testing Base' in Australia. ''Born in Gendros, Swansea.''
*
David Brunt pioneer of modern meteorology. Head of Meteorological Office, secretary of Royal Society ''From Penfforddlas, Wales.''
*
Martha Hughes Cannon pioneer in women and children's medicine. The State of Utah's Health Department is named in her honour. Born in Llandudno, Wales.
*
Archie Cochrane Founder of Cochrane Collaboration, Cochrane library, Cochrane reviews. UK Cochrane Centre in Oxford. Conducted much of his groundbreaking medical research in Wales.
*
Alan Cox is a programmer heavily involved in the development of the Linux kernel since 1991.
*Sir Clifford Darby, geographer and leader in promoting the relationships between geography and other subjects. Knighted in 1988. ''Born in Neath, South Wales.''
*
Donald Davies Proposed and developed
packet switching, an important technology of the Internet. Born in
Treorchy
Treorchy ( cy, Treorci; ) is a town and community (and electoral ward) in Wales. Once a mining town, it retains such characteristics. Situated in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in the Rhondda Fawr valley. Treorchy is also one of the 16 c ...
, Rhondda, Wales.
*
Walter Davies (inventor), along with his brother Thomas, invented the 'Stepney Spare Wheel' used on almost all early motor cars. ''Born in Llanelli, South Wales''
*
John Dee
John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, teacher, occultist, and alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Elizabeth I, and spent much of his time on alchemy, divinatio ...
Founder of the new school of English mathematical scientists in the 16th century. One of the greatest polymaths of all time. ''Born in Buallt, Radnor.''
*
Bill Frost Welsh carpenter who patented the aeroplane in 1894 and took to the skies in a powered flying machine the following year, eight years before the Wright brothers attempt at Kitty Hawk. ''Born in Tenby.''
*
William Robert Grove
Sir William Robert Grove, FRS FRSE (11 July 1811 – 1 August 1896) was a Welsh judge and physical scientist. He anticipated the general theory of the conservation of energy, and was a pioneer of fuel cell technology. He invented the Grove voltai ...
Invented the
fuel cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requ ...
. Born in Swansea, 1811.
*
John T. Houghton
Sir John Theodore Houghton (30 December 1931 – 15 April 2020) was a Welsh atmospheric physicist who was the co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) scientific assessment working group which shared the Nobel Peace P ...
Distinguished
meteorologist. Inspiration behind major international conferences on global warming (Rio, Kyoto, Buenos Aires). ''Born in Wales.''
*
David E. Hughes
David Edward Hughes (16 May 1830 – 22 January 1900), was a British-American inventor, practical experimenter, and professor of music known for his work on the printing telegraph and the microphone. He is generally considered to have bee ...
First transmission of radio waves. Inventor of the microphone and
printing telegraph system. A musician and philosopher. ''Born Corwen, Wales.''
*
John Gwyn Jeffreys conchologist (someone who studies shells). He helped pioneer deep-sea dredging. He corresponded with Charles Darwin and was involved with a number of scientific associations. ''Born into a long-established Welsh family.''
*
Ernest Jones Introduced psychoanalysis into Britain and North America. ''Born in Llwchwy, South Wales.''
*
Samuel Milton Jones
Samuel Milton "Golden Rule" Jones (1846–1904) was a Progressive-Era Mayor of Toledo, Ohio from 1897 until his death in 1904. Jones was famous for his outspoken advocacy of the proverbial ethic of reciprocity or "Golden Rule," hence his nickna ...
Inventor, writer and Mayor of
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...
, USA. ''Born in Caernarfonshire.''
*
Steve Jones Steve or Steven Jones may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Steve Jones (English presenter) (born 1945), English musician, disk jockey, television presenter, and voice-over artist
*Steve Jones (musician) (born 1955), English rock and roll guita ...
Professor of genetics at the Galton Laboratory and University College, London. ''Born in Wales.''
*
William Jones A noted mathematician, published author and early naval navigator. First to use 'Pi' (1706) as a mathematical symbol. ''Born in Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd.''
*
Brian Josephson Nobel Prize–winning physicist; gave his name to the superconducting
Josephson junction. ''Born Cardiff.''
*
Bernard Knight
Bernard Henry Knight (born 3 May 1931) is a British forensic pathologist and writer. He became a Home Office pathologist in 1965 and was appointed Professor of Forensic Pathology, University of Wales College of Medicine, in 1980.
Early life
Kn ...
Forensic pathologist, barrister and writer. Creator of the 'Crowner John' series, historic crime fiction. As a forensic pathologist, worked on the infamous Fred West case, recovering all twelve bodies. ''Born and spent most of his life in Cardiff.''
*
Francis Lewis
Francis Lewis (March 21, 1713 – December 31, 1802) was an American merchant and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation as a representative of ...
Signatory of the US 'Declaration of Independence' as one of the representatives from New York. ''Born in Llandaff.''
*
Sir Thomas Lewis
Sir Thomas Lewis, CBE, FRS, FRCP (26 December 1881 – 17 March 1945) was a British cardiologist (although he personally disliked the term, preferring cardiovascular disease specialist). He coined the term "clinical science".Biography, ''Oxfor ...
Born in
Taffs Well
Taff's Well () is a semi-rural village, community and electoral ward located at the south easterly tip of Rhondda Cynon Taf, to the north of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. Known locally as the 'Gates to the Valleys', it is separated from Gwa ...
, (26 December 1881 – 17 March 1945) was a British
cardiologist (although he personally disliked the term, preferring
cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...
specialist
).
He coined the term "
clinical science
Clinical research is a branch of healthcare science that determines the safety and effectiveness ( efficacy) of medications, devices, diagnostic products and treatment regimens intended for human use. These may be used for prevention, treatm ...
".
[Biography, '']Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
''
*
Edward Lhuyd Fellow of Jesus College Oxford. Keeper of the
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...
and the foremost Celtic scholar of his time. ''Born Oswestry, 1660.
*
Ronald M Lockley Famous naturalist and author. Best known for his life on
Skokholm Island off Pembrokeshire 1927-1940 and at
Orielton in the 1950s to early 1960s. ''Born in Cardiff.''
*
Terry Matthews
Sir Terence Hedley Matthews (born 6 June 1943) is a Welsh-Canadian business magnate, serial high-tech entrepreneur, and Wales' first billionaire. He was the richest man in Wales until 2012, when he was surpassed by Sir Michael Moritz.
He h ...
'Mitel' and 'Newbridge' Networks founder.
*
William Morgan Inventor of the
vacuum tube
A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied.
The type kn ...
,
Coolidge tube, Britain's first
actuary
An actuary is a business professional who deals with the measurement and management of risk and uncertainty. The name of the corresponding field is actuarial science. These risks can affect both sides of the balance sheet and require asset man ...
, founding father of modern actuarial science. The unknowing discoverer of x-rays, a hundred and ten years before Roentgen. ''Born in Bridgend, 1750, died 1833.''
*
William Henry Preece was an electrical engineer who was a major figure in the development and introduction of wireless telegraphy and the telephone in Great Britain. ''Born Feb 15 1834 in Bryn Helen.''
*
Richard Price Developer of the times tables for insurance scales. Born at Tynton Farm Llangeinor, South Wales
*
William Price re-introduced
cremation
Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a Cadaver, dead body through Combustion, burning.
Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India ...
to Britain. Born Llantrisant, South Wales
*
Pryce Pryce-Jones Gave mail-order (catalogue) shopping to the world. (circa 1859) ''Born/lived in
Newtown, Montgomeryshire
Newtown ( cy, Y Drenewydd) is a town in Powys, Wales. It lies on the River Severn in the community of Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn, within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It was designated a new town in 1967 and saw population grow ...
(Powys).''
*
Robert Recorde
Robert Recorde () was an Anglo-Welsh physician and mathematician. He invented the equals sign (=) and also introduced the pre-existing plus and minus signs, plus sign (+) to English speakers in 1557.
Biography
Born around 1512, Robert Recorde w ...
Very influential physician and mathematician. Robert published some of the most important books of his era including the first English language book on
algebra
Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics.
Elementary a ...
which incidentally is where the equals symbol is first seen in use. ''From Tenby, West Wales.''
*
Isaac Roberts
Isaac Roberts FRS (27 January 1829 – 17 July 1904) was a Welsh people, Welsh engineer and businessman best known for his work as an amateur astronomer, pioneering the field of astrophotography of nebulae. He was a member of the Liverpool As ...
Pioneered deep space photography at the end of the 19th century. ''Born in Groes near Denbigh in 1829.''
*
Richard Roberts (engineer) Textile machinery, railway locomotives and other industrial inventions. ''Born Llanymynech, 1789.''
*
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
Philosopher, mathematician and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Russell is one of the most highly regarded academics of the 20th century. He popularized mathematics and proposed many ground breaking theories. ''Born in Trelleck, Monmouthshire, South Wales.''
*
David Thomas in 1837 invented a
hot blast furnace process to make iron using anthracite coal in Ystradfera (Swansea Valley). transforming the iron-making process there and later in 1839 after re-locating to Pennsylvania where he became the "father" of the American steel industry with his invention.
*Sir
Tudor Thomas
Sir James William Tudor Thomas universally known as Tudor Thomas (23 May 1893 – 23 January 1976) was a Welsh ophthalmic surgeon who came to note in 1934 when pioneering work on corneal grafting restored the sight of a man who had been nearly blin ...
Eye surgeon from Swansea. He pioneered ophthalmic corneaplasty in the 1930s. ''Born in Ystradgynlais 23 May 1893.''
*
Philip Vaughan
Philip Vaughan was a Welsh inventor and ironmaster who patented the first design for a ball bearing in 1794. Vaughan's patent described how iron balls could be placed between the wheel and the axle of a carriage. The balls let the carriage whee ...
Ironmaster who, in Carmarthen in 1794, patented the first design for a ball bearing.
*
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural se ...
Conferred with Darwin (and Darwin with him) regarding evolution of species and acknowledged as theory co-founder by Darwin in his 'On the Origin of Species'. ''Born
Llanbadoc, near
Usk,
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...
.''
*
Evan Williams Evan Williams may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People In sport
* Evan O. Williams (c. 1889–1946), American football and basketball coach
* Evan Williams (footballer) (born 1943), Scottish football goalkeeper
* Evan Williams (jockey) (1912–2001), horse ...
Physicist, discoverer of the
meson sub-atomic particles. ''Born Cwmsychpant,
Llandysul, Wales.''
*
Ernest Willows
Ernest Thompson Willows (1886–1926) was a pioneer Welsh aviator and airship builder. He became the first person in the United Kingdom to hold a pilots certificate for an airship when the Royal Aero Club awarded him ''Airship Pilots Certificate ...
pioneering aviator. 'The Father of British Airships' Born in Cardiff, 1896.
[Davies, John (2008) pg. 965]
*
Winston M Thomas Celtic Engineering Inc. Texas telecommunications. (Inventor) vehicle fuel locking device. Born Llanelli
References
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Welsh inventors, List of
List
Lists of inventors
Inventors
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
Inventors
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...