English inventions and discoveries on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
* 1822: The Difference Engine, an automatic 
* 1712: Atmospheric steam engine invented by 
* 1841: Widely accepted standard for screw threads devised by
* 13th century: Magnifying glass defined by Roger Bacon (c.?1214-c.?1292).
* Before 1596: Modern
* 1740:
* Anglo-Saxon times: The earliest 
* 1860 onwards: Modern
* 1718: The Puckle Gun or ''Defence Gun'', a multi-shot gun mounted on a tripod, invented by James Puckle (1667–1724).
* 1784: Shrapnel shell, an anti-personnel artillery munition, developed by Henry Shrapnel (1761–1842).
* 1804: The Congreve rocket, a weapon, invented by Sir William Congreve (inventor), William Congreve (1772–1828).
* 1830s: The Fuse (explosives), safety fuse invented by William Bickford (1774–1834), William Bickford (1774–1834).
* 1854: The Whitworth rifle, often called the "sharpshooter" because of its accuracy and considered one of the earliest examples of a sniper rifle, invented by Sir 
* 1914: First operational fighter aircraft, the Vickers F.B.5 (a.k.a. th "Gunbus"), developed from a design by Archibald Low (1888–1956).
* 1916: The tank developed and first used in combat by the British during Tanks in World War I, World War I as a means to break the deadlock of trench warfare. Key co-inventors include Major Walter Gordon Wilson (1874–1957) and Sir William Tritton (1875–1946).
* 1916: The first effective depth charge, an anti-submarine warfare weapon, developed from a design by Herbert Taylor at the RN Torpedo and Mine School, HMS Vernon (shore establishment), HMS ''Vernon''.
* 1916: The Livens Projector, a weapon, created by William Howard Livens (1889–1964).
* 1917: Dazzle camouflage created by Norman Wilkinson (artist), Norman Wilkinson (1878–1971).
* 1917: ASDIC active sonar, the first practical underwater active sound-detection apparatus, developed by Canadian physicist Robert William Boyle and English physicist Albert Beaumont Wood (1890–1964).
* 1940s: High-explosive squash head, a type of ammunition, invented by Sir Charles Dennistoun Burney (1888–1968).
* 1941: The Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife invented by William Ewart Fairbairn (1885–1960) and Eric A. Sykes (1883–1945).
* 1941–1942: The Bailey bridge – a type of portable, Prefabrication, pre-fabricated, truss bridge – invented by Donald Bailey (civil engineer), Donald Bailey (1901–1985). Field Marshal Montgomery emphasised the importance of the Bailey bridge in Britain winning the war.
* 1943: The bouncing bomb invented by Barnes Wallis (1887–1979).
* 1943: H2S radar (airborne radar to aid bomb targeting) invented by Alan Blumlein (1903–1942). Blumlein died in a plane crash during a secret trial of the H2S system.
* 1950: The Aircraft catapult, steam catapult, a device used to launch aircraft from aircraft carriers, developed by Commander Colin C. Mitchell Royal Naval Reserve, RNR.
* 1960s: Chobham armour, a type of vehicle armour, developed by a team headed by Gilbert Harvey of the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment, FVRDE at the tank research centre on Chobham Common, Surrey.
* 1960: Harrier jump jet developed by Hawker Aircraft of Kingston upon Thames following an approach by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1957.
* Late 1970s: Stun grenades developed by the British Army, British Army's Special Air Service, SAS.
* Before 1800: Method of copying images chemically to permanent media devised by Thomas Wedgwood (photographer), Thomas Wedgwood (1771–1805).
* 1838: The Stereoscope, a device for displaying three-dimensional images, invented by
* 1475: First book printed in the English language, ''Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye'', by William Caxton (c. 1422–c. 1491); eighteen copies survive.
* 1534: Cambridge University Press granted letters patent by Henry VIII; continuous operation since makes it the world's oldest publisher and printer.
* 1535: First complete printed translation of the Bible into English produced by Myles Coverdale (1488–1569).
* 1665: ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Philosophical Transactions'', the first journal exclusively devoted to science, established by the Royal Society of London; it is also the world's longest-running scientific journal.
* British Raj period: the first definite map of India drawn by English cartographers.
* Mid-19th century: First noted journal club by English surgeon James Paget, Sir James Paget (1814–1899); recalling in his memoirs time spent at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, Paget describes "a kind of club . .a small room over a baker's shop near the Hospital-gate where we could sit and read the Scientific journal, journals."
* 1893: Benjamin Daydon Jackson prepares the first volume of ''Index Kewensis'', first publication aiming to register all botanical names for seed plants at the rank of species and Genus, genera.
* 1600: Recognition that the earth was a giant magnet, by William Gilbert (1544–1603) in his six-book work ''De Magnete''; ''De Magnete'' was known all over Europe, and was almost certainly an influence on Galileo Galilei, Galileo.
* 1660: Hooke's Law (equation describing elasticity) proposed by Robert Hooke (1635–1703).
* 1666–1675: Theories on optics proposed by Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1726/7); Newton published ''Opticks'' in 1704.
* 1687: Law of Newton's law of universal gravitation, universal gravitation formulated in the ''Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Principia'' by Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1726/7).
* 1687: Newton's laws of motion formulated in the ''Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Principia''.
* 1800: Infrared#Human history, Infrared radiation discovered by Sir William Herschel (1738–1822).
* 1802: Theory on physiological basis of Color vision, colour vision proposed by Thomas Young (scientist), Thomas Young (1773–1829).
* 1803–1807: Evidence for a wave theory of light discovered by Thomas Young (scientist), Thomas Young (1773–1829).
* 1823: Electromagnet invented by William Sturgeon (1783–1850).
* 1831: Discovery that electric current could be generated by altering magnetic fields (the principle underlying modern Electricity generation, power generation) by
*Anglo-Saxon times: Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths used a process similar to Cementation (metallurgy), cementation; as evidenced by the Staffordshire hoard.
*1665: Correct theory of combustion first outlined in ''Micrographia'' by Robert Hooke (1635–1703); Hooke observed that something (known now as oxygen) is taken from the air and that in its absence combustion quickly ceases, however much heat is applied.
*1766: Hydrogen discovered by Henry Cavendish (1731–1810); Cavendish described it as a colourless, odourless gas that burns and can form an explosive mixture with air.
*1775: Oxygen discovered by Joseph Priestley (1733–1804); Priestley called it "dephlogisticated air".
*1791: William Gregor (25 December 1761 – 11 June 1817) discovered the elemental metal titanium.
*1801: Charles Hatchett FRS (2 January 1765 – 10 March 1847[1]) discovered the element niobium.
*1803: William Hyde Wollaston PRS (6 August 1766 – 22 December 1828) discovered the chemical element rhodium.
*1803: William Hyde Wollaston PRS (6 August 1766 – 22 December 1828) discovered the chemical element palladium.
*1803: Smithson Tennant FRS (30 November 1761 – 22 February 1815) discovered the element iridium.
*1803: Smithson Tennant FRS (30 November 1761 – 22 February 1815) discovered the element osmium.
*1803: Modern atomic theory developed by John Dalton (1766–1844). See also Dalton's law and Law of multiple proportions; Dalton is considered the father of modern chemistry.
*1807: Sodium isolated by Sir 
*1807: Potassium isolated by Sir
* 1665: Cell biology originated by Robert Hooke (1635–1703), who discovered the first Cell (biology), cells in the course of describing the microscopic compartments within cork.
* Early 19th century: the first recognition of what fossils were by Mary Anning.
* 1839: The identification and discovery of 150 mosses, lichens, liverworts, flowering plants and algae on the Kerguelen Islands by botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker. He later said of his gatherings "many of my best little lichens were gathered by hammering out the turfs or sitting on them till they thawed."
* 1855: The discovery of the first coal ball by Joseph Dalton Hooker who later on with partner William Binney made the first scientific description of coal balls.
* 1859: Theories of evolution by natural selection and sexual selection set out in ''On the Origin of Species'' by Charles Darwin (1809–1882).
* 1883: The practice of Eugenics developed by Sir Francis Galton (1822–1911), applying his half-cousin Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to humans.
* 1953: Double-helix structure of DNA determined by Englishman Francis Crick (1906–2004) and American James D. Watson, James Watson. Crick was a pioneer in the field of molecular biology.
* 1958: the first cloning of an animal, a frog using intact Cell nucleus, nuclei from the somatic cells of a Xenopus tadpole by Sir John Gurdon.
* 1950 onward: the pioneering of the use of Xenopus eggs to translate microinjected messenger RNA molecules by Sir John Gurdon and fellow researchers, a technique which has been widely used to identify the proteins encoded and to study their function.
* 1960 onwards: Pioneering observation-based research into the behaviour of Common chimpanzee, chimpanzees (our closest relatives in the animal kingdom) conducted by Jane Goodall (born 1934).
* 1977: DNA sequencing by chain termination developed by Frederick Sanger (1918–2013). Sanger won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry twice.
* 1977: Discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of Alternative splicing, gene-splicing by Richard J. Roberts (born 1943).
* 1996: Dolly the Sheep born as a result of Nuclear transfer, a form of cloning put into practice by Ian Wilmut (born 1944) and Keith Campbell (biologist), Keith Campbell (1954–2012).
* 2016: Scientists at the British bio-tech company Oxitec, in an attempt to stop the spread of dengue fever genetically engineer a 'sudden death'
* 1630–1632: The slide rule invented by William Oughtred (1574–1660), developing on work by Edmund Gunter (1581–1626) and Edmund Wingate (1596–1656).
* 1631: The "x" symbol for multiplication and the abbreviations "sin" and "cos" for the sine and cosine functions devised by William Oughtred (1574–1660) in ''Clavis Mathematicae'' (The Key to Mathematics).
* 1631: The symbols for "is less than" and "is greater than", along with other innovations, devised in the posthumously published algebra text ''Artis Analyticae Praxis'' by Thomas Harriot (c. 1560–1621).
* 1687: Calculus developed by Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1726/7), as set out in his ''Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Principia Mathematica''.
* 1763 onwards: Key contributions made to the development of statistics by: Thomas Bayes (c. 1701–1761) (''Bayes' theorem'');
* 1609: First drawing of the Moon through a telescope by Thomas Harriot (c. 1560 – 1621); Harriot achieved this on 26 July 1609: over four months before Galileo Galilei, Galileo.
* 1610: Sunspots discovered by Thomas Harriot (c. 1560–1621).
* 1668: Newtonian telescope invented by Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727).
* 1705: Periodic comet, Periodicity of Halley's Comet determined by Edmond Halley (1656–1742).
* 1712–1717: The Planetarium created by French-born Briton John Theophilus Desaguliers (1683–1784).
* 1758: Achromatic doublet lens patented by John Dollond (1706–1761).
* 1781: Discovery of the planet Uranus by Sir William Herschel (1738–1822); Herschel also discovered the moons Titania (moon), Titania (1787), Oberon (moon), Oberon (1787), Enceladus (moon), Enceladus (1789), and Mimas (moon), Mimas (1789).
* 1783: Existence of black holes first proposed by John Michell (1724–1793); Michell was first to suggest that binary stars, double stars might be attracted to each other (1767), and he invented the torsion balance (before 1783).
* 1843: Existence and position of Neptune predicted, using only mathematics, by John Couch Adams (1819–1892).
* 1845: Nature of spiral galaxies discovered by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse (1800–1867).
* 1846: Discovery of Triton (moon), Triton by William Lassell (1799–1880); Lassell also discovered the moons Hyperion (moon), Hyperion (1848), Ariel (moon), Ariel (1851), and Umbriel (moon), Umbriel (1851).
* 1924: The Eddington limit – the natural limit to the luminosity of stars, or the radiation generated by accretion onto a compact object – discovered by Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882–1944).
* 1930s–1950s: Important contributions to the development of radio astronomy made by Bernard Lovell (1913–2012).
* 1946–1954: Pioneering theories of Nucleosynthesis (the formation of chemical elements in stars and supernova) proposed by Sir Fred Hoyle (1915–2001); in 1949, Hoyle coined the term "Big Bang".
* 1966 onwards: Important contributions to cosmology and (from 1973)quantum gravity made by Stephen Hawking (born 1942), especially in the context of black holes.
* 1967: Pulsars discovered by English Radio astronomy, radio astronomer Antony Hewish (born 1924) and one of his graduate students, Northern Irish Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Jocelyn Bell.
* Late 1960s / early 1970s: Aperture synthesis, used for accurate location and imaging of weak radio sources in the field of radio astronomy, developed by Martin Ryle (1918–1984) and Antony Hewish (born 1924).
* Before 1299: Bowls or ''lawn bowls'' can be traced to 13th-century England. The world's oldest surviving bowling green is Southampton Old Bowling Green, first used in 1299.
* Late 15th century: Rounders developed from an older English game known as stoolball.
* Early 16th century: Modern boxing developed from bare-knuckle boxing or ''prizefighting'', a resurfacing of Ancient Greek boxing in England. The first recorded boxing match took place on 6 January 1681 in England, arranged by Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle (1653–1688).
* 1519: World's oldest sporting competition still running, the Kiplingcotes Derby horse-race, established; it has run annually since without a break.
* 1530s: Origin of real tennis played with Tennis racket, rackets, popularised by Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII.
* 1598: The earliest definite reference to cricket; the sport may arguably be traced further back to 1301 with written evidence of a game known as ''creag'' played by Edward II of England, Prince Edward, son of Edward I of England, Edward I (Longshanks).
* Aunt Sally, early 17th century.
* After 1660: Thoroughbred horseracing developed in 17th- and 18th-century England; royal support from Charles II of England, Charles II, a keen racegoer and owner, made horse-racing popular with the public.
* 1673: Oldest non-equine competition in England, the Scorton Arrow archery tournament, established in Scorton, North Yorkshire, Scorton, Yorkshire.
* 1715: Oldest Rowing (sport), rowing race in the world, Doggett's Coat and Badge established; the race on the River Thames has been held every year since 1715.
* 1744: Earliest description of baseball in ''A Little Pretty Pocket-Book'' by John Newbery (1713–1767); the first ''recorded game'' of "Bass-Ball" took place in 1749 in Surrey. William Bray (antiquary), William Bray (1736–1832) recorded a game of baseball on Easter Monday, 1755 in Guildford, Surrey; the game is considered to have been taken across the Atlantic by English emigrants.
* Early 19th century: Modern field hockey developed in English public schools; the first club was established in 1849 in Blackheath, London.
* 1820s: Ice hockey, a variant of field hockey, invented by British soldiers based in Canada. British soldiers and emigrants to Canada and the United States played their stick-and-ball games on the winter ice and snow; in 1825, John Franklin (1786–1847) wrote during one of his Arctic expeditions: "The game of hockey played on the ice was the morning sport" on Great Bear Lake.
* 1823 or 1824: Invention of Rugby football credited to William Webb Ellis (1806–1872).
* 1850: The format of the modern Olympic Games inspired by William Penny Brookes (1809–1895); see also the Cotswold Olimpick Games.
* c. 1850: A bowling machine for cricket named the Catapulta (a predecessor of the pitching machine) invented by Nicholas Felix, Nicholas "Felix" Wanostrocht (1804–1876).
* 1857: Sheffield F.C. formed by former public school pupils, making it the world's first and oldest Association football club, as acknowledged by The Football Association and FIFA.Encyclopedia of British Football by Richard Cox et al., Routledge, 2002 page 5
* 1867: Coconut shy in Kingston, Surrey.
* 1859–1865: Lawn tennis invented by Harry Gem (1819–1881) and Augurio Perera, a Spanish-born merchant and sportsman based in England.
* 1874–1875: Snooker invented by the British Army in India.
* 1874: Formal codification of the rules of modern Polo established by the Hurlingham Polo Association; polo had been introduced to England in 1834 by the 10th Hussars at Aldershot, Hants, and in 1862 the first polo club, Calcutta Polo Club, was established by two British soldiers, Captain Robert Stewart and (later Major General) Joe Sherer.
* 1880 onwards: Modern rock climbing developed by Walter Parry Haskett Smith (1859–1946), so-called "father of rock climbing".
* 1880s: Table tennis or ''ping-pong'' originated in Victorian era, Victorian England as an indoor version of tennis; it was developed and played by the upper class as an after-dinner parlour game.
* 1888: Tiddlywinks patent application by London bank clerk Joseph Assheton Fincher (1863–1900); tiddlywinks originated as an adult parlour game in Victorian era, Victorian England.
* 1893–1897: Netball developed from early versions of women's basketball at Martina Bergman-Österberg, Madame Österberg's College in England.
* 1895: Rugby league created with the establishment of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby Football Union (NRFU) as a breakaway faction of England's Rugby Football Union (RFU).
* 1896: The dartboard-layout used in the game and professional competitive sport of Darts was devised by Lancashire carpenter Brian Gamlin (c. 1852–1903); Gamlin died before he could patent his idea.
* 1899: Mixed martial arts, Mixed martial art (MMA) Bartitsu invented by Edward William Barton-Wright (1860–1951).
* 1948: The first Paralympic games competition, originally the Stoke Mandeville Games, created in England by German-born (from 1945
* 1799: Concept of the modern aeroplane as a Fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control set forth by Sir George Cayley (1773–1857); Cayley is one of the most important people in the history of Aeronautics and flight: he is sometimes called the "father of aviation".
* 1804: First glider aircraft, glider to carry a human being aloft designed by Sir George Cayley (1773–1857). Cayley discovered and identified the four aerodynamic forces of flight: weight, Lift (force), lift, Drag (physics), drag, and thrust; Modern aeroplane design is based on those discoveries, along with Camber (aerodynamics), cambered wings which Cayley also discovered.
* 1837: Pioneering contribution to parachute design made by Robert Cocking (1776–1837); aged 61, Cocking was the first person to be killed in a parachuting accident.
* 1844: Hale rockets, an improved version of the Congreve rocket design that introduced thrust vectoring, invented by William Hale (British inventor), William Hale (1797–1870).
* 1848: World's first powered flight (of 30 feet) achieved in Chard, Somerset with the Aerial Steam Carriage by John Stringfellow (1799–1883), 55 years before the Wright brothers; Stringfellow and William Samuel Henson (1812–1888) patented their invention in 1842.
* Late-19th century: The term "airport, air port" first used – to describe the port city Southampton, where some early flying boats landed.
* 1929: Turbojet, Turbojet engine single-handedly invented by Sir Frank Whittle (1907–1996).
* 1949: First commercial jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet, designed, developed and manufactured by de Havilland.
* 1954: First aircraft capable of supercruise, the English Electric Lightning, designed, developed and manufactured by English Electric.
* 1959: Aerospace engineer John Hodge (engineer), John Hodge (1929–2021) migrated to become part of NASA's Space Task Group, which was responsible for America's manned space programme, Project Mercury.
* 1960: VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft (most famously the Harrier jump jet, Harrier) invented by Gordon Lewis (engineer), Gordon Lewis (1924–2010), Ralph Hooper (1926–2022), Stanley Hooker (1907–1984) and Sydney Camm (1893–1966); the project developed on ideas by Frenchman Michel Wibault.
*1965: Concorde The world's first supersonic commercial aircraft (A joint development between British Airways, Air France) invented by James Arnot Hamilton, Sir James Hamilton (1923–2012); the project was manufactured by British Aircraft Corporation, BAC, Sud Aviation. It took Concorde three hours, fifteen minutes to fly from Heathrow Airport, London Heathrow to John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York JFK.
* 1802: First full-scale railway steam locomotive built by Richard Trevithick (1771–1833). This built on the endeavours of two other Englishmen, engineer Thomas Savery (c.1650–1715), son of Devon, and the first practical steam engine built in 1712 by Londoner
* 1842: The Edmondson railway ticket invented by Thomas Edmondson (1792–1851); British Rail used Edmondson tickets until February 1990.
* 1852 onwards: Numerous inventions for railways by John Ramsbottom (engineer), John Ramsbottom (1814–1897), including: the split piston ring (1852), the Ramsbottom safety valve (1855), the Displacement lubricator (1860), and the Track pan, water trough (1860).
* 1863: Opening of the world's oldest underground railway, the London Underground, a.k.a. the Tube; the Tube is the oldest rapid transit system, and it was the first underground railway to operate electric locomotive, electric trains.
* Late 1940s: Maglev, the use of magnetic levitation to move vehicles without touching the ground, invented by
* 1804: The seat belt invented by Sir George Cayley (1773–1857).
* 1808: Tension-spoke wire wheels invented by Sir George Cayley (1773–1857).
* 1829: First practical steam fire engine invented by John Braithwaite (engineer), John Braithwaite the younger (1797–1880).
* 1834: The Hansom cab, a type of horse-drawn carriage, invented by Joseph Hansom (1803–1882).
* 1868: First traffic lights (manually operated and Gas lighting, gas-lit) installed outside London's Houses of Parliament; invented by J. P. Knight, John Peake Knight (1828–1886).
* c. 1870: "Ariel", a penny-farthing bicycle, developed by James Starley (1831–1881).
* 1876: The legal collection of 70,000 thousands seeds from the rubber bearing tree hevea brasiliensis which led to the discovery of the perfect growing climate and locations for rubber trees by Sir Henry Alexander Wickham. Most commercial rubber plants are descended from the seeds he took to Kew Gardens
* 1884:Thomas Parker claimed to have invented the first electric car.
* 1885: First commercially successful safety bicycle, "the Rover", developed by John Kemp Starley (1855–1901).
* 1901: Tarmacadam, Tarmac patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley (1860–1942).
* c. 1902: The invention of the Bowden cable popularly attributed to Sir Sir Frank Bowden, 1st Baronet, Frank Bowden (1848–1921), founder and owner of the Raleigh Bicycle Company.
* 1910: Opening of the oldest existing driving school and first formal driving tuition provider, the British School of Motoring, in Peckham, London.
* 1922: Horstmann suspension, a coil spring Suspension (vehicle), suspension system commonly used on western tanks, invented by Sidney Horstmann (1881–1962).
* 1926: First automated traffic lights in England deployed in Piccadilly Circus in 1926; outside of London, Wolverhampton was in 1927 the first British town to introduce automated traffic lights.
* 1934: The Cat's eye (road), Cat's eye, a Road safety, safety device used in road marking, invented by Percy Shaw (1890–1976).
* 1934: The Belisha beacon introduced by Leslie Hore-Belisha (1893–1957).
* 1962: First modern Formula One car, the Lotus 25, designed by Colin Chapman (1928–1982) for Team Lotus; the design incorporated the first fully stressed monocoque chassis to appear in automobile racing.
* 1985: The Sinclair C5, a one-person battery electric vehicle, invented by Sir Clive Sinclair (born 1940).
* 1997: World Land Speed Record, 1,228 km/h (763 mph), achieved by ThrustSSC, a jet engine, jet-propelled car designed and built in England. Project director: Richard Noble (born 1946); designed by Ron Ayers (born 1932), Glynne Bowsher and Jeremy Bliss; piloted by Andy Green (RAF officer), Andy Green (born 1962).
* 1578: The first submersible (a small, submarine-like vehicle) of whose construction there exists reliable information designed by Englishman William Bourne (mathematician), William Bourne (c. 1535–1582) in his book ''Inventions or Devises''; Dutchman Cornelius Drebbel put Bourne's concept into action in 1620.
* 1691: A diving bell capable of allowing its occupier to remain submerged for extended periods of time, and fitted with a window for the purpose of underwater exploration, designed by Edmond Halley, Edmund Halley (1656–1742), best known for computing the orbit of Halley's Comet.
* c. 1730: The Octant (instrument), octant invented by English mathematician John Hadley (1682–1744); American optician Thomas Godfrey (inventor), Thomas Godfrey developed the instrument independently at approximately the same time.
* 1743: The "Whirling Speculum", a device used to locate the horizon in foggy or misty conditions, invented by John Serson (died 1744); Serson's Speculum can be seen as a precursor to the gyroscope.
* 1757: First Reflecting instrument, sextant made by John Bird (astronomer), John Bird (1709–1776), adapting the principle of John Hadley, Hadley's Octant (instrument), octant.
* 1785: The Lifeboat (rescue), lifeboat invented and patented by Lionel Lukin (1742–1834); William Wouldhave (1751–1821) made a rival claim, but he did not succeed with the practical application of his invention until 1789.
* 1799: The Transit (ship), Transit, a type of sailing vessel with a remarkable turn of speed, patented by Richard Hall Gower (1768–1833).
* 1835: The screw propeller invented and patented by Francis Pettit Smith (1808–1874).
* 1843: Launch of the SS Great Britain – the first steam-powered, screw propeller-driven passenger liner with an iron hull; designed by
* 1286: First recorded use of the Halifax Gibbet, an early guillotine.
* Early 17th century: The closely cut Lawn, "English" lawn created in the Jacobean era, Jacobean epoch of History of gardening, gardening, as the garden and the lawn became places created first as walkways and social areas. The English lawn became a symbol of status of the aristocracy and gentry; it showed that the owner could afford to keep land that was not being used for a building or for food production.
* 1668: Earliest concept of a metric system proposed by John Wilkins (1614–1672) in ''An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language''.
* 1706: World's first life insurance company, the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, Amicable Society, founded by William Talbot (bishop), William Talbot (1658–1730) and Sir Allen baronets, Thomas Allen, 2nd Baronet (c. 1648–1730).
* 1719: Oldest music-based arts festival, festival, the Three Choirs Festival, established.
* 1725: The modern History of the kilt, kilt, associated since the 19th century with Scottish culture, arguably invented by English Quakers, Quaker Thomas Rawlinson (industrialist), Thomas Rawlinson (dates not known).
* c. 1760: The jigsaw puzzle invented and commercialised by cartographer John Spilsbury (cartographer), John Spilsbury (1739–1769).
* 1767: The Carbonation, carbonated soft drink invented by Joseph Priestley (1733–1804).
* 1768–1770: The modern circus invented by Philip Astley (1742–1814) in Astley's Amphitheatre on Westminster Bridge Road in Lambeth.
* c. 1770–1780: The lorgnette (a pair of Glasses, spectacles with a handle, used to hold them in place) invented by George Adams (scientist, died 1773), George Adams the elder (c. 1709–1773) and subsequently illustrated in a work by his son George Adams (scientist, died 1795), George Adams the younger, ''An Essay on Vision, briefly explaining the fabric of the eye'' (1789).
* 1772: Oldest arts festival established in Norwich 1772.
* 1787: First glee club founded in Harrow School.
* 1797: The top hat arguably invented by English haberdasher John Hetherington (dates not known).
* 1798: Consequences of population growth identified by Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834) in ''An Essay on the Principle of Population''.
* 1798: Oldest police force in continuous operation, the Marine Police Force, formed by English seafarer John Harriott (sailor), John Harriott (1745–1817) and Scot Patrick Colquhoun; it merged with the nascentMetropolitan Police Service in 1839.
* 18th century – 19th century: The history of comics developed with innovations by William Hogarth (1697–1764), James Gillray (1756/57–1815), George Cruikshank (1792–1878) and others. The Glasgow Looking Glass (1826), arguably the first comic strip. William Heath was its principal strip illustrator.
* 1811: The graphic telescope, a camera lucida, drawing aid with the power of a telescope, invented by water-colour painter Cornelius Varley (1781–1873).
* 1821: World's first modern nature reserve established by naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton (1782–1965); Waterton was described by David Attenborough as "one of the first people anywhere to recognise not only that the natural world was of great importance but that it needed protection as humanity made more and more demands on it".
* 1824: Rubber balloon invented by
co-operative principles
on which co-ops around the world operate to this day. * 1844: YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) founded in London by Sir George Williams (YMCA), George Williams (1821–1905), with the aim of putting Christian values into practice. * 1846: The Christmas cracker invented by London confectioner Thomas J. Smith by wrapping a bon-bon in a twist of coloured paper, adding a love note, a paper hat and a banger mechanism. This new idea took off and the bon-bon was eventually replaced by a small toy or novelty. * 1849: Bowler hat designed by London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler. * 1851: Prime meridian established at Greenwich by Sir George Biddell Airy (1801–1892), Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881; Airy's line, the fourth Prime meridian (Greenwich), Greenwich Meridian, became the definitive, internationally recognised line in 1884.
* 1851: Revolutionary Modular design, modular, Prefabrication, prefabricated design, and use of Architectural glass, glass utilised in the building of the Crystal Palace of the Great Exhibition by Joseph Paxton (1803–1865); after the exhibition, the Crystal Palace was moved to Sydenham, London, Sydenham where it was destroyed in a fire in 1936.
* 1851: Steel-ribbed umbrella developed by Samuel Fox (industrialist), Samuel Fox (1815–1887).
* 1860: Linoleum invented by Frederick Walton (1834–1928).
* 1865: The Salvation Army, a Christian denomination, Christian denominational church and international charitable organization, charitable organisation, founded by Methodist minister (Christianity), minister William Booth (1829–1912).
* 1866: The introduction, planting, cultivation and manufacturing of Ceylon tea in the British Crown colony of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said of the planting efforts "the tea fields of Ceylon were as true a monument to courage as the lions of Waterloo" and called it "one of the greatest commercial victories which pluck and ingenuity ever won."
* 1868: Erection of first mounted dinosaur skeleton, Hadrosaurus Foulkii and introduction of the universal standard for all future dinosaur displays by English artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins in concert with Dr Joseph Leidy and Edward Drinker Cope. Displayed at The Academy of Natural Sciences
* 1870s: One precursor (among others) of the modern gas mask constructed by physicist John Tyndall (1820–1893).
* 1897: Plasticine invented by art teacher William Harbutt (1844–1921).
* 1901: Scale model, Model construction system Meccano invented by Frank Hornby (1863–1936).
* 1902: First large-scale programme of international scholarships, the Rhodes Scholarship, created by Cecil John Rhodes (1853–1902).
* 1907: The Scouting, scout movement created by Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Lord Baden-Powell (1857–1941), on finding that his 1899 Military education and training, military training manual ''Aids to Scouting'' was being used by teachers and youth organisations.
*1908: The reserve forest which would become the Kaziranga National Park founded by George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Lord Curzon of Kedleston to protect the dwindling species of rhinoceros.
* 1913: The crossword puzzle invented by
English inventions and discoveries are objects, processes or techniques invented, innovated or discovered, partially or entirely, in
* 1627: Publication of first experiments in
* Anglo-Saxon times: type of candle clock invented by Alfred the Great (849–899).
* c. 1657:
* 1759: The ''Derby Rib'' machine (for
* 1840:
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
by a person from England. Often, things discovered for the first time are also called inventions and in many cases, there is no clear line between the two. Nonetheless, science and technology in England continued to develop rapidly in absolute terms. Furthermore, according to a Japanese research firm, over 40% of the world's inventions and discoveries were made in the UK, followed by France with 24% of the world's inventions and discoveries made in France and followed by the US with 20%.
The following is a list of inventions, innovations or discoveries known or generally recognised to be English.
Agriculture
* 1627: Publication of first experiments in Water desalination
Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture. Salt ...
and filtration by Sir Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
(1561–1626).
* 1701: Seed drill
A seed drill is a device used in agriculture that sows seeds for crops by positioning them in the soil and burying them to a specific depth while being dragged by a tractor. This ensures that seeds will be distributed evenly.
The seed drill sow ...
improved by Jethro Tull (1674–1741).
*18th century: of the horse-drawn hoe and scarifier by Jethro Tull
* 1780s: Selective breeding
Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...
and artificial selection pioneered by Robert Bakewell (1725–1795).
* 1842: Superphosphate Triple superphosphate is a component of fertilizer that primarily consists of monocalcium phosphate, Ca(H2PO4)2. Triple superphosphate is obtained by treating phosphate rock with phosphoric acid. Traditional routes for extraction of phosphate roc ...
or chemical fertilizer
A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
developed by John Bennet Lawes
Sir John Bennet Lawes, 1st Baronet, FRS (28 December 1814 – 31 August 1900) was an English entrepreneur and agricultural scientist. He founded an experimental farm at his home at Rothamsted Manor that eventually became Rothamsted Research, ...
(1814–1900).
* 1850s: Steam-driven ploughing engine invented by John Fowler (1826–1864).
* 1901: First commercially successful light farm-tractor
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commo ...
invented by Dan Albone
Daniel Albone (12 September 1860 – 30 October 1906) was an English inventor, manufacturer and cyclist. He invented the first successful light farm tractor, and the Ivel Safety bicycle.
Childhood
Born 12 September 1860 at Biggleswade, Bedfordsh ...
(1860–1906).
* 1930s onwards: Developments in dairy farming
Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...
systems pioneered by Rex Paterson
Rex Munro Paterson OBE (1902 in London – 1978 in Hampshire) was an English agricultural pioneer whose extensive business and meticulous record keeping enabled him to carry out research and development in dairy farming systems on a scale that w ...
(1902–1978).
Ceramics
* 1748: Fineporcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...
developed by Thomas Frye
Thomas Frye (c. 1710 – 3 April 1762) was an Anglo-Irish artist, best known for his portraits in oil and pastel, including some miniatures and his early mezzotint engravings. He was also the patentee of the Bow porcelain factory, London, ...
(c. 1710–1762), of Bow porcelain factory
The Bow porcelain factory (active c. 1747–64 and closed in 1776) was an emulative rival of the Chelsea porcelain factory in the manufacture of early soft-paste porcelain in Great Britain. The two London factories were the first in England. It ...
, London. Cf. Frye's rivals at Chelsea porcelain factory
Chelsea porcelain is the porcelain made by the Chelsea porcelain manufactory, the first important porcelain manufactory in England, established around 1743–45, and operating independently until 1770, when it was merged with Derby porcelain. ...
.
* 1770s: Jasperware
Jasperware, or jasper ware, is a type of pottery first developed by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1770s. Usually described as stoneware, it has an unglazed matte "biscuit" finish and is produced in a number of different colours, of which the most com ...
developed by Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indus ...
(1730–1795).
* 1789–1793: Bone china
Bone china is a type of ceramic that is composed of bone ash, feldspathic material, and kaolin. It has been defined as "ware with a translucent body" containing a minimum of 30% of phosphate derived from animal bone and calculated calcium phospha ...
created by Josiah Spode
Josiah Spode (23 March 1733 – 18 August 1797) was an English potter and the founder of the English Spode pottery works which became famous for the high quality of its wares. He is often credited with the establishment of blue underglaze tran ...
(1733–1797).
* 1813: Ironstone china
Ironstone china, ironstone ware or most commonly just ironstone, is a type of vitreous pottery first made in the United Kingdom in the early 19th century. It is often classed as earthenware although in appearance and properties it is similar t ...
invented by Charles James Mason (1791–1856).
Clock making
* Anglo-Saxon times: type of candle clock invented by Alfred the Great (849–899).
* c. 1657: Anchor escapement
In horology, the anchor escapement is a type of escapement used in pendulum clocks. The escapement is a mechanism in a mechanical clock that maintains the swing of the pendulum by giving it a small push each swing, and allows the clock's wheels ...
probably invented by Robert Hooke (1635–1703).
* c. 1657: Balance spring
A balance spring, or hairspring, is a spring attached to the balance wheel in mechanical timepieces. It causes the balance wheel to oscillate with a resonant frequency when the timepiece is running, which controls the speed at which the wheels of ...
added to balance wheel
A balance wheel, or balance, is the timekeeping device used in mechanical watches and small clocks, analogous to the pendulum in a pendulum clock. It is a weighted wheel that rotates back and forth, being returned toward its center position by a ...
by Robert Hooke (1635–1703).
* c. 1722: Grasshopper escapement invented by John Harrison
John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea.
Harrison's solution revol ...
(1693–1776); Harrison created the H1, H2, H3 & H4 watches (to solve the longitude
Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lette ...
measurement problem).
* c. 1726: Gridiron pendulum
The gridiron pendulum was a temperature-compensated clock pendulum invented by British clockmaker John Harrison around 1726 and later modified by John Ellicott. It was used in precision clocks. In ordinary clock pendulums, the pendulum rod expan ...
invented by John Harrison
John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea.
Harrison's solution revol ...
(1693–1776).
* c. 1755: Lever escapement
The lever escapement, invented by the English clockmaker Thomas Mudge in 1754 (albeit first used in 1769), is a type of escapement that is used in almost all mechanical watches, as well as small mechanical non-pendulum clocks, alarm clocks, an ...
, the greatest single improvement ever applied to pocket watch
A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist.
They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristw ...
es, invented by Thomas Mudge (1715–1794).
* 1761: First true Marine chronometer
A marine chronometer is a precision timepiece that is carried on a ship and employed in the determination of the ship's position by celestial navigation. It is used to determine longitude by comparing Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or in the modern ...
perfected by John Harrison
John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea.
Harrison's solution revol ...
(1693–1776).
* 1923: Self-winding watch
An automatic watch, also known as a self-winding watch or simply an automatic, is a mechanical watch where the natural motion of the wearer provides energy to wind the mainspring, making manual winding unnecessary if worn enough. It is distingui ...
invented by John Harwood (1893–1964).
* 1955: First accurate atomic clock
An atomic clock is a clock that measures time by monitoring the resonant frequency of atoms. It is based on atoms having different energy levels. Electron states in an atom are associated with different energy levels, and in transitions betwe ...
invented by Louis Essen
Louis Essen FRS O.B.E. (6 September 1908 – 24 August 1997) was an English physicist whose most notable achievements were in the precise measurement of time and the determination of the speed of light. He was a critic of Albert Einstein' ...
(1908–1997).
* 1976: Coaxial escapement mechanism invented by George Daniels (1926–2011).
Clothing manufacturing
* 1589: The stocking frame, a mechanical knitting machine used in the textiles industry, invented by William Lee (1563–1614). * 1733: The flying shuttle, a key development in the industrialization ofweaving
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...
during the early Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, invented by John Kay of Walmersley (1704-c. 1779).
* 1759: The ''Derby Rib'' machine (for stocking
Stockings (also known as hose, especially in a historical context) are close-fitting, variously elastic garments covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transpare ...
manufacture) invented by Jedediah Strutt
Jedediah Strutt (1726 – 7 May 1797) or Jedidiah Strutt – as he spelled it – was a hosier and cotton spinner from Belper, England.
Strutt and his brother-in-law William Woollat developed an attachment to the stocking frame that allowed the ...
(1726–1797).
* 1764: The spinning jenny
The spinning jenny is a multi- spindle spinning frame, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of textile manufacturing during the early Industrial Revolution. It was invented in 1764 or 1765 by James Hargreaves in Sta ...
invented by James Hargreaves
James Hargreaves ( 1720 – 22 April 1778) was an English weaver, carpenter and inventor who lived and worked in Lancashire, England. He was one of three men responsible for the mechanisation of spinning: Hargreaves is credited with inventing ...
(c. 1720–1778).
* 1767: Spinning frame
The spinning frame is an Industrial Revolution invention for spinning thread or yarn from fibres such as wool or cotton in a mechanized way. It was developed in 18th-century Britain by Richard Arkwright and John Kay.
Historical context
In 1 ...
invented by John Kay of Warrington
Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...
.
* 1769: The water frame
The water frame is a spinning frame that is powered by a water-wheel. Water frames in general have existed since Ancient Egypt times. Richard Arkwright, who patented the technology in 1769, designed a model for the production of cotton thread; ...
, a water-powered spinning frame
The spinning frame is an Industrial Revolution invention for spinning thread or yarn from fibres such as wool or cotton in a mechanized way. It was developed in 18th-century Britain by Richard Arkwright and John Kay.
Historical context
In 1 ...
, developed by Richard Arkwright (1732–1792).
* 1775–1779: Spinning mule
The spinning mule is a machine used to spin cotton and other fibres. They were used extensively from the late 18th to the early 20th century in the mills of Lancashire and elsewhere. Mules were worked in pairs by a minder, with the help of tw ...
invented by Samuel Crompton
Samuel Crompton (3 December 1753 – 26 June 1827) was an English inventor and pioneer of the spinning industry. Building on the work of James Hargreaves and Richard Arkwright he invented the spinning mule, a machine that revolutionised th ...
(1753–1827).
* 1784: Power loom invented by Edmund Cartwright
Edmund Cartwright (24 April 174330 October 1823) was an English inventor. He graduated from Oxford University and went on to invent the power loom. Married to local Elizabeth McMac at 19, he was the brother of Major John Cartwright, a politi ...
(1743–1823).
* 1790: Sewing machine invented by Thomas Saint.
* 1808: The bobbinet
Bobbinet tulle or genuine tulle is a specific type of tulle which has been made in the United Kingdom since the invention of the bobbinet machine. John Heathcoat coined the term "bobbin net", or bobbinet as it is spelled today, to distinguish th ...
, a development on the warp- loom, invented by John Heathcoat (1783–1861).
* 1856: Mauveine
Mauveine, also known as aniline purple and Perkin's mauve, was one of the first synthetic dyes. It was discovered serendipitously by William Henry Perkin in 1856 while he was attempting to synthesise the phytochemical quinine for the treatment of ...
, the first synthetic organic dye, discovered by William Henry Perkin
Sir William Henry Perkin (12 March 1838 – 14 July 1907) was a British chemist and entrepreneur best known for his serendipitous discovery of the first commercial synthetic organic dye, mauveine, made from aniline. Though he failed in tryin ...
(1838–1907).
* 1941: Polyester invented by John Rex Whinfield
John Rex Whinfield CBE (16 February 1901 in Sutton, Surrey, England – 6 July 1966 in Dorking, Surrey) was a British chemist. Together with James Tennant Dickson, Whinfield investigated polyesters and produced and patented the first polyeste ...
(1901–1966).
Communications
* Pre-1565: Thepencil
A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand.
Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail ...
invented in Seathwaite, Borrowdale
Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Cumberland. It is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' ...
, Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
, using Grey Knotts
Grey Knotts is a fell in the English Lake District. It is situated one kilometre south of the B5289 road as it crosses the Honister Pass. It is well seen from mid- Borrowdale as it rises above Seatoller. Grey Knotts reaches a height of 697 ...
graphite
Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on lar ...
.
* 1588: Modern shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''st ...
invented by Timothy Bright
Timothie Bright, M.D. (1551?–1615) was an Early Modern English physician and clergyman, the inventor of modern shorthand.
Early life
Bright was born in or about 1551, probably in the neighbourhood of Sheffield. He matriculated as a sizar at Tri ...
(1551?–1615).
* 1661: The postmark
A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit ...
(called the "Bishop Mark") introduced by English Postmaster General
A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...
Henry Bishop (1611–1691/2).
* 1667: Tin can telephone
A tin can phone is a type of acoustic (non-electrical) speech-transmitting device made up of two tin cans, paper cups or similarly shaped items attached to either end of a taut string or wire.
It is a particular case of mechanical telephony, whe ...
, a device that conveyed sounds over an extended wire by mechanical vibrations, invented by Robert Hooke (1635–1703).
* 1714: Patent for an apparatus regarded as the first typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...
granted to Henry Mill
Henry Mill (c. 1683–1771) was an English inventor who patented the first typewriter in 1714. He worked as a waterworks engineer for the New River Company, and submitted two patents during his lifetime. One was for a coach spring, while the othe ...
(c. 1683–1771).
* 18th century: The Valentine's card first popularised.
* 1822: The mechanical pencil
A mechanical pencil, also clutch pencil, is a pencil with a replaceable and mechanically extendable solid pigment core called a "lead" . The lead, often made of graphite, is not bonded to the outer casing, and can be mechanically extended as its ...
patented by Sampson Mordan
Sampson Mordan (1790 – 9 April 1843) was a British silversmith and a co-inventor of the first patented mechanical pencil. During his youth, he was an apprentice of the inventor and locksmith Joseph Bramah, who patented the first elastic ink r ...
(1790–1843) and John Isaac Hawkins
John Isaac Hawkins (1772–1855) was an inventor who practised civil engineering.
He was known as the co-inventor of the ever-pointed pencil, an early mechanical pencil, and of the upright piano.
Early life
Hawkins was born 14 March 1772 at Taun ...
(1772–1855).
* 1831: Electromagnetic induction & Faraday's law of induction. Began as a series of experiments by Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
(1791–1867); later became some of the first experiments in the discovery of radio waves
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies of 300 gigahertz ( GHz) and below. At 300 GHz, the corresponding wavelength is 1 mm (s ...
and the development of radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
.
* 1837: The first ''commercially'' successful electric telegraph
Electrical telegraphs were point-to-point text messaging systems, primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most widely used of a number of early messaging systems ...
developed by Sir Charles Wheatstone
Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS FRSE DCL LLD (6 February 1802 – 19 October 1875), was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope (a device for di ...
(1802–1875) and Sir William Fothergill Cooke
Sir William Fothergill Cooke (4 May 1806 – 25 June 1879) was an English inventor. He was, with Charles Wheatstone, the co-inventor of the Cooke-Wheatstone electrical telegraph, which was patented in May 1837. Together with John Ricardo he f ...
(1806–1879).
* 1837: Pitman Shorthand
Pitman shorthand is a system of shorthand for the English language developed by Englishman Sir Isaac Pitman (1813–1897), who first presented it in 1837. Like most systems of shorthand, it is a phonetic system; the symbols do not represent lett ...
invented by Isaac Pitman
Sir Isaac Pitman (4 January 1813 – 22 January 1897) was a teacher of the :English language who developed the most widely used system of shorthand, known now as Pitman shorthand. He first proposed this in ''Stenographic Soundhand'' in 183 ...
(1813–1897).
* 1840: Uniform Penny Post
The Uniform Penny Post was a component of the comprehensive reform of the Royal Mail, the UK's official postal service, that took place in the 19th century. The reforms were a government initiative to eradicate the abuse and corruption of the e ...
and postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...
invented by Sir Rowland Hill
Sir Rowland Hill, KCB, FRS (3 December 1795 – 27 August 1879) was an English teacher, inventor and social reformer. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of Uniform Penny Post and his soluti ...
(1795–1879).
* 1843: The Christmas card
A Christmas card is a greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to Christmastide and the holiday season. Christmas cards are usually exchanged during ...
introduced commercially by Sir Henry Cole
Sir Henry Cole FRSA (15 July 1808 – 18 April 1882) was a British civil servant and inventor who facilitated many innovations in commerce and education in the 19th century in the United Kingdom. Cole is credited with devising the concept of ...
(1808–1882).
* 1873: Discovery of the photoconductivity
Photoconductivity is an optical and electrical phenomenon in which a material becomes more electrically conductive due to the absorption of electromagnetic radiation such as visible light, ultraviolet light, infrared light, or gamma radiation ...
of the element selenium
Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...
by Willoughby Smith
Willoughby Smith (6 April 1828, in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk – 17 July 1891, in Eastbourne, Sussex) was an English electrical engineer who discovered the photoconductivity of the element selenium. This discovery led to the invention of photoele ...
(1828–1891). Smith's work led to the invention of photoelectric cell
A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.
s ( solar panels), including those used in the earliest television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
systems.
* 1879: The first radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
transmission, using a spark-gap transmitter
A spark-gap transmitter is an obsolete type of radio transmitter which generates radio waves by means of an electric spark."Radio Transmitters, Early" in Spark-gap transmitters were the first type of radio transmitter, and were the main type us ...
(achieving a range of approximately 500 metres), made by 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 ...
(1831–1900).
*1888: The world's first moving picture film produced by Louis Le Prince
Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince (28 August 1841 – disappeared 16 September 1890, declared dead 16 September 1897) was a French artist and the inventor of an early motion-picture camera, possibly the first person to shoot a moving picture sequ ...
(1841 – vanished 16 September 1890) of '' Roundhay Garden'', ''Leeds Bridge
Leeds Bridge is a historic river crossing in Leeds, England. The present cast iron road bridge over the River Aire dates from 1870. It is Grade II listed.
History
The medieval town of Leeds centred on 13th century burgess building plots eithe ...
.''
* 1897: The world's first radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...
was located at The Needles Batteries
The Needles Batteries are two military batteries built above the Needles stacks to guard the West end of the Solent. The field of fire was from approximately West South West clockwise to Northeast and they were designed to defend against enemy ...
on the western tip of the Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
; it was set up by Marconi.
* 1899: The world's first colour motion picture film produced by Edward Raymond Turner
Edward Raymond Turner (1873 – 9 March 1903) was a pioneering British inventor and cinematographer. He produced the earliest known colour motion picture film footage.
Biography
Turner was born in 1873 in Clevedon, North Somerset, UK. In late ...
(1873–1903).
* 1902: Proposition by Oliver Heaviside
Oliver Heaviside FRS (; 18 May 1850 – 3 February 1925) was an English self-taught mathematician and physicist who invented a new technique for solving differential equations (equivalent to the Laplace transform), independently developed ...
(1850–1925) of the existence of the Kennelly–Heaviside layer, a layer of ionised gas that reflects radio waves
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies of 300 gigahertz ( GHz) and below. At 300 GHz, the corresponding wavelength is 1 mm (s ...
around the Earth's curvature.
* 1912: Development of radio communication pioneered by William Eccles (1875–1966).
* 1914: The world's first automatic totalisator
A tote board (or totalisator/totalizator) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to the chari ...
invented by English-born George Julius
Sir George Alfred Julius (29 April 187328 June 1946) was an English-born Australian inventor and entrepreneur. He was the founder of Julius Poole & Gibson Pty Ltd and Automatic Totalisators Ltd, and invented the world's first automatic totalisa ...
(1873–1946).
* 2 December 1922: Mechanical scanning device (a precursor to modern television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
) demonstrated in Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
, France by Englishman Edwin Belin.
* 1930: The Plessey
The Plessey Company plc was a British electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after World War II by acquisition of companies and formed overseas compani ...
company in England began manufacturing the Baird Televisor receiver: the first television receiver sold to the public.
* 1931: Stereophonic sound or, more commonly, stereo invented at EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
in Hayes, Middlesex
Hayes is a town in west London, historically situated within the county of Middlesex, and now part of the London Borough of Hillingdon. The town's population, including its localities Hayes End, Harlington and Yeading, was recorded as 83,564 i ...
by Alan Blumlein (1903–1942).
* 1933: The 405-line television system
The 405-line monochrome analogue television broadcasting system was the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting. The number of television lines influences the image resolution, or quality of the picture.
It wa ...
(the first fully electronic television system used in regular broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting beg ...
) developed at EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
in Hayes, Middlesex
Hayes is a town in west London, historically situated within the county of Middlesex, and now part of the London Borough of Hillingdon. The town's population, including its localities Hayes End, Harlington and Yeading, was recorded as 83,564 i ...
by Alan Blumlein (1903–1942), under the supervision of Sir Isaac Shoenberg
Sir Isaac Shoenberg (1 March 1880 – 25 January 1963) was a British electronic engineer born in Belarus who was best known for his role in the history of television. He was the head of the EMI research team that developed the 405-line (Marconi-EM ...
.
* 1936: The world's first regular public broadcasts of high-definition television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
began from Alexandra Palace, North London
North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.
The term ''nor ...
by the BBC Television Service.
* 1930s: Radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
pioneered at Bawdsey Manor
Bawdsey Manor stands at a prominent position at the mouth of the River Deben close to the village of Bawdsey in Suffolk, England, about northeast of London.
Built in 1886, it was enlarged in 1895 as the principal residence of Sir William C ...
by Scotsman Robert Watson-Watt
Sir Robert Alexander Watson Watt (13 April 1892 – 5 December 1973) was a Scottish pioneer of radio direction finding and radar technology.
Watt began his career in radio physics with a job at the Met Office, where he began looking for accura ...
(1892–1973) and Englishman Henry Tizard
Sir Henry Thomas Tizard (23 August 1885 – 9 October 1959) was an English chemist, inventor and Rector of Imperial College, who developed the modern "octane rating" used to classify petrol, helped develop radar in World War II, and led the fir ...
(1885–1939).
* 1945: The concept of geostationary satellites
A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitude ...
for the use of telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
relays popularised by Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008).
* 1964 onwards: Use of fibre optics
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means t ...
in telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
pioneered by Englishman George Hockham
George Alfred Hockham FREng FIET (7 December 1938 – 16 September 2013) was a British engineer. He worked for over 40 years in theoretical analysis and design techniques applied to the solution of electromagnetic problems covering many diff ...
(1938–2013) and Chinese-born Charles K. Kao
Sir Charles Kao Kuen Charles K. Kao was elected in 1990
as a memb ...
.
* Late 1960s: Development of the long-lasting materials that made as a memb ...
liquid crystal displays
A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but i ...
possible. Team headed by Sir Brynmor Jones; developed by Scotsman George Gray and Englishman Ken Harrison in conjunction with the Royal Radar Establishment
The Royal Radar Establishment was a research centre in Malvern, Worcestershire in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1953 as the Radar Research Establishment by the merger of the Air Ministry's Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) a ...
and the University of Hull
, mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status
, type = Public
, endowment = £18.8 million (2016)
, budget = £190 million ...
, who ultimately discovered the crystals used in LCDs.
* 1970: The MTV-1
The MTV-1 Micro TV was the second model of a near pocket-sized television. The first was the Panasonic IC model TR-001 introduced in 1970. The MTV-1 was developed by Clive Sinclair ( Sinclair Radionics Ltd). It was shown to the public at trade ...
, the first near pocket-sized handheld television
A handheld television is a portable device for watching television that usually uses a TFT LCD or OLED and CRT color display. Many of these devices resemble handheld transistor radios.
History
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Panasonic and S ...
, developed by Sir Clive Sinclair (born 1940).
* 1973: First transmissions of the Teletext
A British Ceefax football index page from October 2009, showing the three-digit page numbers for a variety of football news stories
Teletext, or broadcast teletext, is a standard for displaying text and rudimentary graphics on suitably equipp ...
information service made by the British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
.
* 1992: Clockwork radio
Human power is work or energy that is produced from the human body. It can also refer to the power (rate of work per time) of a human. Power comes primarily from muscles, but body heat is also used to do work like warming shelters, food, or othe ...
invented by Trevor Baylis
Trevor Graham Baylis (13 May 1937 – 5 March 2018) was an English inventor best known for the wind-up radio. The radio, instead of relying on batteries or external electrical source, is powered by the user winding a crank. This stores energy ...
(1937–2018).
* 3 December 1992: The world's first text
Text may refer to:
Written word
* Text (literary theory), any object that can be read, including:
**Religious text, a writing that a religious tradition considers to be sacred
**Text, a verse or passage from scripture used in expository preachin ...
/SMS
Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
message ("Merry Christmas") sent over the Vodafone
Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.
, Vod ...
GSM network by Neil Papworth
Neil Papworth (born 1969) is a British software architect, designer and developer. He is known as the sender of the first ever text message (also known as SMS message) in 1992.
Personal life
Neil Papworth was born on 28 December 1969 in Read ...
(born 1969).
* 2016: Holographic
Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...
TV device created by the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...Computing
* 1822: The Difference Engine, an automatic mechanical calculator
A mechanical calculator, or calculating machine, is a mechanical device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic automatically, or (historically) a simulation such as an analog computer or a slide rule. Most mechanical calculators we ...
designed to tabulate polynomial
In mathematics, a polynomial is an expression consisting of indeterminates (also called variables) and coefficients, that involves only the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and positive-integer powers of variables. An example ...
functions, proposed by Charles Babbage (1791–1871).
* 1837: The Analytical Engine, a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, designed by Charles Babbage (1791–1871).
* 1842: The person regarded as the first computer programmer was Ada Lovelace (1815–1852), only legitimate child of the poet Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...
and his wife Anne Isabella Milbanke
Anne Isabella Noel Byron, 11th Baroness Wentworth and Baroness Byron (''née'' Milbanke; 17 May 1792 – 16 May 1860), nicknamed Annabella and commonly known as Lady Byron, was wife of poet George Gordon Byron, more commonly known as Lord Byro ...
, Baroness Wentworth.
* 1842: First programming language, the Analytical Engine order code, produced by Charles Babbage (1791–1871) and Ada Lovelace (1815–1852).
* 1854: Boolean algebra
In mathematics and mathematical logic, Boolean algebra is a branch of algebra. It differs from elementary algebra in two ways. First, the values of the variables are the truth values ''true'' and ''false'', usually denoted 1 and 0, whereas i ...
, the basis for digital logic
A logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, a logical operation performed on one or more binary inputs that produces a single binary output. Depending on the context, the term may refer to an ideal logic gate ...
, conceived by George Boole
George Boole (; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was a largely self-taught English mathematician, philosopher, and logician, most of whose short career was spent as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork in ...
(1815–1864).
* 1912: Argo system, the world's first electrically powered mechanical analogue computer
An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computer that uses the continuous variation aspect of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities (''analog signals'') to model the problem being solved. In ...
, invented by Arthur Pollen
Arthur Joseph Hungerford Pollen (13 September 1866 – 28 January 1937) was an English journalist, businessman, and commentator on naval affairs who devised a new computerised fire-control system for use on battleships prior to the First World W ...
(1866–1937).
* 1918: The flip-flop circuit, which became the basis of electronic memory (Random-access memory
Random-access memory (RAM; ) is a form of computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, typically used to store working data and machine code. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read or written in almost the ...
) in computers, invented by William Eccles (1875–1966) and F. W. Jordan (1882–?).
* 1936–1937: The Universal Turing machine
In computer science, a universal Turing machine (UTM) is a Turing machine that can simulate an arbitrary Turing machine on arbitrary input. The universal machine essentially achieves this by reading both the description of the machine to be simu ...
invented by Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical co ...
(1912–1954). The UTM is considered to be the origin of the stored programme computer used in 1946 for the "Electronic Computing Instrument" that now bears John von Neumann
John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...
's name: the Von Neumann architecture
The von Neumann architecture — also known as the von Neumann model or Princeton architecture — is a computer architecture based on a 1945 description by John von Neumann, and by others, in the '' First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC''. T ...
.
* 1939: The Bombe
The bombe () was an electro-mechanical device used by British cryptologists to help decipher German Enigma-machine-encrypted secret messages during World War II. The US Navy and US Army later produced their own machines to the same functi ...
, a device used by the British to decipher German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
secret messages during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, invented by Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical co ...
(1912–1954).
* 1943–1944: The Colossus computer
Colossus was a set of computers developed by British codebreakers in the years 1943–1945 to help in the cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher. Colossus used thermionic valves (vacuum tubes) to perform Boolean and counting operations. Colossus ...
– the world's first programmable, electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
, digital computer – invented by Tommy Flowers
Thomas Harold Flowers MBE (22 December 1905 – 28 October 1998) was an English engineer with the British General Post Office. During World War II, Flowers designed and built Colossus, the world's first programmable electronic computer, to help ...
(1905–1988).
* 1946–1950: ACE
An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...
and Pilot ACE
The Pilot ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) was one of the first computers built in the United Kingdom. Built at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the early 1950s, it was also one of the earliest general-purpose, stored-program computers ...
invented by Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical co ...
(1912–1954).
* 1946–1947: The Williams tube
The Williams tube, or the Williams–Kilburn tube named after inventors Freddie Williams and Tom Kilburn, is an early form of computer memory. It was the first random-access digital storage device, and was used successfully in several early co ...
, a cathode ray tube used to store electronically (500 to 1,000 bits of) binary data
Binary data is data whose unit can take on only two possible states. These are often labelled as 0 and 1 in accordance with the binary numeral system and Boolean algebra.
Binary data occurs in many different technical and scientific fields, wher ...
, developed by Frederic Calland Williams
Sir Frederic Calland Williams, (26 June 1911 – 11 August 1977), known as F.C. Williams or Freddie Williams, was an English engineer, a pioneer in radar and computer technology.
Education
Williams was born in Romiley, Stockport, and ed ...
(1911–1977) and Tom Kilburn
Tom Kilburn (11 August 1921 – 17 January 2001) was an English mathematician and computer scientist. Over the course of a productive 30-year career, he was involved in the development of five computers of great historical significance. With ...
(1921–2001).
* 1948: The Manchester Baby
The Manchester Baby, also called the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM), was the first electronic stored-program computer. It was built at the University of Manchester by Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn, and Geoff Tootill, and ran its ...
– the world's first electronic stored-programme computer – built by Frederic Calland Williams
Sir Frederic Calland Williams, (26 June 1911 – 11 August 1977), known as F.C. Williams or Freddie Williams, was an English engineer, a pioneer in radar and computer technology.
Education
Williams was born in Romiley, Stockport, and ed ...
(1911–1977) and Tom Kilburn
Tom Kilburn (11 August 1921 – 17 January 2001) was an English mathematician and computer scientist. Over the course of a productive 30-year career, he was involved in the development of five computers of great historical significance. With ...
(1921–2001) at the Victoria University of Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...
.
* 1949: The Manchester Mark 1
The Manchester Mark 1 was one of the earliest stored-program computers, developed at the Victoria University of Manchester, England from the Manchester Baby (operational in June 1948). Work began in August 1948, and the first version was oper ...
computer developed by Frederic Calland Williams
Sir Frederic Calland Williams, (26 June 1911 – 11 August 1977), known as F.C. Williams or Freddie Williams, was an English engineer, a pioneer in radar and computer technology.
Education
Williams was born in Romiley, Stockport, and ed ...
(1911–1977) and Tom Kilburn
Tom Kilburn (11 August 1921 – 17 January 2001) was an English mathematician and computer scientist. Over the course of a productive 30-year career, he was involved in the development of five computers of great historical significance. With ...
(1921–2001); historically significant because of its pioneering inclusion of index register
An index register in a computer's CPU is a processor register (or an assigned memory location) used for pointing to operand addresses during the run of a program. It is useful for stepping through strings and arrays. It can also be used for hol ...
s.
* 1949: EDSAC – the first complete, fully functional computer inspired by the von Neumann architecture
The von Neumann architecture — also known as the von Neumann model or Princeton architecture — is a computer architecture based on a 1945 description by John von Neumann, and by others, in the '' First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC''. T ...
, the basis of every modern computer – constructed by Maurice Wilkes (1913–2010).
* Late 1940s/early 1950s: The integrated circuit, commonly called the ''microchip'', conceptualised and built by Geoffrey Dummer
Geoffrey William Arnold Dummer, MBE (1945), C. Eng., IEE Premium Award, FIEEE, MIEE, USA Medal of Freedom with Bronze Palm (25 February 1909 – 9 September 2002) was an English electronics engineer and consultant, who is credited as be ...
(1909–2002).
* February 1951: The Ferranti Mark 1
The Ferranti Mark 1, also known as the Manchester Electronic Computer in its sales literature, and thus sometimes called the Manchester Ferranti, was produced by British electrical engineering firm Ferranti Ltd. It was the world's first commer ...
(a.k.a. the ''Manchester Electronic Computer''), the world's first successful commercially available general-purpose electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
computer, invented by Frederic Calland Williams
Sir Frederic Calland Williams, (26 June 1911 – 11 August 1977), known as F.C. Williams or Freddie Williams, was an English engineer, a pioneer in radar and computer technology.
Education
Williams was born in Romiley, Stockport, and ed ...
(1911–1977) and Tom Kilburn
Tom Kilburn (11 August 1921 – 17 January 2001) was an English mathematician and computer scientist. Over the course of a productive 30-year career, he was involved in the development of five computers of great historical significance. With ...
(1921–2001).
* 1951: The first known recordings of computer generated music
Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ap ...
played on the Ferranti Mark 1
The Ferranti Mark 1, also known as the Manchester Electronic Computer in its sales literature, and thus sometimes called the Manchester Ferranti, was produced by British electrical engineering firm Ferranti Ltd. It was the world's first commer ...
computer using a programme designed by Christopher Strachey
Christopher S. Strachey (; 16 November 1916 – 18 May 1975) was a British computer scientist. He was one of the founders of denotational semantics, and a pioneer in programming language design and computer time-sharing.F. J. Corbató, et al. ...
(1916–1975).
* 1951: LEO made history by running the first business application (payroll system) on an electronic computer for J. Lyons and Co. Under the advice of Maurice Wilkes (1913–2010), LEO was designed by John Pinkerton
John Pinkerton (17 February 1758 – 10 March 1826) was a Scottish antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist, historian, and early advocate of Germanic racial supremacy theory.
He was born in Edinburgh, as one of three sons to ...
(1919–1997) and David Caminer (1915–2008).
* 1951: Concept of microprogramming
In processor design, microcode (μcode) is a technique that interposes a layer of computer organization between the central processing unit (CPU) hardware and the programmer-visible instruction set architecture of a computer. Microcode is a la ...
developed by Maurice Wilkes (1913–2010) from the realisation that the Central Processing Unit
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just Processor (computing), processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes Instruction (computing), instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU per ...
(CPU) of a computer could be controlled by a miniature, highly specialised computer programme in high-speed ROM
Rom, or ROM may refer to:
Biomechanics and medicine
* Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient
* Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac
* ...
.
* 1952: Autocode
Autocode is the name of a family of "simplified coding systems", later called programming languages, devised in the 1950s and 1960s for a series of digital computers at the Universities of Manchester, Cambridge and London. Autocode was a generic ...
developed by Alick Glennie
Alick Edwards Glennie (1925–2003) was a British computer scientist, most famous for having developed Autocode, which many people regard as the first ever computer compiler.Knuth, Donald E.; Pardo, Luis Trabb, "Early development of programming ...
(1925–2003) for the Manchester Mark 1
The Manchester Mark 1 was one of the earliest stored-program computers, developed at the Victoria University of Manchester, England from the Manchester Baby (operational in June 1948). Work began in August 1948, and the first version was oper ...
computer; Autocode is regarded as the first computer compiler
In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs tha ...
.
* 1952: The first graphical computer game, ''OXO'' or ''Noughts and Crosses'', programmed on the EDSAC at Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
as part of a Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
thesis by A.S. Douglas
Alexander Shafto "Sandy" Douglas CBE (21 May 1921 – 29 April 2010) was a British professor of computer science, credited with creating the first graphical computer game OXO, a Noughts and Crosses computer game in 1952 on the EDSAC computer ...
(1921–2010).
* 1952: First trackball
A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down ball mouse with an exposed protruding ball. Users roll the ball to position the o ...
built by Tom Cranston, Fred Longstaff and Kenyon Taylor
Maurice Kenyon Taylor (26 June 1908 – 29 June 1986) was an English electrical engineer and inventor, responsible for many diverse technological developments and inventions, producing over 70 patents during his career. He spent most of his career ...
(1908–1996); invented 1947 by Ralph Benjamin
Ralph Benjamin (17 November 1922 – 7 May 2019) was a British scientist and electrical engineer.
Biography
Benjamin was born in Darmstadt, Germany. He attended boarding school in Switzerland from 1937, and was sent to England in 1939 as ...
.
* 1956 onwards: Metrovick 950
The Metrovick 950 was a transistorized computer, built from 1956 onwards by British company Metropolitan-Vickers, to the extent of sixDavid P. Anderson, ''Tom Kilburn: A Pioneer of Computer Design'', IEEE Annals of the History of Computing - Vo ...
, the first commercial transistor computer
A transistor computer, now often called a second-generation computer, is a computer which uses discrete transistors instead of vacuum tubes. The first generation of electronic computers used vacuum tubes, which generated large amounts of heat, ...
, built by the Metropolitan-Vickers
Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...
Company of Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
.
* 1958: EDSAC 2
EDSAC 2 was an early computer (operational in 1958), the successor to the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC). It was the first computer to have a microprogrammed control unit and a bit-slice hardware architecture.
First cal ...
, the first computer to have a microprogrammed ( Microcode) control unit
The control unit (CU) is a component of a computer's central processing unit (CPU) that directs the operation of the processor. A CU typically uses a binary decoder to convert coded instructions into timing and control signals that direct the op ...
and a bit slice
Bit slicing is a technique for constructing a processor from modules of processors of smaller bit width, for the purpose of increasing the word length; in theory to make an arbitrary ''n''-bit central processing unit (CPU). Each of these co ...
hardware architecture, developed by a team headed by Maurice Wilkes (1913–2010).
* 1961: The Sumlock ANITA calculator, the world's first all-electronic desktop calculator, designed and built by the Bell Punch
The Bell Punch Company was a British company manufacturing a variety of business machines, most notably several generations of public transport ticket machines and the world's first desktop electronic calculator, the Sumlock ANITA.
History
The ...
Company of Uxbridge
Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...
.
* 1962: The Atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth.
Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...
computer – arguably the world's first supercomputer, and fastest computer in the world until the American CDC 6600
The CDC 6600 was the flagship of the 6000 series of mainframe computer systems manufactured by Control Data Corporation. Generally considered to be the first successful supercomputer, it outperformed the industry's prior recordholder, the IBM ...
– developed by a team headed by Tom Kilburn
Tom Kilburn (11 August 1921 – 17 January 2001) was an English mathematician and computer scientist. Over the course of a productive 30-year career, he was involved in the development of five computers of great historical significance. With ...
(1921–2001). Introduced modern architectural concepts: spooling
In computing, spooling is a specialized form of multi-programming for the purpose of copying data between different devices. In contemporary systems, it is usually used for mediating between a computer application and a slow peripheral, such a ...
, interrupts
In digital computers, an interrupt (sometimes referred to as a trap) is a request for the processor to ''interrupt'' currently executing code (when permitted), so that the event can be processed in a timely manner. If the request is accepted, ...
, instruction pipelining
In computer engineering, instruction pipelining or ILP is a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a single processor. Pipelining attempts to keep every part of the processor busy with some instruction by dividing incom ...
, interleaved memory
In computing, interleaved memory is a design which compensates for the relatively slow speed of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) or core memory, by spreading memory addresses evenly across memory banks. That way, contiguous memory reads and w ...
, virtual memory
In computing, virtual memory, or virtual storage is a memory management technique that provides an "idealized abstraction of the storage resources that are actually available on a given machine" which "creates the illusion to users of a very ...
, and paging
In computer operating systems, memory paging is a memory management scheme by which a computer stores and retrieves data from secondary storage for use in main memory. In this scheme, the operating system retrieves data from secondary storage ...
.
* Late 1960s: Denotational semantics originated in the work of Christopher Strachey
Christopher S. Strachey (; 16 November 1916 – 18 May 1975) was a British computer scientist. He was one of the founders of denotational semantics, and a pioneer in programming language design and computer time-sharing.F. J. Corbató, et al. ...
(1916–1975), a pioneer in programming language design.
* 1970: Packet switching
In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping data into '' packets'' that are transmitted over a digital network. Packets are made of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used by networking hardware to direct the p ...
co-invented by Welsh engineer Donald Davies
Donald Watts Davies, (7 June 1924 – 28 May 2000) was a Welsh computer scientist who was employed at the UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL).
In 1965 he conceived of packet switching, which is today the dominant basis for data communic ...
(1924–2000) and Polish-born Paul Baran
Paul Baran (born Pesach Baran ; April 29, 1926 – March 26, 2011) was a Polish-American engineer who was a pioneer in the development of computer networks. He was one of the two independent inventors of packet switching, which is today the dom ...
; it was Davies who coined the term ''packet switching'' at the National Physical Laboratory in London.
* 1972: The Sinclair Executive
The Sinclair Executive was the world's first "slimline" pocket calculator, and the first to be produced by Clive Sinclair's company Sinclair Radionics. Introduced in 1972, there were at least two different versions of the Sinclair Executive, ...
, the world's first small electronic pocket calculator
An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics.
The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s. Pocket-sized ...
, produced by Sir Clive Sinclair (born 1940).
* 1979: The first laptop computer
A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...
, the GRiD Compass, designed by Bill Moggridge
William Grant Moggridge, RDI (25 June 1943 – 8 September 2012) was an English designer, author and educator who cofounded the design company IDEO and was director of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York. He was a pionee ...
(1943–2012).
* 1979: Digital audio player
A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
(MP3 Player) invented by Kane Kramer
Kane Kramer is a British inventor and businessman. He is credited with the initial invention of the digital audio player, in 1979.
Invention of the DAP
In 1981 Kramer filed for a UK patent for his newly conceived digital audio player, the IXI ...
(born 1956). His first investor was Sir Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
.
* 1980–1982: Home computers the Sinclair ZX80
The Sinclair ZX80 is a home computer launched on 29 January 1980 by Science of Cambridge Ltd. (later to be better known as Sinclair Research). It is notable for being one of the first computers available in the United Kingdom for less than a h ...
, ZX81
The ZX81 is a home computer that was produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Dundee, Scotland, by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair's ZX80 and designed to be a low-cos ...
and ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer.
Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...
produced by Sir Clive Sinclair (born 1940).
* 1981: The Osborne 1
The Osborne 1 is the first commercially successful portable computer, released on April 3, 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation. It weighs , cost US$1,795, and runs the CP/M 2.2 operating system. It is powered from a wall socket, as it has no ...
– the first commercially successful portable computer, precursor to the laptop computer
A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...
– developed by English-American Adam Osborne (1939–2003).
* 1982: 3D Monster Maze
''3D Monster Maze'' is a survival horror computer game developed from an idea by J.K. Greye and programmed by Malcolm Evans and released in 1981 for the Sinclair ZX81 platform with the 16 KB memory expansion. The game was initially released ...
, widely considered the first survival horror
Survival horror is a subgenre of survival of the players as the game tries to frighten them with either horror graphics or scary ambience. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical ac ...
computer game, developed from an idea by J. K. Greye and programmed by Malcolm Evans (b. 1944).
* 1984: The world's first pocket computer
A pocket computer was a 1980s-era user programmable calculator-sized computer that had fewer screen lines,
Some had only one line and often fewer characters per line, than the Pocket-sized computers introduced beginning in 1989. Manufacturers i ...
, the (Psion Organiser
Psion Organiser was the brand name of a range of pocket computers developed by the British company Psion in the 1980s. The Organiser I (launched in 1984) and Organiser II (launched in 1986) had a characteristic hard plastic sliding cover pro ...
), launched by London-based Psion PLC.
* 1984: '' Elite'', the world's first computer game with 3D graphics
3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...
, developed by David Braben
David John Braben (born 2 January 1964) is a British video game developer and designer, founder and CEO of Frontier Developments, co-creator of the '' Elite'' series of space trading video games, first published in 1984. He is also a co-found ...
(born 1964) and Ian Bell
Ian Ronald Bell (born 11 April 1982) is an English former cricketer who played international cricket in all formats for the England cricket team and county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. A right-handed higher/middle order batsm ...
(born 1962).
* 1985: ARM architecture introduced by Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
computer manufacturer Acorn Computers
Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978. The company produced a number of computers which were especially popular in the UK, including the Acorn Electron and the Acorn Archimedes. Acorn's ...
; the ARM CPU design is the microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circ ...
architecture of 98% of mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...
s and every smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
.
* 1989: World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...
invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (born 1955).
* 1989: HTTP
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide We ...
application protocol
An application layer is an abstraction layer that specifies the shared communications protocols and interface methods used by hosts in a communications network. An ''application layer'' abstraction is specified in both the Internet Protocol Su ...
and HTML
The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaSc ...
markup language developed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (born 1955).
* 1989: Launch of the first PC-compatible palmtop
A handheld personal computer (PC) is a miniature computer typically built around a clamshell form factor and is significantly smaller than any standard laptop computer, but based on the same principles. It is sometimes referred to as a ''palmto ...
computer, the (Atari Portfolio
The Atari Portfolio (Atari PC Folio) is an IBM PC-compatible palmtop PC, released by Atari Corporation in June 1989. This makes it the world's first palmtop computer.
), designed by Ian H. S. Cullimore.
* 1989: First touchpad
A touchpad or trackpad is a pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a relative position on the operating system that is made output to the screen. Touchp ...
pointing device developed for London-based Psion PLC's Psion MC 200/400/600/WORD Series.
* 1990: The world's first web browser
A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used o ...
invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (born 1955). Initially called WorldWideWeb
WorldWideWeb (later renamed Nexus to avoid confusion between the software and the World Wide Web) is the first web browser and web page editor. It was discontinued in 1994. It was the first WYSIWYG HTML editor.
The source code was released in ...
, it ran on the NeXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP is a discontinued object-oriented, multitasking operating system based on the Mach kernel and the UNIX-derived BSD. It was developed by NeXT Computer in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was initially used for its range of propri ...
platform, and was renamed ''Nexus'' in order to avoid confusion with the World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...
.
* 1990: The world's first web server invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Initially called ''WWWDaemon'', it ran on the NeXTSTEP platform and it was publicly released in 1991; later it evolved and it was known as CERN httpd.
* 1991 onwards: Linux kernel development and maintenance were greatly helped by English-born Andrew Morton (born 1959) and Alan Cox (born 1968).
* 2002: Wolfram's 2-state 3-symbol Turing machine
In his book ''A New Kind of Science'', Stephen Wolfram described a Universal Turing machine, universal 2-state 5-symbol Turing machine, and conjectured that a particular 2-state 3-symbol Turing machine (hereinafter (2,3) Turing machine) might be ...
proposed by London-born Stephen Wolfram
Stephen Wolfram (; born 29 August 1959) is a British-American computer scientist, physicist, and businessman. He is known for his work in computer science, mathematics, and theoretical physics. In 2012, he was named a fellow of the American Ma ...
(born 1959).
* 2012: Launch of the Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi () is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in association with Broadcom. The Raspberry Pi project originally leaned towards the promotion of teaching basic ...
, a modern single-board computer for education, designed and built by Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...
-based charity Raspberry Pi Foundation
The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a British charity and company founded in 2009 to promote the study of basic computer science in schools, and is responsible for developing the Raspberry Pi single-board computers.
Foundation
The Raspberry Pi Foun ...
.
Criminology
* 1836:Marsh test
The Marsh test is a highly sensitive method in the detection of arsenic, especially useful in the field of forensic toxicology when arsenic was used as a poison. It was developed by the chemist James Marsh and first published in 1836. The metho ...
(used for detecting arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, ...
poisoning) invented by James Marsh (1794–1846).
* 1888–1895: Fingerprint
A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfac ...
classification method developed by Sir Francis Galton (1822–1911); a breakthrough in forensic science.
* 1910: First use of wireless telegraphy
Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies for ...
in the arrest of a criminal, Dr Crippen
Hawley Harvey Crippen (September 11, 1862 – November 23, 1910), usually known as Dr. Crippen, was an American homeopath, ear and eye specialist and medicine dispenser. He was hanged in Pentonville Prison in London for the murder of his wife C ...
.
* 1984: DNA fingerprint
DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's DNA characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is called DNA barcoding.
DNA profiling is a forensic tec ...
s are discovered by Alec Jeffreys (born 1950).
* 1987: Process of DNA profiling developed by Alec Jeffreys (born 1950).
* 1991: Iris recognition
Iris recognition is an automated method of biometric identification that uses mathematical pattern-recognition techniques on video images of one or both of the irises of an individual's eyes, whose complex patterns are unique, stable, and can ...
algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...
invented by Swede John Daugman
John Gustav Daugman is a British-American professor of computer vision and pattern recognition at the University of Cambridge. His major research contributions have been in computational neuroscience, pattern recognition, and in computer vision ...
working at the University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
.
* 1995: World's first national flop DNA database
A DNA database or DNA databank is a database of DNA profiles which can be used in the analysis of genetic diseases, genetic fingerprinting for criminology, or genetic genealogy. DNA databases may be public or private, the largest ones being nat ...
developed: National DNA Database
A DNA database or DNA databank is a database of DNA profiles which can be used in the analysis of genetic diseases, genetic fingerprinting for criminology, or genetic genealogy. DNA databases may be public or private, the largest ones being nat ...
.
Cryptography
* 1605:Bacon's cipher
Bacon's cipher or the Baconian cipher is a method of steganographic message encoding devised by Francis Bacon in 1605. A message is concealed in the presentation of text, rather than its content.
Cipher details
To encode a message, each letter of ...
devised by Sir Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
(1561–1626).
* 1854: The Playfair cipher
The Playfair cipher or Playfair square or Wheatstone–Playfair cipher is a manual symmetric encryption technique and was the first literal digram substitution cipher. The scheme was invented in 1854 by Charles Wheatstone, but bears the name of ...
, the first literal digraph substitution cipher, invented by Charles Wheatstone
Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS FRSE DCL LLD (6 February 1802 – 19 October 1875), was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope (a device for di ...
(1802–1875).
* 1941: Codebreaker Bill Tutte
William Thomas Tutte OC FRS FRSC (; 14 May 1917 – 2 May 2002) was an English and Canadian codebreaker and mathematician. During the Second World War, he made a brilliant and fundamental advance in cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher, a majo ...
(1917–2002) developed the Cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher
Cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher was the process that enabled the British to read high-level German army messages during World War II. The British Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park decrypted many communications betwee ...
, which Hitler used to communicate with his generals in World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
* 1973: Clifford Cocks
Clifford Christopher Cocks (born 28 December 1950) is a British mathematician and cryptographer.
In 1973, while working at the United Kingdom Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), he invented a public-key cryptography algorithm equiv ...
(born 1950) first developed what came to be known as the RSA cipher at GCHQ
Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Uni ...
, approximately three years before it was rediscovered by Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman at MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
.
Engineering
* 1600: The first electricalmeasuring instrument
A measuring instrument is a device to measure a physical quantity. In the physical sciences, quality assurance, and engineering, measurement is the activity of obtaining and comparing physical quantities of real-world objects and events. Est ...
, the electroscope
The electroscope is an early scientific instrument used to detect the presence of electric charge on a body. It detects charge by the movement of a test object due to the Coulomb electrostatic force on it. The amount of charge on an object is ...
, invented by William Gilbert (1544–1603).
* 1676–1678: First working universal joint
A universal joint (also called a universal coupling or U-joint) is a joint or coupling connecting rigid shafts whose axes are inclined to each other. It is commonly used in shafts that transmit rotary motion. It consists of a pair of hinges ...
devised by Robert Hooke (1635–1703).
* 1698: First working steam pump invented by Thomas Savery
Thomas Savery (; c. 1650 – 15 May 1715) was an English inventor and engineer. He invented the first commercially used steam-powered device, a steam pump which is often referred to as the "Savery engine". Savery's steam pump was a revolutiona ...
(c. 1650–1715).
* 1709: First coke-consuming blast furnace developed by Abraham Darby I
Abraham Darby, in his later life called Abraham Darby the Elder, now sometimes known for convenience as Abraham Darby I (14 April 1677 – 5 May 1717, the first and best known of several men of that name), was an English ironmaster and foundr ...
(1678–1717).
* 1712: Atmospheric steam engine invented by Thomas Newcomen
Thomas Newcomen (; February 1664 – 5 August 1729) was an English inventor who created the atmospheric engine, the first practical fuel-burning engine in 1712. He was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling.
He ...
(1664–1729).
* 1739: Screw-cutting lathe
A screw-cutting lathe is a machine (specifically, a lathe) capable of cutting very accurate screw threads via single-point screw-cutting, which is the process of guiding the linear motion of the tool bit in a precisely known ratio to the rotatin ...
invented by Henry Hindley
Henry Hindley (1701–1771) was an 18th-century clockmaker, watchmaker and maker of scientific instruments. He invented a screw-cutting lathe, a fusee-cutting engine and an improved wheel-cutting engine and made one of the first dividing engine ...
(1701–1771).
* 1780: Modified version of the Newcomen engine
The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is often referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or simply as a Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam drawn into the cylinder, thereby creati ...
(the ''Pickard engine'') developed by James Pickard
James Pickard was an English inventor. He modified the Newcomen engine in a manner that it could deliver a rotary motion. His solution, which he patented in 1780, involved the combined use of a crank and a flywheel.
James Watt's company Boul ...
(dates unknown).
* 1781: The Iron Bridge
The Iron Bridge is a cast iron arch bridge that crosses the River Severn in Shropshire, England. Opened in 1781, it was the first major bridge in the world to be made of cast iron. Its success inspired the widespread use of cast iron as a st ...
, the first metal bridge, cast and built by Abraham Darby III (1750–1789).
* 1791: The first true gas turbine
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...
invented by John Barber (1734–1801).
* 1796–97: The first iron-framed building (and therefore forerunner of the skyscraper) – Ditherington Flax Mill
Ditherington Flax Mill (promoted as the Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings), a flax mill located in Ditherington, a suburb of Shrewsbury, England, is the first iron-framed building in the world, and described as "the grandfather of skyscrapers",
in Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...
– built by Charles Bage
Charles Woolley Bage (1751–1822) was an English architect, born in a Quaker family
"Bage Way", part of Shrewsbury's 20th century inner ring road which links Old Potts Way to Crowmere Road, was named for him.
References
1751 births
182 ...
(1751–1822).
* 1800: First industrially practical screw-cutting lathe
A screw-cutting lathe is a machine (specifically, a lathe) capable of cutting very accurate screw threads via single-point screw-cutting, which is the process of guiding the linear motion of the tool bit in a precisely known ratio to the rotatin ...
developed by Henry Maudslay
Henry Maudslay ( pronunciation and spelling) (22 August 1771 – 14 February 1831) was an English machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool technology. His inventions were ...
(1771–1831).
* 1806: The Fourdrinier machine
A paper machine (or paper-making machine) is an industrial machine which is used in the pulp and paper industry
to create paper in large quantities at high speed. Modern paper-making machines are based on the principles of the Fourdrinier Mach ...
, a papermaking machine, invented by Henry Fourdrinier
Henry Fourdrinier (11 February 1766 – 3 September 1854) was a British paper-making entrepreneur.
He was born in 1766, the son of paper maker and stationer Henry Fourdrinier, and grandson of the engraver Paul Fourdrinier, 1698–1758, sometimes ...
(1766–1854).
* 1823: First internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal c ...
to be applied industrially patented by Samuel Brown (?–1849).
* 1826: Continuous track (under the name "universal railway") patented by Sir George Cayley (1773–1857).
* 1830: First ( toroidal, closed-core) electric transformer
A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...
invented by Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
(1791–1867).
* 1831: First Electrical generator
In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) or fuel-based power ( chemical energy) into electric power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, g ...
(or dynamo
"Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, )
A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos were the first electrical generators capable of delivering power for industry, and the foundati ...
), the Faraday disk
A homopolar generator is a DC electrical generator comprising an electrically conductive disc or cylinder rotating in a plane perpendicular to a uniform static magnetic field. A potential difference is created between the center of the disc and th ...
, invented by Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
.
* 1834–1878: Water
Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...
and sewerage systems for over thirty cities across Europe designed by William Lindley
William Lindley (7 September 1808 in London – 22 May 1900 in Blackheath, London), was an English engineer who together with his sons designed water and sewerage systems for over 30 cities across Europe.
Life
As a young engineer he worked t ...
(1808–1900).
* 1840s: The linear motor, a multi-phase alternating current (AC) electric motor, proposed by Charles Wheatstone
Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS FRSE DCL LLD (6 February 1802 – 19 October 1875), was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope (a device for di ...
(1802–1875); 1940s: developed by Eric Laithwaite
Eric Roberts Laithwaite (14 June 1921 – 27 November 1997) was a British electrical engineer, known as the "Father of Maglev" for his development of the linear induction motor and maglev rail system.
Biography
Eric Roberts Laithwaite wa ...
(1921–1997).
* 1841: Widely accepted standard for screw threads devised by Joseph Whitworth
Sir Joseph Whitworth, 1st Baronet (21 December 1803 – 22 January 1887) was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. In 1841, he devised the British Standard Whitworth system, which created an accepted standard for scre ...
(1803–1887).
* 1842: The adjustable spanner
An adjustable spanner (UK and most other English-speaking countries) or adjustable wrench (US and Canada) is any of various styles of spanner (wrench) with a movable jaw, allowing it to be used with different sizes of fastener head ( nut, bol ...
invented by Edwin Beard Budding
Edwin Beard Budding (25 August 1796 – 25 September 1846), an engineer born in Eastington, Stroud, was the English inventor of the lawnmower (1830) and adjustable spanner (1842).
Lawnmower
Budding had the idea of the lawnmower after seeing a ma ...
(1796–1846).
* 1845: Hydraulic
Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counte ...
crane developed by William Armstrong (1810–1900); in 1863, Armstrong also built the first house in the world powered by hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
, at Cragside, Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land ...
.
* 1846: The first fireproof warehousing complex – Albert Dock Albert Dock may refer to:
*Albert Dock, Hull, in Kingston upon Hull, England
*Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool, a dock and warehouse system in Liverpool, England
*Royal Albert Dock, London
The Royal Albert Dock is one of three docks in the Royal ...
, Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
– designed by Jesse Hartley
Jesse Hartley (21 December 1780 – 24 August 1860) was Civil Engineer and Superintendent of the Concerns of the Dock Estate in Liverpool, England between 1824 and 1860.
Hartley's career
Despite having no experience of dock building, Hartley was ...
(1780–1860).
* 1848: The Francis turbine developed by James B. Francis (1815–1892), born near Witney
Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. The place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest known record of it is as ...
, Oxfordshire.
* 1868: First commercial steel alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductilit ...
produced by Robert Forester Mushet
Robert Forester Mushet (8 April 1811 – 29 January 1891) was a British metallurgist and businessman, born on 8 April 1811, in Coleford, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. He was the youngest son of Scottish parents, Agnes Wilson ...
(1811–1891).
* 1869–1875: Crookes tube
A Crookes tube (also Crookes–Hittorf tube) is an early experimental electrical discharge tube, with partial vacuum, invented by English physicist William Crookes and others around 1869-1875, in which cathode rays, streams of electrons, were ...
, the first cathode ray tube, invented by William Crookes
Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing t ...
(1832–1919).
* 1871: First enclosed wind tunnel
Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...
invented, designed and operated by Francis Herbert Wenham __NOTOC__
Francis Herbert Wenham (1824, Kensington – 1908) was a British marine engineer who studied the problem of human flight and wrote a perceptive and influential academic paper, which he presented to the first meeting of the Royal Aeronaut ...
(1824–1908).
* 1872: The Carey Foster bridge, a type of bridge circuit, invented by Carey Foster
George Carey Foster FRS (October 1835 – 9 February 1919) was a chemist and physicist, born at Sabden in Lancashire. He was Professor of Physics at University College London, and served as the first Principal (salaried head of the College) f ...
(1835–1919).
* 1880–1883: The Wimshurst machine
The Wimshurst influence machine is an electrostatic generator, a machine for generating high voltages developed between 1880 and 1883 by British inventor James Wimshurst (1832–1903).
It has a distinctive appearance with two large contra-ro ...
, an Electrostatic generator
An electrostatic generator, or electrostatic machine, is an electrical generator that produces ''static electricity'', or electricity at high voltage and low continuous current. The knowledge of static electricity dates back to the earliest ci ...
for producing high voltages
Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to mo ...
, developed by James Wimshurst
James Wimshurst (13 April 1832 – 3 January 1903) was an English inventor, engineer and shipwright. Though Wimshurst did not patent his machines and the various improvements that he made to them, his refinements to the electrostatic generator led ...
(1832–1903).
* 1884: Steam turbine invented by Charles Algernon Parsons
Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, (13 June 1854 – 11 February 1931) was an Anglo-Irish engineer, best known for his invention of the compound steam turbine, and as the eponym of C. A. Parsons and Company. He worked as an engineer on d ...
(1854–1913).
* 1885: Compression ignition
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...
engine (a.k.a. the diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
) invented by Herbert Akroyd Stuart
Herbert Akroyd-Stuart (28 January 1864 – 19 February 1927) was an English inventor who is noted for his invention of the hot bulb engine, or heavy oil engine.
Life
Akroyd-Stuart was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, but lived in Australia for a pe ...
(1864–1927).
* 1886: Prototype hot bulb engine
Hot or the acronym HOT may refer to:
Food and drink
*Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality
*Hot, a wine tasting descriptor
Places
*Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand
** Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot Distric ...
or heavy oil engine built by Herbert Akroyd Stuart
Herbert Akroyd-Stuart (28 January 1864 – 19 February 1927) was an English inventor who is noted for his invention of the hot bulb engine, or heavy oil engine.
Life
Akroyd-Stuart was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, but lived in Australia for a pe ...
(1864–1927).
* 1889: Two-stroke engine
A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of ...
invented by Joseph Day (1855–1946).
* 1890: Opening of the Forth Bridge
The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland (having been voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder in ...
– monumental cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...
railway bridge, and icon of Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
– designed and engineered by English civil engineers Benjamin Baker (1840–1907) and John Fowler (1817–1898).
* 1902: Disc brakes patented by Frederick W. Lanchester (1868–1946).
* 1904: 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 potential difference has been applied.
The type known as ...
(or ''valve'') invented by John Ambrose Fleming
Sir John Ambrose Fleming FRS (29 November 1849 – 18 April 1945) was an English electrical engineer and physicist who invented the first thermionic valve or vacuum tube, designed the radio transmitter with which the first transatlantic ra ...
(1849–1945).
* 1907: First reported observation of electroluminescence from a diode by H. J. Round
Captain Henry Joseph Round (2 June 1881 – 17 August 1966) was an English engineer and one of the early pioneers of radio. He was the first to report observation of electroluminescence from a solid state diode, leading to the discovery of the l ...
(1881–1966); Round's discovery led to the creation of the light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (co ...
.
* 1917 onwards: Radio guidance
Radio control (often abbreviated to RC) is the use of control signals transmitted by radio to remotely control a device. Examples of simple radio control systems are garage door openers and keyless entry systems for vehicles, in which a small ...
systems pioneered by Archibald Low (1888–1956).
* 1935: Arnold Frederic Wilkins (1907–1985) contributed to the development of radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
.
* 1940: Cavity magnetron
The cavity magnetron is a high-power vacuum tube used in early radar systems and currently in microwave ovens and linear particle accelerators. It generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field whi ...
improved by John Randall (1905–1984) and Harry Boot
Henry Albert Howard Boot (29 July 1917 – 8 February 1983) was an English physicist who with Sir John Randall and James Sayers developed the cavity magnetron, which was one of the keys to the Allied victory in the Second World War.
Biography ...
(1917–1983); consequently a critical component in microwave oven
A microwave oven (commonly referred to as a microwave) is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces polar molecules in the food to rotate and produce ...
s and some radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
.
* Late-1940s/early 1950s: The microchip
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...
invented by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer (1909–2002).
* 1963: High strength carbon fibEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
) wove the first carbon fibRepRap Project
The RepRap project started in England in 2005 as a University of Bath initiative to develop a low-cost 3D printer that can print most of its own components, but it is now made up of hundreds of collaborators worldwide. RepRap is short for rep''lic ...
, the first self-replicating 3D Printer
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer co ...
, developed at the University of Bath
(Virgil, Georgics II)
, mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind
, established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...
.
Household appliances
* 13th century: Magnifying glass defined by Roger Bacon (c.?1214-c.?1292).
* Before 1596: Modern flushing toilet
A flush toilet (also known as a flushing toilet, water closet (WC) – see also toilet names) is a toilet that disposes of human waste (principally urine and feces) by using the force of water to ''flush'' it through a drainpipe to another lo ...
invented by John Harington (1560–1612). The term 'John', used particularly in the US, is generally accepted as a direct reference to its inventor.
* 1733: Perambulator developed by William Kent
William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, bu ...
(c. 1685–1748).
* 1780: First mass-produced toothbrush
A toothbrush is an oral hygiene tool used to clean the teeth, gums, and tongue. It consists of a head of tightly clustered bristles, atop of which toothpaste can be applied, mounted on a handle which facilitates the cleaning of hard-to-reach ar ...
produced by William Addis (1734–1808).
* 1795: First corkscrew
A corkscrew is a tool for drawing corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix (often called the "worm") attached to a hand ...
patent granted to the Reverend Samuel Henshall
Samuel Henshall (1764 or 1765 – 17 November 1807) was an English clergyman and writer, and inventor of a type of corkscrew.
Life
Henshall was born in 1764 or 1765, son of George Henshall, a grocer of Sandbach, Cheshire, and was educated at Manc ...
(1764/5–1807).
* 1810: Tin can
A steel can, tin can, tin (especially in British English, Australian English, Canadian English and South African English),
steel packaging, or can is a container for the distribution or storage of goods, made of thin metal. Many cans ...
for food preservation patented by merchant Peter Durand
Peter Durand (21 October 1766 – 23 July 1822) was an English merchant who is widely credited with receiving the first patent for the idea of preserving food using tin cans. The patent (No 3372) was granted on August 25, 1810, by King George II ...
(dates not known).
* 1818: Modern fire extinguisher
A fire extinguisher is a handheld active fire protection device usually filled with a dry or wet chemical used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which ha ...
invented by George William Manby
Captain George William Manby FRS (28 November 1765 – 18 November 1854) was an English author and inventor. He designed an apparatus for saving life from shipwrecks and also the first modern form of fire extinguisher.
Early life
Manby was b ...
(1765–1854).
* 1828: Thermosiphon
Thermosiphon (or thermosyphon) is a method of passive heat exchange, based on natural convection, which circulates a fluid without the necessity of a mechanical pump. Thermosiphoning is used for circulation of liquids and volatile gases in heat ...
, which forms the basis of most modern central heating
A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. It is a component of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (short: HVAC) systems, which can both cool and warm interior spaces.
...
systems, invented by Thomas Fowler (1777–1843).
* 1830: Lawn mower
A lawn mower (also known as a mower, grass cutter or lawnmower) is a device utilizing one or more revolving blades (or a reel) to cut a grass surface to an even height. The height of the cut grass may be fixed by the design of the mower, but g ...
invented by Edwin Beard Budding
Edwin Beard Budding (25 August 1796 – 25 September 1846), an engineer born in Eastington, Stroud, was the English inventor of the lawnmower (1830) and adjustable spanner (1842).
Lawnmower
Budding had the idea of the lawnmower after seeing a ma ...
(1796–1846).
* 1836: The Daniell cell
The Daniell cell is a type of electrochemical cell invented in 1836 by John Frederic Daniell, a British chemist and meteorologist, and consists of a copper pot filled with a copper (II) sulfate solution, in which is immersed an unglazed earthenw ...
– a type of electrochemical cell
An electrochemical cell is a device capable of either generating electrical energy from chemical reactions or using electrical energy to cause chemical reactions. The electrochemical cells which generate an electric current are called voltaic o ...
; an element of an electric battery – invented by John Frederic Daniell
John Frederic Daniell FRS (12 March 1790 – 13 March 1845) was an English chemist and physicist.
Biography
Daniell was born in London. In 1831 he became the first professor of chemistry at the newly founded King's College London; and in 18 ...
(1790–1845).
* 1840: Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...
invented by Sir Rowland Hill
Sir Rowland Hill, KCB, FRS (3 December 1795 – 27 August 1879) was an English teacher, inventor and social reformer. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of Uniform Penny Post and his soluti ...
(1795–1879).
* 1845: Rubber band
A rubber band (also known as an elastic band, gum band or lacky band) is a loop of rubber, usually ring or oval shaped, and commonly used to hold multiple objects together. The rubber band was patented in England on March 17, 1845 by Stephen P ...
patented by inventor Stephen Perry (dates not known).
* 1878: Incandescent light bulb invented by Joseph Wilson Swan (1828–1914).
* 1884: Light switch
In electrical wiring, a light switch is a switch most commonly used to operate electric lights, permanently connected equipment, or electrical outlets. Portable lamps such as table lamps may have a light switch mounted on the socket, base, or i ...
invented by John Henry Holmes (dates not known) in Shieldfield
Shieldfield is a small district in the east of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is bordered by the City Centre, Heaton, Byker and Sandyford.
History
The name of the district is considered to be a reference to a shel ...
.
* 1899: ''Little Nipper'' Mouse trap
A mousetrap is a specialized type of animal trap designed primarily to catch and, usually, kill mice. Mousetraps are usually set in an indoor location where there is a suspected infestation of rodents. Larger traps are designed to catch other s ...
invented by James Henry Atkinson
James Henry Atkinson (1849–1942) was a British ironmonger from Leeds, Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. ...
(1849–1942).
* Late-19th century: Commercially produced electric toaster
A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to brown sliced bread into toast.
Types
Pop-up toaster
In pop-up or automatic toasters, a single vertical piece of bread is dropped into a slot on the top of the toaste ...
developed by R. E. B. Crompton (1845–1940).
* Late-19th century: Modern pay toilet
A pay toilet is a public toilet that requires the user to pay. It may be street furniture or be inside a building, e.g. a shopping mall, department store, or railway station. The reason for charging money is usually for the maintenance of the equ ...
invented by John Nevil Maskelyne
John Nevil Maskelyne (22 December 183918 May 1917) was an English stage magician and inventor of the pay toilet, along with other Victorian-era devices. He worked with magicians George Alfred Cooke and David Devant, and many of his illusions a ...
(1839–1917); Maskelyne invented a lock for London toilets, which required a penny to operate, hence the euphemism "spend a penny".
* 1901: First powered vacuum cleaner
A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum or a hoover, is a device that causes suction in order to remove dirt from floors, upholstery, draperies, and other surfaces. It is generally electrically driven.
The dirt is collected by either a ...
invented by Hubert Cecil Booth
Hubert Cecil Booth (4 July 1871 – 14 January 1955) was an English engineer, best known for having invented one of the first powered vacuum cleaners.
He also designed Ferris wheels, suspension bridges and factories. Later he became Chairm ...
(1871–1955).
* Before 1902: First practical Teasmade
A teasmade is a machine for making tea automatically, which was once common in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries. Teasmades generally include an analogue alarm clock and are designed to be used at the bedside, to ensure tea is ...
designed by clockmaker Albert E. Richardson (dates not known) of Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...
.
* Before 1920: Folding carton
The folding carton created the packaging industry as it is known today, beginning in the late 19th century. The process involves folding carton made of paperboard that is printed, laminated, cut, then folded and glued. The cartons are shipped fla ...
invented by Charles Henry Foyle (died 1948).
* 1924: First modern dishwasher
A dishwasher is a machine that is used to clean dishware, cookware, and cutlery automatically. Unlike manual dishwashing, which relies heavily on physical scrubbing to remove soiling, the mechanical dishwasher cleans by spraying hot water, ty ...
invented by William Howard Livens (1889–1964)
* 1955: First fully automatic electric kettle
A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle'', or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained ...
produced by manufacturer Russell Hobbs
Russell Hobbs is a British manufacturer of household appliances. Formed in 1952 by William Russell and Peter Hobbs, it became the primary kettle maker in the United Kingdom marketplace in the 1960s. Subjected to many corporate acquisitions thr ...
of Failsworth
Failsworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and south-west of Oldham. The orbital M60 motorway skirts it to the east. The population at the 2011 census was ...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
.
* 1963: Lava lamp
A lava lamp is a decorative lamp, invented in 1963 by British entrepreneur Edward Craven Walker, the founder of the lighting company Mathmos. It consists of a bolus of a special coloured wax mixture inside a glass vessel, the remainder of which ...
invented by accountant Edward Craven Walker.
* 1965: Collapsible baby buggy
Good+Foundation (originally called Baby Buggy) was founded in May 2001 by Jessica Seinfeld after the birth of her first child. According to Seinfeld, "shortly after the birth of my daughter, Sascha, having slowly accumulated closets full of use ...
produced by Owen Finlay Maclaren
Owen Finlay Maclaren, MBE (26 May 1906 – 13 April 1978) was the inventor of the lightweight baby buggy with a collapsible support assembly and founder of the Maclaren company.
Early life
He was born in Saffron Walden in Essex to Andrew Maclar ...
(1907–1978).
* 1983: "Bagless" vacuum cleaner
A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum or a hoover, is a device that causes suction in order to remove dirt from floors, upholstery, draperies, and other surfaces. It is generally electrically driven.
The dirt is collected by either a ...
invented by James Dyson
Sir James Dyson (born 2 May 1947) is a British inventor, industrial designer, farmer, and billionaire entrepreneur who founded Dyson Ltd. He is best known as the inventor of the dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the princi ...
(born 1947).
Industrial processes
* 1740: English crucible steel
Crucible steel is steel made by melting pig iron (cast iron), iron, and sometimes steel, often along with sand, glass, ashes, and other fluxes, in a crucible. In ancient times steel and iron were impossible to melt using charcoal or coal fires ...
developed by Benjamin Huntsman
Benjamin Huntsman (4 June 170420 June 1776) was an English inventor and manufacturer of cast or crucible steel.
Biography
Huntsman was born the fourth child of William and Mary (née Nainby) Huntsman, a Quaker farming couple, in Epworth, Li ...
(1704–1776).
* 1743: Sheffield plate, a layered combination of silver
Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
and copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
, invented by Thomas Boulsover (1705–1788).
* 1746: The lead chamber process
The lead chamber process was an industrial method used to produce sulfuric acid in large quantities. It has been largely supplanted by the contact process.
In 1746 in Birmingham, England, John Roebuck began producing sulfuric acid in lead-lined ...
, for producing sulfuric acid in large quantities, invented by John Roebuck
John Roebuck of Kinneil FRS FRSE (1718 – 17 July 1794) was an English inventor and industrialist who played an important role in the Industrial Revolution and who is known for developing the industrial-scale manufacture of sulphuric aci ...
(1718–1794).
* c. 1760-c. 1840: Pioneers of the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
– Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...
(1806–1859); Abraham Darby I
Abraham Darby, in his later life called Abraham Darby the Elder, now sometimes known for convenience as Abraham Darby I (14 April 1677 – 5 May 1717, the first and best known of several men of that name), was an English ironmaster and foundr ...
(1678–1717); Abraham Darby II
Abraham Darby, in his lifetime called Abraham Darby the Younger, referred to for convenience as Abraham Darby II (12 May 1711 – 31 March 1763) was the second man of that name in an English Quaker family that played an important role in the early ...
(1711–1763); Abraham Darby III (1750–1789); Robert Forester Mushet
Robert Forester Mushet (8 April 1811 – 29 January 1891) was a British metallurgist and businessman, born on 8 April 1811, in Coleford, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. He was the youngest son of Scottish parents, Agnes Wilson ...
(1811–1891).
* 1769: The water frame
The water frame is a spinning frame that is powered by a water-wheel. Water frames in general have existed since Ancient Egypt times. Richard Arkwright, who patented the technology in 1769, designed a model for the production of cotton thread; ...
, a water-powered spinning frame
The spinning frame is an Industrial Revolution invention for spinning thread or yarn from fibres such as wool or cotton in a mechanized way. It was developed in 18th-century Britain by Richard Arkwright and John Kay.
Historical context
In 1 ...
, invented by Richard Arkwright (1732–1792).
* c. 1770: Coade stone, a high quality stoneware
Stoneware is a rather broad term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern technical definition is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire clay. Whether vi ...
, created by Eleanor Coade
Eleanor Coade (3 June 1733 – 18 November 1821) was a British businesswoman known for manufacturing Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical statues, architectural decorations and garden ornaments made of ''Lithodipyra'' or Coade stone for ov ...
(1733–1821).
* 1784–1789: Power loom developed by Edmund Cartwright
Edmund Cartwright (24 April 174330 October 1823) was an English inventor. He graduated from Oxford University and went on to invent the power loom. Married to local Elizabeth McMac at 19, he was the brother of Major John Cartwright, a politi ...
(1743–1823).
* 1795: Hydraulic press
A hydraulic press is a machine press using a hydraulic cylinder to generate a compressive force. It uses the hydraulic equivalent of a mechanical lever, and was also known as a Bramah press after the inventor, Joseph Bramah, of England. He ...
invented by Joseph Bramah (1748–1814).
* 1820: The Rubber Masticator, a machine for recycling rubber, invented by Thomas Hancock (1786–1865).
* 1824: Portland cement
Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19th ...
patented by Joseph Aspdin
Joseph Aspdin (25 December 1778 – 20 March 1855) was an English cement manufacturer who obtained the patent for Portland cement on 21 October 1824.
Life
Aspdin (or Aspden) was the eldest of the six children of Thomas Aspdin, a bricklaye ...
(1778–1855).
* 1840: Electroplating process patented by George Elkington (1801–1865).
* 1843: Vulcanisation
Vulcanization (British: Vulcanisation) is a range of processes for hardening rubbers. The term originally referred exclusively to the treatment of natural rubber with sulfur, which remains the most common practice. It has also grown to include ...
of rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, an ...
, a process for making natural rubber more durable, patented by Thomas Hancock (1786–1865).
* 1850: The Parkes process
The Parkes process is a pyrometallurgical industrial process for removing silver from lead during the production of bullion. It is an example of liquid–liquid extraction.
The process takes advantage of two liquid-state properties of zinc. The fi ...
, for removing silver
Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
from lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
during the production of bullion, invented by Alexander Parkes
Alexander Parkes (29 December 1813 29 June 1890) was a metallurgist and inventor from Birmingham, England. He created Parkesine, the first man-made plastic.
Biography
The son of a manufacturer of brass locks, Parkes was apprenticed to Messenge ...
(1813–1890).
* 1850–1855: Steel production Bessemer process
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation ...
developed by Henry Bessemer
Sir Henry Bessemer (19 January 1813 – 15 March 1898) was an English inventor, whose steel-making process would become the most important technique for making steel in the nineteenth century for almost one hundred years from 1856 to 1950. H ...
(1813–1898).
* 1862: First man-made plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
– Nitrocellulose
Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...
, branded Parkesine
Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common contemporary ...
– invented by Alexander Parkes
Alexander Parkes (29 December 1813 29 June 1890) was a metallurgist and inventor from Birmingham, England. He created Parkesine, the first man-made plastic.
Biography
The son of a manufacturer of brass locks, Parkes was apprenticed to Messenge ...
(1813–1890).
* 1912: Stainless steel invented by Harry Brearley
Harry Brearley (18 February 1871 – 14 July 1948)
was an English metallurgist, credited with the invention of "rustless steel" (later to be called "stainless steel" in the anglophone world). Based in Sheffield, his invention brought affordabl ...
(1871–1948).
* 1933: First industrially practical polythene
Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging ( plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bo ...
discovered by accident in 1933 by Eric Fawcett and Reginald Gibson in Northwich.
* 1952: The float glass process, for the manufacture of high-quality flat glass, invented by Alastair Pilkington
Sir Lionel Alexander Bethune Pilkington (7 January 1920 – 5 May 1995), known as Sir Alastair Pilkington, was a British engineer and businessman who invented and perfected the float glass process for commercial manufacturing of plate glass.
E ...
(1920–1995).
* 1950s: The Wilson Yarn Clearer developed by inventor Peter Wilson (dates not known).
* 2001: Self-cleaning glass Self-cleaning glass is a specific type of glass with a surface that keeps itself free of dirt and grime.
The field of self-cleaning coatings on glass is divided into two categories: hydrophobic and hydrophilic.
These two types of coating both clea ...
is developed by Pilkington
Pilkington is a Japanese-owned glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, United Kingdom. In the UK it includes several legal entities and is a subsidiary of Japanese company NSG Group.
Prior to its acquisition by NSG ...
.
Medicine
* Anglo-Saxon times: The earliest pharmacopoeia
A pharmacopoeia, pharmacopeia, or pharmacopoea (from the obsolete typography ''pharmacopœia'', meaning "drug-making"), in its modern technical sense, is a book containing directions for the identification of compound medicines, and published by ...
in English ( Cotton Vitellius, MS C. iii).
* 1628: First correct description of circulation of the blood
Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the cir ...
in ''De Motu Cordis
''Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus'' (Latin, 'An Anatomical Exercise on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Living Beings'), commonly called ''De Motu Cordis'', is the best-known work of the physician William Harv ...
'' by William Harvey
William Harvey (1 April 1578 – 3 June 1657) was an English physician who made influential contributions in anatomy and physiology. He was the first known physician to describe completely, and in detail, the systemic circulation and propert ...
(1578–1657).
* 18th century: Invention of surgical forceps attributed to Stephen Hales
Stephen Hales (17 September 16774 January 1761) was an English clergyman who made major contributions to a range of scientific fields including botany, pneumatic chemistry and physiology. He was the first person to measure blood pressure. He al ...
(1677–1761).Scientific American inventions and discoveries By Rodney P. Carlisle
* c. 1711: First blood pressure measurement and first cardiac catheterisation by Stephen Hales
Stephen Hales (17 September 16774 January 1761) was an English clergyman who made major contributions to a range of scientific fields including botany, pneumatic chemistry and physiology. He was the first person to measure blood pressure. He al ...
(1677–1761).
* 1763: Aspirin
Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to reduce pain, fever, and/or inflammation, and as an antithrombotic. Specific inflammatory conditions which aspirin is used to treat inc ...
's active ingredient discovered by Edward Stone (1702–1768).
* 1770s: Isolation of fibrin, a key protein in the blood coagulation
Coagulation, also known as clotting, is the process by which blood changes from a liquid to a gel, forming a blood clot. It potentially results in hemostasis, the cessation of blood loss from a damaged vessel, followed by repair. The mechanis ...
process; investigation of the structure of the lymphatic system; and description of red blood cell
Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "holl ...
s by surgeon William Hewson (1739–1774), so-called "father of haematology
Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...
".
* 1775: First demonstration that a cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
may be caused by an environmental carcinogen
A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive subs ...
by Percivall Pott
Percivall Pott (6 January 1714, in London – 22 December 1788) was an English surgeon, one of the founders of orthopaedics, and the first scientist to demonstrate that a cancer may be caused by an environmental carcinogen.
Career
He was the ...
(1714–1788), also a founding father of orthopedy
Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...
.
* 1794: Colour blindness first described in a paper titled "Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours" by John Dalton (1766–1844).
* 1798: Smallpox vaccine
The smallpox vaccine is the first vaccine to be developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox ...
, the first successful vaccine to be developed, invented by Edward Jenner
Edward Jenner, (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was a British physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines, and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms ''vaccine'' and ''vaccination'' are derived f ...
(1749–1823); in so doing, Jenner is said to have "saved more lives . .than were lost in all the wars of mankind since the beginning of recorded history."
* 1800: Anaesthetic
An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia — in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...
properties of nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has ...
(entonox/"laughing gas") discovered by Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778–1829).
* 1817: First description of (what would come to be called) Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
in "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy" by James Parkinson
James Parkinson (11 April 175521 December 1824) was an English surgeon, apothecary, geologist, palaeontologist and political activist. He is best known for his 1817 work ''An Essay on the Shaking Palsy'', in which he was the first to describe ...
(1755–1824).
* 1818 or 1829: First successful blood transfusion
Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...
performed by James Blundell (1791–1878).
* 1819: First accurate description of hay fever by John Bostock (1773–1846).
* 1847: Ophthalmoscope
Ophthalmoscopy, also called funduscopy, is a test that allows a health professional to see inside the fundus of the eye and other structures using an ophthalmoscope (or funduscope). It is done as part of an eye examination and may be done as part ...
conceived by Charles Babbage (1791–1871).
* 1850s: Location of the source of cholera by pioneer of anaesthesia
Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), a ...
and "father of epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evide ...
" John Snow (1813–1858).
* 1850s: General anaesthetic
General anaesthetics (or anesthetics, see spelling differences) are often defined as compounds that induce a loss of consciousness in humans or loss of righting reflex in animals. Clinical definitions are also extended to include an induced com ...
pioneered by Englishman John Snow (1813–1858) and Scotsman James Young Simpson
Sir James Young Simpson, 1st Baronet, (7 June 1811 – 6 May 1870) was a Scottish obstetrician and a significant figure in the history of medicine. He was the first physician to demonstrate the anesthetic, anaesthetic properties of chloroform ...
.
* 1850s onwards: Treatment of epilepsy
Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...
pioneered by Edward Henry Sieveking
Sir Edward Henry Sieveking (24 August 1816 – 24 February 1904) was an English physician.
Life
Sieveking was born in Bishopsgate, London. He studied medicine at the University of Berlin under eminent physiologist Johannes Peter Muller, and als ...
(1816–1904).
* 1858: First publication of '' Gray's Anatomy'', widely regarded as the first complete human-anatomy textbook, by Henry Gray
Henry Gray (1827 – 13 June 1861) was a British anatomist and surgeon most notable for publishing the book ''Gray's Anatomy''. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) at the age of 25.
Biography
Gray was born in Belgrav ...
(1827–1861).
* 1860 onwards: Modern nursing
Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...
pioneered by Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, i ...
(1820–1910).
* 1867: Antisepsis in surgery invented by Joseph Lister
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 182710 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of ...
(1827–1912).
* 1867: Clinical thermometer
A medical thermometer (also called clinical thermometer) is a device which is used for measuring human or animal body temperature. The tip of the thermometer is inserted into the mouth under the tongue (''oral'' or ''sub-lingual temperature''), ...
devised by Thomas Clifford Allbutt
Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt (20 July 183622 February 1925) was an English physician best known for his role as president of the British Medical Association 1920, for inventing the clinical thermometer, and for supporting Sir William Osler in fo ...
(1836–1925).
* 1887: First practical ECG
Electrocardiography is the process of producing an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a recording of the heart's electrical activity. It is an electrogram of the heart which is a graph of voltage versus time of the electrical activity of the hear ...
machine invented by Augustus Waller of St Mary's Hospital in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
* 1898: The mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
identified as the carrier of malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
by Sir Ronald Ross
Sir Ronald Ross (13 May 1857 – 16 September 1932) was a British medical doctor who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1902 for his work on the transmission of malaria, becoming the first British Nobel laureate, and the ...
(1857–1932).
* 1901: Amino acid Tryptophan
Tryptophan (symbol Trp or W)
is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Tryptophan contains an α-amino group, an α-carboxylic acid group, and a side chain indole, making it a polar molecule with a non-polar aromatic ...
discovered by Frederick Gowland Hopkins
Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (20 June 1861 – 16 May 1947) was an English biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929, with Christiaan Eijkman, for the discovery of vitamins, even though Casimir Funk, a Po ...
(1861–1947).
* 1902: First typhoid vaccine developed by Almroth Wright
Sir Almroth Edward Wright (10 August 1861 – 30 April 1947) was a British bacteriologist and immunologist.
He is notable for developing a system of anti-typhoid fever inoculation, recognizing early on that antibiotics would create resistant ...
(1861–1947).
* 1912: Vitamin
A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism. Essential nutrie ...
s discovered by Frederick Gowland Hopkins
Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (20 June 1861 – 16 May 1947) was an English biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929, with Christiaan Eijkman, for the discovery of vitamins, even though Casimir Funk, a Po ...
(1861–1947).
* 1915: Acetylcholine (ACh) identified by Sir Henry Hallett Dale
Sir Henry Hallett Dale (9 June 1875 – 23 July 1968) was an English pharmacologist and physiologist. For his study of acetylcholine as agent in the chemical transmission of nerve pulses (neurotransmission) he shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Ph ...
(1875–1968) for its action on heart tissue.
* 1937 onwards: Protein crystallography
X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...
developed by Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (née Crowfoot; 12 May 1910 – 29 July 1994) was a Nobel Prize-winning British chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential fo ...
(1910–1994); Hodgkin solved the structures of cholesterol
Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...
(1937), penicillin (1946), and vitamin B12
Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. It is one of eight B vitamins. It is required by animals, which use it as a cofactor in DNA synthesis, in both fatty acid and amino acid metabolism. ...
(1956), for which she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...
in 1964; in 1969, she succeeded in solving the structure of insulin, on which she worked for over thirty years.
* 1937: Discovery of the Citric acid cycle
The citric acid cycle (CAC)—also known as the Krebs cycle or the TCA cycle (tricarboxylic acid cycle)—is a series of chemical reactions to release stored energy through the oxidation of acetyl-CoA derived from carbohydrates, fats, and protein ...
("Krebs Cycle") by German-born (naturalised
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...
) British physician and biochemist Hans Adolf Krebs
Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, FRS (, ; 25 August 1900 – 22 November 1981) was a German-born British biologist, physician and biochemist. He was a pioneer scientist in the study of cellular respiration, a biochemical process in living cells that ex ...
(1900–1981) at the University of Sheffield
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
.
* 1940s: Groundbreaking research on the use of penicillin in the treatment of venereal disease carried out in London by Jack Suchet (1908–2001) with Scottish scientist Sir Alexander Fleming.
* 1941: Crucial first steps in the mass production of penicillin made by Norman Heatley (1911–2004).
* 1949: Diagnostic ultrasound first used to assess the thickness of bowel tissue by English-born physicist John J. Wild (1914–2009), so-called "father of medical ultrasound".
* 1949–1950: Artificial intraocular lens transplant surgery for cataract patients developed by Harold Ridley (ophthalmologist), Harold Ridley (1906–2001).
* Late 1950s: Peak flow meter, Peak Flow Meter invented by Martin Wright (bioengineer), Martin Wright (1912–2001), also the creator of the Syringe driver, Syringe Driver.
* 1960 onwards: The hip replacement operation (in which a stainless steel stem and 22mm head fit into a polymer socket and both parts are fixed into position by Poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA cement) pioneered by John Charnley (1911–1982).
* 1960s: First use of sodium cromoglycate for asthma Preventive healthcare, prophylaxis associated with Roger Altounyan (1922–1987).
* 1967 onwards: Computed Tomography and first commercial CT scanner invented by Sir Godfrey Hounsfield (1919–2004) in Hayes, Middlesex
Hayes is a town in west London, historically situated within the county of Middlesex, and now part of the London Borough of Hillingdon. The town's population, including its localities Hayes End, Harlington and Yeading, was recorded as 83,564 i ...
, at EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
Central Research Laboratories.
* 1969–1978: Development of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) by Patrick Christopher Steptoe (1913–1988) and Robert Geoffrey Edwards (1925–2013).
* Late 1970s: Echo-planar imaging (EPI) technique, a contribution to the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), developed by Sir Peter Mansfield (born 1933).
* 1980: Potential of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in treating a wide range of genetic diseases, among other breakthroughs, discovered by John Raymond Hobbs (1929–2008).
* 1981: Discovery of how to culture embryonic stem cells credited to England-born biologist Martin Evans (born 1941).
* 1993: Viagra (a.k.a. Sildenafil – compound UK-92,480) synthesised by a group of pharmaceutical chemists working at Pfizer's Sandwich, Kent research facility in England. The press identified Peter Dunn and Albert Wood as the inventors of the drug; only Andrew Bell, David Brown and Nicholas Terrett are listed on the original composition of matter patent.
* 2009: First baby genetically selected to be free of a breast cancer born at University College Hospital.
* 2014: The "Mom incubator", an Inflatable Neonatal intensive care unit#Incubator, incubator for reducing mortality rates in Preterm birth, premature babies, invented by James Roberts.
Military
* 1718: The Puckle Gun or ''Defence Gun'', a multi-shot gun mounted on a tripod, invented by James Puckle (1667–1724).
* 1784: Shrapnel shell, an anti-personnel artillery munition, developed by Henry Shrapnel (1761–1842).
* 1804: The Congreve rocket, a weapon, invented by Sir William Congreve (inventor), William Congreve (1772–1828).
* 1830s: The Fuse (explosives), safety fuse invented by William Bickford (1774–1834), William Bickford (1774–1834).
* 1854: The Whitworth rifle, often called the "sharpshooter" because of its accuracy and considered one of the earliest examples of a sniper rifle, invented by Sir Joseph Whitworth
Sir Joseph Whitworth, 1st Baronet (21 December 1803 – 22 January 1887) was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. In 1841, he devised the British Standard Whitworth system, which created an accepted standard for scre ...
(1803–1887).
* 1854–1857: The Armstrong Gun, a uniquely designed field and heavy gun, developed by Sir William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, William Armstrong (1810–1900).
* 1866: First effective self-propelled naval torpedo invented by Robert Whitehead (1823–1905).
* 1875: The side by side boxlock action, commonly used in double barreled shotguns, invented by William Anson and John Deeley for the Westley Richards company of Birmingham.
* 1884: The Maxim gun, the first self-powered machine gun invented by Sir Hiram Maxim (1840–1916); American-born, Maxim moved from the United States to England in 1881, becoming a (naturalised
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...
) British subject. The Maxim gun was financed by Albert Vickers of Vickers Limited and produced in Hatton Garden, London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. It has been called "the weapon most associated with British imperial conquest".
* 1891: Cordite, first of the "smokeless powders" which came into general use towards the end of the 19th century, invented by Englishman Frederick Abel (1827–1902) and Scot James Dewar.
* 1901: Bullpup firearm configuration first used in the Thorneycroft carbine rifle, developed by an English gunsmith as patent No. 14,622 of July 18, 1901.
* 1906: The Dreadnought battleship, the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century, credited to First Sea Lord Admiral John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, John "Jackie" Fisher (1841–1920).
* 1914: First operational fighter aircraft, the Vickers F.B.5 (a.k.a. th "Gunbus"), developed from a design by Archibald Low (1888–1956).
* 1916: The tank developed and first used in combat by the British during Tanks in World War I, World War I as a means to break the deadlock of trench warfare. Key co-inventors include Major Walter Gordon Wilson (1874–1957) and Sir William Tritton (1875–1946).
* 1916: The first effective depth charge, an anti-submarine warfare weapon, developed from a design by Herbert Taylor at the RN Torpedo and Mine School, HMS Vernon (shore establishment), HMS ''Vernon''.
* 1916: The Livens Projector, a weapon, created by William Howard Livens (1889–1964).
* 1917: Dazzle camouflage created by Norman Wilkinson (artist), Norman Wilkinson (1878–1971).
* 1917: ASDIC active sonar, the first practical underwater active sound-detection apparatus, developed by Canadian physicist Robert William Boyle and English physicist Albert Beaumont Wood (1890–1964).
* 1940s: High-explosive squash head, a type of ammunition, invented by Sir Charles Dennistoun Burney (1888–1968).
* 1941: The Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife invented by William Ewart Fairbairn (1885–1960) and Eric A. Sykes (1883–1945).
* 1941–1942: The Bailey bridge – a type of portable, Prefabrication, pre-fabricated, truss bridge – invented by Donald Bailey (civil engineer), Donald Bailey (1901–1985). Field Marshal Montgomery emphasised the importance of the Bailey bridge in Britain winning the war.
* 1943: The bouncing bomb invented by Barnes Wallis (1887–1979).
* 1943: H2S radar (airborne radar to aid bomb targeting) invented by Alan Blumlein (1903–1942). Blumlein died in a plane crash during a secret trial of the H2S system.
* 1950: The Aircraft catapult, steam catapult, a device used to launch aircraft from aircraft carriers, developed by Commander Colin C. Mitchell Royal Naval Reserve, RNR.
* 1960s: Chobham armour, a type of vehicle armour, developed by a team headed by Gilbert Harvey of the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment, FVRDE at the tank research centre on Chobham Common, Surrey.
* 1960: Harrier jump jet developed by Hawker Aircraft of Kingston upon Thames following an approach by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1957.
* Late 1970s: Stun grenades developed by the British Army, British Army's Special Air Service, SAS.
Mining
* 1712: The Newcomen atmospheric engine, Newcomen Engine invented byThomas Newcomen
Thomas Newcomen (; February 1664 – 5 August 1729) was an English inventor who created the atmospheric engine, the first practical fuel-burning engine in 1712. He was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling.
He ...
(1664–1729); from c. 1705 Newcomen was first to use a Beam engine to pump water from mines.
* 1815: The Davy lamp, a safety lamp, invented by Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778–1829).
* 1815: The Geordie lamp, a safety lamp, invented by George Stephenson (1781–1848).
Musical instruments
* 1695: Northumbrian smallpipes (a.k.a. Northumbrian pipes) associated withNorthumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land ...
and Tyne and Wear.
* 1711: The Tuning fork invented by John Shore (trumpeter), John Shore (c. 1662–1752).
* 1798: The harp lute invented by Edward Light (c. 1747-c. 1832); Light patented the instrument in 1816.
* Early 19th century: The Irish flute is not an instrument indigenous to Ireland; a key figure in its development was English inventor and flautist Charles Nicholson (flautist), Charles Nicholson (1775–1810).
* 1829: The concertina invented by Charles Wheatstone
Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS FRSE DCL LLD (6 February 1802 – 19 October 1875), was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope (a device for di ...
(1802–1875).
* Early 20th century: The theatre organ developed by Robert Hope-Jones (1859–1914).
* 1870: Carbon microphone, invented by David Edward Hughes.
* 1968: The logical bassoon, an electronically controlled version of the bassoon, developed by Giles Brindley (born 1926).
Photography
* Before 1800: Method of copying images chemically to permanent media devised by Thomas Wedgwood (photographer), Thomas Wedgwood (1771–1805).
* 1838: The Stereoscope, a device for displaying three-dimensional images, invented by Charles Wheatstone
Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS FRSE DCL LLD (6 February 1802 – 19 October 1875), was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope (a device for di ...
(1802–1875).
* 1840: Calotype or ''Talbotype'' invented by William Fox Talbot (1800–1877).
* 1850s: The Collodion process, an early photographic process, invented by Frederick Scott Archer (1813–1857).
* 1850s: The Ambrotype invented by Frederick Scott Archer (1813–1857) and Peter Wickens Fry (1795–1860).
* 1861: The Collodion-albumen process, an early dry plate process, invented by Joseph Sidebotham (father of Joseph Watson Sidebotham).
* 1871: The dry plate process, the first economically successful and durable photographic medium, invented by Richard Leach Maddox (1816–1902).
* 1878: ''The Horse in Motion'' or ''Sallie Gardner at a Gallop'', a precursor to the development of Film, motion pictures, created by Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904).
* 1879: The Zoopraxiscope, which may be considered the first movie projector, created by Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904).
* 1880s: Method of intensifying Photographic plate, plates with Mercury(II) iodide, mercuric iodide devised by B. J. Edwards (1838–1914); Edwards pioneered also the construction and design of instantaneous Shutter (photography), shutters.
* 1887: Celluloid Film, motion pictures created by William Friese-Greene (1855–1921).
* 1906: Kinemacolor, the first successful colour motion picture process, invented by George Albert Smith (inventor), George Albert Smith (1864–1959).
Publishing firsts
* 1475: First book printed in the English language, ''Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye'', by William Caxton (c. 1422–c. 1491); eighteen copies survive.
* 1534: Cambridge University Press granted letters patent by Henry VIII; continuous operation since makes it the world's oldest publisher and printer.
* 1535: First complete printed translation of the Bible into English produced by Myles Coverdale (1488–1569).
* 1665: ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Philosophical Transactions'', the first journal exclusively devoted to science, established by the Royal Society of London; it is also the world's longest-running scientific journal.
* British Raj period: the first definite map of India drawn by English cartographers.
* Mid-19th century: First noted journal club by English surgeon James Paget, Sir James Paget (1814–1899); recalling in his memoirs time spent at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, Paget describes "a kind of club . .a small room over a baker's shop near the Hospital-gate where we could sit and read the Scientific journal, journals."
* 1893: Benjamin Daydon Jackson prepares the first volume of ''Index Kewensis'', first publication aiming to register all botanical names for seed plants at the rank of species and Genus, genera.
Science
Physics
* 1600: Recognition that the earth was a giant magnet, by William Gilbert (1544–1603) in his six-book work ''De Magnete''; ''De Magnete'' was known all over Europe, and was almost certainly an influence on Galileo Galilei, Galileo.
* 1660: Hooke's Law (equation describing elasticity) proposed by Robert Hooke (1635–1703).
* 1666–1675: Theories on optics proposed by Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1726/7); Newton published ''Opticks'' in 1704.
* 1687: Law of Newton's law of universal gravitation, universal gravitation formulated in the ''Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Principia'' by Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1726/7).
* 1687: Newton's laws of motion formulated in the ''Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Principia''.
* 1800: Infrared#Human history, Infrared radiation discovered by Sir William Herschel (1738–1822).
* 1802: Theory on physiological basis of Color vision, colour vision proposed by Thomas Young (scientist), Thomas Young (1773–1829).
* 1803–1807: Evidence for a wave theory of light discovered by Thomas Young (scientist), Thomas Young (1773–1829).
* 1823: Electromagnet invented by William Sturgeon (1783–1850).
* 1831: Discovery that electric current could be generated by altering magnetic fields (the principle underlying modern Electricity generation, power generation) by Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
(1791–1867).
* 1845: Proposition that light and electromagnetism are related by Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
(1791–1867).
* 1845–1847: Demonstration that electric circuits obey the law of the conservation of energy and that electricity is a form of energy (First Law of Thermodynamics) by James Prescott Joule, James Joule (1818–1889); the unit of energy the Joule is named after him.
* 1871 and 1885: Discovery of the phenomenon Rayleigh scattering (which can be used to explain why the sky is blue), and prediction of the existence of surface waves by John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (1842–1919).
* 1897: Discovery of the electron by J. J. Thomson (1856–1940).
* 1911: Discovery of the Rutherford model of the Atom by Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937).
* 1912: Invention of the mass spectrometer by J. J. Thomson (1856–1940).
* 1912: Bragg's law and the field of X-ray crystallography, an important tool for elucidating the crystal structure of substances, discovered by William Henry Bragg (1862–1942) and William Lawrence Bragg (1890–1971).
* 1913: Discovery of isotopes by J. J. Thomson (1856–1940).
* 1917: Discovery of the Proton by Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937).
* 1924: Edward Victor Appleton awarded Nobel Prize in Physics in 1947 for proving the existence of the ionosphere during experiments carried out in 1924.
* 1928: Existence of antimatter predicted by Paul Dirac (1902–1984); Dirac made major contributions to the development of quantum mechanics.
* 1932: Splitting the atom, a fully artificial nuclear reaction and nuclear transmutation, first achieved by English physicist John Cockcroft (1897–1967) and Ireland's Ernest Walton.
* 1932: Discovery of the Neutron by James Chadwick (1891–1974).
* 1935: Possibility of Radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
first proven in the "Daventry experiment" by Englishman Arnold Frederic Wilkins (1907–1985) and Scot Robert Watson-Watt
Sir Robert Alexander Watson Watt (13 April 1892 – 5 December 1973) was a Scottish pioneer of radio direction finding and radar technology.
Watt began his career in radio physics with a job at the Met Office, where he began looking for accura ...
.
* 1947: Holography invented in Rugby, England by Hungarian-British Dennis Gabor (1900–1979; fled from Nazi Germany in 1933). The medium was improved by Nicholas J. Phillips (1933–2009), who made it possible to record multi-colour reflection holograms.
* 1947: Discovery of the pion (pi-meson) by Cecil Frank Powell (1903–1969).
* 1964: The Higgs boson, an elementary particle implied by the Higgs mechanism, Higgs field, proposed by Peter Higgs (born 1929) and others to explain why fundamental particles (which are theoretically Weightlessness, weightless) might have acquired mass after their formation in the Big Bang.
* 1974: Hawking radiation predicted by Stephen Hawking (1942–2018).
Chemistry
*Anglo-Saxon times: Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths used a process similar to Cementation (metallurgy), cementation; as evidenced by the Staffordshire hoard.
*1665: Correct theory of combustion first outlined in ''Micrographia'' by Robert Hooke (1635–1703); Hooke observed that something (known now as oxygen) is taken from the air and that in its absence combustion quickly ceases, however much heat is applied.
*1766: Hydrogen discovered by Henry Cavendish (1731–1810); Cavendish described it as a colourless, odourless gas that burns and can form an explosive mixture with air.
*1775: Oxygen discovered by Joseph Priestley (1733–1804); Priestley called it "dephlogisticated air".
*1791: William Gregor (25 December 1761 – 11 June 1817) discovered the elemental metal titanium.
*1801: Charles Hatchett FRS (2 January 1765 – 10 March 1847[1]) discovered the element niobium.
*1803: William Hyde Wollaston PRS (6 August 1766 – 22 December 1828) discovered the chemical element rhodium.
*1803: William Hyde Wollaston PRS (6 August 1766 – 22 December 1828) discovered the chemical element palladium.
*1803: Smithson Tennant FRS (30 November 1761 – 22 February 1815) discovered the element iridium.
*1803: Smithson Tennant FRS (30 November 1761 – 22 February 1815) discovered the element osmium.
*1803: Modern atomic theory developed by John Dalton (1766–1844). See also Dalton's law and Law of multiple proportions; Dalton is considered the father of modern chemistry.
*1807: Sodium isolated by Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778–1829).
*1807: Potassium isolated by Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778–1829).
*1808: Calcium isolated by Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778–1829).
*1808: Strontium isolated by Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778–1829).
*1808: Barium isolated by Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778–1829).
*1808: Magnesium isolated by Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778–1829).
*1808: Boron isolated by Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778–1829).
*1810: Elemental nature of Chlorine discovered by Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778–1829).
*1813: Elemental nature of Iodine discovered by Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778–1829).
*1825: Benzene, the first known aromatic hydrocarbon, isolated and identified by Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
(1791–1867).
*1861: Thallium discovered by William Crookes
Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing t ...
(1832–1919).
*1865: Periodic Table devised by John Alexander Reina Newlands, John Newlands (1837–1898); his History of the periodic table, Law of Octaves was a precursor to the Periodic Law.
*1868: Helium discovered in the sun (via spectroscopy) by Norman Lockyer (1836–1920); not until ten years later was it found on earth.
*1868: Synthesis of coumarin (one of the first synthetic perfumes), and cinnamic acid via the Perkin reaction by William Henry Perkin
Sir William Henry Perkin (12 March 1838 – 14 July 1907) was a British chemist and entrepreneur best known for his serendipitous discovery of the first commercial synthetic organic dye, mauveine, made from aniline. Though he failed in tryin ...
(1838–1907).
*1893: The Weston cell developed by England-born chemist Edward Weston (chemist), Edward Weston (1850–1936).
*1894: Argon discovered by English physicist John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (1842–1919) and Scot William Ramsay.
*1898: Morris Travers was an English chemist who with scot Sir William Ramsay discovered xenon, neon and krypton.
*1901: Silicone discovered and named by Frederic Kipping (1863–1949); according to the Chemical nomenclature, nomenclature of modern chemistry, ''silicone'' is no longer the correct term, but it remains in common usage.
*1913: Concept of atomic number introduced by Henry Moseley (1887–1915) in order to fix the inadequacies of Dmitri Mendeleev, Mendeleev's periodic table, which had been based on atomic weight. Isaac Asimov wrote, "In view of what he [Moseley] might still have accomplished … his death might well have been the most costly single death of the War to mankind generally."
*1913: Existence of isotopes first proposed by Frederick Soddy (1877–1956).
*1940s / 1950s: Partition chromatography developed by Richard Laurence Millington Synge (1914–1994) and Archer J.P. Martin (1910–2002).
*1950: VX (nerve agent) invented by Ranajit Ghosh at Porton Down, VX (nerve agent) is the world's most deadly chemical compounds. It only takes 10 milligrams to become a fatal dose.
*1952: Structure of ferrocene discovered by Geoffrey Wilkinson (1921–1996) and others.
*1959: First practical Alkaline fuel cell, hydrogen–oxygen fuel cell developed by Francis Thomas Bacon (1904–1992).
*1962: First noble gas compound, xenon hexafluoroplatinate, prepared by Neil Bartlett (chemist), Neil Bartlett (1932–2008).
*1985: Buckminsterfullerene discovered by Sir Harry Kroto (born 1939).
Biology
* 1665: Cell biology originated by Robert Hooke (1635–1703), who discovered the first Cell (biology), cells in the course of describing the microscopic compartments within cork.
* Early 19th century: the first recognition of what fossils were by Mary Anning.
* 1839: The identification and discovery of 150 mosses, lichens, liverworts, flowering plants and algae on the Kerguelen Islands by botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker. He later said of his gatherings "many of my best little lichens were gathered by hammering out the turfs or sitting on them till they thawed."
* 1855: The discovery of the first coal ball by Joseph Dalton Hooker who later on with partner William Binney made the first scientific description of coal balls.
* 1859: Theories of evolution by natural selection and sexual selection set out in ''On the Origin of Species'' by Charles Darwin (1809–1882).
* 1883: The practice of Eugenics developed by Sir Francis Galton (1822–1911), applying his half-cousin Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to humans.
* 1953: Double-helix structure of DNA determined by Englishman Francis Crick (1906–2004) and American James D. Watson, James Watson. Crick was a pioneer in the field of molecular biology.
* 1958: the first cloning of an animal, a frog using intact Cell nucleus, nuclei from the somatic cells of a Xenopus tadpole by Sir John Gurdon.
* 1950 onward: the pioneering of the use of Xenopus eggs to translate microinjected messenger RNA molecules by Sir John Gurdon and fellow researchers, a technique which has been widely used to identify the proteins encoded and to study their function.
* 1960 onwards: Pioneering observation-based research into the behaviour of Common chimpanzee, chimpanzees (our closest relatives in the animal kingdom) conducted by Jane Goodall (born 1934).
* 1977: DNA sequencing by chain termination developed by Frederick Sanger (1918–2013). Sanger won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry twice.
* 1977: Discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of Alternative splicing, gene-splicing by Richard J. Roberts (born 1943).
* 1996: Dolly the Sheep born as a result of Nuclear transfer, a form of cloning put into practice by Ian Wilmut (born 1944) and Keith Campbell (biologist), Keith Campbell (1954–2012).
* 2016: Scientists at the British bio-tech company Oxitec, in an attempt to stop the spread of dengue fever genetically engineer a 'sudden death' mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
which after mating successfully with a wild female, any offspring produced will not survive to adulthood and the lethal gene is passed on from the female to any male they mate with and the cycle continues. 3,019,000 mosquitos were released on the Grand Cayman Islands and after three months 80% of the population of mosquitos in the target area had vanished.
Mathematics and statistics
* 1630–1632: The slide rule invented by William Oughtred (1574–1660), developing on work by Edmund Gunter (1581–1626) and Edmund Wingate (1596–1656).
* 1631: The "x" symbol for multiplication and the abbreviations "sin" and "cos" for the sine and cosine functions devised by William Oughtred (1574–1660) in ''Clavis Mathematicae'' (The Key to Mathematics).
* 1631: The symbols for "is less than" and "is greater than", along with other innovations, devised in the posthumously published algebra text ''Artis Analyticae Praxis'' by Thomas Harriot (c. 1560–1621).
* 1687: Calculus developed by Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1726/7), as set out in his ''Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Principia Mathematica''.
* 1763 onwards: Key contributions made to the development of statistics by: Thomas Bayes (c. 1701–1761) (''Bayes' theorem''); Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, i ...
(1820–1910) (''statistical graphics''); Francis Galton (1822–1911) (''standard deviation'', ''correlation'', ''regression analysis, regression'', ''questionnaires''); Karl Pearson (1857–1936) (''Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, correlation coefficient'', ''Pearson's chi-squared test, chi-square''); William Sealy Gosset, William Gosset (1876–1937) (''Student's t-distribution''); Ronald Fisher (1890–1962) (''Analysis of variance''); Frank Yates (1902–1994).
* 1854: Boolean algebra
In mathematics and mathematical logic, Boolean algebra is a branch of algebra. It differs from elementary algebra in two ways. First, the values of the variables are the truth values ''true'' and ''false'', usually denoted 1 and 0, whereas i ...
, the basis for Logic gate, digital logic, proposed by George Boole
George Boole (; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was a largely self-taught English mathematician, philosopher, and logician, most of whose short career was spent as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork in ...
(1815–1864).
* 1876: Connection between energy, matter and the curvature of space proposed in ''s:On the Space-Theory of Matter'' by William Kingdon Clifford (1845–1879), forty years before Albert Einstein, Einstein's General relativity, general theory of relativity.
* c. 1880: The Venn diagram devised by John Venn (1834–1923).
* 1884: Reformulation of Maxwell's equations into the four we know now by Oliver Heaviside
Oliver Heaviside FRS (; 18 May 1850 – 3 February 1925) was an English self-taught mathematician and physicist who invented a new technique for solving differential equations (equivalent to the Laplace transform), independently developed ...
(1850–1925).
* 1901: Discipline of modern mathematical statistics developed by Karl Pearson (1857–1936).
Astronomy
* 1609: First drawing of the Moon through a telescope by Thomas Harriot (c. 1560 – 1621); Harriot achieved this on 26 July 1609: over four months before Galileo Galilei, Galileo.
* 1610: Sunspots discovered by Thomas Harriot (c. 1560–1621).
* 1668: Newtonian telescope invented by Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727).
* 1705: Periodic comet, Periodicity of Halley's Comet determined by Edmond Halley (1656–1742).
* 1712–1717: The Planetarium created by French-born Briton John Theophilus Desaguliers (1683–1784).
* 1758: Achromatic doublet lens patented by John Dollond (1706–1761).
* 1781: Discovery of the planet Uranus by Sir William Herschel (1738–1822); Herschel also discovered the moons Titania (moon), Titania (1787), Oberon (moon), Oberon (1787), Enceladus (moon), Enceladus (1789), and Mimas (moon), Mimas (1789).
* 1783: Existence of black holes first proposed by John Michell (1724–1793); Michell was first to suggest that binary stars, double stars might be attracted to each other (1767), and he invented the torsion balance (before 1783).
* 1843: Existence and position of Neptune predicted, using only mathematics, by John Couch Adams (1819–1892).
* 1845: Nature of spiral galaxies discovered by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse (1800–1867).
* 1846: Discovery of Triton (moon), Triton by William Lassell (1799–1880); Lassell also discovered the moons Hyperion (moon), Hyperion (1848), Ariel (moon), Ariel (1851), and Umbriel (moon), Umbriel (1851).
* 1924: The Eddington limit – the natural limit to the luminosity of stars, or the radiation generated by accretion onto a compact object – discovered by Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882–1944).
* 1930s–1950s: Important contributions to the development of radio astronomy made by Bernard Lovell (1913–2012).
* 1946–1954: Pioneering theories of Nucleosynthesis (the formation of chemical elements in stars and supernova) proposed by Sir Fred Hoyle (1915–2001); in 1949, Hoyle coined the term "Big Bang".
* 1966 onwards: Important contributions to cosmology and (from 1973)quantum gravity made by Stephen Hawking (born 1942), especially in the context of black holes.
* 1967: Pulsars discovered by English Radio astronomy, radio astronomer Antony Hewish (born 1924) and one of his graduate students, Northern Irish Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Jocelyn Bell.
* Late 1960s / early 1970s: Aperture synthesis, used for accurate location and imaging of weak radio sources in the field of radio astronomy, developed by Martin Ryle (1918–1984) and Antony Hewish (born 1924).
Geology and meteorology
* 1802: Clouds, Nomenclature system for clouds developed by meteorology pioneer Luke Howard (1772–1864). * 1815: First geological map of Great Britain created by William Smith (geologist), William Smith (1769–1839); Smith is responsible, as well, for the observation that fossils can be used to work out the relative ages of rocks and strata (Principle of Faunal Succession). * 1820: The dew-point hygrometer, an instrument used for measuring the moisture content in the atmosphere, invented byJohn Frederic Daniell
John Frederic Daniell FRS (12 March 1790 – 13 March 1845) was an English chemist and physicist.
Biography
Daniell was born in London. In 1831 he became the first professor of chemistry at the newly founded King's College London; and in 18 ...
(1790–1845).
* 1820s: Scientific study of dinosaurs initiated by Gideon Mantell (1790–1852).
* 1861: First weather map created by Francis Galton (1822–1911).
* 1880: The Seismograph, for detecting and measuring the strength of earthquakes, invented by John Milne (1850–1913).
* 1911 onwards: Geochronology pioneered by Arthur Holmes (1890–1965).
* 1938–1964: The Callendar effect, a theory linking rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere to global temperature (Global warming), proposed by Guy Stewart Callendar (1898–1964).
Philosophy of science
* c. 1240s: An early framework for the scientific method, based in Aristotle, Aristotelian commentaries, proposed by English statesman, scientist and Christian theologian Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175–1253). * 1267: Early form of the scientific method articulated in ''Opus Majus'' by Roger Bacon (c. 1214?-c. 1292?). * 1620: Baconian method, a forerunner of the scientific method, proposed in the ''Novum Organum'' by SirFrancis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
(1561–1626).
* 1892: Scope and method of science proposed in ''The Grammar of Science'' by Karl Pearson (1857–1936); the book was a pivotal influence on the young Albert Einstein and contained several ideas that were later to become part of his theories.
Scientific instruments
* 1630–1632: The slide rule invented by William Oughtred (1574–1660), developing on work by Edmund Gunter (1581–1626) and Edmund Wingate (1596–1656). * 1630s: The Micrometer (device), micrometer invented by William Gascoigne (scientist), William Gascoigne (1612–1644). * 1665: Compound microscope with 30x magnification developed by Robert Hooke (1635–1703); Hooke published ''Micrographia'' in 1665. * 1668: The marine barometer invented by Robert Hooke (1635–1703). * 1677: The Coggeshall slide rule, a.k.a. the carpenter's slide rule, invented by Henry Coggeshall (1623–1691). * 1763: Triple achromatic lens invented by Peter Dollond (1731–1820). * 1784: The Atwood machine, for demonstrating the law of uniformly accelerated motion, invented by George Atwood (1745–1807). * c. 1805: First bench micrometer – the "Lord Chancellor", capable of measuring to one ten-thousandth of an inch – invented byHenry Maudslay
Henry Maudslay ( pronunciation and spelling) (22 August 1771 – 14 February 1831) was an English machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool technology. His inventions were ...
(1771–1831), a founding father of machine tool technology.
* 1833: Wheatstone bridge invented by Samuel Hunter Christie (1784–1865); improved and popularised in 1843 by Charles Wheatstone
Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS FRSE DCL LLD (6 February 1802 – 19 October 1875), was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope (a device for di ...
(1802–1875).
* 1972: The Sinclair Executive
The Sinclair Executive was the world's first "slimline" pocket calculator, and the first to be produced by Clive Sinclair's company Sinclair Radionics. Introduced in 1972, there were at least two different versions of the Sinclair Executive, ...
, the world's first small electronic pocket calculator
An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics.
The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s. Pocket-sized ...
, invented by Sir Clive Sinclair (born 1940).
Sport
* Before 1299: Bowls or ''lawn bowls'' can be traced to 13th-century England. The world's oldest surviving bowling green is Southampton Old Bowling Green, first used in 1299.
* Late 15th century: Rounders developed from an older English game known as stoolball.
* Early 16th century: Modern boxing developed from bare-knuckle boxing or ''prizefighting'', a resurfacing of Ancient Greek boxing in England. The first recorded boxing match took place on 6 January 1681 in England, arranged by Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle (1653–1688).
* 1519: World's oldest sporting competition still running, the Kiplingcotes Derby horse-race, established; it has run annually since without a break.
* 1530s: Origin of real tennis played with Tennis racket, rackets, popularised by Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII.
* 1598: The earliest definite reference to cricket; the sport may arguably be traced further back to 1301 with written evidence of a game known as ''creag'' played by Edward II of England, Prince Edward, son of Edward I of England, Edward I (Longshanks).
* Aunt Sally, early 17th century.
* After 1660: Thoroughbred horseracing developed in 17th- and 18th-century England; royal support from Charles II of England, Charles II, a keen racegoer and owner, made horse-racing popular with the public.
* 1673: Oldest non-equine competition in England, the Scorton Arrow archery tournament, established in Scorton, North Yorkshire, Scorton, Yorkshire.
* 1715: Oldest Rowing (sport), rowing race in the world, Doggett's Coat and Badge established; the race on the River Thames has been held every year since 1715.
* 1744: Earliest description of baseball in ''A Little Pretty Pocket-Book'' by John Newbery (1713–1767); the first ''recorded game'' of "Bass-Ball" took place in 1749 in Surrey. William Bray (antiquary), William Bray (1736–1832) recorded a game of baseball on Easter Monday, 1755 in Guildford, Surrey; the game is considered to have been taken across the Atlantic by English emigrants.
* Early 19th century: Modern field hockey developed in English public schools; the first club was established in 1849 in Blackheath, London.
* 1820s: Ice hockey, a variant of field hockey, invented by British soldiers based in Canada. British soldiers and emigrants to Canada and the United States played their stick-and-ball games on the winter ice and snow; in 1825, John Franklin (1786–1847) wrote during one of his Arctic expeditions: "The game of hockey played on the ice was the morning sport" on Great Bear Lake.
* 1823 or 1824: Invention of Rugby football credited to William Webb Ellis (1806–1872).
* 1850: The format of the modern Olympic Games inspired by William Penny Brookes (1809–1895); see also the Cotswold Olimpick Games.
* c. 1850: A bowling machine for cricket named the Catapulta (a predecessor of the pitching machine) invented by Nicholas Felix, Nicholas "Felix" Wanostrocht (1804–1876).
* 1857: Sheffield F.C. formed by former public school pupils, making it the world's first and oldest Association football club, as acknowledged by The Football Association and FIFA.Encyclopedia of British Football by Richard Cox et al., Routledge, 2002 page 5
* 1867: Coconut shy in Kingston, Surrey.
* 1859–1865: Lawn tennis invented by Harry Gem (1819–1881) and Augurio Perera, a Spanish-born merchant and sportsman based in England.
* 1874–1875: Snooker invented by the British Army in India.
* 1874: Formal codification of the rules of modern Polo established by the Hurlingham Polo Association; polo had been introduced to England in 1834 by the 10th Hussars at Aldershot, Hants, and in 1862 the first polo club, Calcutta Polo Club, was established by two British soldiers, Captain Robert Stewart and (later Major General) Joe Sherer.
* 1880 onwards: Modern rock climbing developed by Walter Parry Haskett Smith (1859–1946), so-called "father of rock climbing".
* 1880s: Table tennis or ''ping-pong'' originated in Victorian era, Victorian England as an indoor version of tennis; it was developed and played by the upper class as an after-dinner parlour game.
* 1888: Tiddlywinks patent application by London bank clerk Joseph Assheton Fincher (1863–1900); tiddlywinks originated as an adult parlour game in Victorian era, Victorian England.
* 1893–1897: Netball developed from early versions of women's basketball at Martina Bergman-Österberg, Madame Österberg's College in England.
* 1895: Rugby league created with the establishment of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby Football Union (NRFU) as a breakaway faction of England's Rugby Football Union (RFU).
* 1896: The dartboard-layout used in the game and professional competitive sport of Darts was devised by Lancashire carpenter Brian Gamlin (c. 1852–1903); Gamlin died before he could patent his idea.
* 1899: Mixed martial arts, Mixed martial art (MMA) Bartitsu invented by Edward William Barton-Wright (1860–1951).
* 1948: The first Paralympic games competition, originally the Stoke Mandeville Games, created in England by German-born (from 1945 naturalised
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...
) British neurologist Ludwig Guttmann (1899–1980).
* 1954: Sir Roger Bannister (1929–2018) ran the first sub-four-minute mile on 6 May 1954.
* 1979: First modern Bungee jumping, bungee jumps made from the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol by members of the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club.
Transport
Aviation
* 1799: Concept of the modern aeroplane as a Fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control set forth by Sir George Cayley (1773–1857); Cayley is one of the most important people in the history of Aeronautics and flight: he is sometimes called the "father of aviation".
* 1804: First glider aircraft, glider to carry a human being aloft designed by Sir George Cayley (1773–1857). Cayley discovered and identified the four aerodynamic forces of flight: weight, Lift (force), lift, Drag (physics), drag, and thrust; Modern aeroplane design is based on those discoveries, along with Camber (aerodynamics), cambered wings which Cayley also discovered.
* 1837: Pioneering contribution to parachute design made by Robert Cocking (1776–1837); aged 61, Cocking was the first person to be killed in a parachuting accident.
* 1844: Hale rockets, an improved version of the Congreve rocket design that introduced thrust vectoring, invented by William Hale (British inventor), William Hale (1797–1870).
* 1848: World's first powered flight (of 30 feet) achieved in Chard, Somerset with the Aerial Steam Carriage by John Stringfellow (1799–1883), 55 years before the Wright brothers; Stringfellow and William Samuel Henson (1812–1888) patented their invention in 1842.
* Late-19th century: The term "airport, air port" first used – to describe the port city Southampton, where some early flying boats landed.
* 1929: Turbojet, Turbojet engine single-handedly invented by Sir Frank Whittle (1907–1996).
* 1949: First commercial jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet, designed, developed and manufactured by de Havilland.
* 1954: First aircraft capable of supercruise, the English Electric Lightning, designed, developed and manufactured by English Electric.
* 1959: Aerospace engineer John Hodge (engineer), John Hodge (1929–2021) migrated to become part of NASA's Space Task Group, which was responsible for America's manned space programme, Project Mercury.
* 1960: VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft (most famously the Harrier jump jet, Harrier) invented by Gordon Lewis (engineer), Gordon Lewis (1924–2010), Ralph Hooper (1926–2022), Stanley Hooker (1907–1984) and Sydney Camm (1893–1966); the project developed on ideas by Frenchman Michel Wibault.
*1965: Concorde The world's first supersonic commercial aircraft (A joint development between British Airways, Air France) invented by James Arnot Hamilton, Sir James Hamilton (1923–2012); the project was manufactured by British Aircraft Corporation, BAC, Sud Aviation. It took Concorde three hours, fifteen minutes to fly from Heathrow Airport, London Heathrow to John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York JFK.
Railways
* 1825: Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world's first operational steam locomotive, steam passenger railway; it was taken over by the North Eastern Railway (United Kingdom), North Eastern Railway in 1863. * 1830: Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first inter-city steam-powered railway; the railway was absorbed by the Grand Junction Railway in 1845. * 1838: Opening of the first stretch of the Great Western Railway, from London Paddington station to (the original) Taplow railway station, Maidenhead station, engineered byIsambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...
(1806–1859).
Locomotives
* 1802: First full-scale railway steam locomotive built by Richard Trevithick (1771–1833). This built on the endeavours of two other Englishmen, engineer Thomas Savery (c.1650–1715), son of Devon, and the first practical steam engine built in 1712 by Londoner Thomas Newcomen
Thomas Newcomen (; February 1664 – 5 August 1729) was an English inventor who created the atmospheric engine, the first practical fuel-burning engine in 1712. He was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling.
He ...
(c.1664–1729). James Watt did not invent the steam engine. Rather Watt, prompted by English backer and manufacturer Matthew Boulton, effected improvements sufficient to make the invention commercial viable.
* 1812: First commercially viable steam locomotive, the twin cylinder ''Salamanca (locomotive), Salamanca'', designed and built by Matthew Murray (1765–1826) of Holbeck.
* 1813: First practical steam locomotive to rely simply on the adhesion of iron wheels on iron rails, ''Puffing Billy (locomotive), Puffing Billy'', built by William Hedley (1779–1843).
* 1814: First successful Flange, flanged-wheel adhesion locomotive, the ''Blücher (locomotive), Blücher'', built by George Stephenson (1781–1848).
* 1824: First steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail-line, the ''Locomotion No. 1'', built by Robert Stephenson (1803–1859), son of George Stephenson.
* 1829: Stephenson's Rocket, Stephenson's ''Rocket'' built by George Stephenson (1781–1848) and his son Robert Stephenson (1803–1859); the ''Rocket'' was not the first steam locomotive, but it was the first to bring together several innovations to produce the most advanced locomotive of its day.
* 1829: The ''Sans Pareil'', a less advanced competitor of Stephenson's Rocket, Stephenson's ''Rocket'', built by Timothy Hackworth (1786–1850).
* 1829: The ''Stourbridge Lion'', first steam locomotive to be operated in the United States, built by Foster, Rastrick and Company of Stourbridge, Worcestershire, now West Midlands; the manufacturing company was headed by James Foster (ironmaster), James Foster (1786–1853) and John Urpeth Rastrick (1780–1856).
* 1835: ''Der Adler'' the first steam locomotive in Germany. Built by George & Robert Stephenson in Newcastle.
* 1923: The ''LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman, Flying Scotsman'' built to a design by Sir Nigel Gresley (1876–1941); the ''Flying Scotsman'' was in 1934 the first steam locomotive to be authenticated at reaching in passenger service.
Other railway developments
* 1842: The Edmondson railway ticket invented by Thomas Edmondson (1792–1851); British Rail used Edmondson tickets until February 1990.
* 1852 onwards: Numerous inventions for railways by John Ramsbottom (engineer), John Ramsbottom (1814–1897), including: the split piston ring (1852), the Ramsbottom safety valve (1855), the Displacement lubricator (1860), and the Track pan, water trough (1860).
* 1863: Opening of the world's oldest underground railway, the London Underground, a.k.a. the Tube; the Tube is the oldest rapid transit system, and it was the first underground railway to operate electric locomotive, electric trains.
* Late 1940s: Maglev, the use of magnetic levitation to move vehicles without touching the ground, invented by Eric Laithwaite
Eric Roberts Laithwaite (14 June 1921 – 27 November 1997) was a British electrical engineer, known as the "Father of Maglev" for his development of the linear induction motor and maglev rail system.
Biography
Eric Roberts Laithwaite wa ...
(1921–1997).
* 1981: The Advanced Passenger Train (APT), an experimental High-speed rail, high-speed train that pioneered tilting train, tilting, introduced by British Rail.
Roads
* 1804: The seat belt invented by Sir George Cayley (1773–1857).
* 1808: Tension-spoke wire wheels invented by Sir George Cayley (1773–1857).
* 1829: First practical steam fire engine invented by John Braithwaite (engineer), John Braithwaite the younger (1797–1880).
* 1834: The Hansom cab, a type of horse-drawn carriage, invented by Joseph Hansom (1803–1882).
* 1868: First traffic lights (manually operated and Gas lighting, gas-lit) installed outside London's Houses of Parliament; invented by J. P. Knight, John Peake Knight (1828–1886).
* c. 1870: "Ariel", a penny-farthing bicycle, developed by James Starley (1831–1881).
* 1876: The legal collection of 70,000 thousands seeds from the rubber bearing tree hevea brasiliensis which led to the discovery of the perfect growing climate and locations for rubber trees by Sir Henry Alexander Wickham. Most commercial rubber plants are descended from the seeds he took to Kew Gardens
* 1884:Thomas Parker claimed to have invented the first electric car.
* 1885: First commercially successful safety bicycle, "the Rover", developed by John Kemp Starley (1855–1901).
* 1901: Tarmacadam, Tarmac patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley (1860–1942).
* c. 1902: The invention of the Bowden cable popularly attributed to Sir Sir Frank Bowden, 1st Baronet, Frank Bowden (1848–1921), founder and owner of the Raleigh Bicycle Company.
* 1910: Opening of the oldest existing driving school and first formal driving tuition provider, the British School of Motoring, in Peckham, London.
* 1922: Horstmann suspension, a coil spring Suspension (vehicle), suspension system commonly used on western tanks, invented by Sidney Horstmann (1881–1962).
* 1926: First automated traffic lights in England deployed in Piccadilly Circus in 1926; outside of London, Wolverhampton was in 1927 the first British town to introduce automated traffic lights.
* 1934: The Cat's eye (road), Cat's eye, a Road safety, safety device used in road marking, invented by Percy Shaw (1890–1976).
* 1934: The Belisha beacon introduced by Leslie Hore-Belisha (1893–1957).
* 1962: First modern Formula One car, the Lotus 25, designed by Colin Chapman (1928–1982) for Team Lotus; the design incorporated the first fully stressed monocoque chassis to appear in automobile racing.
* 1985: The Sinclair C5, a one-person battery electric vehicle, invented by Sir Clive Sinclair (born 1940).
* 1997: World Land Speed Record, 1,228 km/h (763 mph), achieved by ThrustSSC, a jet engine, jet-propelled car designed and built in England. Project director: Richard Noble (born 1946); designed by Ron Ayers (born 1932), Glynne Bowsher and Jeremy Bliss; piloted by Andy Green (RAF officer), Andy Green (born 1962).
Sea
* 1578: The first submersible (a small, submarine-like vehicle) of whose construction there exists reliable information designed by Englishman William Bourne (mathematician), William Bourne (c. 1535–1582) in his book ''Inventions or Devises''; Dutchman Cornelius Drebbel put Bourne's concept into action in 1620.
* 1691: A diving bell capable of allowing its occupier to remain submerged for extended periods of time, and fitted with a window for the purpose of underwater exploration, designed by Edmond Halley, Edmund Halley (1656–1742), best known for computing the orbit of Halley's Comet.
* c. 1730: The Octant (instrument), octant invented by English mathematician John Hadley (1682–1744); American optician Thomas Godfrey (inventor), Thomas Godfrey developed the instrument independently at approximately the same time.
* 1743: The "Whirling Speculum", a device used to locate the horizon in foggy or misty conditions, invented by John Serson (died 1744); Serson's Speculum can be seen as a precursor to the gyroscope.
* 1757: First Reflecting instrument, sextant made by John Bird (astronomer), John Bird (1709–1776), adapting the principle of John Hadley, Hadley's Octant (instrument), octant.
* 1785: The Lifeboat (rescue), lifeboat invented and patented by Lionel Lukin (1742–1834); William Wouldhave (1751–1821) made a rival claim, but he did not succeed with the practical application of his invention until 1789.
* 1799: The Transit (ship), Transit, a type of sailing vessel with a remarkable turn of speed, patented by Richard Hall Gower (1768–1833).
* 1835: The screw propeller invented and patented by Francis Pettit Smith (1808–1874).
* 1843: Launch of the SS Great Britain – the first steam-powered, screw propeller-driven passenger liner with an iron hull; designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...
(1806–1859), it was at the time the largest ship afloat.
* 1876: Plimsoll Line devised by Samuel Plimsoll (1824–1898).
* 1878: First commercially successful closed-circuit Scuba diving, scuba designed and built by Henry Fleuss (1851–1932), a pioneer in the field of diving equipment.
* 1878–1879: Two early Victorian era, Victorian submarines, Resurgam I and Resurgam II, designed and built by George Garrett (inventor), George Garrett (1852–1902).
* 1894: The first steam turbine powered steamship, Turbinia (easily the fastest ship in the world at the time), designed by Anglo-Irish engineer Sir Charles Algernon Parsons
Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, (13 June 1854 – 11 February 1931) was an Anglo-Irish engineer, best known for his invention of the compound steam turbine, and as the eponym of C. A. Parsons and Company. He worked as an engineer on d ...
(1854–1931), and built in Newcastle upon Tyne.
* 1899–1901: Developments on the hydrofoil by shipbuilder John Isaac Thornycroft (1843–1928), from the concept of Italian Enrico Forlanini.
* 1912: World's first patent for an underwater echo ranging device (sonar) filed a month after the sinking of the ''RMS Titanic, Titanic'' by Lewis Fry Richardson (1881–1953).
* 1915: Research into solving the practical problems of submarine-detection by sonar led by Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937).
* 1955: The hovercraft invented by Sir Christopher Cockerell (1910–1999).
Miscellaneous
* 1286: First recorded use of the Halifax Gibbet, an early guillotine.
* Early 17th century: The closely cut Lawn, "English" lawn created in the Jacobean era, Jacobean epoch of History of gardening, gardening, as the garden and the lawn became places created first as walkways and social areas. The English lawn became a symbol of status of the aristocracy and gentry; it showed that the owner could afford to keep land that was not being used for a building or for food production.
* 1668: Earliest concept of a metric system proposed by John Wilkins (1614–1672) in ''An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language''.
* 1706: World's first life insurance company, the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, Amicable Society, founded by William Talbot (bishop), William Talbot (1658–1730) and Sir Allen baronets, Thomas Allen, 2nd Baronet (c. 1648–1730).
* 1719: Oldest music-based arts festival, festival, the Three Choirs Festival, established.
* 1725: The modern History of the kilt, kilt, associated since the 19th century with Scottish culture, arguably invented by English Quakers, Quaker Thomas Rawlinson (industrialist), Thomas Rawlinson (dates not known).
* c. 1760: The jigsaw puzzle invented and commercialised by cartographer John Spilsbury (cartographer), John Spilsbury (1739–1769).
* 1767: The Carbonation, carbonated soft drink invented by Joseph Priestley (1733–1804).
* 1768–1770: The modern circus invented by Philip Astley (1742–1814) in Astley's Amphitheatre on Westminster Bridge Road in Lambeth.
* c. 1770–1780: The lorgnette (a pair of Glasses, spectacles with a handle, used to hold them in place) invented by George Adams (scientist, died 1773), George Adams the elder (c. 1709–1773) and subsequently illustrated in a work by his son George Adams (scientist, died 1795), George Adams the younger, ''An Essay on Vision, briefly explaining the fabric of the eye'' (1789).
* 1772: Oldest arts festival established in Norwich 1772.
* 1787: First glee club founded in Harrow School.
* 1797: The top hat arguably invented by English haberdasher John Hetherington (dates not known).
* 1798: Consequences of population growth identified by Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834) in ''An Essay on the Principle of Population''.
* 1798: Oldest police force in continuous operation, the Marine Police Force, formed by English seafarer John Harriott (sailor), John Harriott (1745–1817) and Scot Patrick Colquhoun; it merged with the nascentMetropolitan Police Service in 1839.
* 18th century – 19th century: The history of comics developed with innovations by William Hogarth (1697–1764), James Gillray (1756/57–1815), George Cruikshank (1792–1878) and others. The Glasgow Looking Glass (1826), arguably the first comic strip. William Heath was its principal strip illustrator.
* 1811: The graphic telescope, a camera lucida, drawing aid with the power of a telescope, invented by water-colour painter Cornelius Varley (1781–1873).
* 1821: World's first modern nature reserve established by naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton (1782–1965); Waterton was described by David Attenborough as "one of the first people anywhere to recognise not only that the natural world was of great importance but that it needed protection as humanity made more and more demands on it".
* 1824: Rubber balloon invented by Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
(1791–1867) during experiments with gases.
* 1824: First animal welfare society, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, RSPCA, founded by a group of reformers including William Wilberforce.
* 1826: First effective friction match invented by John Walker (inventor), John Walker (1781–1859).
* 1829: Metropolitan Police Force founded by Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel; by 1857 all cities in the UK were obliged to form their own police forces.
* 1837 Egg-free custard by Alfred Bird
* 1840: Stamp collecting initiated by zoologist John Edward Gray (1800–1875); on 1 May 1840, the day the Penny Black first went on sale, Gray bought several with the intent to save them.
* 1844: The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers founded in Lancashire. The Rochdale Principles are the foundation for thco-operative principles
on which co-ops around the world operate to this day. * 1844: YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) founded in London by Sir George Williams (YMCA), George Williams (1821–1905), with the aim of putting Christian values into practice. * 1846: The Christmas cracker invented by London confectioner Thomas J. Smith by wrapping a bon-bon in a twist of coloured paper, adding a love note, a paper hat and a banger mechanism. This new idea took off and the bon-bon was eventually replaced by a small toy or novelty. * 1849: Bowler hat designed by London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler. * 1851: Prime meridian established at Greenwich by Sir George Biddell Airy (1801–1892), Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881; Airy's line, the fourth Prime meridian (Greenwich), Greenwich Meridian, became the definitive, internationally recognised line in 1884.
* 1851: Revolutionary Modular design, modular, Prefabrication, prefabricated design, and use of Architectural glass, glass utilised in the building of the Crystal Palace of the Great Exhibition by Joseph Paxton (1803–1865); after the exhibition, the Crystal Palace was moved to Sydenham, London, Sydenham where it was destroyed in a fire in 1936.
* 1851: Steel-ribbed umbrella developed by Samuel Fox (industrialist), Samuel Fox (1815–1887).
* 1860: Linoleum invented by Frederick Walton (1834–1928).
* 1865: The Salvation Army, a Christian denomination, Christian denominational church and international charitable organization, charitable organisation, founded by Methodist minister (Christianity), minister William Booth (1829–1912).
* 1866: The introduction, planting, cultivation and manufacturing of Ceylon tea in the British Crown colony of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said of the planting efforts "the tea fields of Ceylon were as true a monument to courage as the lions of Waterloo" and called it "one of the greatest commercial victories which pluck and ingenuity ever won."
* 1868: Erection of first mounted dinosaur skeleton, Hadrosaurus Foulkii and introduction of the universal standard for all future dinosaur displays by English artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins in concert with Dr Joseph Leidy and Edward Drinker Cope. Displayed at The Academy of Natural Sciences
* 1870s: One precursor (among others) of the modern gas mask constructed by physicist John Tyndall (1820–1893).
* 1897: Plasticine invented by art teacher William Harbutt (1844–1921).
* 1901: Scale model, Model construction system Meccano invented by Frank Hornby (1863–1936).
* 1902: First large-scale programme of international scholarships, the Rhodes Scholarship, created by Cecil John Rhodes (1853–1902).
* 1907: The Scouting, scout movement created by Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Lord Baden-Powell (1857–1941), on finding that his 1899 Military education and training, military training manual ''Aids to Scouting'' was being used by teachers and youth organisations.
*1908: The reserve forest which would become the Kaziranga National Park founded by George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Lord Curzon of Kedleston to protect the dwindling species of rhinoceros.
* 1913: The crossword puzzle invented by Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
-born Arthur Wynne (1871–1945).
* 1922: Discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter, funded by Lord Carnarvon.
* 1933: Bayko – a plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
building model construction toy, and one of the earliest plastic toys to be marketed – invented by Charles Plimpton (1893–1948).
* 1946: Construction set, Toy building bricks invented and patented (under the name "Kiddicraft") by Hilary (Harry) Fisher Page (1904–1957); The Lego Group acquired Page's patent in 1981.
* 1949: Oldest literary festival, the Cheltenham Literature Festival, established.
* 1965: Geometric drawing toy Spirograph developed by Denys Fisher (1918–2002).
See also
* List of British innovations and discoveries * List of Welsh inventors * List of Scottish inventions and discoveries * Timeline of Irish inventions and discoveries * Science in Medieval Western EuropeReferences
{{DEFAULTSORT:English Inventions And Discoveries British technology-related lists, English inventions English inventions, * English history-related lists, Inventions and discoveries Lists of inventions or discoveries