English inventions and discoveries

English inventions and discoveries are objects, processes or techniques which owe their existence either partially or entirely to a person born in England; in some cases, their Englishness is determined by the fact that they were born in England, of non-English people working in the country. Often, things which are discovered for the first time, are also called "inventions", and in many cases, there is no clear line between the two. However, when taking the inventions of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland into account to form British inventions, it is estimated that between 40 and 50% of all modern inventions were produced by the British.Fact|date=July 2008

The following is a list of inventions or discoveries often held to be in some way English:

Agriculture

*Seed drill - Jethro Tull [cite web
url=http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0006239.html
title=Tiscali encyclopaedia: Seed drill]

Astronomy

*Discovery of the planet Uranus [Account of a Comet, By Mr. Herschel, F. R. S.; Communicated by Dr. Watson, Jun. of Bath, F. R. S., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Volume 71, pp. 492-501] and the moons Titania, Oberon, Enceladus, Mimas [cite web
url=http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/append7.html
title=Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers] by Sir William Herschel
*Bernard Lovell - Important contributions to the development of radio astronomy

Chemistry

*Marsh test for Arsenic - James Marsh
*Dalton's law and Law of multiple proportions - John Dalton
*Discovery of Buckminsterfullerene - Sir Harry Kroto
*First isolation of Sodium - Humphry Davy
*Pioneer in early Solar Power - Weston cell - Edward Weston (chemist)

Communications

*Uniform Penny Post - Rowland Hill et al.
*Clockwork radio [cite web
url=http://windupradio.com/trevor.htm
title= About TREVOR BAYLIS the inventor of the windup technology] - Trevor Baylis
* The World Wide Web - Sir Tim Berners-Lee
* The first Radio transmission using a Spark Transmitter, achieving a range of approximately 500 metres. - David E. Hughes

Computing

*Analytical engine cite web
url=http://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/hpb1910.html
title=From the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 70, 517-526, 645 (Errata) (1910) By Major-General H. P. Babbage] - Sir Charles Babbage
*ACE and Pilot ACE cite web
url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Turing.html
title=Turing biography ] - Alan Turing
*Bombe - Alan Turing
*Colossus computer [ cite web
url=http://www.ivorcatt.com/47c.htm
title=Annals of the History of Computing, Volume 5, Number 3, July 1983 . p239, "The Design of Colossus", THOMAS H. FLOWERS] - Tommy Flowers
*Difference engine - Sir Charles Babbage
*World Wide Web [ cite web
url=http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ
title=Frequently asked questions by the Press - Tim BL] - Sir Tim Berners-Lee
*ZX Spectrum - Sir Clive Sinclair
*Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine - was the world's first stored-program computer. Developed by Frederic Calland Williams & Tom Kilburn

Clock making

*Anchor escapement [cite web
url=http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/3934/anchor.html
title=The Origin and Evolution of the Anchor Clock Escapement] - Robert Hooke
*Balance spring [A. R. Hall, "Horology and criticism: Robert Hooke", Studia Copernicana, XVI, Ossolineum, 1978, 261-81] - Robert Hooke (disputed - possibly invented by Christiaan Huygens of the Netherlands)
*Grasshopper escapement, Gridiron pendulum, H1, H2, H3 and H4 watches (a watch built to solve the longitude measurement problem) [cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1864737.stm
title=Longitude clock comes alive
date=2002-03-11] - John Harrison

Clothing manufacturing

*Derby Rib (stocking manufacture) - Jedediah Strutt
*Flying shuttle - John Kay
*Mauveine, the first synthetic organic dye - William Henry Perkin
*Power loom - Edmund Cartwright
*Spinning frame - John Kay
*Spinning jenny - James Hargreaves
*Spinning mule - Samuel Crompton
* Polyester - John Rex Whinfield
* Sewing Machine - Thomas Saint

Cryptography

*Playfair cipher - Charles Wheatstone

Engineering

*Adjustable spanner - Edwin Beard Budding
* Cavity Magnetron - Dr Harry Boot
* Transistor - William Shockley
*First coke-consuming blast furnace - Abraham Darby I
*First working universal joint - Robert Hooke
*Crookes tube - William Crookes Early Cathode ray tube
*First Compression-Ignition engine aka Diesel Engine - Herbert Akroyd Stuart
*Steam Engine - Thomas Savery
*Newcomen steam engine - Thomas Newcomen
**Modified version of the Newcomen steam engine (Pickard engine) - James Pickard
*Pendulum Governor - Frederick Lanchester
*The first screw-cutting lathe - Henry Maudslay
* Disc Brakes - Frederick Williams
* Internal combustion engine - Samuel Brown
* Integrated circuit (Microchip) - Geoffrey W.A. Dummer
* Jet Engine - Sir Frank Whittle

Food

*Bird's Custard - Alfred Bird
*Sandwich - John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich

Household appliances

*Ballbarrow - James Dyson
*Collapsible baby buggy - Owen Maclaren
*Dyson DC01 - James Dyson
*Fire extinguisher - George William Manby
*Lawn mower - Edwin Beard Budding
*Rubber band - Stephen Perry
*Electric battery - John Frederic Daniell
*Light Bulb - Joseph Wilson Swan
* Tin can - Peter Durand
* Corkscrew - Reverend Samuell Henshall
* Mouse trap - James Henry Atkinson
* Sewing machine - Thomas Saint
* Postage Stamp - Rowland Hill
* Perforated toilet paper - British Perforated Paper Company
* Vacuum cleaner - Hubert Cecil Booth
* Flushing toilet - Thomas Crapper
* Electric Toaster - Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton

Industrial processes

*English crucible steel - Benjamin Huntsman
* Steel production Bessemer process - Henry Bessemer
*Hydraulic press - Joseph Bramah
*Parkesine, the first man-made plastic - Alexander Parkes
*Portland cement - Joseph Aspdin
*Sheffield plate - Thomas Boulsover
*Water frame - Richard Arkwright
*Stainless Steel - Harry Brearley
*Rubber Masticator - Thomas Hancock
*Power Loom - Edmund Cartwright

Medical

* First correct description of circulation of the blood - William Harvey
* Smallpox vaccine - Edward Jenner
* Antisepsis in surgery - Joseph Lister
* Artificial intraocular lens transplant surgery for cataract patients - Harold Ridley
* Clinical thermometer - Thomas Clifford Allbutt. ["1866." The People's Chronology. Ed. Jason M. Everett. Thomson Gale, 2006. eNotes.com. 2006. 13 May, 2007 ]
* Colour blindness first described by John Dalton in "Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours" [Dalton J, 1798 "Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours: with observations" Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester 5 28-45]
* Computed Tomography - Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield
* Viagra - Peter Dunn, Albert Wood, Dr Nicholas Terrett
* EKG (underlying principles) - various
* Vitamins - William Fletcher

Military

*Congreve rocket - William Congreve
*High explosive squash head - Sir Charles Dennistoun Burney
*Puckle Gun - James Puckle
*Shrapnel shell - Henry Shrapnel
*Harrier Jump Jet - unknown
*Tank - unknown
*Dreadnought Battleship
* Bailey Bridge - Donald Bailey

Mining

*Davy lamp - Humphry Davy
*Geordie lamp - George Stephenson

Musical instruments

*Concertina - Charles Wheatstone

Photography

*Ambrotype - Frederick Scott Archer
*Calotype - William Fox Talbot
*Collodion process - Frederick Scott Archer
*Stereoscope - Charles Wheatstone
*Thomas Wedgwood - pioneer of photography, devised the method to copy visible images chemically to permanent media.

cience

* Equals sign Robert Recorde, welshman
*Compound microscope with 30x magnification - Robert Hooke
* Universal Joint - Robert Hooke
* The Iris diaphragm - Robert Hooke
* Anchor escapement and the balance spring, which made more accurate clocks possible - Robert Hooke
* Correct theory of combustion - Robert Hooke
* Arnold Frederic Wilkins - pioneer in the development of Radar
* Barometer, anemometer, and hygrometer (invented or improved) - Robert Hooke
*Hooke's Law (equation describing elasticity) - Robert Hooke
*Electrical generator (dynamo) - Michael Faraday
*Cavity magnetron - Harry Boot critical component for Microwave generation in Microwave ovens and high powered Radios
*Galvanometer - William Sturgeon
*Infrared radiation - discovery commonly attributed to William Herschel.
*Holography - Nicholas J. Phillips made it possible to record multi-color reflection holograms
*Newtonian telescope - Sir Isaac Newton
*Micrometer - Sir William GascoigneFact|date=July 2008
**the first bench micrometer that was capable of measuring to one ten thousandth of an inch - Henry Maudslay
*Sinclair Executive, the world's first small electronic pocket calculator - Sir Clive Sinclair
*Slide rule - William Oughtred [cite web
url=http://www.oughtred.org/history-new.shtml
title=The Oughtred Society: Slide Rule History]
*Synthesis of coumarin, one of the first synthetic perfumes, and cinnamic acid via the Perkin reaction- William Henry Perkin
*The Law of Gravity - Sir Isaac Newton
*Newton's laws of motion - Sir Isaac Newton
*DNA fingerprinting - Sir Alec Jeffreys
* Smallpox Vaccination - Edward Jenner
* Electromagnet - William Sturgeon
* Dew Point Hygrometer - John Frederic Daniell
* Periodic Table - John Alexander Newlands
* Seismograph - John Milne
* Nuclear transfer - Is a form of cloning first put into practice by Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell to clone Dolly the Sheep at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland
* Theory of Evolution - Charles Darwin

Transport

Railways

* First working railway steam locomotive - Richard Trevithick

Locomotives

*"Blücher" - George Stephenson
*"Puffing Billy" -William Hedley
*"Locomotion No 1" - Robert Stephenson
*"Sans Pareil" - Timothy Hackworth
*"Stourbridge Lion" - Foster, Rastrick and Company
*"Stephenson's Rocket" - George and Robert Stephenson

Other railway developments

*Displacement lubricator, Ramsbottom safety valve, the water trough, the split piston ring - John Ramsbottom

Roads

*Bowden cable - Frank Bowden
*Cat's eye - Percy Shaw [ cite web
url=http://www.halifaxtoday.co.uk/mk4custompages/CustomPage.aspx?PageID=39556
title= The day Percy saw the light!]
*Caterpillar track - Sir George Cayley
*Hansom cab - Joseph Hansom
*Seat belt - George Cayley
*Sinclair C5 - Sir Clive Sinclair
*Belisha beacon - Leslie Hore-Belisha
*Penny-farthing - James Starley The first true bicycle

ea

*Plimsol line - Samuel Plimsoll
*Hovercraft - Christopher Cockerell
*Lifeboat - Lionel Lukin
*Resurgam - George Garrett
*Turbinia, the first steam turbine powered steamship, designed by the engineer Sir Charles Algernon Parsons and built in Newcastle upon Tyne
* Submarine - William Bourne
*Diving Equipment/Scuba Gear - Henry Fleuss

Air

*Aeronautics and flight - George Cayley
* Jet Engine - Sir Frank Whittle
* Steam Powered Flight - John Stringfellow- The world's first powered flight took place at Chard in Somerset 55 years before the Wright brothers attempt at Kitty Hawk
* de Havilland Comet was the first commercial jet airliner

port

*Football - Rules as know today were established in 1848 at Cambridge University, and the official oldest club in the world are Sheffield F.C..
*Rugby - William Webb Ellis (questionable)
*Cricket - The world's second-most popular sport can be traced back to the 13th Century
*Tennis - Widely known to have originated in England.
*Badminton - Launched in 1873 at the Badminton House
*Boxing - England played a key role in the evolution of modern boxing
*Darts - is a traditional pub game, the numbering layout was devised by Brian Gamlin

Miscellaneous

*Daylight saving time - William Willett [cite web
url=http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/willett.html
title=The Waste of Daylight, 1907]
*Bayko - Charles Plimpton
*Linoleum - Frederick Walton [ [http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101067799/ Frederick Walton : Oxford Biography Index entry] ]
*Meccano - Frank Hornby
* Crossword puzzle - Arthur Wynne
* Gas Mask - John Tyndall and others
* Steel-ribbed Umbrella - Samuel Fox
* Plastic - Alexander Parkes
* Police - Robert Peel

ee also

*Welsh inventions and discoveries
*Scottish inventions and discoveries
*Northern Irish inventions and discoveries

References

England topics