Rectangulus. The rectangulus was an astronomical instrument made by Richard of Wallingford around 1326. Dissatisfied with the limitations of existing astrolabes, Richard developed the rectangulus as an instrument for spherical trigonometry and to measure the angles between planets and other astronomical bodies
Stocking frame The mechanical stocking frame knitting machine was invented by John Lee, an English inventor. Its principle of operation remains in use today.[4]
TheWatt steam engine was conceived in 1765.James Watt transformed thesteam engine from a reciprocating motion that was used for pumping to a rotating motion suited to industrial applications. Watt and others significantly improved the efficiency of the steam engine.
1701
An improvedseed drill is designed byJethro Tull.[13] It is used to spread seeds around a field with a rotating handle which makes seed planting a lot easier.
The earliest known reference tobaseball is made in a publication,A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, byJohn Newbery. It contains a rhymed description of "base-ball" and awoodcut that shows a field set-up somewhat similar to the modern game—though in a triangular rather than diamond configuration, and with posts instead of ground-level bases.[17]
1753
Invention of hollow-pipedrainage is credited to Sir Hugh Dalrymple who died in 1753.[18]
TheWatt steam engine, conceived in 1765, goes into production. It is the first type of steam engine to make use of steam at a pressure just above atmospheric.
SirHumphry Davy creates the firstincandescent light by passing a current from a battery, at the time the world's most powerful, through a thin strip ofplatinum.
SS Great Britain, the world's first steam-powered, screw propeller-driven passenger liner with an iron hull is launched. Designed byIsambard Kingdom Brunel, it was at the time the largest ship afloat.
A design for a chemical telegraph is patented byAlexander Bain. Bain's telegraph is installed on the wires of the Electric Telegraph Company on one line. Later, in 1850, it was used in America byHenry O'Reilly.[42]
1847
Boolean algebra, the basis for digital logic, is introduced byGeorge Boole in his bookThe Mathematical Analysis of Logic.[43]
The firstsafety bicycle is designed by the English engineerHarry John Lawson (also called Henry). Unlike thepenny-farthing, the rider's feet were within reach of the ground, making it safer to stop.
The first commercially successful safety bicycle, called theRover, is designed byJohn Kemp Starley. The following yearDan Albone produces a derivative of this called theIvel Safety cycle.
1886
Walter Parry Haskett Smith, often called theFather of Rock Climbing in Britain, completes his first ascent of theNapes Needle, solo and without any protective equipment.
The first wireless signal across the Atlantic is sent from Cornwall in England and received in Newfoundland in Canada (a distance of 2,100 miles) by Italian scientistGuglielmo Marconi.[57]
Frank Barnwell establishes the fundamentals ofaircraft design at the University of Glasgow,[61] having made the first powered flight in Scotland the previous year.
1916
The first use in battle of the militarytank (although the tank was also developed independently elsewhere).
1918
TheRoyal Air Force becomes the first independent air force in the world.[62]
The introduction ofHMS Argus the first example of the standard pattern of aircraft carrier, with a full-length flight deck that allowed wheeled aircraft to take off and land.
1922
InSorbonne, France, Englishman Edwin Belin demonstrates a mechanical scanning device, an early precursor to moderntelevision.
The concept ofmicroprogramming is developed byMaurice Wilkes from the realisation that the CPU of a computer could be controlled by a miniature, highly specialised computer program in high-speedROM.
LEO is the first business application (a payroll system) on an electronic computer.
The first accurate atomic clock, a caesium standard based on a certain transition of the caesium-133 atom, is built byLouis Essen at the National Physical Laboratory. This clock enabled further development of general relativity, and started a basis for an enhanced SI unit system.[70]
Clifford Cocks develops the algorithm for theRSA cipher while working at theGovernment Communications Headquarters, approximately three years before it was independently developed by Rivest, Shamir and Adleman atMIT. The British government declassified the 1973 invention in 1997.[78]
Steptoe and Edwards successfully carried out a pioneering conception which resulted in the birth of the world's first baby to be conceived byIVF,Louise Brown on 25 July 1978, inOldham General Hospital, Greater Manchester, UK.[80][81][82]
1979
Thetree shelter is invented by Graham Tuley to protect tree seedlings.[83]
SirTim Berners-Lee writes a proposal for what will become theWorld Wide Web. The following year, he specified HTML, the hypertext language, and HTTP, the protocol.[84]
Beagle 2, a British landing spacecraft that forms part of theEuropean Space Agency's 2003Mars Express mission lands on the surface of Mars but fails to communicate. It is located twelve years later in a series of images fromNASA'sMars Reconnaissance Orbiter that suggest two of Beagle's four solar panels failed to deploy, blocking the spacecraft's communications antenna.
The design for a machine to lay rail track, the "Trac Rail Transposer", is patented and goes on to be used byNetwork Rail in the United Kingdom and theNew York City Subway in the United States.[91][92][93]
2010
Ambulight PDT, a light-emitting plaster, or "sticker," designed for photodynamic therapy to treat non-melanoma skin cancers
2012
Raspberry Pi, a single-board computer, is launched and quickly becomes popular for education in programming and computer science.[94]
2014
TheEuropean Space Agency'sPhilae lander leaves theRosetta spacecraft and makes the first ever landing on a comet. The Philae lander was built with significant British expertise and technology, alongside that of several other countries.[95][96]
2016
SABRE or Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine is an example of a Rocket-Jet hybrid hypersonic air-breathing rocket engine.
Ferranti Mark 1 – Also known as the Manchester Electronic Computer was the first computer to use the principles of early CPU design –Freddie Williams andTom Kilburn – Also the world's first successful commercially available general-purpose electronic computer.
The world's firstoil refinery and a process of extracting paraffin from coal laying the foundations for the modern oil industry –James Young (1811–1883)[128]
Smallpox vaccine –Edward Jenner with his discovery is said to have "saved more lives (...) than were lost in all the wars of mankind since the beginning of recorded history."[158][159]
Isolation offibrinogen ("coagulable lymph"), investigation of the structure of the lymphatic system and description of red blood cells by the surgeonWilliam Hewson
Ambulight PDT: light-emitting sticking plaster used in photodynamic therapy (PDT) for treating non-melanoma skin cancer. Developed by Ambicare Dundee's Ninewells Hospital and St Andrews University. (2010)[180]
Primary creator of the artificial kidney (Professor Kenneth Lowe – later Queen's physician in Scotland)[181]
Atomic theory – Considered the father of modern chemistry,John Dalton's experiments with gases led to the development of what is called the modern atomic theory.[12][201]
Cell biology – Credit for the discovery of the first cells is given toRobert Hooke who described the microscopic compartments of cork cells in 1665[201]
Stephen Hawking – World-renowned theoretical physicist made many important contributions to the fields ofcosmology andquantum gravity, especially in the context of black holes
Thoroughbred Horseracing – Was first developed in 17th and 18th century England
Polo – its roots began in Persia as a training game for cavalry units, the formal codification of the rules of modern Polo as a sport were established in 19th century England
Aeronautics and flight. As a pioneer ofglider development & first well-documented human flight he discovered and identified the four aerodynamic forces of flight –weight,lift,drag, andthrust. Modern aeroplane design is based on those discoveries includingcambered wings. He is sometimes called the "Father ofaviation" –George Cayley[252]
Steam-powered flight with theAerial Steam Carriage –John Stringfellow – The world's first powered flight took place at Chard in Somerset 55 years before the Wright brothers attempt at Kitty Hawk[253]
World's first underground railway and the firstrapid transit system. It was also the first underground railway to operate electric trains –London Underground
Lotus 25: considered the first modern F1 race car, designed for the 1962Formula One season; a revolutionary design, the first fully stressedmonocoque chassis to appear in Formula One –Colin Chapman,Team Lotus
Hydrophone – Before the invention ofSonar convoy escort ships used them to detect U-boats, greatly lessening the effectiveness of thesubmarine – Research headed byErnest Rutherford
Transplant rejection: Professor Thomas Gibson (1940s) the first medical doctor to understand the relationship between donor graft tissue and host tissue rejection and tissue transplantation by his work on aviation burns victims duringWorld War II.[270]
Metaflex fabric innovations thereof –University of St. Andrews (2010) application of the first manufacturing fabrics that manipulate light in bending it around a subject. Before this such light manipulating atoms were fixed on flat hard surfaces. The team at St Andrews are the first to develop the concept to fabric.[283]
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^"1978: First 'test tube baby' born".BBC. 25 July 1978. Retrieved13 June 2009.The birth of the world's first "test tube baby" has been announced in Manchester (England). Louise Brown was born shortly before midnight in Oldham and District General Hospital
^Moreton, Cole (14 January 2007)."World's first test-tube baby Louise Brown has a child of her own".The Independent. London. Retrieved5 May 2010.The 28-year-old, whose pioneering conception by in-vitro fertilisation made her famous around the world.. The fertility specialistsPatrick Steptoe andBob Edwards became the first to successfully carry out IVF by extracting an egg, impregnating it with sperm and planting the resulting embryo back into the mother
^Schulman, Joseph D. (2010)Robert G. Edwards – A Personal Viewpoint, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,ISBN1456320750.
^abcdefghHall, Carl (2008).A Biographical Dictionary of People in Engineering: From the Earliest Records to 2000. Purdue University Press.ISBN978-1-55753-459-0.
^Military communications: from ancient times to the 21st century By Christopher H. Sterling
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^Cunningham, Glenn (1953). "Oregon's First Salmon Canner, "Captain" John West".Oregon Historical Quarterly.54 (3):240–248.JSTOR20612107.
^The Picture History of Great Inventors By Gillian Clements
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^Wonders of the nineteenth century: a panoramic review of the inventions and discoveries of the past hundred years John Wesley Hanson W. B. Conkey, 1900
^Pen Portraits: Alexandria Virginia 1739–1900 By T. Michael Miller
^The lancet London: a journal of British and foreign medicine, surgery, obstetrics, physiology, chemistry, pharmacology, public health and news Elsevier, 1870
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^Androutsos, G (2006). "The outstanding British surgeon Percivall Pott (1714–1789) and the first description of an occupational cancer".J BUON.11 (4):533–9.PMID17309190.
^Morris Fishbein, M.D., ed (1976). "Anesthesia". The New Illustrated Medical and Health Encyclopedia. 1 (Home Library Edition ed.). New York, N.Y. 10016: H. S. Stuttman Co. pp. 89
^"Dr James Parkinson". Parkinson's Disease Society of the United Kingdom. Retrieved2010-12-06.
^Crofton and Douglas's respiratory diseases, Volume 1 By Anthony Seaton, Douglas Seaton, Andrew Gordon Leitch, Sir John Crofton
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^McKernan, Luke (2018).Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897–1925. University of Exeter Press.ISBN978-0859892964.
^Encyclopaedic visions: scientific dictionaries and enlightenment culture By Natasha J. Yeo
^The Early history of surgery William John Bishop – 1995
^abcWindelspecht, Michael (2003).Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the 19th Century. Greenwood Press.ISBN978-0-313-31969-3.
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^abMurray (2009-10-13).Human accomplishment : the pursuit of excellence in the arts and sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950 (1st ed.). HarperCollins e-books. p. 172.ISBN9780061745676.
^abMurray (2009-10-13).Human accomplishment : the pursuit of excellence in the arts and sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950 (1st ed.). HarperCollins e-books. p. 173.ISBN9780061745676.
^Murray (2009-10-13).Human accomplishment : the pursuit of excellence in the arts and sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950 (1st ed.). HarperCollins e-books. p. 174.ISBN9780061745676.
^Quinn, Terry (2012).From artefacts to atoms : the BIPM and the search for ultimate measurement standards.Oxford University Press. p. xxvii.ISBN978-0-19-530786-3.OCLC705716998.he [Wilkins] proposed essentially what became ... the French decimal metric system
