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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 brought into existence in England , by non-English people working in the country. Often, things which are discovered for the first time, are also called "inventions", and in many cases, there is no clear line between the two.

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

Contents 1 Agriculture 2 Astronomy 3 Chemistry 4 Communications 5 Computing 6 Clock making 7 Clothing manufacturing 8 Cryptography 9 Engineering 10 Food 11 Household appliances 12 Industrial processes 13 Medical 14 Military 15 Mining 16 Musical instruments 17 Photography 18 Science 19 Transport 19.1 Railways 19.1.1 Locomotives 19.1.2 Other railway developments 19.2 Roads 19.3 Sea 19.4 Air 20 Miscellaneous 21 References 22 See also

[edit] Agriculture

• Seed drill - Jethro Tull <ref>Tiscali encyclopaedia: Seed drill.</ref>

[edit] Astronomy

• Discovery of the planet Uranus<ref>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</ref> and the moons Titania, Oberon, Enceladus, Mimas <ref>Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers.</ref> by Sir William Herschel

[edit] Chemistry

• Marsh test for Arsenic - James Marsh
• Dalton's law and Law of multiple proportions - John Dalton

[edit] Communications

• Clockwork radio <ref>About TREVOR BAYLIS the inventor of the windup technology.</ref> - Trevor Baylis

[edit] Computing

• Analytical engine <ref name="Babbage"> From the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 70, 517-526, 645 (Errata) (1910) By Major-General H. P. Babbage.</ref> - Sir Charles Babbage
• ACE and Pilot ACE <ref name="Turing"> Turing biography. </ref> - Alan Turing
• Bombe <ref name="Turing"> </ref> - Alan Turing
• Colossus computer <ref> Annals of the History of Computing, Volume 5, Number 3, July 1983 . p239, The Design of Colossus, THOMAS H. FLOWERS.</ref> - Tommy Flowers
• Difference engine <ref name="Babbage"> </ref> - Sir Charles Babbage
• World Wide Web <ref> Frequently asked questions by the Press - Tim BL.</ref> - Sir Tim Berners-Lee
• ZX Spectrum <ref> History of Home and Game Computers: the good, old 'speccy'.</ref> - Sir Clive Sinclair

[edit] Clock making

• Anchor escapement <ref>The Origin and Evolution of the Anchor Clock Escapement.</ref> - Robert Hooke
• Balance spring <ref>A. R. Hall, "Horology and criticism: Robert Hooke", Studia Copernicana, XVI, Ossolineum, 1978, 261-81</ref> - 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)<ref>Longitude clock comes alive (11 March, 2002).</ref> - John Harrison

[edit] Clothing manufacturing

• Derby Rib (stocking manufacture) - Jedediah Strutt
• Flying shuttle - John Kay
• Mauveine, the first synthetic organic dye - William Perkin
• Power loom - Edmund Cartwright
• Spinning frame - John Kay
• Spinning jenny - James Hargreaves
• Spinning mule - Samuel Crompton

[edit] Cryptography

• Playfair cipher - Charles Wheatstone

[edit] Engineering

• Adjustable spanner - Edwin Beard Budding
• First coke-consuming blast furnace - Abraham Darby I
• First working universal joint - Robert Hooke
• 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

[edit] Food

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

[edit] Household appliances

• Ballbarrow - James Dyson
• Cat flap - Sir Isaac Newton (attributed)
• Collapsible baby buggy - Owen Maclaren
• Dyson DC01 - James Dyson
• Fire extinguisher - George William Manby
• Lawn mower - Edwin Beard Budding
• Rubber band - Stephen Perry
• Light Bulb - Joseph Wilson Swan

[edit] Industrial processes

• 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

[edit] Medical

• Artificial intraocular lens transplant surgery for cataract patients - Harold Ridley
• Colour blindness first described by John Dalton in Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours <ref>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</ref>

[edit] Military

• Congreve rocket - William Congreve
• High explosive squash head - Sir Charles Dennistoun Burney
• Puckle Gun - James Puckle
• Shrapnel shell - Henry Shrapnel

[edit] Mining

• Davy lamp - Humphry Davy
• Geordie lamp - George Stephenson

[edit] Musical instruments

• Concertina - Charles Wheatstone

[edit] Photography

• Ambrotype - Frederick Scott Archer
• Calotype - William Fox Talbot
• Collodion process - Frederick Scott Archer
• Stereoscope - Charles Wheatstone

[edit] Science

• Compound microscope with 30x magnification - Robert Hooke
• Electrical generator (dynamo) - Michael Faraday
• Galvanometer - William Sturgeon
• Infrared radiation - discovery commonly attributed to William Herschel.
• Newtonian telescope - Sir Isaac Newton
• Micrometer - Sir William Gascoigne
  • the first bench micrometer that was capable of measuring to one ten thousandth of an inch - Henry Maudslay
• Sinclair Executive, the world's first small electronic pocket calculator - Sir Clive Sinclair
• Slide rule - William Oughtred <ref>The Oughtred Society: Slide Rule History.</ref>
• Synthesis of coumarin, one of the first synthetic perfumes, and cinnamic acid via the Perkin reaction- William Perkin

The Law of Gravity - Sir Issac Newton

[edit] Transport

[edit] Railways

[edit] Locomotives

• Blucher - George Stephenson
• Puffing Billy -William Hedley
• Locomotion No 1 - Robert Stephenson
• Sans Pareil - Timothy Hackworth
• Stephenson's Rocket - George and Robert Stephenson

9mm gauge railways lines now in universal use - Isambard Kingdom Brunel

[edit] Other railway developments

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

[edit] Roads

• Bowden cable - Frank Bowden
• Cat's eye - Percy Shaw <ref> The day Percy saw the light!.</ref>
• Caterpillar track - Sir George Cayley
• Hansom cab - Joseph Hansom
• Seat belt - George Cayley
• Sinclair C5 - Sir Clive Sinclair
• Tarmac - E. Purnell Hooley

[edit] Sea

• Hovercraft - Christopher Cockerell
• Lifeboat - Lionel Lukin
• Resurgam - George Garrett
• Turbinia, the first steam turbine powered steamship, designed by the Irish engineer Sir Charles Algernon Parsons and built in Newcastle upon Tyne

[edit] Air

• Jet engine - Sir Frank Whittle

[edit] Miscellaneous

• Daylight saving time - William Willett <ref>The Waste of Daylight, 1907.</ref>
• Meccano - Frank Hornby

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Scottish inventions