Английские изобретения и открытия: исторический обзор

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English inventions and discoveries are objects, processes or techniques invented, innovated or discovered, partially or entirely, in England 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.

1748: Fine porcelain developed by Thomas Frye (c. 1710–1762), of Bow porcelain factory, London. Cf. Frye's rivals at Chelsea porcelain factory. 1770s: Jasperware developed by Josiah Wedgwood (1730–1795). 1789–1793: Bone china created by Josiah Spode (1733–1797). 1813: Ironstone china invented by Charles James Mason (1791–1856).

Anglo Saxon times: type of candle clock invented by Alfred the Great (849–899). c. 1657: Anchor escapement probably invented by Robert Hooke (1635–1703). c. 1657: Balance spring added to balance wheel by Robert Hooke (1635–1703). c. 1722: Grasshopper escapement invented by John Harrison (1693–1776); Harrison created the H1, H2, H3 & H4 watches (to solve the longitude measurement problem). c. 1726: Gridiron pendulum invented by John Harrison (1693–1776). 1955: First accurate atomic clock invented by Louis Essen (1908–1997). 1976: Coaxial escapement mechanism invented by George Daniels (1926–2011).

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 of weaving during the early Industrial Revolution, invented by John Kay of Walmersley (1704 c. 1779). 1759: The Derby Rib machine (for stocking manufacture) invented by Jedediah Strutt (1726–1797). 1764: The spinning jenny invented by James Hargreaves (c. 1720–1778). 1767: Spinning frame invented by John Kay of Warrington. 1769: The water frame, a water powered spinning frame, developed by Richard Arkwright (1732–1792). 1775–1779: Spinning mule invented by Samuel Crompton (1753–1827). 1784: Power loom invented by Edmund Cartwright (1743–1823). 1790: Sewing machine invented by Thomas Saint. 1808: The bobbinet, a development on the warp loom, invented by John Heathcoat (1783–1861). 1856: Mauveine, the first synthetic organic dye, discovered by William Henry Perkin (1838–1907). 1941: Polyester invented by John Rex Whinfield (1901–1966).

Pre 1565: The pencil invented in Seathwaite, Borrowdale, Cumbria, using Grey Knotts graphite. 1588: Modern shorthand invented by Timothy Bright (1551?–1615). 1661: The postmark (called the "Bishop Mark") introduced by English Postmaster General Henry Bishop (1611–1691/2). 1667: Tin can telephone, 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 granted to Henry Mill (c. 1683–1771). 18th century: The Valentine's card first popularised. 1822: The mechanical pencil patented by Sampson Mordan (1790–1843) and John Isaac Hawkins (1772–1855). 1831: Electromagnetic induction & Faraday's law of induction. Began as a series of experiments by Michael Faraday (1791–1867); later became some of the first experiments in the discovery of radio waves and the development of radio. 1837: The first commercially successful electric telegraph developed by Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802–1875) and Sir William Fothergill Cooke (1806–1879). 1843: The Christmas card introduced commercially by Sir Henry Cole (1808–1882). 1873: Discovery of the photoconductivity of the element selenium by Willoughby Smith (1828–1891). Smith's work led to the invention of photoelectric cells (solar panels), including those used in the earliest television systems. 1879: The first radio transmission, using a spark gap transmitter (achieving a range of approximately 500 metres), made by David E. Hughes (1831–1900). 1888: The world's first moving picture film produced by Louis Le Prince (1841 – vanished 16 September 1890) of Roundhay Garden, Leeds Bridge. 1897: The world's first radio station was located at The Needles Batteries on the western tip of the Isle of Wight; it was set up by Marconi. 1899: The world's first colour motion picture film produced by Edward Raymond Turner (1873–1903). 1902: Proposition by Oliver Heaviside (1850–1925) of the existence of the Kennelly–Heaviside layer, a layer of ionised gas that reflects radio waves around the Earth's curvature. 1912: Development of radio communication pioneered by William Eccles (1875–1966). 1914: The world's first automatic totalisator invented by English born George Julius (1873–1946). 2 December 1922: Mechanical scanning device (a precursor to modern television) demonstrated in Sorbonne, France by Englishman Edwin Belin. 1930: The Plessey 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 in Hayes, Middlesex by Alan Blumlein (1903–1942). 1933: The 405 line television system (the first fully electronic television system used in regular broadcasting) developed at EMI in Hayes, Middlesex by Alan Blumlein (1903–1942), under the supervision of Sir Isaac Shoenberg. 1936: The world's first regular public broadcasts of high definition television began from Alexandra Palace, North London by the BBC Television Service. 1930s: Radar pioneered at Bawdsey Manor by Scotsman Robert Watson Watt (1892–1973) and Englishman Henry Tizard (1885–1939). 1945: The concept of geostationary satellites for the use of telecommunications relays popularised by Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008). 1964 onwards: Use of fibre optics in telecommunications pioneered by Englishman George Hockham (1938–2013) and Chinese born Charles K. Kao. Late 1960s: Development of the long lasting materials that made liquid crystal displays possible. Team headed by Sir Brynmor Jones; developed by Scotsman George Gray and Englishman Ken Harrison in conjunction with the Royal Radar Establishment and the University of Hull, who ultimately discovered the crystals used in LCDs. 1970: The MTV 1, the first near pocket sized handheld television, developed by Sir Clive Sinclair (1940–2021). 1973: First transmissions of the Teletext information service made by the British Broadcasting Corporation. 1992: Clockwork radio invented by Trevor Baylis (1937–2018). 3 December 1992: The world's first text/SMS message ("Merry Christmas") sent over the Vodafone GSM network by Neil Papworth (born 1969). 2016: Holographic TV device created by the BBC.

1822: The Difference Engine, an automatic mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial functions, proposed by Charles Babbage (1791–1871). 1837: The Analytical Engine, a proposed mechanical general purpose computer, designed by Charles Babbage (1791–1871). 1842: First programming language, the Analytical Engine order code, produced by Charles Babbage (1791–1871) and Ada Lovelace (1815–1852). 1854: Boolean algebra, the basis for digital logic, conceived by George Boole (1815–1864). 1912: Argo system, the world's first electrically powered mechanical analogue computer, invented by Arthur Pollen (1866–1937). 1918: The flip flop circuit, which became the basis of electronic memory (Random access memory) in computers, invented by William Eccles (1875–1966) and F. W. Jordan (1882–?). 1936–1937: The Universal Turing machine invented by Alan Turing (1912–1954). 1943–1944: The Colossus computer – the world's first programmable, electronic, digital computer – invented by Tommy Flowers (1905–1988). 1946–1950: ACE and Pilot ACE invented by Alan Turing (1912–1954). 1949: The Manchester Mark 1 computer developed by Frederic Calland Williams (1911–1977) and Tom Kilburn (1921–2001); historically significant because of its pioneering inclusion of index registers. 1949: EDSAC – the first complete, fully functional computer inspired by the von Neumann architecture, 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 (1909–2002). February 1951: The Ferranti Mark 1 (a. k. a. the Manchester Electronic Computer), the world's first successful commercially available general purpose electronic computer, invented by Frederic Calland Williams (1911–1977) and Tom Kilburn (1921–2001). 1951: The first known recordings of computer generated music played on the Ferranti Mark 1 computer using a programme designed by Christopher Strachey (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 (1919–1997) and David Caminer (1915–2008). 1951: Concept of microprogramming developed by Maurice Wilkes (1913–2010) from the realisation that the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of a computer could be controlled by a miniature, highly specialised computer programme in high speed ROM. 1952: Autocode developed by Alick Glennie (1925–2003) for the Manchester Mark 1 computer; Autocode is regarded as the first computer compiler. 1952: The first graphical computer game, OXO or Noughts and Crosses, programmed on the EDSAC at Cambridge University as part of a Ph. D. thesis by A. S. Douglas (1921–2010). 1952: First trackball built by Tom Cranston, Fred Longstaff and Kenyon Taylor (1908–1996); invented 1947 by Ralph Benjamin. 1956 onwards: Metrovick 950, the first commercial transistor computer, built by the Metropolitan Vickers Company of Manchester. 1958: EDSAC 2, the first computer to have a microprogrammed (Microcode) control unit and a bit slice 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 Company of Uxbridge. 1962: The Atlas computer – arguably the world's first supercomputer, and fastest computer in the world until the American CDC 6600 – developed by a team headed by Tom Kilburn (1921–2001). Introduced modern architectural concepts: spooling, interrupts, instruction pipelining, interleaved memory, virtual memory, and paging. Late 1960s: Denotational semantics originated in the work of Christopher Strachey (1916–1975), a pioneer in programming language design. 1970: Packet switching co invented by Welsh engineer Donald Davies (1924–2000) and Polish born Paul Baran; it was Davies who coined the term packet switching at the National Physical Laboratory in London. 1972: The Sinclair Executive, the world's first small electronic pocket calculator, produced by Sir Clive Sinclair (1940–2021). 1979: The first laptop computer, the GRiD Compass, designed by Bill Moggridge (1943–2012). 1979: Digital audio player (MP3 Player) invented by Kane Kramer (born 1956). His first investor was Sir Paul McCartney. 1980–1982: Home computers the Sinclair ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum produced by Sir Clive Sinclair (1940–2021). 1981: The Osborne 1 – the first commercially successful portable computer, precursor to the laptop computer – developed by English American Adam Osborne (1939–2003). 1982: 3D Monster Maze, widely considered the first survival horror computer game, developed from an idea by J. K. Greye and programmed by Malcolm Evans (b. 1944). 1984: The world's first pocket computer, the (Psion Organiser), launched by London based Psion PLC. 1984: Elite, the world's first computer game with 3D graphics, developed by David Braben (born 1964) and Ian Bell (born 1962). 1985: ARM architecture introduced by Cambridge computer manufacturer Acorn Computers; the ARM CPU design is the microprocessor architecture of 98% of mobile phones and every smartphone. 1989: World Wide Web invented by Sir Tim Berners Lee (born 1955). 1989: HTTP application protocol and HTML markup language developed by Sir Tim Berners Lee (born 1955). 1989: Launch of the first PC compatible palmtop computer, the (Atari Portfolio), designed by Ian H. S. Cullimore. 1989: First touchpad pointing device developed for London based Psion PLC's Psion MC 200/400/600/WORD Series. 1990: The world's first web browser invented by Sir Tim Berners Lee (born 1955). Initially called WorldWideWeb, it ran on the NeXTSTEP platform, and was renamed Nexus in order to avoid confusion with the World Wide Web. 1990: The world's first web server invented by Sir Tim Berners Lee. Initially called WWWDaemon, it ran on the NeXTSTEP platform and was publicly released in 1991; later it evolved and 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 proposed by London born Stephen Wolfram (born 1959). 2012: Launch of the Raspberry Pi, a modern single board computer for education, designed and built by Cambridgeshire based charity Raspberry Pi Foundation.

1836: Marsh test (used for detecting arsenic poisoning) invented by James Marsh (1794–1846). 1888–1895: Fingerprint classification method developed by Sir Francis Galton (1822–1911); a breakthrough in forensic science. 1910: First use of wireless telegraphy in the arrest of a criminal, Dr Crippen. 1984: DNA fingerprints are discovered by Alec Jeffreys (born 1950). 1987: Process of DNA profiling developed by Alec Jeffreys (born 1950). 1941: Codebreaker Bill Tutte (1917–2002) developed the Cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher, which Hitler used to communicate with his generals in World War II. 1973: Clifford Cocks (born 1950) first developed what came to be known as the RSA cipher at GCHQ, approximately three years before it was rediscovered by Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman at MIT.

1600: The first electrical measuring instrument, the electroscope, invented by William Gilbert (1544–1603). 1676–1678: First working universal joint devised by Robert Hooke (1635–1703). 1698: First working steam pump invented by Thomas Savery (c. 1650–1715). 1709: First coke consuming blast furnace developed by Abraham Darby I (1678–1717). 1739: Screw cutting lathe invented by Henry Hindley (1701–1771). 1780: Modified version of the Newcomen engine (the Pickard engine) developed by James Pickard (dates unknown). 1781: The Iron Bridge, the first metal bridge, cast and built by Abraham Darby III (1750–1789). 1831: First electrical generator (or dynamo), the Faraday disk, invented by Michael Faraday. 1840s: The linear motor, a multi phase alternating current (AC) electric motor, proposed by Charles Wheatstone (1802–1875); 1940s: developed by Eric Laithwaite (1921–1997). 1868: First commercial steel alloy produced by Robert Forester Mushet (1811–1891). 1869–1875: Crookes tube, the first cathode ray tube, invented by William Crookes (1832–1919). 1880–1883: The Wimshurst machine, an Electrostatic generator for producing high voltages, developed by James Wimshurst (1832–1903). 1884: Steam turbine invented by Charles Algernon Parsons (1854–1913). Late 1940s/early 1950s: The microchip invented by Geoffrey W. A. Dummer (1909–2002). 1963: High strength carbon fibre invented at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in 1963. January 1969: Carr Reinforcements (Stockport, England) wove the first carbon fibre fabric in the world. 2007: The RepRap Project, the first self replicating 3D Printer, developed at the University of Bath.

1740: English crucible steel developed by Benjamin Huntsman (1704–1776). 1743: Sheffield plate, a layered combination of silver and copper, invented by Thomas Boulsover (1705–1788). 1746: The lead chamber process, for producing sulfuric acid in large quantities, invented by John Roebuck (1718–1794). c. 1760 c. 1840: Pioneers of the Industrial Revolution – Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859); Abraham Darby I (1678–1717); Abraham Darby II (1711–1763); Abraham Darby III (1750–1789); Robert Forester Mushet (1811–1891). 1769: The water frame, a water powered spinning frame, invented by Richard Arkwright (1732–1792). c. 1770: Coade stone, a high quality stoneware, created by Eleanor Coade (1733–1821). 1784–1789: Power loom developed by Edmund Cartwright (1743–1823). 1795: Hydraulic press invented by Joseph Bramah (1748–1814). 1820: The Rubber Masticator, a machine for recycling rubber, invented by Thomas Hancock (1786–1865). 1824: Portland cement patented by Joseph Aspdin (1778–1855). 1840: Electroplating process patented by George Elkington (1801–1865). 1843: Vulcanisation of rubber, a process for making natural rubber more durable, patented by Thomas Hancock (1786–1865). 1850: The Parkes process, for removing silver from lead during the production of bullion, invented by Alexander Parkes (1813–1890). 1850–1855: Steel production Bessemer process developed by Henry Bessemer (1813–1898). 1862: First man made plastic – Nitrocellulose, branded Parkesine – invented by Alexander Parkes (1813–1890). 1912: Stainless steel invented by Harry Brearley (1871–1948). 1933: First industrially practical polythene 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 (1920–1995). 1950s: The Wilson Yarn Clearer developed by inventor Peter Wilson (dates not known). 2001: Self cleaning glass is developed by Pilkington.

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 (1772–1828). 1830s: The safety fuse invented by 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 (1803–1887). 1854–1857: The Armstrong Gun, a uniquely designed field and heavy gun, developed by Sir 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) British subject. The Maxim gun was financed by Albert Vickers of Vickers Limited and produced in Hatton Garden, London. 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 "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 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. 1916: The Livens Projector, a weapon, created by William Howard Livens (1889–1964). 1917: Dazzle camouflage created by 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, pre fabricated, truss bridge – invented by 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 steam catapult, a device used to launch aircraft from aircraft carriers, developed by Commander Colin C. Mitchell RNR. 1960s: Chobham armour, a type of vehicle armour, developed by a team headed by Gilbert Harvey of the 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's SAS.

Approx. 1780 BCE. The first modern Shovel found in Cheshire dated to 1780 BCE found in the Alderley Edge Mines. 1712: The Newcomen Engine invented by Thomas Newcomen (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 (1778–1829). 1815: The Geordie lamp, a safety lamp, invented by George Stephenson (1781–1848).

1695: Northumbrian smallpipes (a. k. a. Northumbrian pipes) associated with Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. 1711: The Tuning fork invented by 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 (1775–1810). 1829: The concertina invented by Charles Wheatstone (1802–1875).

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. 1660: Hooke's Law (equation describing elasticity) proposed by Robert Hooke (1635–1703). 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 first proven in the "Daventry experiment" by Englishman Arnold Frederic Wilkins (1907–1985) and Scot Robert Watson Watt. 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 field, proposed by Peter Higgs (born 1929) and others to explain why fundamental particles (which are theoretically weightless) might have acquired mass after their formation in the Big Bang. 1974: Hawking radiation predicted by Stephen Hawking (1942–2018).

Anglo Saxon times: Anglo Saxon goldsmiths used a process similar to 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). 1807: Sodium isolated by Sir Humphry Davy (1778–1829). 1807: Potassium isolated by Sir Humphry Davy (1778–1829). 1808: Strontium isolated by Sir Humphry Davy (1778–1829). 1861: Thallium discovered by William Crookes (1832–1919). 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 (1838–1907). 1893: The Weston cell developed by England born 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 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 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). 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 hydrogen–oxygen fuel cell developed by Francis Thomas Bacon (1904–1992). 1962: First noble gas compound, xenon hexafluoroplatinate, prepared by Neil Bartlett (1932–2008). 1985: Buckminsterfullerene discovered by Sir Harry Kroto (1939–2016).

1665: Cell biology originated by Robert Hooke (1635–1703), who discovered the first 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 Watson. Crick was a pioneer in the field of molecular biology. 1958: the first cloning of an animal, a frog using intact 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 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 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 (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 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.

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 Principia Mathematica. 1763 onwards: Key contributions made to the development of statistics by: Thomas Bayes (c. 1701–1761) (Bayes' theorem); Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) (statistical graphics); Francis Galton (1822–1911) (standard deviation, correlation, regression, questionnaires); Karl Pearson (1857–1936) (correlation coefficient, chi square); William Gosset (1876–1937) (Student's t distribution); Ronald Fisher (1890–1962) (Analysis of variance); Frank Yates (1902–1994). 1854: Boolean algebra, the basis for digital logic, proposed by George Boole (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 Einstein's 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 (1850–1925). 1901: Discipline of modern mathematical statistics developed by Karl Pearson (1857–1936).

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. 1610: Sunspots discovered by Thomas Harriot (c. 1560–1621). 1668: Newtonian telescope invented by Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727). 1705: 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 (1787), Oberon (1787), Enceladus (1789), and Mimas (1789). 1783: Existence of black holes first proposed by John Michell (1724–1793); Michell was first to suggest that 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 by William Lassell (1799–1880); Lassell also discovered the moons Hyperion (1848), Ariel (1851), and 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 (1942–2018), especially in the context of black holes. 1967: Pulsars discovered by English radio astronomer Antony Hewish (1924–2021) and one of his graduate students, Northern Irish 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 (1924–2021).

1802: Nomenclature system for clouds developed by meteorology pioneer Luke Howard (1772–1864). 1815: First geological map of Great Britain created by 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 by John Frederic Daniell (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).

c. 1240s: An early framework for the scientific method, based in 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 Sir Francis Bacon (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.

1630–1632: The slide rule invented by William Oughtred (1574–1660), developing on work by Edmund Gunter (1581–1626) and Edmund Wingate (1596–1656). 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 by Henry Maudslay (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 (1802–1875). 1972: The Sinclair Executive, the world's first small electronic pocket calculator, invented by Sir Clive Sinclair (1940–2021).

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 rackets, popularised by 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 Prince Edward, son of Edward I (Longshanks). Aunt Sally, early 17th century. After 1660: Thoroughbred horseracing developed in 17th and 18th century England; royal support from 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, Yorkshire. 1715: Oldest 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 (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" 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. 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 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 England. 1893–1897: Netball developed from early versions of women's basketball at Madame Österberg's College in England. 1895: Rugby league created with the establishment of the 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 art (MMA) Bartistu 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) 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 jumps made from the 250 feet (76 m) Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol by members of the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club.

1799: Concept of the modern aeroplane as a 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 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, drag, and thrust; Modern aeroplane design is based on those discoveries, along with cambered wings which Cayley also discovered. 55 years before the Wright brothers; Stringfellow and William Samuel Henson (1812–1888) patented their invention in 1842. Late 19th century: The term "air port" first used – to describe the port city Southampton, where some early flying boats landed. 1929: 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 (1929–2021) migrated to become part of NASA's Space Task Group, which was responsible for America's crewed space programme, Project Mercury. 1960: VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) aircraft (most famously the Harrier) invented by 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 Sir James Hamilton (1923–2012); the project was manufactured by BAC, Sud Aviation. It took Concorde three hours, fifteen minutes to fly from London Heathrow to New York JFK.

1825: Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world's first operational steam passenger railway; it was taken over by the 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) Maidenhead station, engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859).

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 (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 commercially viable. 1812: First commercially viable steam locomotive, the twin cylinder 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, built by William Hedley (1779–1843). 1814: First successful flanged wheel adhesion locomotive, the 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 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, 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 (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 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.

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 (1814–1897), including: the split piston ring (1852), the Ramsbottom safety valve (1855), the Displacement lubricator (1860), and the 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 trains. Late 1940s: Maglev, the use of magnetic levitation to move vehicles without touching the ground, invented by Eric Laithwaite (1921–1997). 1981: The Advanced Passenger Train (APT), an experimental high speed train that pioneered tilting, introduced by British Rail.

1804: The seat belt invented by Sir George Cayley (1773–1857). 1808: Tension spoke wire wheels invented by Sir George Cayley (1773–1857). 1885: First commercially successful safety bicycle, "the Rover", developed by John Kemp Starley (1855–1901). 1901: Tarmac patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley (1860–1942). c. 1902: The invention of the Bowden cable popularly attributed to Sir 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 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, a 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. 1971: the world's first Bus Rapid Transit system, the Runcorn Busway, first conceived by Arthur Ling. 1985: The Sinclair C5, a one person battery electric vehicle, invented by Sir Clive Sinclair (1940–2021). 1997: World Land Speed Record, 1,228 km/h (763 mph), achieved by ThrustSSC, a 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 (born 1962).

1578: The first submersible (a small, submarine like vehicle) of whose construction there exists reliable information designed by Englishman 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 Edmund Halley (1656–1742), best known for computing the orbit of Halley's Comet. c. 1730: The octant invented by English mathematician John Hadley (1682–1744); American optician 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 sextant made by John Bird (1709–1776), adapting the principle of Hadley's octant. 1785: The 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, 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 (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 designed and built by Henry Fleuss (1851–1932), a pioneer in the field of diving equipment. 1878–1879: Two early Victorian submarines, Resurgam I and Resurgam II, designed and built by 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 (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 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).