Chip

Now that one of our great inventions has gone what is left for us Brits to be proud of.

Weve had some great people over the years like:
Frank Whittle...........Jet Engine
Chris Cockerill.........Hovercraft
Brunel..................Railways etc
Barnes Wallis...........Bouncing bomb
Humphrey Davy...........Miners lamp
A G Bell................Telephone
John Logie Baird........Television
Fleming.................Penicillin
Rolls & Royce...........Luxury Cars


Nowadays it seems like everything new that comes along is either Jap or Yank. What happened to us as a nation of inventors.

Chip.

SteveLegacy

We've got the Dyson vauum cleaner and the wind-up radio!

Luke

we invented the "free ride" many thousnads have come to England to experience it. I believe some blind idiot has just re designed it.

andrew6321

for the last time: Concorde was not British - it was ANGLO-FRENCH.....why do you think it has an 'e' on the end of its name...???

messiah

Churchill. The world's greatest **** basher after Indiana Jones...

and what about Thrust SSC?

[Edited by messiah - 10/27/2003 4:27:48 PM]

paulr

PSLewis.

andrew6321

don't forget 'Eddie the Eagle'...

TelBoy

World's leading financial centre.

Aren't we still sort of ok at aerospace and communications?

Motor racing technology?

Bloody tough to think of any more unfortunately.

stevem2k

The Mini - BMC/Alex Issigonis

triple top

Lots of Noble prize winners and great in science,chemistry and anything technological

mattstant

The first proper programmable computer and the unravelling of Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA where pretty important discoveries too.

289

And the fact that we're one of the richest countrues in the world, despite the fact that we don't actually manufacture all that much, shows our effectiveness at creating and sustaining value-added services

RB5320

you will shortly be able to feel proud for coming a close second to New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup.

ianmiller999

We can be proud of our great leader Tony Blair.....

unclebuck

Will and Gareth and that Alex Parkes - we can be *really* proud of them.

Robbie

Eastenders

Corrie

sooo much to be pround of, I don't know where to start.

UB

triple top

RB5320..wait and see

Chip

I think that was aimed at me about the rugby. Personally I couldnt give a **** what happens as I cant stand it.

30 porky blokes running a field around chasing an odd shaped ball does nothing for me Im afraid.

Chip.

WISHING

POP IDOL, Now thats a british concept

Hammy Hamster

Off the top of my head, I'd say...

The flushing toilet was invented by Sir John Harrington (1561-1612), an English nobleman and godson of Queen Elizabeth I.

The first treadle propelled bicycle was designed by Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick Macmillan in 1839. In 1888 Scottish veterinary surgeon, John B Dunlop added wire wheels, a metal frame and pneumatic tyres to give us the modern bicycle.

Michael Faraday (1791-1860), an English chemist and physicist, discovered electric currents and made the first dynamo.

Isaac Newton, (1642-1727), English physicist, mathematician and Astronomer Royal discovered gravity.

Alexander Fleming, (1881-1955), Scottish bacteriologist discovered the first antibiotic drug, penicillin, in 1928.

Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), English chemist discovered oxygen in 1774 and several other gases, and by dissolving carbon dioxide in water he started a craze for soda water!

Edward Jenner (1749-1823), English physician pioneered vaccination, by innoculating people against smallpox.

Can't think of anymore just at the moment

Chip

I thought that was Thomas Crapper.

Chip.

Hammy Hamster

Opinion appears to be somewhat divided on the subject...

Thomas Crapper

rik-1

Prodrive

mart360

Clive sinclair sinclair microcomputer C5

Alan sugar hi fi / computers

dougie bader kick *** fighter pilot

andy green world land speed record!!!

My son has a poster autographed my both andy green and richard noble,,

the money i paid for the poster and message went toward funding the car and its run... well chuffed well cool bit of history...


richard branson...


margaret thatcher.... she kicked *** in the falklands


winston churchill kiked adolf ***


mart

DaveD

iTrader: (2)

RR have not been making cars since the 70s, but are still a world leader in jet engines, including the only engine capable of Vertical Take Off and Landing. They also make the engine for the fastest helicopter in the world (lynx), which incidently, is also British designed.....

Our motorsport companies are also pretty well respected.....

Ian Griffiths

You forgot Tim Berners-Lee 1955-present, um had a small part to play in the small thing we know and love called the Internet.

Brit_in_Japan

Lots more....

The first accurate timepiece which could be used at sea for navigation
First steam engine
Machine gun
Radar
The WorldWideWeb (CERN - later adopted by DARPA in US)
Viagra
Steel production (Bessemer process)
Vaccuum cleaner, corkscrews, fax machines......

see here http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_british_inventors.htm

Leslie

We have got the clock which used to sit on Sir Frank Whittle's mantlepiece. Very proud of owning that.

Les

SJ_Skyline

Heres a few: (some already mentioned)

Anemometer - Robert Hooke
Disc Brakes - Frederick William Lanchester
Tin Can - Peter Durand
Cat Eyes - Percy Shaw
Portland Cement - Joseph Aspdin
Cordite - Sir James Dewar, Sir Frederick Abel
Corkscrews - H.S. Heeley
Crossword Puzzles - Arthur Wynne
Diving Equipment/Scuba Gear - John Smeaton, William James, Henry Fleuss
EKG (Underlying Principles) - Various
Electric Motor - Michael Faraday
Electromagnet - William Sturgeon
Fax Machine - Alexander Bain
Gas Mask -John Tyndall and others
Dew-point Hygrometer - John Frederic Daniell
Holography - Dennis Gábor
Internal Combustion Engine - Samuel Brown
Jet Engines - Sir Frank Whittle
Kelvin Scale - Lord William Thomson Kelvin
Metal Lathe - Henry Maudslay invented the first in 1797.
Lawn Mower - Edwin Beard Budding
Lightbulbs - Humphry Davy, Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, James Bowman Lindsay Locomotive - Richard Trevithick
Power Loom - Edmund Cartwright
Penicillin - Alexander Fleming
Penny Farthing - James Starley
Periodic Table - John Newlands
Periscope - Sir Howard Grubb
Polyester - John Rex Whinfield and James Tennant Dickson
Puckle Gun - John Puckle
Radar Locating of Aircraft - Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt
Radio (Underlying Principles) - James Clerk Maxwell
Rubber Bands - Stephen Perry
Rubber Masticator - Thomas Hancock
Seed Drill - Jethro Tull
Seismometer - James Forbes
Seismograph - John Milne, Sir James Alfred Ewing, Thomas Gray
Sewing Machines - Thomas Saint
Shrapnel - Henry Shrapnel
Steam Engine - Thomas Savery, Thomas Newcomen, James Watt Steel Production - Sir Henry Bessemer
Submarine - William Bourne,
Spinning Jenny - James Hargreaves
Spinning Frame - Richard Arkwright
Spinning Mule - Samuel Crompton
Television - John Logie Baird
Thermos - Sir James Dewar
Toilet Paper - British Perforated Paper Company
Torpedo - Robert Whitehead 1866
Umbrella (steel-ribbed) - Samuel Fox
Universal Joint - Robert Hooke (also Iris Diaphragm, Balance Spring)
Vacuum Cleaner - Hubert Cecil Booth
Viagra - Peter Dunn, Albert Wood, Dr Nicholas Terrett
Waterproof Fabric - Charles Macintosh
World Wide Web - Tim Berners-Lee


couple of others:
Difference Engine - Charles Babbage
Turing Machine - Alan Turing (anybody reading this is using a computer based on the turing machine)