Timeline of Irish inventions and discoveries

Irish inventions and discoveries are objects, processes or techniques which owe their existence either partially or entirely to an Irish person. 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. Below is a list of such inventions.

Pre-history

• Ogham alphabet

14th century

• Caid (precursor to modern Gaelic football)
• Whiskey

17th century

• Irish road bowling
• 1661: Modern Chemistry founded by Robert Boyle with the publication of The Sceptical Chymist
• 1662: Boyle's law discovered by Robert Boyle
• 1680s: Chocolate milk created by Hans Sloane^[1]

18th century

• 1730: The concept of an entrepreneur - Richard Cantillon
• 1752: National Hunt racing

19th century

• 1805: Beaufort scale created by Francis Beaufort
• 1813: Clanny safety lamp created by William Reid Clanny^[2]
• 1820: 30 January, Edward Bransfield discovered the Antarctic Continent (mainland, islands were discovered earlier)
• 1820-25: The development of "Extra Stout" beer by The Second Arthur Guinness and others.
• 1831: Column still design enhanced and patented by Aeneas Coffey
• 1832: The Kyanizing process for preserving wood, created by John Howard Kyan
• 1834-35: The game of Croquet
• 1836: Induction coil created by Nicholas Callan
• 1843: Quaternion (a mathematical entity) first described by Sir William Rowan Hamilton
• 1844: Hollow needle in syringe created by Francis Rynd
• 1848: Kelvin scale created by William Thomson
• 1851: Seismology founded by Robert Mallet, who used dynamite explosions to measure the speed of elastic waves in surface rocks - pioneering and coining the word 'seismology'.
• 1851: Binaural stethoscope created by Arthur Leared
• 1866: The Standard drop method of hanging developed by Dr Samuel Haughton
• 1874: Electron introduced as a concept by George Johnstone Stoney
• 1874: Brennan torpedo created by Louis Brennan
• 1879: The rules of Hurling first standardized with the foundation of the Irish Hurling Union
• 1880: Boycott triggered by Charles Boycott over a dispute with the Irish Land League
• 1884: Steam Turbine: Compound Steam Turbine developed by Anglo-Irish engineer Charles Algernon Parsons. The Parsons family were resident in Birr, Co. Offaly.
• 1888: Gregg Shorthand created by John Robert Gregg
• 1894: Joly colour screen created by John Joly
• 1891: Tattoo machine created by Samuel O'Reilly^[3]
• 1897: Modern submarine design created by John Philip Holland.^[4]
• Saccharimeter created by Rev John Jellet from Cashel, County Tipperary (1817–1888)^[5]

20th century

• 1900: Reflector sight created by Howard Grubb.
• 1910s: Radiotherapy developed by John Joly.
• 1926: Three point linkage, patented by Harry Ferguson.
• 1930: Nickel-zinc battery created by Dr. James Drumm.
• 1930s: The first disintegration of an atomic nucleus by artificially accelerated protons (splitting the atom) discovered by Ernest Walton et al.^[6]
• 1946: Ejection seat - first live test of a reliable, successful modern ejection seat developed by James Martin
• 1954: Clofazimine first synthesized by a medical research team led by Cork man Vincent Barry at Trinity College, Dublin.^[5]
• 1965: Portable defibrillator created by Frank Pantridge.
• 1967: Pulsar co-discovered by Jocelyn Bell Burnell.
• 1970s: Positive end-expiratory pressure technique for treatment of pulmonary contusion - developed by staff at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.^[7]

See also

• List of Irish dishes

References

1. About Hans Sloane (1660-1753). The National History Museum. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
2. Brief History of the Miner's Flame Safety Lamp
3. History Channel's Ancient Ink - Blood and Tattoos | Event occurs at 1:01:30 Last accessed 9 August 2012
4. http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_19/holland.htm
5. Irish Scientists and Inventors. Irish Patents Office.
6. Cambridge Physics - Splitting the Atom
7. "Bloody Friday: How the Troubles inspired Belfast’s medical pioneers". BBC News. 19 July 2012.