List of Scottish inventions and discoveries

"the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics"

Scottish inventions and discoveries are objects, processes or techniques either partially or entirely invented, innovated, or discovered by a person born in or descended from Scotland. In some cases, an invention's Scottishness is determined by the fact that it came into existence in Scotland (e.g., animal cloning), by non-Scots working in the country. Often, things that are discovered for the first time are also called "inventions" and in many cases there is no clear line between the two.

Some Scottish contributions have indirectly and directly led to controversial political ideas and policies, such as the measures taken to enforce British hegemony in the time of the British Empire. There are many books devoted solely to the subject, as well as scores of websites listing Scottish inventions and discoveries with varying degrees of science.[not verified in body]

Even before the Industrial Revolution, Scots have been at the forefront of innovation and discovery across a wide range of spheres. Some of the most significant products of Scottish ingenuity include James Watt's steam engine, improving on that of Thomas Newcomen, the bicycle, macadamisation (not to be confused with tarmac or tarmacadam), Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the first practical telephone, John Logie Baird's invention of television, Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin and insulin.

The following is a list of inventions, innovations, or discoveries that are known or generally recognised as being Scottish.

Road transport innovations

Civil engineering innovations

Aviation innovations

Power innovations

Shipbuilding innovations

Military innovations

Heavy industry innovations

Agricultural innovations

Communication innovations

Publishing firsts

  • The first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (1768–81)
  • The first English textbook on surgery (1597)
  • The first modern pharmacopaedia, William Cullen (1776). The book became 'Europe's principal text on the classification and treatment of disease'. His ideas survive in the terms nervous energy and neuroses (a word that Cullen coined).
  • The first postcards and picture postcards in the UK
  • The educational foundation of Ophthalmology: Stewart Duke-Elder in his ground breaking work including ‘Textbook of Ophthalmology and fifteen volumes of System of Ophthalmology’

Culture and the arts

Scientific innovations

The first positive displacement liquid flowmeter, the reciprocating piston meter by Thomas Kennedy Snr.

Sports innovations

Scots have been instrumental in the invention and early development of several sports:

  • Australian rules football Scots were prominent with many innovations in the early evolution of the game, including the establishment of the Essendon Football Club by the McCracken family from Ayrshire
  • Several modern athletics events, i.e. shot put and the hammer throw, derive from Highland Games and earlier 12th century Scotland
  • Curling
  • Gaelic handball The modern game of handball is first recorded in Scotland in 1427, when King James I, an ardent handball player, had his men block up a cellar window in his palace courtyard that was interfering with his game.
  • Cycling, invention of the pedal-cycle
  • Golf (see Golf in Scotland)
  • Ice Hockey, invented by the Scots regiments in Atlantic Canada by playing Shinty on frozen lakes.
  • Shinty The history of Shinty as a non-standardised sport pre-dates Scotland the Nation. The rules were standardised in the 19th century by Archibald Chisholm
  • Rugby sevens: Ned Haig and David Sanderson (1883)
  • The Dugout was invented by Aberdeen FC Coach Donald Colman in the 1920s
  • The world's first Robot Olympics which took place in Glasgow in 1990.

Medical innovations

Household innovations

Weapons innovations

Miscellaneous innovations

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-03-15 00:57 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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