List of British innovations and discoveries

The following is a list and timeline of innovations as well as inventions and discoveries that involved British people or the United Kingdom including the predecessor states before the Treaty of Union in 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland.

This list covers, but is not limited to, innovation and invention in the mechanical, electronic, and industrial fields, as well as medicine, military devices and theory, artistic and scientific discovery and innovation, and ideas in religion and ethics, and disgrace.

Factors that historians note spurred innovation and discovery include the 17th century Scientific Revolution and the 18th/19th century Industrial Revolution.

[1][2] Another possible influence is the British patent system which had medieval origins and was codified with the Patent Act of 1852.

[3] 1761

Engineers during World War Two test a model of a Halifax bomber in a wind tunnel , an invention that dates back to 1871.
The 1698 Savery Engine
The Watt steam engine was conceived in 1765. James Watt transformed the steam engine from a reciprocating motion that was used for pumping to a rotating motion suited to industrial applications. Watt and others significantly improved the efficiency of the steam engine.
A trial model of a part of the Analytical Engine , first described by Charles Babbage in 1837 [ 26 ]
A Colossus computer , developed by British codebreakers in 1943–1945
Leslie - physics Francis Baily - astronomer Playfair - Uniformitarianism Rutherford - Nitrogen Dollond - Optics Young - modulus etc Brown - Brownian motion Gilbert - Royal Society president Banks - Botanist Kater - measured gravity ?? Howard - Chemical Engineer Dundonald - propellors William Allen - Pharmacist Henry - Gas law Wollaston - Palladium and Rhodium Hatchett - Niobium Davy - Chemist Maudslay - modern lathe Bentham - machinery ? Rumford - thermodynamics Murdock - sun and planet gear Rennie - Docks, canals & bridges Jessop - Canals Mylne - Blackfriars bridge Congreve - rockets Donkin - engineer Henry Fourdrinier - Paper making machine Thomson - atoms William Symington - first steam boat Miller - steam boat Nasmyth - painter and scientist Nasmyth2 Bramah - Hydraulics Trevithick Herschel - Uranus Maskelyne - Astronomer Royal Jenner - Smallpox vaccine Cavendish Dalton - atoms Brunel - Civil Engineer Boulton - Steam Huddart - Rope machine Watt - Steam engine Telford Crompton - spinning machine Tennant - Industrial Chemist Cartwright - Power loom Ronalds - Electric telegraph Stanhope - Inventor Use your cursor to explore (or Click icon to enlarge)
Distinguished Men of Science. [ 196 ] Use the cursor to see who is who. [ 197 ]