10 Irish inventions worth remembering

Table of contents:

• THE MOST FAMOUS IRISH INVENTIONS
• IRISH INVENTIONS WITH A GLOBAL IMPACT
• TEN INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

The most famous Irish inventions

Ireland is not only famous for its success in the Eurovision Song Contest, but also for its folklore filled with mystical creatures, including leprechauns and magical fairies. It is also the home of quite a few important inventions that have had a great impact on the world, and we are not just talking about Guinness or potato crisps. The submarine, tractor, and even colour photography are just a few of the many inventions created by the Irish. Take a look at some of the most famous Irish inventions:

Irish inventions with a global impact

Throughout human history, people have been striving to reach new horizons. Although it is a small island, the Irish inventions have had a great global impact. Here are ten Irish inventions worth remembering:

Guinness

First things first, it may not come as a surprise that many people associate Ireland with beer. After all, it’s the home of Guinness. In 1759, Arthur Guinness started a small brewery in Dublin where he produced different ales and beers. Being certain of the success of his product, he leased the brewery for 9,000 years for the annual price of £45. Today, Guinness is one of Ireland’s most famous exports and is sold in over 150 countries, making it a great contributor to the Irish economy. More precisely, it’s estimated that 10 million glasses are consumed daily all over the world.

Submarine

One of the most significant Irish inventions to have a profound impact on warfare was the submarine, developed in 1881 by John Philip Holland, a teacher from Clare. After a few failed attempts, Holland managed to create a design that was not only able to keep afloat but also attack other boats from underwater. His development was the first submarine to ever be commissioned by the US Navy, as well as the Royal Navy, and thus forever changed wars conducted at sea.

Tank

Another warfare invention claimed by Irish engineers was the tank in the early 20th century. Winston Churchill commissioned a robust vehicle that could cross trenches and mud fields while also being able to resist any bullets or shrapnel fire. Although the design has come a long way since it was first created in 1911, it was the armoured war machine from Dublin that led the way.

Guided-missile

Ireland is known for being a quite peaceful country, yet it’s the home of several army-related inventions. Besides the tank and the submarine, the guided missile is yet another invention claimed by the Irish. The engineer Louis Brennan from Castlebar was the first to ever create a guided missile to be used as a defensive mechanism. His idea took form when he, at a very young age, noticed that torpedoes could be steered when attaching wires to them. In 1880, he sold his patent to the British War Office for £100,000, and his invention was used to defend the harbours in Britain, Ireland, Hong Kong, and Malta.

Tractor

It’s safe to say that the Irish have a love for mechanical inventions. Not only did Harry Ferguson, also known as the ‘Mad Mechanic’, invent the modern tractor that is still used to this day, but he also created several other constructions, including his own motorcycle, a race car, and a plane. Not to mention that he also built the four-wheel-drive system to be used in Formula One racing.

Portable defibrillator

Frank Pantridge was able to help save the lives of many people thanks to his invention of the portable defibrillator in 1965. The prototype was first installed in a Belfast ambulance, and since then, it has been placed all around the world, becoming a crucial first aid tool to assist in even more remote places.

Colour photography

John Joly was an efficient Irish inventor, to say the least. Although he founded several successful original inventions, such as different measuring devices, as well as the development of extracting radium to treat cancer patients, he is also famous for the invention of colour photography. In 1894, he developed a practical method for capturing colour photos from a single plate using narrow coloured lines.

Ejector seat

While Irishman Sir James Martin may not have been the first to conceive the idea of an ejector seat, enabling pilots to evacuate from high-speed aircraft, he was the first to successfully construct one in 1946. A brave pilot was the first one to live test his theory, and thankfully, the explosion blew away the cockpit safely before a second outburst pushed the pilot out, making it possible for him to deploy his parachute. His design was approved by the RAF, and within a year, the entire RAF fleet had installed ejector seats. Little did he know that his invention was about to save approximately 5,000 lives by the time of his death in 1981.

Flavoured potato crisps

A far less important Irish invention, but one we should not underestimate, is the flavoured potato crisps. We have all tried the various flavoured potato crisps, but did you know that potato chips were originally unseasoned? It was Irish innovator Joseph Murphy who came up with a flavouring technique in the 1950s. Originally, the potato chip was invented by the English in 1817, but it wasn't until Murphy’s seasoning technology that the crisp came to be the popular treat we know today. His first choice of flavour? Cheese & Onion and Salt & Vinegar.

Chocolate Milk

The Irish are not only fans of the salty potato crisp, but they also have a sweet tooth. While chocolate is often associated with Switzerland, it was the Irish physician Hans Sloane who invented the popular drink chocolate milk when visiting Jamaica in the early 17th century. Or at least, he was the first one to introduce the sweet beverage to the European market. Instead of mixing the cocoa with water as the natives did, Sloane found the drink to be more appealing when mixing it with milk. For many years, it was sold as medicine, but today it simply gives us a sugar rush.

Ten inventions that changed the world

But of course, it’s not only the famous Irish inventions that have had a major impact on the globe. Ideas from different cultures have been shared as new lands have been explored, and thanks to the tireless work of innovators and inventors with the determination and foresight to dream of a brighter future, our world has transformed. Although some may argue that things were better in the good old days, these pivotal inventions have had a huge impact on making the world a smaller place, allowing people from all over the world to come together. Let’s take a look at ten important inventions that have changed the world, starting from the first man-made boats to today's social media.

Boat – Pre-history

Boats were the earliest form of man-made transport, having been around since prehistoric times. Primitive ‘dugout’ canoes formed out of tree trunks have been used to navigate local waters and to go fishing since before the dawn of recorded history. Historians suggest that stronger sea-worthy vessels must also have been around since around 50,000 BC, since they would have been needed to carry the original settlers of Australia from South-East Asia. Of course, the boat has evolved considerably over the millennia: from ancient galleys, Phoenician sailing ships, the Caravels of Portuguese explorers, up to the giant warships and cruise ships of today.

Wheel – 5,000 BCE

If you wanted to transport something overland in prehistoric times, you would either have to haul it yourself or else get an animal to do the heavy lifting for you. It is believed that the wheel, as a method to aid transport, was invented in the Middle East around 5,000 BC, spreading to Europe in the following centuries. The wheels on the most expensive cars in the world today are still basically the same as the wheels used to haul supplies around behind donkeys thousands of years ago, which shows you just what a pivotal development that this was in the history of human civilisation.

Train – 1784

Although transport systems using railway systems had been around for hundreds of years, it was not until the end of the 18th century that a self-propelled vehicle was created. Previously, wagons had been hauled along rails by humans or animals, but the invention of the steam train was a great leap forward. Scottish inventor James Watt is widely credited as the inventor of the steam engine, with George Stephenson and his ‘Rocket’ being the first passenger-carrying train. Railway lines would prove to be a vital way to connect people living on giant landmasses like the United States, Russia, and Europe.

Telephone – 1876

As with any major invention, the person who is generally regarded as the inventor of the telephone really just provided the final piece of the puzzle. So, while Alexander Graham Bell is credited with the invention, a host of less famous names can lay claim to important work which led to the moment when Bell obtained his patent in 1876. Like Ford and his cars, Bell was able to make the telephone a commercially viable product. In the UK, the telephone was initially seen as a business tool, but the onset of WW1 made communication a priority, and phones started appearing in private homes. The shape of the phone has certainly changed over the years, from the original ‘candlestick’ style upright phones to the streamlined mini-computers we carry about in our pockets today. Regardless of appearance, the telephone’s importance in connecting people remains the same.

Car – 1885

The first question to consider when asking who invented the car is: ‘What is the definition of a car?’ As early as 1770 in France a Monsieur Cugnot invented a steam-powered tractor, and British inventors had come up with similar steam-powered vehicles by the end of that century. In fact, steam-powered vehicles were being mass-produced in the UK by the early 1800s, but public fear of these dangerous behemoths led to a law requiring them to be preceded down the road by a man waving a red flag. That finished the automobile industry in Britain, but in Germany, in 1885, Karl Benz invented the first mass-produced petrol-fuelled automobile. The success of this vehicle has meant that Benz is now widely considered to be the inventor of the car, although it was Henry Ford, the son of an Irish immigrant, who manufactured the first commercially practical cars and thus is at least an equally important figure in the history of the automobile.

Radio – 1897

The invention of the radio owes a lot to that of both the telephone and the telegraph, as many of the technologies were the same. As the man to file the patent, Guglielmo Marconi is credited as the inventor of the radio, although Nikola Tesla made a very significant contribution in terms of technology. Marconi foresaw radio as a way for ship-to-shore communication, and never imagined the impact it would have as a broadcasting medium. By the 1910’s anyone who could get their hands on a transmitter was broadcasting, and it wasn’t until the ‘20s that organised radio stations came into being. For decades, radio became the main way that information was sent and received around the world, bringing up-to-the-minute reports across hundreds and thousands of miles. Not until the rise of the television would the radio lose its place as the number one broadcaster in the world.

Airplane – 1903

The longing for flight has existed for as long as people have stared up at the birds in the sky above. Kites and hot air balloons were among the early ways in which man took to the air, but the quest for ‘heavier than air’ flight took a lot longer to accomplish. The flights of Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903 are recognised as being the first ‘sustained and controlled heavier-than-air flights’. These bicycle-shop owners from Ohio made their breakthrough on a cold December day when they managed to take to the air in the Wright Flyer 1. With many people around the world working on powered flight, innovations and adjustments came quickly. As is so often the case, the war led to rapid innovations, and these continued after WW1 to the point where planes were a major feature of combat during the Second World War. Today, planes have become a fact of life, to the point where at any given moment there are between 6,000 and 10,000 planes in the sky.

Television – 1925

The invention of the television is another which is very hard to pin down. Dozens of people, working alone or in groups all over the world, contributed to the development of the television set. Credit is often given to Scottish inventor John Logie Baird as the person who brought various technologies together and gave the first public demonstration of moving televised images. This new invention was to provoke consternation and curiosity in equal measure, and a new vocabulary had to be invented. Not just the word ‘television’, but also what to call the people who watched these moving images which spoke. Lookers, perceptors, and audivists were all tried out for size before ‘viewers’ became the common term to use. Television changed the way people saw the world and how they lived their lives. It was a seismically important invention, but perhaps the next one on our list has been even more impactful. 

Internet – 1990

Pinning down the exact date that the internet came into being is harder than you may imagine. It traces its roots to the 1960s, when the US military sought a way to connect supercomputers located around the country. Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web in 1990, marking the beginning of the internet's widespread accessibility to the public. Now the internet has become an incredible repository of information for the human race, a resource next to which the famous Library of Alexandria pales into insignificance. The internet has connected people from across the world in so many different ways and has grown to such an extent that many of us spend hours every day in this virtual environment. And who knows? Maybe cryptocurrencies are the next big invention after the internet!

Social Media – 1997

One of the principal ways in which people use the internet is to access different social media accounts. Andrew Weinreich is not a name many people have heard of, but he was a lawyer who developed the very first social media site: Six Degrees. This site was a forerunner to Facebook and Myspace, and although it only lasted a few short years, it paved the way for the more successful sites which were to follow. Today, social media plays a crucial role in the way we communicate with each other, bringing together childhood friends who had lost touch and people living on the other side of the world. At its best, social media allows people to share ideas, learn about different cultures and enter a global conversation about the issues of the day.

As societies have evolved, we have discovered new ways to travel and developed mechanisms to improve our everyday lives. And while some inventions, like the Irish invention of the seasoned potato crisp, may not have empowered humankind, it has definitely added some extra flavour to our lives. Other inventions, like the internet, have forever changed the way we communicate with one another. It allows us to speak with friends on the other side of the planet, while at the same tim,e it opens a window on places that we would never otherwise have seen. New inventions are being constructed at such a fast rate that it won’t be long before another invention will need to be added to our list. Who knows, maybe you will be the creator of the next famous Irish invention that will change the world?

Sources:

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Last updated: May 2021