British innovations and discoveries

  • The first working reflecting telescope

    The first working reflecting telescope
    Sir Isaac Newton invents the first working reflecting telescope
  • The first practical steam engine

    The first practical steam engine
    The first practical steam engine is designed by Thomas Newcomen
  • The first electrostatic motors

    The first electrostatic motors are developed by Andrew Gordon in the 1740s.
  • An Essay on the History of Civil Society.

    Adam Ferguson, often known as 'The Father of Modern Sociology', publishes his work An Essay on the History of Civil Society.
  • The Iron Bridge

    The Iron Bridge
    The Iron Bridge, the first arch bridge made of cast iron, is built by Abraham Darby III
  • The world's first locomotive-hauled railway

    The world's first locomotive-hauled railway journey is made by Richard Trevithick's steam locomotive.
  • Electromagnetic induction

    Electromagnetic induction
    Electromagnetic induction, the operating principle of transformers and nearly all modern electric generators, is discovered by Michael Faraday.
  • The telephone

    Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone in the U.S.
  • A method for classifying fingerprints

    A method for classifying fingerprints
    Sir Francis Galton devises a method for classifying fingerprints that proved useful in forensic science.
  • Discover the electron

    Discover the electron
    Sir Joseph John Thomson discovers the electron
  • The World Wide Web

    Sir Tim Berners-Lee writes a proposal for what will become the World Wide Web. The following year, he specified HTML, the hypertext language, and HTTP, the protocol.