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Electric drill
The invention was originally designed to drill rock and dig coal. -
Medical application of penicillin
In 1939, Australian scientist Howard Florey purified penicillin from a special strain of mould. -
Black box flight recorder
This remarkable device is virtually indestructible and records the final moments of a crashed plane’s last flight. -
Permanent-crease clothing
The technique uses chemicals to permanently alter the structure of wool fibres so they can be set with heat. -
Electronic pacemaker
Artificial pacemakers send small electric charges into the heart to help it maintain a regular beat. -
Plastic spectacle lenses
The technology was further developed to create the first plastic bifocal, trifocal, and progressive-focus lenses. -
Inflatable escape slide and raft
The slides can also be used as a flotation device if the aircraft lands on water. -
Permaculture
Permaculture, a concept that uses a natural approach to designing self-sufficient human settlements and agricultural systems. -
Ultrasound scanner
This discovery forever changed pre-natal care as it gave expecting parents a window to the foetus without x-ray exposure. -
Triton Workcentre
The multi-purpose workbench stabilises and improves the accuracy of portable power tools -
Cochlear implant
Cochlear implants are devices that are implanted into the head to electronically stimulate the auditory nerve. -
Racecam
Channel 7 introduced live television broadcasting from racing cars, allowing viewers to watch the race from the driver’s perspective. -
Polymer bank notes
Plastic bank notes were developed in a combined effort by the Reserve Bank of Australia and CSIRO in the 1980s. -
Winged keel
A nearly horizontal foil, or wing, at the base of a sailing boat keel. -
Wi-Fi technology
In 1992 John O’ Sullivan and the CSIRO developed Wi-Fi technology, used by more than a billion people around the world today. -
Frazier lens
The innovative lens allowed for both the subject and background to be in focus at the same time. -
Spray-on skin
The innovation involves taking a small patch of the victim’s healthy skin and using it to grow new skin cells in a laboratory. -
Google Maps
Danish brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen developed the platform for Google Maps in Sydney in the early 2000s. -
Gardasil and Cervarix cancer vaccines
Known by the commercial name, Gardasil, the vaccine protects women against four strains of a virus called human papillomavirus. -
Tank-bred tuna system
The clean-seas system fools the tuna in a tank into thinking they are swimming out of the Australian Bight and into their breeding grounds.