Science and Technology: Thematic Timeline of People

  • Cluny MacPherson, gas mask

    Cluny MacPherson, gas mask
    During the First World War, the German army used poison gas for the first time, against Allied troops at Ypres, Belgium in 1915. Cluny MacPherson quickly came up with the idea of a gas mask made of fabric and metal using a helmet taken from a captured German prisoner. He added a canvas hood with eyepieces and a breathing tube.