Hey everyone and welcome back to the Understandable English
Podcast. In today's episode, we are going
to be talking about famous British inventions.
You might be wondering what is an invention or discovery?
An invention is something that someone comes up with.
So someone thinks and they have a new idea and they go, whoa, I
have discovered or I have come up with an idea to make
something or fix a problem. That person then creates or
invents what they are thinking about.
So it means to create or design something that has not existed
before, so to invent. And an invention is the noun
version. So it is something that you have
created or designed that did not exist before.
So the UK, the United Kingdom was famous for many, many
inventions. And this goes way back into
history because the UK was a really strong centre for
science, for education and discovery as well as inventions.
So one of the greatest British discoveries was the theory of
gravity. This was by a brilliant man
called Sir Isaac Newton in the 17th century.
He discovered or revealed the laws of motion and the concept
of gravity. That might sound a little bit
complicated, but Simply put, these laws explain how things
move and why things fall to the ground.
So thanks to Isaac Newton, now we understand why apples fall
from trees. Another one of Sir Isaac
Newton's inventions or discoveries was the reflecting
telescope. So telescopes changed the field
or area of astronomy. So studying the sky, stars,
Suns, space, the telescope which was created by Sir Isaac Newton
completely changed this space and this area of science.
Another really important invention was the steam engine
and this was invented by Thomas Savory in 1698 and it was
something called an atmospheric pressure steam engine.
And these were extremely important because over the next
100 years many other inventors changed the design and
eventually made a steam engine that was small enough to use for
trains. For example, Another crazy
invention from the UK was something that you might not
expect came from Britain and that is the chocolate bar.
So the idea of the modern chocolate bar, and this was
invented in 1847. Without a doubt, the absence of
chocolate bars would be a real tragedy for the modern world.
However, it was invented and created thanks to the work of JS
Fry and Sons in 1847. So they came up with the formula
or the recipe for mixing coca powder, sugar and coca to form
true chocolate bars, which as we now know have changed the world
forever. Another great invention which
actually links back to the engine, the steam engine was the
first ever public railway and that was created in 1825.
This railway so for trains, ran between a place called Stockton
and Darlington in England, and as we now know, this would be
the first of many around the world, quite similar to this,
the very first underground train system.
So the metro or underground as some people call it was also in
the UK and as well as that there are just so, so many modern day
household appliances, so electronics or devices that we
use which were invented in the UK.
This is everything from the modern radio that people use to
the very first automatic kettle so for boiling water with
electricity and to even the Hoover so the vacuum cleaner or
the lawn mower so for cutting grass.
There are so many of these, and if I listed each tiny invention,
I would be here all day. But one very important invention
was the telephone, and this was invented by Alexander Graham
Bell, and this transformed communication around the world.
So Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish inventor and he created
the first practical telephone in the late 19th century.
This device allowed people to speak to each other over long
distances and it changed the way we connect forever.
So going to a bit more of an advanced invention and that is
the World Wide Web, which eventually led to the creation
of the Internet which you're using to listen to this podcast
and the World Wide Web. WWW was invented by Sir Tim
Berners Lee and this invention was born in the late 20th
century and it transforms the way that we share information
and communicate globally, so it's even more advanced and
better than that original telephone idea.
And finally, I would say one of the most important discoveries
from the UK was the science of immunology.
So that is the field of science relating to vaccines, so giving
people a vaccine to help prevent certain diseases.
So this was Edward Jenner, who was an English physician, so a
doctor and scientist. And in 1796 he pioneered or
started this idea of vaccination.
And this helped stop the thousands and thousands of
deaths every year in the UK from smallpox and eventually probably
saved countless or millions and millions of lives by creating a
vaccine or a way to treat people against this disease.
And this discovery was so important that Edward Jenner was
declared or named as one of the 100 greatest British people of
all time. So a really, really important
discovery and something which has changed the field of
science. And of course there are a lot of
other not so nice inventions which are equally as
interesting, so inventions that were used for war, for fighting
and these are certain types of guns.
There was even the tank, so the modern day tank which was
created in 1914, so during World War One as well as some certain
types of bombs and other not so nice things.
But I think in general, a lot of these inventions that we've
talked about today are very positive and have changed the
world for the better. And even in the cases where they
haven't changed the world for the better, they have definitely
been impactful. So they have changed the world.
And what do you think is the best of these inventions?
Of course, there are a lot more that I haven't discussed.
I've just picked a few that I think are interesting, but I
would like to hear what are some inventions from your country, so
from your home country. And as well, don't forget to
check out the YouTube channel. So the Podcast YouTube channel
where I post podcast episodes with English subtitles so that
you can follow along and read while you listen.
And this channel is called Understandable English Pod or
Understandable English Podcast and you will find it.
Thank you for listening and have a fantastic day.
Goodbye.