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| Saturday 10th May 2008 |  | |||||||||||||
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Scotland Magazine section Scottish InnovatorsThe light fantasticPHYSICIST SIR DAVID BREWSTER IMPRESSED ACADEMICS AND THE PUBLIC ALIKE WITH HIS BEST-KNOWN INVENTION: THE KALEIDOSCOPE Sir David Brewster would perhaps be surprised that he is remembered principally for his invention of the kaleidoscope. This prodigious scientist and inventor in fact left a far greater legacy. Born in 1781 in Jedburgh, near the English border, he was a child prodigy and had built a telescope by the... By Brigid James from Issue 7 published on 7/3/2003 Industrial revolutionary: James WattHIS MODIFICATIONS OF THE STEAM ENGINE WERE SO SUCCESSFUL THAT SCOT JAMES WATT TRANSFORMED INDUSTRY FOREVER Born in 1736 in Greenock near Glasgow, James Watt was the son of a ship-chandler. With little formal education, he showed great aptitude for maths and engineering, and became an instrument-maker for the University of Glasgow at 19. In 1763 he was asked to repair the university’s model of a Newcomen ... By Brigid James from Issue 6 published on 6/2/2003 Vision of the futureSCOT JOHN LOGIE BAIRD IS THE INNOVATOR WHO BROUGHT US AN INVENTION WE NOW CANNOT IMAGINE LIFE WITHOUT: TELEVISION Born in 1888, the youngest of four children, John Logie Baird was the son of Jessie and Reverend Baird who lived in Helensburgh, Glasgow. Even as a child, Baird was a precocious scientist, designing and constructing an electric exchange between his and his friends’ houses with wires as a primitive... By Brigid James from Issue 5 published on 4/11/2002 The wheel thingBrigid James goes round and round attempting to unravel which Scotsman really invented that indispensable mode of transport, the bicycle According to common myth, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a blacksmith at Courthill Smiddy, Keir Mill, Dumfriesshire, invented the bicycle somewhere between 1839 and 1842. His velocipede was made of wood and had iron-bound tyres, an extremely heavy contraption. It worked through a system of levers at the fro... By Brigid James from Issue 4 published on 9/9/2002 Paint it blackDavid Hunter discovers a Scottish pioneer that's touched the heart of the modern world - literally: Sir James Whyte Black To paraphrase the Rolling Stones: Although he’s not really / There’s a little orange pill / And he goes running for the shelter / Of an actor’s little helper This orange pill, although some come in white, is the beta-blocker. Thespians use these tablets to help them overcome stage fright. They are ... By David Hunter from Issue 3 published on 5/7/2002 The accidental hero: Alexander FlemingThe story of the Scottish scientist who discovered the 20th century's greatest weapon against bacterial infections by chance... Alexander Fleming was born to a Scottish farming family of Lochfield, Ayrshire in 1881, one of eight children. He excelled at his studies, and although employed by a shipping firm and part of a Scottish Regiment when the Boer War began in 1900, he eventually chose St Mary’s Hospital in London to stu... By Brigid James from Issue 2 published on 5/6/2002 Invented by...Janet KeillerThis regular look at a famous Scots invention or innovation begins with a contentious issue - Janet Keiller and the 'invention' of marmalade. We explore the myth with a little help. Perhaps it’s a little cheeky to start the series this way, but it was too tempting to resist when preliminary research indicated that, despite Keiller company history suggesting otherwise, Janet Keiller did NOT invent marmalade – no more than the average motorist invented the internal combustion eng... By Janet Keiller from Issue 1 published on 5/3/2002 |  | ||||||||||||
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