Welsh inventions and discoveries
Encyclopedia
This is a list of people of Welsh
origin who are recognised as innovators and inventors who have made notable contributions to technical or theoretical world advancements.
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
origin who are recognised as innovators and inventors who have made notable contributions to technical or theoretical world advancements.
- Edward George BowenEdward George BowenEdward George 'Taffy' Bowen, CBE, FRS was a British physicist who made a major contribution to the development of radar, and so helped win both the Battle of Britain and the Battle of the Atlantic...
pioneer of radar. Worked at 'Woomera Rocket Testing Base' in Australia. Born in Gendros, Swansea. - David BruntDavid BruntSir David Brunt KBE was a Welsh meteorologist.-Early life:He was born in Staylittle, Montgomeryshire, Wales, the youngest of the nine children of farmworker John Brunt. His father moved the family to the mining district on Monmouthshire to work as a coal miner. David attended the local Abertillery...
pioneer of modern meteorology. Head of Meteorological Office, secretary of Royal Society From Penfforddlas, Wales. - Martha Hughes CannonMartha Hughes CannonMartha Maria Hughes Cannon was a Welsh-born immigrant to the United States, a physician, Utah women's rights advocate and suffragist, and Utah state senator...
pioneer in women and children's medicine. The State of Utah's Health Department is named in her honour. Born in Llandudno, Wales. - Archie CochraneArchie CochraneArchibald Leman Cochrane was a Scottish doctor whose name is synonymous with scientific method in medicine.-Biography:Cochrane was born in Kirklands, Galashiels, Scotland...
Founder of Cochrane Collaboration, Cochrane library, Cochrane reviews. UK Cochrane Centre in Oxford. Conducted much of his groundbreaking medical research in Wales. - Alan CoxAlan CoxAlan Cox is a British computer programmer who formerly maintained the 2.2 branch of the Linux kernel and continues to be heavily involved in the development of the Linux kernel, an association that dates back to 1991...
is a programmer heavily involved in the development of the linux kernel since 1991. - Sir Clifford Darby, geographer and leader in promoting the relationships between geography and other subjects. Knighted in 1988. Born in Neath, South Wales.
- Donald DaviesDonald DaviesDonald Watts Davies, CBE FRS was a Welsh computer scientist who was one of the inventors of packet switching computer networking, and originator of the term.-Career history:...
Proposed and developed packet switching an important part of the internet. Born in Treorchy, Rhondda, Wales. - Walter Davies (inventor), along with his brother Thomas, invented the 'Stepney Spare Wheel' used on almost all early motor cars. Born in Llanelli, South Wales
- John DeeJohn DeeJohn Dee was a Welsh mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I.John Dee may also refer to:* John Dee , Basketball coach...
Founder of the new school of English mathematical scientists in 16th century. One of the greatest polymaths of all time. Born in Buallt, Radnor. - Bill Frost Welsh carpenter who patented the aeroplane in 1894 and took to the skies in a powered flying machine the following year, eight years before the Wright brothers attempt at Kitty Hawk. Born in Tenby.
- William Robert GroveWilliam Robert GroveSir William Robert Grove PC QC FRS was a judge and physical scientist. He anticipated the general theory of the conservation of energy, and was a pioneer of fuel cell technology.-Early life:...
Invented the Fuel Cell. Born in Swansea, 1811. - John T. HoughtonJohn T. HoughtonAs co-chair of the IPCC, he defends the IPCC process, in particular against charges of failure to consider non-CO2 explanations of climate change. In evidence to, the Select Committee on Science and Technology in 2000 he said:...
Distinguished meteorologist. Inspiration behind major international conferences on global warming (Rio, Kyoto, Buenos Aires). Born in Wales. - David E. HughesDavid E. HughesDavid Edward Hughes , was a British scientist and musician. Hughes was co-inventor of the microphone, a harpist and a professor of music.-Biography:...
First transmission of radio waves. Inventor of the microphone and printing telegraph system. A musician and philosopher. Born Corwen, Wales. - John Gwyn JeffreysJohn Gwyn JeffreysJohn Gwyn Jeffreys was a British conchologist and malacologist.He was born in Swansea into a propertied Welsh family and educated at Swansea Grammar School. He went to London to qualify as a barrister, which he did. His greater passion however was for conchology...
conchologist (someone who studies shells). He helped pioneer deep-sea dredging. He corresponded with Charles Darwin and was involved with a number of scientific associations. Born into a long-established Welsh family. - Ernest JonesErnest JonesAlfred Ernest Jones was a British neurologist and psychoanalyst, and Sigmund Freud’s official biographer. Jones was the first English-speaking practitioner of psychoanalysis and became its leading exponent in the English-speaking world where, as President of both the British Psycho-Analytical...
He introduced psychoanalysis into Britain and North America. Born in Llwchwy, South Wales. - Samuel Milton Jones Inventor, writer and Mayor of Toledo, Ohio, USA. Born in Carnarvonshire.
- Steve JonesSteve Jones (biologist)John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on...
Professor of genetics at the Galton Laboratory and University College, London. Born in Wales. - William Jones A noted mathematician, published author and early naval navigator. First to use 'Pi' (1706) as a mathematical symbol. Born in Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd.
- Brian Josephson Nobel prize winning physicist; gave his name to 'Josephson Effects'. Born Cardiff.
- Bernard KnightBernard KnightProfessor Bernard Knight, CBE, became a Home Office pathologist in 1965 and was appointed Professor of Forensic Pathology, University of Wales College of Medicine, in 1980. He was awarded the CBE in 1993 for services to forensic medicine....
Forensic pathologist, barrister and writer. Creator of the 'Crowner John' series, historic crime fiction. As a forensic pathologist, worked on the infamous Fred West case, recovering all twelve bodies. Born and spent most of his life in Cardiff. - Francis LewisFrancis LewisFrancis Lewis was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New York....
Signatory of the US 'Declaration of Independence' as one of the representatives from New York. Born in Llandaff. - Edward LhuydEdward LhuydEdward Lhuyd was a Welsh naturalist, botanist, linguist, geographer and antiquary. He is also known by the Latinized form of his name, Eduardus Luidius....
Fellow of Jesus College Oxford. Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum and the foremost Celtic scholar of his time. Born Oswestry, 1660. - Ronald M Lockley Famous naturalist and author. Best known for his life on Skokholm Island off Pembrokeshire 1927-1940 and at Orielton in the 1950s to early 1960s. Born in Cardiff.
- Terry MatthewsTerry MatthewsSir Terence Hedley Matthews OBE, FIEE, FREng is a Welsh business magnate, serial high tech entrepreneur, and Wales's first billionaire....
'Mitel' and 'Newbridge' Networks founder. Born and raised in Wales. - William Morgan (actuary) Inventor of the Vacuum Tube, Coolidge Tube, Britain's first actuary, founding father of modern actuarial science. The unknowing discoverer of x-rays, a hundred and ten years before Roentgen. Born in Bridgend, 1750, died 1830.
- William Henry PreeceWilliam Henry PreeceSir William Henry Preece was a Welsh electrical engineer and inventor. Preece relied on experiments and physical reasoning in his life's work. Upon his retirement from the Post Office in 1899, Preece was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath .-Biography:Preece was born in Caernarfon ,...
was an electrical engineer who was a major figure in the development and introduction of wireless telegraphy and the telephone in Great Britain. Born Feb 15 1834 in Bryn Helen. - Richard PriceRichard PriceRichard Price was a British moral philosopher and preacher in the tradition of English Dissenters, and a political pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the American Revolution. He fostered connections between a large number of people, including writers of the...
Was developer of the times tables for insurance scales. Born at Tynton Farm Llangeinor, South Wales - William PriceWilliam Price (doctor)William Price was a Welsh physician who achieved notoriety for his support of Welsh nationalism, Chartism and his involvement with the Neo-Druidic religious movement...
re-introduced cremation to Britain. Born Llantrisant, South Wales - Pryce Pryce-JonesPryce Pryce-JonesSir Pryce Pryce-Jones was a Welsh entrepreneur who was one of the first to succeed in the mail order business.-Life history:...
Gave mail-order (catalogue) shopping to the world.(circa 1859) Born/lived in Newtown, Montgomeryshire (Powys). - Robert RecordeRobert RecordeRobert Recorde was a Welsh physician and mathematician. He introduced the "equals" sign in 1557.-Biography:A member of a respectable family of Tenby, Wales, he entered the University of Oxford about 1525, and was elected a fellow of All Souls College in 1531...
Very influential physician and mathematician. Robert published some of the most important books of his era including the first English language book on Algebra which incidentally is where the equals symbol is first seen in use. From Tenby, West Wales. - Isaac RobertsIsaac RobertsIsaac Roberts was a Welsh engineer and business man best known for his work as an amateur astronomer, pioneering the field of astrophotography of nebulae. He was a member of the Liverpool Astronomical Society in England and was a fellow of the Royal Geological Society...
He pioneered deep space photography at the end of the 19th century. Born in Groes near Denbigh in 1829. - Richard Roberts (engineer)Richard Roberts (engineer)Richard Roberts was a British engineer whose development of high-precision machine tools contributed to the birth of production engineering and mass production.-Early life:...
Textile machinery, railway locomotives and other industrial inventions. Born Llanymynech, 1789. - Bertrand RussellBertrand RussellBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
Philosopher, mathematician and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Russell is one of the most highly regarded academics of the 20th century. He popularized mathematics and proposed many ground breaking theories. Born in Trelleck, Monmouthshire, South Wales. - David ThomasDavid Thomas (industrialist)David Thomas was a native of Wales who was influential in the birth of the Industrial Revolution in the US.-Development of the hot blast:David Thomas was born in Cadoxton, near Neath...
in 1837 invented a hot blast furnace process to make iron using anthracite coal in Ystradfera (Swansea Valley). transforming the iron-making process there and later in 1839 after re-locating to Pennsylvania where he became the "father" of the American steel industry with his invention. - Sir Tudor ThomasTudor ThomasSir James William Tudor Thomas universally known as Tudor Thomas was a Welsh ophthalmic surgeon who came to note in 1934 when pioneering work on corneal grafting restored the sight of a man who had been nearly blind for 27 years.-Life history:Thomas was born in Ystradgynlais, Swansea, Wales in 1893...
World famous Welsh eye surgeon from Cardiff. He pioneered ophthalmic corneaplasty in the 1930s. Born in Ystradgynlais 23 May 1893. - Philip VaughanPhilip VaughanPhilip Vaughan was a Welsh inventor and ironmaster who patented the first design for a ball bearing in Carmarthen in 1794. His design ran along a track in an axle assembly, known as a ball race, thus originating the modern ball bearing design.-References:...
Welsh inventor and ironmaster who patented the first design for a ball bearing in Carmarthen in 1794. - Alfred Russel WallaceAlfred Russel WallaceAlfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
Conferred with Darwin (and Darwin with him) regarding evolution of species and acknowledged as theory co-founder by Darwin in his 'On the Origin of Species'. Born LlanbadocLlanbadocLlanbadoc is a village and former civil parish in the ceremonial county of Monmouthshire in Wales.The village is in the Newport postal district of NP15, just across the River Usk from the town of Usk , off the A472...
, near UskUskUsk is a small town in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated 10 miles northeast of Newport.The River Usk flows through the town and is spanned by an ancient, arched stone bridge at the western entrance to the town. A castle above the town overlooks the ancient Anglo-Welsh border crossing - the river can...
, MonmouthshireMonmouthshire (historic)Monmouthshire , also known as the County of Monmouth , is one of thirteen ancient counties of Wales and a former administrative county....
. - Evan WilliamsEvan WilliamsEvan Williams may refer to:* Evan Williams , Canadian actor* Evan Williams , entrepreneur, Blogger and Twitter co-founder* Evan Williams , Scottish football goalkeeper* Evan Williams , horse racing jockey and trainer...
Distinguished physicist, discoverer of the Meson Particle. Born Cwmsychpant, Llandysul, Wales. - Ernest WillowsErnest WillowsErnest Thompson Willows was a pioneer Welsh aviator and airship builder the first person in the United Kingdom to hold a pilots certificate for an airship when the Royal Aero Club awarded him Airship Pilots Certificate No. 1....
pioneering aviator. 'The Father of British Airships' Born in Cardiff, 1896.