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.