List of inventions named after people
From Self-sufficiency
This is a list of inventions followed by name of the inventor (or whom it is named after). For other lists of eponyms (names derived from people) see Lists of etymologies.
Contents
The list
A to G
- Appertization (canning for food preservation) – Nicolas Appert
- Aldis Lamp – Arthur C. W. Aldis
- Aldrin – Kurt Alder
- Alexanderson alternator – Ernst Alexanderson
- Archimedes' screw – Archimedes
- Anderson shelter – Sir John Anderson
- Argand lamp – Ami Argand
- Armstrong breech-loading gun – William George Armstrong
- Bailey bridge – Donald Bailey
- Bath Oliver – Dr William Oliver
- Bakelite – Leo Baekeland
- Beecham's pills – Thomas Beecham
- Belisha beacon – Leslie Hore-Belisha, Minister of Transport
- Bessemer converter – Henry Bessemer
- Bird's Custard Condenser_(laboratory)#Graham_condenser Alfred Bird
- Biro, (ballpoint pen) – Laszlo Biro
- Blacker Bombard – Lt Col Blacker
- Bloomers – Amelia Bloomer promoted the apparel.
- Bowie knife – Jim Bowie
- Bowden Cable – Ernest Monnington Bowden
- Bowler hat – Thomas and William Bowler
- Bradshaw's Railway Guide – George Bradshaw
- Braille – Louis Braille
- Bramah Press – Joseph Bramah
- Bourdon gauge - Eugene Bourdon
- Browning Automatic Rifle – John Browning
- Büchner flask – Ernst Büchner
- Brougham (carriage) – Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux
- Bunsen burner – Robert Bunsen
- Callanetics – Callan Pinckney
- Cardigan – James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
- Carnot cycle, Carnot heat engine – Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot
- Catherine Wheel – Saint Catherine of Alexandria
- Codd bottle – Hiram Codd
- Colt revolver – Samuel Colt
- Coffey still – Aeneas Coffey
- Crompton's mule – Samuel Crompton
- Cunningham (downhaul) – Briggs Swift Cunningham II
- Daguerreotype – Jacques Daguerre
- Dalén light – Gustaf Dalén
- Daniell cell – John Frederic Daniell
- Davenport desk – Captain Davenport
- Davy lamp – Humphry Davy
- Derringer – Henry Deringer
- Derrick – Thomas Derrick
- Dewar flask – James Dewar
- Diesel engine – Rudolf Diesel
- Dimroth condenser – Otto Dimroth
- Doc Martens – Dr. Klaus Märtens
- Dolby noise reduction system – Ray Dolby
- Doppler radar – Christian Doppler (see also: Doppler effect)
- Draisine – Karl Drais
- Éolienne Bollée – Ernest Sylvain Bollée
- Ericsson cycle heat engine – John Ericsson
- Erlenmeyer flask – Richard Erlenmeyer
- Euclidean Geometry – Euclid
- Faraday cage – Michael Faraday
- Ferris wheel – George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr.
- Foley catheter – Frederic Foley
- Foucault pendulum – Jean Bernard Léon Foucault
- Franklin stove – Benjamin Franklin
- Fresnel lens – Augustin-Jean Fresnel
- Friedrich condenser – Fritz Walter Paul Friedrichs
- Galil assault rifle – Israel Galili
- Gallup poll – George Gallup
- Garibaldi biscuit – Guiseppe Garibaldi, Italian general
- Galvanic cell – Luigi Galvani
- Gatling gun – Richard J. Gatling
- Gatsometer – Maurice Gatsonides
- Geiger counter – Hans Geiger
- Geiger-Müller tube – Hans Geiger and Walther Müller
- M1 Garand rifle – John Garand
- Gillette safety razor – King C. Gillette
- Gladstone bag – William Ewart Gladstone
- Glauber's salt – Johann Rudolf Glauber
- Gore-Tex – Bill Gore
- Graham condenser – Thomas D. Graham
- Guillotine – Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, who proposed the use of the mechanical device to carry out death penalties in France
H to Q
- Halkett boat – Peter Halkett
- Hallidie ropeway – Andrew Smith Hallidie
- Halligan bar – Hugh Halligan
- Hammond Organ – Laurens Hammond
- Heimlich maneuver – Henry Heimlich
- Hoover – William Henry Hoover
- Hutchinson Patent Stopper – Charles G. Hutchinson
- Jacob's staff – Jacob or St James
- Jacuzzi – Candido Jacuzzi
- Jacquard loom – Joseph Marie Jacquard
- Josephson junction – Brian David Josephson
- Kalashnikov guns (e.g. the AK-47) – Mikhail Kalashnikov
- Kay's flying shuttle – John Kay
- Kilner jar – John Kilner
- Kipp's apparatus – Petrus Jacobus Kipp
- Krarup cable – Carl Emil Krarup
- Land Camera – Edwin H. Land
- Leigh light – Humphry de Verde Leigh
- Leotard – named after Jules Léotard
- Leslie speaker – Donald Leslie
- Lewis Gun – Isaac Newton Lewis
- Littlejohn adaptor – František Janeček – Janeček translates as Littlejohn.
- Loganberry – James Harvey Logan
- Macadam road – John Loudon McAdam
- Mae West inflatable life jacket – named after actress Mae West
- Macintosh (the waterproof coat) – Charles Macintosh
- Mansard roof – François Mansart
- Marconi rig (sloop) – Guglielmo Marconi – a satiric reference to complicated spreaders and shrouds that had the appearance of radio antennas of the time
- Mason jar – John Mason
- Mausoleum – named after King Mausolus
- Maxim gun – Hiram Maxim
- Mercator projection – Gerardus Mercator
- Mills bomb – William Mills
- Newtonian Telescope – Sir Isaac Newton
- Melba sauce, Peach Melba and Melba toast – Dame Nelly Melba
- Molotov cocktail – invented by the Finnish army, and named after Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet Minister of War
- Moog synthesizer – Robert Moog
- Morse code – Samuel Morse
- Muntz metal – George Frederick Muntz
- Napier's bones – John Napier
- Newcomen engine – Thomas Newcomen
- Nissen hut – Peter Norman Nissen
- Northrop Loom- James Henry Northrop
- Owen gun – Evo Owen.
- Pavlova – Anna Pavlova
- Pasteurization – Louis Pasteur
- Patchett gun – George William Patchett
- Payne's grey – William Payne
- Peavey (tool) – Joseph Peavey
- Pelton turbine – Lester Pelton
- Petri dish – Julius Richard Petri
- Pinchbeck (alloy) – Christopher Pinchbeck
- Pintsch gas – Julius Pintsch
- Phillips screw – Henry F. Phillips
- Pitman shorthand – Sir Isaac Pitman
- Pitot Tube – Henri Pitot
- Plimsoll line – Samuel Plimsoll
- Pulaski (tool) – Ed Pulaski
- Pupin coil – Michael I. Pupin
- Prusik knot – Karl Prusik
R to Z
- Raman spectroscopy – C. V. Raman
- Rawlplug – John Joseph Rawlings
- Richter magnitude scale – Charles Richter
- Rubik's Cube – Ernő Rubik
- Rumford fireplace – Count Rumford
- Prince Rupert's Drop – Prince Rupert of the Rhine
- Salk vaccine – Jonas Salk
- Salter's Duck – Stephen Salter
- Sam Browne belt – Gen. Sam Browne
- Sandwich – Earl of Sandwich
- Saxophone – Adolphe Sax, Belgian music instrument designer
- Shrapnel shell – Henry Shrapnel
- Schick test – Béla Schick
- Sousaphone – John Philip Sousa
- Soyer stove – Alexis Soyer
- Stanhope (carriage) – Capt. Henry FitzRoy Stanhope
- Stark spectroscopy – Johannes Stark
- Stelzer engine – Frank Stelzer
- Sten gun – Shepherd, Turpin (and their employer RSAF Enfield)
- Stetson – John B. Stetson
- Stiefografie – Helmut Stief, inventor of a German shorthand system
- Stillson wrench – Daniel C. Stillson
- Stirling engine – Rev. Robert Stirling
- Strowger switch (part of the first automatic telephone exchange) – Almon Strowger
- Thompson submachine gun – John T. Thompson
- Tesla coil, Tesla turbine – Nikola Tesla
- Theremin – Leon Theremin
- Uzi submachine gun – Uziel Gal
- Venn Diagram – John Venn
- Vernier scale – Pierre Vernier
- Very pistol – Edward Wilson Very
- Vigreux condenser – Henri Vigreux
- Voltaic pile – Alessandro Volta
- Wagner tuba – Richard Wagner
- Wankel engine – Felix Wankel
- Watt's linkage – James Watt
- Wedgwood porcelain – Wedgwood family
- Wellington boot – Duke of Wellington
- Westinghouse air brake – George Westinghouse
- Wheatstone bridge -Sir Charles Wheatstone
- Winchester repeating rifle – chief investor Oliver F. Winchester
- Whitworth thread – Joseph Whitworth
- Wiegand wire – John R. Wiegand
- Wilson chamber – Charles Thomas Rees Wilson
- Wollaston wire – William Hyde Wollaston
- Woodruff key – W. N. Woodruff
- Yale lock – Linus Yale, Jr.
- Zeppelin – Ferdinand von Zeppelin
