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
[hide]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
