THE SCOTS WHO MADE THE MODERN WORLD

 

You can bank on it:

The Bank of England was founded by Scotsman, William Paterson in 1694, the Bank of Scotland followed a year later

Radar man:

Scots physicist Robert Watson-Watt uses a kite and a wireless transmitter to test his theories in 1931

Telephone:

Alexander Graham Bell gives a demonstration of his new invention, the telephone

Steam Engine:

James Watt was an inventor from Greenock, Scotland, a mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native land and throughout the rest of the world

US Navy:

John Paul Jones of Kirkbean, Scotland fought alongside American patriots against the British during the American War of Independence. In one naval conflict, when his ship was blown to bits, the Captain of the British ship used anchors to fasten his own ship to that of Jones'. When invited by the British to surrender, Jones famously replied: "Surrender? I've not started fighting yet." He did start fighting and inspired his crew to follow suit, they fought like demons, eventually overpowering the British who subsequently surrendered. The Scotsman took his opposite number prisoner and locked him and what was left of his crew in the bowels of his own ship. There the legend was born, as was the United States Navy.

Royal flush:

Eighteenth-century watchmaker Alexander Cummings was the first to patent a design of the flush toilet. In 1775 he invented the, S-trap – still in use today – which uses standing water to prevent nasty smells backing up out of the sewer

On toast:

Alan MacMasters was a Scottish scientist who invented the first electric bread toaster

 

Cool, like the Fonz:

Physicist and chemist William Cullen demonstrated the first method of artificial refrigeration in 1748. However it was not put to practical use until much later

Moving pictures / the movies:

John Logie Baird the Scottish inventor of televison apparatus that he presented to the Science Museum

On your bike:

A debate as to which Scot invented the two wheel pedal bicycle still rages. Thomas McCall built two models in 1869 but was later accosted by the family Kirkpatrick MacMillan who claimed MacMillan had beat him to it thirty years earlier

Doctor in the house:

Alexander Fleming won a Nobel prize for his discovery of penicillin in 1928 the antibiotic that was an effective counter measure to bacterial infections

There are of course, many more great Scottish inventions which we could have listed here, but, we don't like to boast.