List of inventions named after people

This is a list of inventions followed by name of the inventor (or whomever else it is named after). For other lists of eponyms (names derived from people) see Lists of etymologies.

## The list

[edit]

### A to F

[edit]

Bailey bridge in Libya Büchner funnel and flask A round, white Botts' dot A Codd bottle Crompton's mule Davy lamp Dr. Martens boots An Éolienne Bollée London Eye Ferris wheel

* Abney level – William de Wiveleslie Abney
* Aldis lamp – Arthur Cyril Webb Aldis[1]
* Aldrin – Kurt Alder[2]
* Alexanderson alternator – Ernst Alexanderson
* Algorithm – Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī[3]
* Anderson shelter – John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley[4]
* Anderton Shearer Loader – James Anderton[5]
* Appertization – Nicolas Appert
* Archimedes' screw – Archimedes
* Argand lamp – Aimé Argand[6]
* Armstrong breech-loading gun – William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong
* Armstrong's acid – Henry Edward Armstrong[7]
* Austenite – William Chandler Roberts-Austen[8]
* Auston switch – David H. Auston
* Avtomat Kalashnikova (AK-47) – Mikhail Kalashnikov
* Bailey bridge – Donald Bailey
* Bakelite – Leo Baekeland
* Barker code – Ronald Hugh Barker
* Barlow lens – Barlow's wheel – Peter Barlow[9]
* Bath Oliver – William Oliver
* Beaufort scale – Sir Francis Beaufort
* Beecham's Pills – Thomas Beecham
* Belisha beacon – Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha
* Benedict's reagent – Stanley Rossiter Benedict[10]
* Benson raft – Simon Benson[11]
* Bessemer converter – Henry Bessemer
* Billinghurst Requa Battery – William Billinghurst and Josephus Requa
* Birch gun – Noel Birch[12]
* Bird's Custard – Alfred Bird
* Biro – László Bíró
* Blacker Bombard – Stewart Blacker
* Bloomers – Amelia Bloomer
* Botts' dots – Elbert Dysart Botts
* Bourdon gauge – Eugène Bourdon
* Bowden cable – Ernest Monnington Bowden
* Bowie knife – James Bowie
* Bowler hat – Thomas and William Bowler
* Bradshaw's Railway Guide – George Bradshaw
* Braille – Louis Braille
* Bramah Press – Joseph Bramah
* Brannock device – Charles F. Brannock
* Brennan torpedo – Louis Brennan[13]
* Brougham – Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux
* M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle – John Browning
* Büchner funnel, Büchner flask – Ernst Büchner
* Bunsen burner – Robert Bunsen
* Burr Arch Truss – Theodore Burr[14]
* Callanetics – Callan Pinckney
* Cardigan – James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
* Carnot cycle, Carnot heat engine – Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot
* Cassegrain telescope – Laurent Cassegrain
* Catherine Wheel – Catherine of Alexandria
* Chippendale chair, Chippendale furniture – Thomas Chippendale
* Clerihew – Edmund Clerihew Bentley
* Coade stone – Eleanor Coade
* Codd-neck bottle – Hiram Codd
* Coddington magnifier – Henry Coddington
* Colt revolver – Samuel Colt
* Coffey still – Aeneas Coffey
* Congreve rocket – Sir William Congreve, 1st Baronet
* Crompton's mule – Samuel Crompton
* Crookes tube – William Crookes[15]
* Cunningham – Briggs Cunningham
* Daguerreotype – Louis Daguerre
* Dalén light – Gustaf Dalén
* Daly detector – Norman Richard Daly
* Daniell cell – John Frederic Daniell
* Davenport desk – Captain John Davenport
* Davis Gun – Cleland Davis
* Davy lamp – Humphry Davy
* Derrick – Thomas Derrick
* Derringer – Henry Deringer
* Dewar flask – James Dewar
* Diesel engine, diesel fuel – Rudolf Diesel
* Dimroth condenser – Otto Dimroth
* Divers's solution – Edward Divers
* Dr. Martens – Klaus Märtens
* Dolby noise-reduction system – Ray Dolby
* Doppler radar – Christian Doppler
* Draisine – Karl Drais
* Edison effect (Thermionic emission) – Thomas Edison
* Edison screw – Thomas Edison
* Ehrlich's reagent – Paul Ehrlich
* Éolienne Bollée – Ernest Sylvain Bollée
* Ericsson engine – John Ericsson
* Erlenmeyer flask – Emil Erlenmeyer
* Euclidean geometry – Euclid
* Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife – William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes
* Faraday cage – Michael Faraday
* Farrimond friction hitch – Barry Farrimond
* Ferris wheel – George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.
* Flinders bar – Matthew Flinders
* Foley catheter – Frederic Foley
* Foucault pendulum – Léon Foucault
* Francis turbine – James B. Francis
* Franklin stove – Benjamin Franklin
* French drain \- Henry F. French
* Fresnel lens – Augustin-Jean Fresnel
* Friedrichs condenser – Fritz Walter Paul Friedrichs
* Frost Airship Glider – William Frost

### G to M

[edit]

A British 1865 Gatling gun Gladstone bag Gramme dynamo Jacquard loom Mausoleum – The Taj Mahal Mills bomb Minié balls Moog synthesiser

* Galil – Yisrael Galil
* Gallup Poll – George Gallup
* Galvanometer, galvanic cell – Luigi Galvani
* Garand – John Garand
* Gatling gun – Richard Jordan Gatling
* Gatso cameras – Maus Gatsonides
* Geiger counter – Hans Geiger
* Geiger–Müller tube – Hans Geiger and Walther Müller
* George Foreman Grill – George Foreman
* Gillette safety razor – King Camp Gillette
* Gladstone bag – William Ewart Gladstone
* Glauber's salt – Johann Rudolf Glauber
* Gore-Tex – Bill Gore
* Graham condenser – Thomas D. Graham
* Graham cracker – Rev Sylvester Graham
* Gramme dynamo – Zénobe Gramme
* Gregorian telescope – James Gregory
* Guillotine – Joseph-Ignace Guillotin
* Gurney Stove – Goldsworthy Gurney[16]
* Halkett boat – Peter Halkett
* Hallidie ropeway – Andrew Smith Hallidie
* Halligan bar – Hugh Halligan
* Hammond organ – Laurens Hammond
* Heimlich Maneuver – Henry Heimlich
* Hele-Shaw clutch – Henry Selby Hele-Shaw
* Henry rifle – Benjamin Tyler Henry
* Higgins boat – Andrew Higgins
* Hobbs Meter – John Weston Hobbs[17]
* Holter Monitor – Norman Holter[18]
* Hoover – William Henry Hoover
* Horlicks – James and William Horlick
* Horsley–Clarke apparatus – Victor Horsley and Robert H. Clarke
* Horstmann suspension – Sidney Horstmann
* Howell torpedo – John Adams Howell[19]
* Humphrey pump – H. A. Humphrey
* Hutchinson Patent Stopper – Charles G. Hutchinson
* Inglis Bridge – Charles Inglis
* Jacuzzi – Candido Jacuzzi
* Jacquard loom – Joseph Marie Jacquard
* Josephson junction – Brian David Josephson
* Kalashnikov – Mikhail Kalashnikov
* Kaplan turbine – Viktor Kaplan
* Kay's flying shuttle – John Kay
* Kégresse track – Adolphe Kégresse[20]
* Kelvin bridge – William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin
* Ketchum Grenade – William F. Ketchum
* Kilner jar – John Kilner
* Kipp's apparatus – Petrus Jacobus Kipp
* Krarup cable – Carl Emil Krarup
* Land Camera – Edwin H. Land
* Langmuir probe – Irving Langmuir
* Leigh light – Humphrey de Verd Leigh
* Leotard – Jules Léotard
* Leslie speaker – Donald Leslie
* Lewis gun – Isaac Newton Lewis
* Littlejohn adaptor – František Janeček
* Loganberry – James Harvey Logan
* Lyot filter, Lyot stop and Lyot depolarizer – Bernard Lyot
* Macadam, tarmac – John Loudon McAdam
* Machmeter – Ernst Mach
* Mackintosh – Charles Macintosh
* Mae West – Mae West
* Mallet's Mortar – Robert Mallet
* Manby Mortar – George William Manby[21]
* Mansard roof – François Mansart
* Marconi rig – Guglielmo Marconi
* Mason jar – John Landis Mason
* Masonite \- William H. Mason
* Mausoleum – Mausolus
* Maxim gun – Hiram Stevens Maxim
* McCormick reaper – Cyrus McCormick
* Melba toast, Peach Melba, Melba sauce – Nellie Melba
* Melvillade – Robert Melville
* Mercator projection – Gerardus Mercator
* Mercerised cotton – John Mercer
* Michelson interferometer – Albert Abraham Michelson
* Mills bomb – William Mills
* Minié ball, Minié rifle – Claude-Étienne Minié[22]
* Molotov cocktail – Vyacheslav Molotov
* Momsen Lung, Charles B. Momsen[23]
* Moog synthesizer – Robert Moog
* Morse code – Samuel Morse
* Muntz metal – George Frederic Muntz
* Murphy bed – William Lawrence Murphy

### N to S

[edit]

Early Odhner Arithmometer Pavlova dessert John J. Pershing wearing a Sam Browne belt Sousaphones in Switzerland Stanhope gig Sir Wilfred Stokes with Stokes Mortars

* Napier's bones – John Napier
* Newcomen steam engine – Thomas Newcomen
* Newtonian telescope – Isaac Newton
* Newton's Cradle – Isaac Newton
* Nissen hut – Peter Norman Nissen
* Nordenfelt gun – Thorsten Nordenfelt
* Northrop Loom – James Henry Northrop
* Odhner Arithmometer – Willgodt Theophil Odhner[24]
* Odón device – Jorge Odón[25]
* Ormerod link – Edward Ormerod
* Ostwald viscometer – Wilhelm Ostwald
* Owen submachine gun – Evelyn Owen
* Parkesine – Alexander Parkes
* Pasteurization – Louis Pasteur
* Patchett gun – George William Patchett
* Pavlova – Anna Pavlova
* Payne's grey – William Payne
* Peavey – Joseph Peavey
* Pelton turbine – Lester Allan Pelton
* Penning trap – Frans Michel Penning
* Petri dish – Julius Richard Petri
* Phillips screw – Henry F. Phillips
* Pilates – Joseph Pilates
* Pimm's – James Pimm
* Pinchbeck – Christopher Pinchbeck
* Pintsch gas – Julius Pintsch
* Pitman shorthand – Isaac Pitman
* Pitot tube – Henri Pitot
* Plimsoll line – Samuel Plimsoll
* Prince Rupert's Drop – Prince Rupert of the Rhine
* Pulaski – Ed Pulaski
* Pupin coil – Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin
* Puretic power block – Mario Puratić
* Prusik – Karl Prusik
* Raglan sleeve – Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan[26]
* Raman spectroscopy – C. V. Raman
* Rawlplug – John Joseph Rawlings
* Richter magnitude scale – Charles Francis Richter
* Ripley machine gun – Ezra Ripley
* Rorschach test – Hermann Rorschach
* Rozière balloon – Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier
* Rubik's Cube – Ernő Rubik
* Rumford fireplace – Benjamin Thompson
* Salk vaccine – Jonas Salk
* Salter's duck – Stephen Salter
* Sam Browne belt – Sam Browne
* Sandwich – Earl of Sandwich
* Savery engine – Thomas Savery
* Saxophone – Adolphe Sax
* Scavenger's daughter – Leonard Skeffington (or Skevington)
* Scheele's Green – Carl Wilhelm Scheele
* Schick test – Béla Schick
* Shrapnel shell – Henry Shrapnel
* Sousaphone – John Philip Sousa
* Southern blot – Edwin Southern
* Soyer stove – Alexis Soyer
* Spragg Bag – Terry Spragg
* Sprengel explosives, Sprengel Pump – Hermann Sprengel
* Stabinger viscometer – Hans Stabinger
* Stanhope – Henry FitzRoy Stanhope
* Stark spectroscopy – Johannes Stark
* Stelzer engine – Frank Stelzer
* Stephenson's Rocket \- Robert Stephenson
* Sten – Reginald V. Shepherd, Harold Turpin, Enfield
* Stetson – John Batterson Stetson
* Stiefografie – Helmut Stief
* Stillson wrench – Daniel Chapman Stillson
* Stirling engine – Rev. Robert Stirling
* Stockbridge damper – George H. Stockbridge
* Stokes mortar – Wilfred Stokes
* Strowger switch – Almon Brown Strowger
* Swallow float – John C. Swallow

### T to Z

[edit]

Thompson submachine gun Etherwave Theremin by Robert Moog Watt steam engine[27] Wedgwood blue plate Winchester rifle, 1886 US Zeppelin

* Taj Mahal \- Mumtaz Mahal
* Taser – Tom Swift electric rifle
* Tesla coil, Tesla turbine – Nikola Tesla
* Theremin – Léon Theremin[28]
* Thompson submachine gun – John T. Thompson
* Tobin tax — James Tobin
* Tupperware – Earl Silas Tupper
* Ubbelohde viscometer – Leo Ubbelohde
* Uzi – Uziel Gal
* Venn diagram – John Venn
* Vernier scale – Pierre Vernier
* Very pistol, Very flare – Edward Wilson Very
* Vigreux column – Henri Vigreux
* Voltaic pile – Alessandro Volta
* Wagner tuba – Richard Wagner
* Wankel engine – Felix Wankel
* Wardian case – Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward
* Waterhouse stop – John Waterhouse
* Watt's linkage & Watt steam engine – James Watt
* Wedgwood porcelain – Wedgwood family
* Welin breech block – Axel Welin
* Wellington boot – Duke of Wellington
* Wells turbine – Alan Arthur Wells
* Westinghouse air brake – George Westinghouse
* Weston cell – Edward Weston
* Wheatstone bridge – Charles Wheatstone
* Whitehead Torpedo – Robert Whitehead[29]
* Whitworth thread – Joseph Whitworth
* Wiegand wire – John R. Wiegand
* Wilhelmy plate – Ludwig Wilhelmy
* Wilson chamber – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson
* Winchester rifle – Oliver Winchester
* Windsor knot – Edward VII of the United Kingdom
* Winogradsky column – Sergei Winogradsky[30]
* Wollaston landscape lens – William Hyde Wollaston
* Wollaston wire – William Hyde Wollaston
* Woodruff key – W.N. Woodruff
* Wood's glass – Robert W. Wood
* Yablochkov candle – Pavel Yablochkov
* Yale lock – Linus Yale, Jr.
* Zamboni – Frank Zamboni
* Zamboni pile – Giuseppe Zamboni
* Zeppelin – Ferdinand von Zeppelin

## See also

[edit]

* List of inventors
* List of inventors killed by their own inventions
* List of inventions named after places
* Timeline of historic inventions
* List of scientists
* Lists of etymologies
* Scientific phenomena named after people
* List of named inorganic compounds

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Aldis lamp". Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
2. ^ "aldrin". Merriam-Webster dictionary. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
3. ^ "Al-Khwārizmī". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
4. ^ "What was an Anderson Shelter". Retrieved 13 April 2013.
5. ^ Coyle, Geoff. The Riches Beneath our Feet:How Mining Shaped Britain.
6. ^ Old-House Journal. 1976. p. 7.
7. ^ Senning, Alexander. Elsevier's Dictionary of Chemoetymology. p. 30.
8. ^ "The Free Dictionary". Retrieved 21 April 2013.
9. ^ "Barlow's Wheel". Retrieved 21 April 2013.
10. ^ Senning, Alexander. Elsevier's Dictionary of Chemoetymology. p. 43.
11. ^ "First seaworthy log raft helped Oregon build city of San Diego". Retrieved 21 April 2013.
12. ^ Kinard, Jeff. Artillery: An Illustrated History of Its Impact. p. 291.
13. ^ "The Brennan Torpedo and Melbourne". Retrieved 4 August 2013.
14. ^ "Truss types". Ohio DOT. Archived from the original on 4 September 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
15. ^ Crookes, William (December 1878). "On the illumination of lines of molecular pressure, and the trajectory of molecules". Phil. Trans. 170: 135–164\. doi:10.1098/rstl.1879.0065. S2CID 122178245.
16. ^ "Sir Goldsworthy Gurney 1793 – 1875". The Magic of Cornwall. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
17. ^ "Time is money – The Hobbs meter is the instrument pilots love to hate". Flight Training. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
18. ^ "[Telemetry in the clinical setting]". Retrieved 21 April 2013.
19. ^ "History of the Howell Torpedo". Naval Undersea Museum. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
20. ^ "Citroën-Kegresse-Hinstin Autochenille". Retrieved 21 April 2013.
21. ^ "George Manby 1765–1854 – 'Norfolk's Eccentric Genius'". Maritime Heritage. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
22. ^ "CivilWar @Smithsonian". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 12 July 2014.,"Historical Firearms". Retrieved 12 July 2014.
23. ^ "Vice Admiral Charles B. Momsen". Fleet Submarine. November 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
24. ^ "The life and works of W. T. Odhner, part I" (PDF). Retrieved 21 April 2013.
25. ^ "Odon childbirth device: Car mechanic uncorks a revolution". BBC News. 3 December 2013.
26. ^ Oxford English Dictionary Third edition, (2008) online version September 2011, accessed 7 November 2011. An entry for this word was first included in New English Dictionary, 1903.
27. ^ 3rd edition Britannica 1797
28. ^ "Leon Theremin: The man and the music machine". BBC News. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
29. ^ "Curator's Choice -Whitehead torpedo". RN Submarine Museum. Archived from the original on 18 August 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
30. ^ "The Microbial World: Winogradsky column: perpetual life in a tube". Retrieved 21 April 2013.