Timeline of Irish inventions and discoveries

Irish inventions and discoveries are objects, processes or techniques which owe their existence either partially or entirely to an Irish person. Often, things which are discovered for the first time, are also called "inventions", and in many cases, there is no clear line between the two. Below is a list of such inventions.

Pre-history

 * Ogham prehistory.
 * Iomániocht (Scuaib/Camán/Ioman) - precursors to modern Hurling

6th century

 * Penitential

14th century
name="Annals">Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, p.785, footnote for year 1405. This is likewise in the Annals of Connacht entry for year 1405: Annals of Connacht.
 * Caid (precursor to modern Gaelic football).
 * The Northern Reginians Anthem<ref
 * Whiskey

17th century

 * Irish road bowling.
 * 1661: Modern chemistry founded by Robert Boyle with the publication of The Sceptical Chymist.
 * 1662: Boyle's law discovered by Robert Boyle.
 * 1680s: European adaptation of Drinking chocolate - Hans Sloane. However, this "adaption" is highly disputed. According to historian James Delbourgo, the Jamaicans were brewing “a hot beverage brewed from shavings of freshly harvested cacao, boiled with milk and cinnamon” as far back as 1494.

18th century

 * 1730: Entrepreneurship discovered by Richard Cantillon.

19th century

 * 1805: Beaufort scale created by Francis Beaufort.
 * 1809: Milk of Magnesia discovered by James Murray.
 * 1813: Clanny safety lamp created by William Reid Clanny.
 * 1820:
 * Trinity Peninsula discovered by Edward Bransfield.
 * Modern meat curing and the Bacon Rasher were invented by Henry Denny, a Waterford butcher.
 * 1821: The development of "Extra Stout" beer by Arthur Guinness II and others.
 * 1830: Coffey still patented by Aeneas Coffey.
 * 1831: Intravenous therapy in the treatment of cholera discovered by William Brooke O'Shaughnessy.
 * 1832: Kyanising patented by John Howard Kyan.
 * 1834: The game of Croquet.
 * 1836: Induction coil created by Nicholas Callan.
 * 1838: Screw-pile lighthouse created by Alexander Mitchell.
 * 1843: Quaternion discovered by William Rowan Hamilton.
 * 1844: Hypodermic needle created by Francis Rynd.
 * 1846: Four-cup anemometer created by Thomas Romney Robinson.
 * 1848: Kelvin scale created by Lord Kelvin.
 * 1851: Binaural stethoscope created by Arthur Leared.
 * 1856: Icosian calculus discovered by William Rowan Hamilton.
 * 1857: "Seismology" coined by Robert Mallet.
 * 1859: Greenhouse effect proven by John Tyndall.
 * 1865: The first Transatlantic telegraph cable pioneered by Lord Kelvin on Valentia Island.
 * 1866: The Standard drop method of hanging developed by Dr Samuel Haughton.
 * 1877: Brennan torpedo patented by Louis Brennan.
 * 1879: The rules of Hurling first standardised with the foundation of the Irish Hurling Union.
 * 1881: Stoney units discovered by George Johnstone Stoney.
 * 1885: Cream cracker created by Joseph Haughton.
 * 1886: Graphophone created by Chichester Bell.
 * 1888: Gregg shorthand created by John Robert Gregg.
 * 1889: Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction discovered by George Francis FitzGerald.
 * 1891: "Electron" coined by George Johnstone Stoney.
 * 1894:
 * Joly colour screen created by John Joly.
 * Cohesion-tension theory discovered by John Joly and Henry Horatio Dixon.
 * 1897: USS Holland launched by John Philip Holland.
 * Saccharimeter created by John Hewitt Jellett.

20th century

 * 1900: Reflector sight created by Howard Grubb.
 * 1903: Gyro monorail patented by Louis Brennan.
 * 1905: Underground conveyor belt created by Richard Sutcliffe.
 * 1914: Dublin method discovered by John Joly.
 * 1926: Three-point linkage patented by Harry Ferguson.
 * 1931:
 * Drumm Battery Train created by James J. Drumm.
 * Sudocrem created by Dublin pharmacist Thomas Smith.
 * 1932: The first disintegration of an atomic nucleus by artificially accelerated protons (splitting the atom) discovered by Ernest Walton et al.
 * 1936: Synge's theorem discovered by John Lighton Synge.
 * 1946: Ejection seat - first live test of a reliable, successful modern ejection seat created by James Martin.
 * 1947: Duty-free shopping created by Brendan O'Regan.
 * 1950: Flavoured potato crisps created by Joseph Murphy
 * 1954: Clofazimine discovered by a medical research team led by Vincent Barry.
 * 1960s: Portable defibrillator created by Frank Pantridge.
 * 1970s: Avermectin discovered by William C. Campbell.

21st century

 * 2000s: Sugru developed by Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh in the early 2000s.
 * 2010: Spice bag, invented in The Sunflower takeaway in Templeogue, Dublin in 2010.