⚜Scottish Inventions

The People

The Minds Behind the Cards

26 inventors, scientists and pioneers so far. The Great Scots series holds more than 200 full biographies.

Women inventors →Inventors abroad →
Portrait of James Watt

James Watt

1736–1819

Father of the modern steam engine.

Read Biography →
Portrait of Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell

1847–1922

Inventor of the telephone.

Read Biography →
Portrait of John Logie Baird

John Logie Baird

1888–1946

Pioneer of mechanical television.

Read Biography →
Portrait of Alexander Fleming

Alexander Fleming

1881–1955

Discovered penicillin.

Read Biography →
Portrait of James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell

1831–1879

Unified electricity, magnetism and light.

Read Biography →
Portrait of James Young Simpson

James Young Simpson

1811–1870

Pioneer of surgical anaesthesia.

Coming Soon
Portrait of William Murdoch

William Murdoch

1754–1839

Inventor of gas lighting.

Read Biography →
Portrait of Robert Watson-Watt

Robert Watson-Watt

1892–1973

Father of radar.

Read Biography →
Portrait of John Napier

John Napier

1550–1617

Inventor of logarithms.

Read Biography →
Portrait of Kirkpatrick Macmillan

Kirkpatrick Macmillan

1812–1878

Traditionally credited with the first pedal-driven bicycle.

Read Biography →
Portrait of John Boyd Dunlop

John Boyd Dunlop

1840–1921

Inventor of the pneumatic tyre.

Coming Soon
Portrait of John Loudon McAdam

John Loudon McAdam

1756–1836

The man who paved the modern world.

Read Biography →
Portrait of Charles Macintosh

Charles Macintosh

1766–1843

Inventor of the waterproof raincoat.

Read Biography →
Portrait of Sir David Brewster

Sir David Brewster

1781–1868

Optics pioneer, inventor of the kaleidoscope.

Read Biography →
Portrait of James Hutton

James Hutton

1726–1797

Founder of modern geology.

Read Biography →
Portrait of Adam Smith

Adam Smith

1723–1790

Father of modern economics.

Read Biography →
Portrait of Sir James Dewar

Sir James Dewar

1842–1923

Inventor of the vacuum flask.

Read Biography →
Portrait of Robert Stirling

Robert Stirling

1790–1878

Inventor of the Stirling engine.

Read Biography →
Portrait of James Goodfellow

James Goodfellow

b. 1937

Inventor of the PIN and ATM.

Coming Soon

Ian Wilmut & Keith Campbell

20th C.

Cloned Dolly the Sheep.

Coming Soon
Portrait of Peter Higgs

Peter Higgs

1929–2024

Predicted the Higgs boson.

Coming Soon
Portrait of Sir James Black

Sir James Black

1924–2010

Developed beta-blockers; Nobel laureate.

Coming Soon

John Mallard & James Hutchison

20th C.

Built the first whole-body MRI scanner.

Coming Soon
Portrait of Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie

1835–1919

Industrialist and philanthropist.

Read Biography →
Portrait of David Dunbar Buick

David Dunbar Buick

1854–1929

Founder of Buick Motor Company.

Read Biography →
Portrait of Allan Pinkerton

Allan Pinkerton

1819–1884

Founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Read Biography →