
Wrote Field Intelligence: Its Principles and Practice (1904) and The Art of Reconnaissance (1907) on the tactical intelligence of modern warfare. Argued for the establishment of the Intelligence Corps. Lieutenant-General Sir David Henderson two areas:.John Elder and Charles Randolph (Marine Compound expansion engine).Marine engine innovations: James Howden (1832–1913).The first practical screw propeller: Robert Wilson (1803–1882).The first iron– hulled steamship: Sir William Fairbairn (1789–1874).Europe's first passenger steamboat: Henry Bell (1767–1830).The Pelamis Wave Energy Converter ("red sea snake" wave energy device): Richard Yemm, 1998.The wave-powered electricity generator: by South African Engineer Stephen Salter in 1977.The Clerk cycle gas engine: Sir Dugald Clerk (1854–1932).Carbon brushes for dynamos: George Forbes (1849–1936).Coal-gas lighting: William Murdoch (1754–1839).Thermodynamic cycle: William John Macquorn Rankine (1820–1872).Condensing steam engine improvements: James Watt (1736–1819).Aircraft design: Frank Barnwell (1910) Establishing the fundamentals of aircraft design at the University of Glasgow."Trac Rail Transposer", a machine to lay rail track patented in 2005, used by Network Rail in the United Kingdom and the New York City Subway in the United States.Crane design improvements: James Bremner (1784–1856).Dock design improvements: John Rennie (1761–1821).Canal design: Thomas Telford (1757–1834).The Drummond Light: Thomas Drummond (1797–1840).The patent slip for docking vessels: Thomas Morton (1781–1832).The Falkirk wheel: Initial designs by Nicoll Russell Studios, Architects, RMJM and engineers Binnie, Black, and Veatch (Opened 2002).Tubular steel: Sir William Fairbairn (1789–1874).The overhead valve engine: David Dunbar Buick (1854–1929).The pneumatic tyre: Robert William Thomson and John Boyd Dunlop (1822–1873).


Įven before the Industrial Revolution, Scots have been at the forefront of innovation and discovery across a wide range of spheres. There are many books devoted solely to the subject, as well as scores of websites listing Scottish inventions and discoveries with varying degrees of science.

Some Scottish contributions have indirectly and directly led to controversial political ideas and policies, such as the measures taken to enforce British hegemony in the time of the British Empire. Often, things that are discovered for the first time are also called " inventions" and in many cases there is no clear line between the two. In some cases, an invention's Scottishness is determined by the fact that it came into existence in Scotland (e.g., animal cloning), by non-Scots working in the country. Scottish inventions and discoveries are objects, processes or techniques either partially or entirely invented, innovated, or discovered by a person born in or descended from Scotland.
