Invented in Scotland

In the home, on the road, in business, the classroom, sport, finance, medicine, farming, travel, crime and war, Scottish inventors have truly revolutionised the modern world. In this lavishly illustrated account, Allan Burnett examines the life and works of a host of remarkable individuals whose inventions propelled humanity out of fumbling darkness and into a brighter future, allowing us to work faster, build better, travel further and live longer. His account includes such luminaries as John Logie Baird, James Clerk Maxwell, Alexander Graham Bell, John Napier, Adam Smith, James Naismith, James Young Simpson, Thomas Telford, James Anderson, Allan Pinkerton and many more. In a fascinating story, Allan Burnett reveals how these characters changed the world with a diverse range of inventions, varying from the electric clock, television, refrigerator and telephone to fizzy drinks, bicycles, encyclopaedias, computers, decimals points, anaesthesia, detective agencies, vaccines, and a myriad of other innovations.


Invented in Scotland explains how great ideas and theories were turned into real practical innovations that revolutionised our everyday lives and the struggle of these remarkable people to create products, machines, systems and gadgets that infinitely broadened mankind's horizons. The lives of Scotland's inventors have been at turns awesome, shocking, sad and hilarious. Their ambitions were achieved sometimes against huge odds and in circumstances of immense personal hardship. Often the competition in their field was fierce, even dangerous. Invented in Scotland brings these characters to life through informative and entertaining prose, taking readers on a thrilling journey of discovery.