You may imagine as you sit back this morning all toasty-warm, thanks to your
underfloor heating, and sip on a cup of freshly ground coffee that you want
for nothing; that everything that can be invented is already in the shops,
on sale for £4.99.
You have a telephone that can send pictures to your sister in Australia. You
have a thing for removing the stubborn lid from a jar of pickled onions. You
have pills for when you have a headache and pills to keep you unpregnant
when you don’t.
Certainly, if I were a modern-day Caractacus Potts and I were sitting in my
shed wondering what to come up with next, I’d be suicidal with despair. And
a bit murderous every time I thought of that bastard Trevor Baylis, with his
bloody wind-up radio.
Maybe I would eventually hit upon the idea of turning someone’s foreskin into
a spare pair of eyelids, but guess what. Someone’s already come up with that
as a method for helping burns victims.
When we have reached a point at which a human ear can be grown on a mouse’s
back, and we have built so many bridges that we are reduced to connecting
the tiny Humberside villages of Barton and Hessle just to give the
construction companies something to do, it’s easy to sit back and relax.
In fact, though, we are about to enter an age when engineers, designers and
men in sheds everywhere will be needed more than ever before. Because one
day soon the oil and gas will run out - and the only alternatives being
suggested right now are coming from people who smoke way too much cannabis.
Like the tide, man. And, you know, the wind is totally, like, sustainable.
If we want to keep the world warm, lit and moving, this is genuinely alarming.
Especially, as I discovered last week, when 351,000 engineers are qualifying
every year in China, and India is churning out a further 112,000. Meanwhile
Britain is producing just 25,000. And most of those have names like
something from the bottom of a Scrabble bag and a ticket on the next plane
to South Korea.
You may wonder why this is relevant. I mean, if there is going to be a
replacement for oil, who cares what country is responsible? Certainly it’s
hard to imagine people sitting around in Budapest saying that unless Hungary
gets off its arse the world will die. So why should we be worried in
Britain? Why don’t we let Mr Ng or Mr Patel get on with the work while we
get back to what we’re best at these days? Hiding our kids under the bed,
mostly, and stabbing one another in pubs.
Hmmm. This is all well and good, but unfortunately Mr Ng and Mr Patel couldn’t
invent a brown paper bag even if you gave them 300 years and a million
billion pounds. Oh sure, I’ve heard the stories about how ancient China had
rockets and went to the moon 5,000 years ago, but I’ll let you into a little
secret. It’s all a big bag of rubbish. They haven’t even discovered the
chair yet so I doubt very much they’re even halfway to particle-collector
shields in space.
Then there’s India, which I can’t take seriously until its air force has some
planes with fewer than three wings. Yes, they have nuclear missiles - but
could they actually hit Islamabad with them? “I very much doubt it,” said an
Indian professor chum of mine recently. “I’m not even certain we could hit
Pakistan.” The fact of the matter is this: while the Germans can claim to
have come up with the car, the Italians with electricity and the French with
flight, everything else that has ever mattered in the whole of human history
has come from a man in a shed in Britain.
Everything. The internet, penicillin, the mechanical computer, the electronic
computer, steam power, the seed drill, the seismograph, the umbrella,
Viagra, polyester, the lawnmower, the fax machine, depth charges, scuba
suits, the spinning jenny . . . I could go on, so I will.
Radar, the television, the telephone, the hovercraft, the jet engine, the
sewing machine, the periodic table . . . It doesn’t matter what field you’re
talking about – from submarine warfare to erectile dysfunction. The world
always turns to Britain when some fresh thought is needed. And with only
25,000 engineers coming out of our universities every year, I fear the world
may be doomed.
Of course, you may imagine that the giant economy that is America will ride in
on a horse and save the day, but don’t hold your breath. They got through
the sound barrier only thanks to us; they stole the computer from under our
noses; and they got into space only thanks to the Germans, who knew about
rockets only because our Spitfires had made mincemeat of their
Messerschmitts.
The Americans? Pah. Left to their own devices, I doubt they could build a
pencil.
Sir James Dyson, who makes purple vacuum cleaners of such immense power that
they can suck up rugs, mice and even medium-sized children, is so worried
about the situation that he’s opening a new academy, which will be called
the Dyson School of Design and Innovation.
Backed by Rolls-Royce, Airbus and the Williams Formula One team, it will be
open to 2,500 14 to 18-year-olds in 2010. I’m thinking of enrolling my kids
now, because – hell – even if they fail to come up with an alternative to
oil and their time at the academy comes to naught, they can always make a
fortune in life. As plumbers.
You love cars yet you forgot to mention that we invented tarmac the process for laying road surfaces and modern road surfaces... really Jeremy, tut tut.
Graeme, Edinburgh,
Isnt it time someone invented the political babel fish?
could be used by the common masses to translate the political blurb here and in the US into its true meaning, i.e. propoganda into fooling the masses that the world economy is about to topple!
Steve, Anglesey, Anglesey
Yeh Mendeleev did invent the table, and yeh he was russian. But he got kicked out of russia and had to come to england, where i dont doubt he has a shed. He was in england when he invented the table, thus the period table is english even if they guy who invented it wasnt!
Chris Huggins, Tooting, London, England
So noone remebers the Atanasoff-Berry electronic computer of 1941 at Iowa State? Also, didn't an Austrian invent the first real hovercraft, and a German invent electromechanical television? And while Americans can't make a pencil, we seem to be good at splitting atoms.
Adam Eason, Tuscaloosa, USA
Personally, I blame it on the decline of the shed. Seriously. I would love to invent stuff in my spare time (and also want to restore an old mustang) but my shed is so full of shovels, gardening chairs, wasps etc that it isn't an option. And Mendeleev invented the periodic table - GCSE chemistry.
Ellie Watts, Cambridge, England
@ Thomas, Odense, Denmark
If you take a look in your address bar you'll note the URL ends in .ece
This is an Oracle Express Dynamic Web Page, meaning dynamically generated HTML.
and Tim Berners-Lee of CERN was born in london in 1955...the founder of html.
Didn't say anything about a shed though...
tom watson, blackpool,
"Congreve (English) invented the first rocket (however rubbish it was) whilst fighting Napoleon."
Not true he based his idea on weapons used by India which were also horribly innacurate whether the Indians came up with the idea or got it off someone else however is debateable
S. Miles, Southampton, England
Everyone is missing the point. The past is the past, worry about the future. A shortage of engineers is a problem in both Britain and the US and unless it changes our economies and our posh lives will vanish.
John, Milwaukee, USA
Just a note.
3 prominent computer languages:
C# (Microsoft Windows)
PHP (Web)
C+/C++
All invented by danes.
So when you read this, remember a dane made it possible.
Thomas, Odense, Denmark
Oral contraceptives
Laser
Operating System
Fiberoptics
Calculator
Artificial Heart
INTERNET (computer networking and TCP/IP)
Graphic User Interface
Mouse
Windows
MacOS
Interchangeable parts (Eli Whitney)
Electric Guitar (Fender)
Movies
ATM
Hair Dryer
Blood Bank
Bra
Can opener
Defibrillator
Email
Alex, Austin, TX, USA
Ermm, the Periodic Table was invented by a Russian, the Germans made the first flight in a jet aircraft, and while the very first electronic computer was made by a Brit, it was American companies like IBM, Apple and Microsoft that developed the concept. Scuba tanks were invented by a Frenchman.
Alex, Reading,
Er Jezzer..The first working submarine,not a rowing boat awash under the Thames,or an American in a large barrel trying to blow up English warships ,was invented by an IRISH man.John Phillip Holland,of Liscannor Co Clare to be exact.
sean, Limerick, Ireland
The principle of TV has been thought up in the Soviet nion right after wars but as it could not be patented in the West for the clear reasons also superiority Americans have received. Rockets have been thought up in China most likely still B.C., and Chineses used them in wars (Alexander the Great)
PiterGS, Lybr, Russia, Russia
See, missplaced facts about the US again - the first powered flight has been proved to have occured in New Zealand about six months before your precious wright brothers managed it in the States. BUT, as the US is all powerful, the history books cannot be re-written to lower your standings
Chris Brown, Waikanae, New Zealand
I'm glad to have ancestors from the British Isles but Jeremy, you're sounding a bit like the Russians when they claimed to have invented baseball.
The telephone and powered flight were invented in America. These are pretty well accepted facts. The nascent internet was developed by the Pentagon 40 years ago but the web was developed at CERN.
jake, Nottingham, MD/US
Tim Berners Lee invented the web. He wrote the html language and embedded hypertext linking. If it hadn't been for that the Internet would still be full of gopher protocols and no mass user appeal.
Cedric Woodhall, London, UK
Don't forget Spain's contribution to humanity; namely the lollipop and the mop, of which they are very proud indeed!!
Phillip Bolken, Fraga, Spain
Aussies - Bionic ear. Black box, flight recorder. Rotary clothes line. Rotary lawn mower. Box kite. Stump jump plough. Possibly flight (check out the $20 note next time you're out here). But the greatest, most famous is the wine cask! Or as it is known locally "Chateau Cardboard"
John, Melbourne, Oz
Driving on the left : it's important. People and horsemen coming towards you might have malign intentions and countermeasures are difficult (if you're right-handed) across your body. How would you deal with a lancer ? This drive-on-the-right thing was a Napoleonic invention. Troops march on the left leaving the right clear for horses, wagons and cannon. Folks coming the other way just had to get off the road !
David Thomas, Maidenhead, UK
Can any one tell me whether the following inventions work?
The Benefits Of Water-Fuel Conversions
Drive your vehicle more miles per tank of gas (Save heaps of money on gas!)
Reduce fuel emissions and help the environment
Completely reversible so has no effect on the value of your vehicle
Web sites:
DriveWithWaterFuel
Water4Gas
Wam-a-bam
Also on Youtube. Check for yourself.
Let's face it the claimed(???) savings could save a pile of CO2 but would cost the Government a packet in taxes!
Ooops!, probably why it has been kept very quiet.
M. Cawdery, Portadown, Co. UK, EU.
"If the Brits are so smart, why do they drive on the wrong side of the road?"
Todd Fitting, Middletown, USA
Scientific research shows that driving on the left comes more naturally to most people because they are right-eye dominant. After Sweden switched to driving on the right they got significantly more road accidents. Not just in the 1st month but for years ever since.
Besides all the cool countries drive on the left e.g.Japan
Britain, Australia !
Anthony, Blackburn, Lancashire
Americans make many claims about inventing things, but I suspect most of them were invented by Europeans working in America, or for American companies.
Steve, Torrington,
I'm a British engineer (a proper one, not like the bloke who comes to fix your boiler!), and I'd like nothing more than to spend my days in a wooden shed inventing stuff.
However, I don't think there's much cash in wind-powered-tidal thingys - so I'll have to keep letting those evil oil companies pay me squillions and squillions instead!
Forget the 'rewarding career' stuff: the way to attract more engineering students is to compare an avererage Engineer's salary with, say, a sociology dude, or art historian ;)
Rab, Aberdeen, UK
America did a brilliant service to the rest of the world when it exported its Mortgage Backed Securities. Look how wonderful that worked out!
Rodion Tseitlin, West Bloomfield, MI, USA
Great article Jeremy and I think you've made some good points. It's quite annoying that the Americans manage to steal inventions and ideas from us. For example, we would not have had computers if Bletchley Park hadn't been created and the internet was actually created by a British scientist. As for the Periodic Table it's Russian (but a British chemist almost got it).
Meera Patel, Reading, UK
“I very much doubt it,†said an Indian professor chum of mine recently. “I’m not even certain we could hit Pakistan.â€
>>> Another thing the Brits invented - the art of rubbishing oneself... and the Indians have picked it up brilliantly !
Bali, London,
"I think the seismograph was actually invented by a chinaman 2000 years ago.
They also invented tea.
cuffleyburgers, Lucca,"
Tea i would agree with...seismograph i would!
anthony, birmingham,
As an American, I can honestly that Jeremy Clarkson is right! Our country is not capable of great thought or invention. Even if we were, it is far easier to wait for another country to event said item and then have it mass produced in China then sold to waiting American masses for $9.99.
America is a now a culture of convenience, and great thought and invention is not convenient, nor can it be purchased at the local 24 hour super market!
Delancey, Omaha, NE
Anyone quoting examples of things that came out of Australia, let us not forget who invented Australia itself - Britain... exactly...
Gary Horlock, Crawley,
"Because one day soon the oil and gas will run out..."
Not so according to the latest news from Brazil. Apparently a new oil source has just been discovered there that would be the world's third largest rivalling Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, reported in the Guardian.
"Excitement about the potential of Brazil as a massive new source of oil and gas intensified yesterday after a senior energy ministry official declared that the newly found Carioca field could have 33bn barrels in place.
The comments by Haroldo Lima, head of Brazil's National Petroleum Agency, that the country was harbouring an oil find that vied with the largest in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, sent the price of shares in BG, the UK exploration company, up 5% and helped lift the wider London market. The news of the discovery also contradicts pronouncements that growth in world oil production may have peaked."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/16/oil.brazil
Marcus Bachler, Oxford, UK
Oh I see, it's the Americans who are all arrogant is it?
Sometimes I find it so amusing how bitter the British people can be.
Clarkson, I admire you in a way, but I find you and the people that follow you lacking in a key area. Knowledge, knowledge of the events and ideas you comment on.
Try picking up a book that isn't written by a Brit once in a while, trying looking at the world from other nation’s perspectives.
And stop with all this "the Germans, who knew about rockets only because our Spitfires had made mincemeat of their Messerschmitts." Because the Germans were 10 years or more ahead in development! And if they were so beaten by us, didn't the war end until 1945? Because we had to go hand out to the Americans (which is all a lie in the world of Clarkson) for arms and money.
We didn’t invent the jet engine! Because if we had, why did the Germans have them in 1938? And why did the Italians fly a jet powered prototype aircraft in 1936?
Alex, Kenilworth,
Yeah Andrew; Rover's where sure built to last. Every decent car in your country is owned and built by Americans or Germans. With the exception of Lotus...which is owned by Malaysia. Jag and AM's no longer are, but I figure it is just a matter of time until they start loosing money again. As for the global oil prices; go talk to the eleventy billion Chinese that have suddenly found themselves out of the dark ages.
David, Ramstein, Germany
Brits are bestest at everything. And everything we make lasts, unlike most of the current foreign rubbish on the market. If and if any Americans have an opnion about that, lets just remember the fact that they've single-handedly managed to crash the world stock and housing markets, along with pushing up global oil prices due to their in ability to see the long term picture...
Andrew, STA,
Being American i can tell you this, America could do something, but we would make it under a price. Thats what America does we build on a very poor budget and then produce it as many ways possible. Look at anything that came out of America, whats even funnier is that not only can we not make things to just be good, but if we get something that is good, we screw it up, take the vauxhall manro, a good cheap car, we take it and make it a bad expensive car but making it have a bad suspension then slap a old 70's muscle car name to it, so we can mess up 2 things by making one thing bad.
Marc Miller, Clayton , North Carolina
The problems with Americans is they are tought they rule the World and thats an end of it. It was an ENGLISH developer who invented the World Wide Web. The Americans only provided the money to get to the Moon, the Germans provided the science and actual ability, and its built on that, that the Americans have then bullied everybody else out and rule it all themselves. Alot of the Space Technology came from America, but it was German scientists using American money creating it. Technically the Americans invented the first thing on wheels with an engine, but it was the Germans who patented it, and the English who showed it to the World.
MJ, England,
Uh, Jeremy, I hate to rain on your parade, but a brit only *discovered* penicillin, an aussie *invented* the way to make it work. In fact, Fleming gave up making it work several times, and when he did try, couldn't quite cut the mustard. So you may want to give that example up ;)
Suzanne, Canberra, Australia
Congreve (English) invented the first rocket (however rubbish it was) whilst fighting Napoleon.
PeterH, Shropshire, uk
Goddard (american) invented the first true rocket in fact Von Braun never denied that the nazis stole plans from Goddartd...want more from space? First communication satellite (american), first weather observation sattelite (american), first space telescope (american), first probe (american), first fixed-wing aircraft to reach space (american), first Astronomical satellites (american), GPS system (american) , environmental monitoring/map making satellites (american) (not to mention usa still rules this technologies) shall i continue? ehehehe
Computers?! Internet (american, where did you get england?!? LOL! ) IBM-PC achitecture (american), transistor (american), silicon chip (american), hard drive (american), video games and video games consoles (american), modems(american)...shall i continue?? Ohh wait im being "arrogant american"....
And sound barrier?!? USA record is at 4,519 mph (x15) where is UK record? X1 was designed after a rifle bullet the english design was going nowhere...
Billy Bob, Crawford, teXas
Another excellent comment Mr Clarkson! Although James Dyson's academy is only likely to get off the ground if the Nimbys in Bath actually let him build it!!
It is refreshing to see someone standing up for the British when everyone else seems keen to demote and lower us and deny that any of the worlds great inventions were ours!
Dan, Bath, BANES
Mr. Clarkson...where have you been in this last 3 weeks?
If you take a break from writing your columns you should advice us. Were not good manners "invented" by britons?
Anyway if i'm not wrong, telephone was invented by Antonio Meucci.. even US congress admitted it, and what about Marconi and the radio?Well, i'm not going to list italian inventions, it's a bore this nationalism. And it's pointless.
Greeks were the cultural capitol of the ancient world, but they couldn't manage their own lands. The romans took the greek culture and adapted it for a social vision of an organized society, and they dominated the world.
I'm afraid that now it's chinese time.
Francesco, Treviso, Italy
Just a few more to come out of Australia; differential gears, the black box flight recorder, the electric drill, latex gloves, pre-paid postage, polymer bank notes, the fridge, the secret ballot, the electronic pacemaker, the bionic ear, the first feature length film. Of course, all this pales into mediocrity and uselessness compared to our most important contribution to civilisation - wine in a cask.
GA, Hong Kong,
Nicely written. Some of the important discoveries and inventions that dates back to an older period, by British: Charles Darwin/Alfred Wallace: Theory of Natural Selection; Issac Newton: Laws of Gravity, Calculus (independent of Leibniz), J J Thomson (Electron), Edmund Halley (Astronomer), Robert Hooke (Microscope), Michael Faraday (Dynamo), Frank Whittle (Jet Engine), Harry Brearley (Stainless Steel), Edward Jenner (Smallpox vaccine), John Napier (Logarithms), Joseph Lister (antiseptic), Sir Ronald Ross (showed Mosquitoes carried Malaria. Apparently, some Indians claim that he was the first Indian to win a Nobel, since he was in born in India) and finally John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (Sandwich).
For a more complete list, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_inventions
Senthil Kumar M, Seoul, South Korea
Eat your heart out Jeremy! There's an Australian invention of such genius, and staggering philosophic importance that our cringe-worthy ex-prime minister, John Howard, wanted to include it as a mandatory subject in his citizenship test to trip up unwary Muslims, Buddhists and Seventh Day Adventists. Drum roll.
The stump jump plough!!!! Lest you feel corroded with jealousy. I have a vague feeling that we were also the inventors of the Hills Hoist. Cop that! :) :) :)
Venise Alstergren, Melbourne, Victoria 3142, AUSTRALIA
didn't the brits invent corporations? bleh.
Andrew, Nevada City, USA/California
As for the jet engine I suggest to search the archives, in a library, and look for Henri Coanda....a romanian inventor :)
rob , bucharest, romania
I'm from Mexico, someone from here invented the chromoscopic TV Adapter... say Color for TV.
Enjoyed the read...
Victor, Mexico City, Mexico
"It should be noted, though, that much of the British ingenuity came out of Scotland. So please share the credit."
I think Britain does actually include Scotland and the Scots - so how is that credit not shared? According to your post you're trying to claim Canada - so I can't see you're that bothered about a praiseworthy Scotland anyway...
Interesting article, Mr Clarkson. I do enjoy the read.
Keith, Cottbus, Germany
Konrad Zuse, a German, invented the first digital reprogrammable Turing complete computer in 1941, two and half years before Colossus which wasn’t re-programmable and wasn’t Turing complete.
Kevin Foy, Dublin, Ireland
Kevin, I have 2 words for you. Difference Engine. Google it.
Darren, Norwich,
If the Brits are so smart, why do they drive on the wrong side of the road?
Todd Fitting, Middletown, USA, CT
Well, the Brits may have invented all those gadgets, but the Americans actually DID something with them, like make them work and make great heaps of money out of them. It's one thing to smoke one's pipe contentedly and admire one's handiwork - it's quite another to bring it up to speed. The Americans are good at that, you know...actually getting things done.
Scott Schirmer, Geneva, Switzerland
Paul from Pottsville: your point was well made. Undoubtedly the world has benefitted incalculably from the invention of cable TV and CDs. This certainly puts penicillin and the steam engine in their place !
James Watt, Edinburgh, UK
I think the seismograph was actually invented by a chinaman 2000 years ago.
They also invented tea.
cuffleyburgers, Lucca,
Cable television and Compact disks were invented in a little coal county in Pennsylvania, so yes, the Brits have invented everything.
Paul, pottsville, pa
Hilarious essay, I love it. Personally, I think what sets Britain and Britons apart on this planet is a) the fact that they are living on an island (wonderful geographical feature to minimise the percentage of time a nation spends on border disputes), b) spend an equally neglectable time on variating daily reproduction mechanisms (alias food), and c) God know how mixed sarcasm, fair play and eloquence into an art that saves them even in the most obvious thunder. Add to this all-year-long bad weather, and the perfect recipe for 24/7 innovation.
Just a minor errata: it's not the Chinese who prefer to sit on tatamis (ie on the ground) but the Japanese. The Chinese sit on chairs just like we do (at least in the last sixteen years they did, that's all I have witnessed on a daily basis).
Oh, and I have heard that statistically speaking it is just the Hungarians who can claim the highest number of (registered) inventions per capita (needs confirmation though).
Zsolt Barczy, Utrecht, Netherlands
Dave from Guelph,
Your point doesn't hold water as Canada was invented by a Scotsman - John A. MacDonald.
Steve Canuck, Toronto , Canada
"Tell you what, if you recognize the contributions that Scotland has made to Science and Engineering you can add most everything from Canada seeing as it was created by Scots in the first place."
Neil, as a Canadian i take great offence to your above comment. Canada is a nation like any other. Once you come here your Canadian.. and your invention is Canadian from that point forward.
dave, Geulph, Canada
I think the key thing that makes Britain work is that you people seem to have it in your deep within your culture to be interested in innovation, as well as knowing how to make innovation itself interesting. I try to talk to another American about lean-burn or fuel vaporization, and even if i use exciting voice inflection and wave my arms around they don't process a thing. However i can log onto a voice-chat with some gaming friends, and all the Brits are more then happy to talk about such technology.
I think you Jeremy are a prime example of this great British wisdom that makes things interesting even when nobody cares in the first place. I don't think Britain has always been great (2000 years ago for example) but its probably the last shining example of human greatness through passionate individually driven innovation.
Pity about your politicians. Otherwise I'd be on the next plane over.
Nick Owczarzak, Saline, Mi, USA
From Wikipedia
John Alexander Reina Newlands (November, 1837 – July 29, 1898) was an English analytical chemist who prepared in 1863 the first periodic table of the elements arranged in order of relative atomic masses, and pointed out in 1865 the 'law of octaves' whereby every eighth element has similar properties. This came from a musical background. He was ridiculed at the time, but five years later Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev published — independent of Newlands' work — a more developed form of the table, also based on atomic masses, which forms the basis of the one used today (arranged by atomic number).
Bob, Adelaide, Australia
"Although the basic applications and guidelines that make the Internet possible had existed for almost a decade, the network did not gain a public face until the 1990s. On August 6, 1991, CERN, which straddles the border between France and Switzerland, publicized the new World Wide Web project. The Web was invented by English scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet
So basically, all Berners-Lee came up with the name "WWW".
Tom Ridge, Maryville, US
It's nice to see Jeremy agreeing with James May on the Men-in-Sheds debate. It should be noted, though, that much of the British ingenuity came out of Scotland. So please share the credit. Tell you what, if you recognize the contributions that Scotland has made to Science and Engineering you can add most everything from Canada seeing as it was created by Scots in the first place.
Neil, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Considering the number of Chinese engineers qualifying every year, do you think one of them can invent a torch that doesn't go out before the Olympics starts?
Stuart Hartill, Ramsey, Isle of Man,
How come only Russians care who really invented the periodic table?
Alya, Moscow,
Nice rant....and it was a Russian bloke (called Mendeleyev) who invented (discovered?) the periodic tables. I should know...my office is right on top of his museum.
Dave, St Petersburg, Russia
Jeremy,
You must surely be one of the brightest stars we have at the moment. I've read your columns all over the world - well, the hot and dangerous bits that no-one in their right mind would want to go to that is.
It's just a shame you're not really running for PM. That means I'll have to vote for the BNP.
Isn't there anything we can do to persuade you, just think, on Monday you could abolish speed limits, Tuesday you could bring back Concorde...
P Templeton, Naples, Italy
Only you could make a Silicon Belly Implant fashionable.
Hans, South East,
i do love this man!!
rupert,, manchester,
Konrad Zuse, a German, invented the first digital reprogrammable Turing complete computer in 1941, two and half years before Colossus which wasn’t re-programmable and wasn’t Turing complete.
Kevin Foy, Dublin, Ireland
Hi
How does this comment section work?
I submitted a comment five minutes ago but it seems to have vanished and no acknowledgement or copy was forthcoming.
David Powell-Evans, Wimbledon,
I'm doing my best, Jeremy... I know I'm pushing middle-age, but I'm trying to gain a degree that will give me in-roads into engineering and I might even do something useful before I retire if I'm lucky (admittedly I won't graduate until I'm 38, so time for me to change the world is relatively short). People take women engineers more seriously these days, thank god, and I'm at a significant advantage over many of my coursemates in that all the lectures are in the language I grew up with (except the computer programming stuff, but no one grows up speaking Pascal). If I save the world, I'll be sure to remember to thank you for being an inspiration!
Wyvern, Plymouth, Devon
Periodic table was invented by russian chemist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table
Denis Suslov, Dalian, China
what the hell happened before victorian times...was the whole world in limbo..nothing seemedto happen much...cars, planes, trains mostly apart from early ones that travelled locally. all came this century and beyond
DAREN, cleveland,
Well said, lad, well said
Fred, Muncie, Indiana, USofA