Canadian Inventors and Engineers

883 Words2 Pages

Although Canadians have made more improvements and advances on inventions rather than solo inventions, Canadian inventors have contributed more than they are generally given credit for. Canadian inventors have been making contributions to society for hundreds if not thousands of years. Among the many Canadian inventions prior to the Second World War are the telephone which was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 , the light bulb invented by Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans in 1874, and Plexiglas co-invented by William Chalmers in 1931. After the Second World War Canadian inventors and engineers continued to contribute to the world by working on projects that would alter and vastly improve the technology of modern society.
Canadian inventors and engineers have contributed to and solely developed many inventions. Some Canadian inventions were ground breaking such as keyframe animation, invented in 1969 by Nestor Burtnyk and Marceli Wein which revolutionized 3D animation, or the electric wheelchair invented by George Klein in 1952. Other Canadian inventions have been less revolutionary such as the retractable beer carton handle invented by Steve Pasjack in 1957, or Trivial Pursuit invented by Chris Haney and Scott Abbott in 1979, which while entertaining was not exactly revolutionary. Canadians have made many developments and while recognition has been given for inventions such as the Canadarm, there has not been widespread recognition for many Canadian inventions which have also been of great importance.
Java Programming Language was invented by James Arthur Gosling of Calgary, Alberta in 1994. Java is a platform-independent language which allows entertainment systems to communicate with each other. Java was a revolutio...

... middle of paper ...

...ft up to 266,000 kilograms in space. The Canadarm also established Canada’s great reputation for technological and robotic innovation.
Despite the recognition of the Canadarm there are many Canadian inventions which are not recognized as Canadian and perhaps the lack of recognition is due to a lack of bragging. However there are many inventions which are less important that are recognized which gives no reason as to why the important inventions have been left out of Canadian classes and common knowledge. Many of these inventions were featured in the mental_floss article 19 Things You Might Not Know Were Invented in Canada. This shows that it is a part of Canadian history that has been somewhat lost. Perhaps the article is showing not only an interesting bit of trivia but also the fact that people should recognize the innovation of the great but unsung inventors.

Open Document