Page 143 - English for Writing Research Papers

Chapter 7

Clarifying Who Did What

Factoids

Cocktails: Not the Americans – their first cocktail, the Sazerac , was

invented by a Frenchman in New Orleans in 1838. The British were the
first to mix drinks – in India in around 1750.

Electricity: Not Thomas Edison. The type of electricity we use today was

proposed by Tesla, though Edison was the first to produce a long- lasting
electric lightbulb.
Guillotine: Proposed (but not invented) by Joseph-Ignace Guillotin as a
less painful method of execution, but a similar apparatus had been around
since the 14th century.

Planes and helicopters: not the Wright brothers, but Leonardo Da Vinci.

Printing: Not Johannes Gutenberg – the ancient Chinese were the fi rst to

print on block.

Radio: Not Guglielmo Marconi. Tesla discovered a number of years before

Marconi that radio signals could be transmitted, but never fi led the patent
on his discovery (Marconi patented his 'wireless telegraph').

Sparkling wine: not Dom Pérignon (1638-1715), but fellow Benedictine
monks in the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire, near Carcassonne, in 1531.

The unconscious mind: Not Sigmund Freud (1836-1939), though he was

responsible for making it popular. It was 'invented' by early psychology
experimenters and thinkers, including the American, Charles Sanders
Peirce (1839-1914).

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 125
A. Wallwork, English for Writing Research Papers,
English for Academic Research, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-26094-5_7