Happy Canada150 Day with some great Canadian inventions
As Canada marks its 150th birthday, let’s celebrate some favourite inventions Canada gave the world.
C. H. Best and F. G. Banting circa 1924. In 1921, Dr. Frederick Banting and his student Charles H. Best were credited with discovering the hormone insulin in the pancreatic extracts of dogs. The pair then developed insulin for human treatment with the help of Canadian chemist James B. Collip and Scottish physiologist J.J.R.
Macleod. In 1923, Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
Canadian-born engineer Lewis Urry invented the zinc manganese dioxide alkaline battery in 1959. Urry was a development engineer for the Canadian National Carbon Co., a Toronto division of Union Carbide that made Eveready batteries, when he was transferred to Everready’s Cleveland lab tasked to make standard carbon-zinc batteries last longer. Instead, he invented a new battery.
Canadian James Naismith invented the sport of basketball in 1891.
Walter Chell, bartender at the Westin Hotel in downtown Calgary, AB, invented the bloody Caesar cocktail in 1969 to commemorate the opening of the hotel’s Italian restaurant. The drink typically contains vodka, a mix of tomato juice and clam broth, hot sauce, Worchestershire sauce, and is served in a celery salt-rimmed glass with a stock of celery or lime wedge. Clam broth is what distinguishes a Caesar from a Bloody Mary.
Mission specialist Stephen Robinson on his spacewalk with the Canadarm during the last Discovery mission Aug. 8, 2005. Canada invented the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System. The series of robotic arms were used on space shuttle orbiters to deploy, maneuver and capture payloads.
Canadian Roman Kroitor co-invented the IMAX camera in 1968. Kroitor and other co-founders Graham Ferguson, Robert Kerr and William Shaw developed a camera system that allowed for high-resolution images and enlarged projection.
Scottish-born Canadian inventor; scientist and engineer Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone; which he patented and first got to work in 1876. His first communication by the device was “Watson, I want to see you,” spoken to his assistant, Thomas Watson. – Wikimedia Commons
Canadian Arthur Sicard invented the snowblower in 1925.
Canadian artist Joe Shuster co-created the DC Comics hero, Superman, with writer Jerry Siegel in Action Comics #1 (cover dated June 1938). Originally, the character was known as The Superman. “A genius in intellect, a Hercules in strength, a nemesis to wrong doers – The Superman” states this early version of the iconic superhero.
Chris Haney, a photo editor for Montreal’s The Gazette, and Scott Abbott, a sports editor for The Canadian Press, invented Trivial Pursuit in 1979. The popular board game tests players with general knowledge and popular culture questions.
Wikimedia Commons
~Wakenya Canada
