A List of Canadian & Indigenous Inventions
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Archie (search engine) – the first internet search engine, invented by Alan
Emtage at McGill University around 1988.
Film colorization – invented by Wilson Markle in 1983.
IMAX movie system – co-invented by Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, and Robert Kerr in 1968, following the creation of what is now the IMAX Corporation.
Java programming language – invented by James Gosling in 1994.
Key frame animation – co-invented by Nestor Burtnyk and Marcelli Wein at the NRC in the 1970s.
Multi-dynamic image technique – invented by Christopher Chapman in 1967.
Trackball – first built for the DATAR computer (although the concept was first mentioned in a similar project in the United Kingdom
56k modem – invented by Dr. Brent Townshend in 1996
735 kV power line – the international standard for long-distance electricity transmission, invented by Jean-Jacques Archambault in Quebec, where the world's first 735,000-volt line was commissioned in 1965
AM broadcasting – invented by Reginald Fessenden in 1906
Amplitude modulation – invented by Reginald Fessenden in 1906
BlackBerry device – its development was led by Mike Lazaridis, who founded BlackBerry Limited
Cesium Beam atomic clock – developed by National Research Council personnel in the 1960s
Computerized braille – invented by Roland Galarneau in 1972
Creed teleprinter system – invented by Frederick G. Creed in 1900
Fathometer – an early form of sonar invented by Reginald Fessenden in 1919
Gramophone – co-invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1889
Fessenden barretter
Hot-wire barretter – invented by Reginald Fessenden in 1902
Newsprint and pulped-wood paper – invented by Charles Fenerty in 1838
Pager – invented by Irving "Al" Gross in 1949
Quartz clock – built by Warren Marrison in 1927
Radiotelephony – first demonstrated by Reginald Fessenden in 1901
Standard time – introduced by Scottish-Canadian Sandford Fleming in 1878
Telephone – invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876
Telephone handset – invented by Cyrille Duquet in 1878
Undersea telegraph cable – invented by British-Canadian Frederic Newton Gisborne in 1857
Walkie-talkie – invented by Donald Hings and Irving "Al" Gross in 1942 for military use
Climate-related
Rotary snowplow – invented by Canadian dentist J.W. Elliot in 1869, and perfected by Orange Jull of Orangeville, Ontario
Snow blower – invented by Arthur Sicard (1927)
Steam-powered foghorn – invented by Robert Foulis (1859)
Defence
CADPAT digital camouflage pattern
ASDIC – invented by Robert William Boyle in 1916
Canadian pipe mine – a land mine used in Britain in World War II
Beartrap (hauldown device) – invented for the Royal Canadian Navy in the early 1960s to assist helicopter landings onboard ships
CADPAT – the first digital camouflage system, which was then used for the United States MARPAT (1996)
G-suit (or anti-gravity suit) – a suit for high-altitude jet pilots invented by Wilbur R. Franks in 1941
Defendo – a Canadian martial art
Gunstock war club – an indigenous weapon used by many First Nations in Canada
Gas mask – the first widely used military gas mask was introduced by Cluny Macpherson in 1915
Sonar – invented by Reginald Fessenden
Stealth snowmobile – in 2011 the Canadian Armed Forces announced the development by Canadian-based company CrossChasm Technologies
Tomahawk – traditional Canadian war instrument created by the Algonquian peoples
Domestic life and fashion
Alkaline battery – invented by Lewis Urry in 1954
Amauti – an Inuit woman's parka from Canada's eastern Arctic used to carry (pack) children
Bi-pin connector – invented by Reginald Fessenden in 1893
Bottle return programs [1]— programs where alcoholic bottles are returned from consumers in exchange for money
Capote – worn by the inhabitants of New France to protect from the harsh winters
Ceinture fléchée – one of many pieces of Canadian clothing listed
Inuit woman wearing an amauti
The first coloured coins used in circulation
Easy-Off – an oven cleaner invented by Herbert McCool in Regina in 1932
Egg carton – invented by Joseph Coyle of Smithers, British Columbia, in 1911
Electric cooking range – invented by Thomas Ahearn in 1882
Garbage bag – invented by Harry Wasylyk in 1950
Green ink – invented by American Thomas Sterry Hunt in 1862 while teaching at Université Laval; used for various U.S. banknotes
Igloos – a type of shelter from the Arctic
Incandescent light bulb – invented in 1874 by Henry Woodward, who sold the patent to Thomas Edison
Jolly Jumper – a baby jumper invented by Olivia Poole in 1959
Kerosene – discovered in the 1840s by Abraham Gesner
Lawn sprinkler – invented by Elijah McCoy
LongPen – invented by Margaret Atwood
Parka – invented by the Inuit in the Arctic to protect the wearer from the cold
Plexiglas – made practical by William Chalmers' invention for creating methyl methacrylate, while a graduate student at McGill University in 1931
Snow goggles – used by Inuit to prevent snow blindness in the Arctic due to the glare from snow and ice and were made typically from ivory, bone or other materials
Snowshoes – perfected by First Nations to traverse through deep snow more effectively
Wonderbra Model 1300 (aka Dream Lift) – the modern plunged-style push-up bra, designed by Louise Poirier in 1964. Though the term Wonder-Bra was coined by an American named Israel Pilot in 1935, the brand itself was popularized by Canadian Moses Nadler, who licensed (and later won) the Wonderbra patent from Pilot. Nadler made his first Wonderbra in 1939 at his Montreal-based Canadian Lady Corset Company, and directed Poirier, his employee, to design the Model 1300 bra
Science and medicine
Calcium carbide A process for producing calcium carbide for acetylene was invented by Thomas Willson in 1892
Artificial cardiac pacemaker – invented by John Alexander Hopps in 1950/1951
A process to extract bromine was invented by Herbert Henry Dow in 1890
CPR mannequin – invented by Dianne Croteau in 1989
Ebola vaccine – discovered by researchers at the federal Public Health Agency of Canada in 2014
The first practical electron microscope was built by James Hillier and Arthur Prebus in 1939
Explosives vapour detector EVD-1 – invented by Dr. Lorne Elias in 1985
Finite element method, a method for numerically solving differential equations, invented by Alexander Hrennikoff
Forensic pathology in policing – introduced by Dr. Frances Gertrude McGill (1877–1959)
Insulin – the process for extracting medicinal insulin was invented by Frederick Banting, Charles Best, and James Collip (1922)
Medium 199 – the world's first purely synthetic nutrient medium for growing cells, discovered in 1945 by Dr. Raymond Parker of Connaught Laboratories at the University of Toronto. Dr. Parker's achievement had a key role in the discovery of the polio vaccine
Montreal procedure – a treatment for severe epilepsy invented by Wilder Penfield at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital in 1930, allowing patients to remain awake and describe their reactions while the surgeon stimulates different areas of the brain
NeisVac‑C – a conjugate vaccine developed in 1982 by Harold Jennings and his Ottawa-based team for immunizing against Group C meningococcal meningitis
Oil Red O – a forensic technique discovered by Alexandre Beaudoin in 2004
Palm n’ Turn – child-proof container technology developed by Dr. Henri Breault in 1967
Radon – the fifth radioactive element to be discovered, in 1899 by Ernest Rutherford and Robert B. Owens at McGill University in Montreal
Synthetic sucrose – invented by Dr. Raymond Lemieux in 1953
UV-degradable plastic – by Dr. James Guillet in 1971
Weevac 6 – a stretcher for babies invented by Wendy Murphy in 1985
Sport, music, and entertainment
Swimming polar bear carved from walrus ivory, Middle Dorset culture, Iglulik region
Table hockey
Abdominizer – an abdominal exerciser invented by Dennis Colonello in 1984
Basketball – invented by James Naismith in 1891
Birchbark biting – an Indigenous artform made by Anishinaabe
Baseball – one of the first ever recorded baseball type game in Canada was played in Beachville, Upper Canada on 4 June 1838
Contrabass bugle – first produced by the Whaley Royce Company, it is the lowest-pitched brass instrument in the drum and bugle corps and marching band hornline
Crokinole – a disk-flicking dexterity board game possibly invented by Eckhardt Wettlaufer who produced the first board in 1875
DigiSync – a barcode reader used in motion picture production that was invented by Mike Lazaridis; it won an Emmy in 1994 and Academy Award for Technical Achievement in 1998
Electronic sackbut – invented by Hugh Le Caine in 1945 as a precursor to voltage-controlled synthesizers
Five-pin bowling – invented by Thomas F. Ryan in Toronto in 1909
Goalie mask – invented by Jacques Plante in 1959
Ice hockey – invented in 19th century Canada
Instant replay – invented for CBC's Hockey Night in Canada in 1955
Inuit art – art created by Inuit
Jockstrap hard cup – added to the existing jockstrap undergarment by Guelph Elastic Hosiery in 1927
Lacrosse – codified by William George Beers around 1860
Northwest Coast art – art originally created by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada
Pitchnut – flicking game from Canada
Ringette – invented by Sam Jacks and Mirl "Red" McCarthy in 1963
Robb Wave Organ – world's first electric organ, invented and patented by Morse Robb in 1928
Superman – co-created by Canadian cartoonist Joe Shuster in 1932
Snocross – a racing sport involving racing specialized high performance snowmobiles
Six String Nation – public art and history project conceived by Jowi Taylor and centred around a steel-string acoustic guitar built from a variety of artifacts collected by Taylor representing diverse cultures, communities, characters and events from every province and territory of Canada
Table hockey game – invented by Donald Munro (1930s)
Trivial Pursuit – invented by Chris Haney and Scott Abbott in 1979
Tautirut – a bowed zither native to the Inuit culture in the Canadian north
Television camera – F.C.P. Henroteau in 1934
Qilaut – a type of frame drum that originates from the Arctic and the Inuit
Continued below
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