Scottish Trivia

A Scot, James Watt, developed the first efficient steam engine and in so doing started the Industrial Revolution.

A Scot, John Logie Baird, invented the Television.

A Scot, John Napier, invented logarithms and the decimal notation.

A Scot, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, invented the bicycle.

A Scot, John Paul Jones, founded the American Navy.

A Scot, Alexander Fleming, discovered Penicillin.

A Scot, William Paterson, founded the Bank of England.

A Scot, Alexander Graham Bell, invented the telephone.

A Scot, John Chalmers, invented the adhesive postage stamp.

A Scot, John Boyd Dunlop, invented the car tire.

A Scot, Captain Patrick Ferguson, invented the breech loading rifle (the Ferguson Rifle).

A Scot, Sir John Alexander Macdonald, was the first Prime Minister of Canada under confederation.

A Scot, Thomas Blake Glover, was one of the founding fathers of modern Japan.

A Scot, Henry Faulds pioneered the use of fingerprints as means of undisputed identity of people.

A Scot, Robert Stirling, invented the Stirling engine in 1850. Stirling engines are being studied at NASA for use in powering space vehicles with solar energy!


The Scots invented Golf.


“History credits the Rev. Elijah Craig, a Baptist minister, with being the first in 1789 to make bourbon.” He was a Scotsman. Kentucky is the place for bourbon because of the limestone which makes the water almost iron-free. “The first bourbon recognized by brand outside of Kentucky probably was produced by Dr. James Crow...a Scotsman who settled near the Rev. Craig’s place.” He was known by the locals as Jim Crow.

The Scottish-American Hall of Fame contains more plaques for the military than any other category. Twenty-one men are installed including Daniel Boone who is listed as an “Indian Fighter.”

The list is as follows:

George Rogers Clark, Frontier hero of the Revolutionary War

Stonewall Jackson

Joseph E. Johnston

Henry Knox, (Maine)

Arthur MacArthur, army general, father of Douglas MacArthur

George B. McClellan

Alexander Macomb, general and hero of the War of 1812

George S. Patton, WWII exponent of mobile warfare

J.E.B. Stuart, Confederate cavalry general

Christopher “Kit” Carson, frontiersman and explorer

William Clark, explorer with Merriwether Lewis

Davy Crockett, frontiers-man who died at the Alamo

Two individuals are listed under the category of “Naval.” They are David Glasgow Farragut, Civil War naval hero, and John Paul Jones, Revolutionary War naval hero

Scottish Freemasonry is now officially recognised as being the oldest in the world and is now recorded as a Guinness World Record.

Scotsman Albert Thurston invented modern suspenders.

Although the Scots comprise less than one-half of 1 percent of the world’s population, 11 percent of all Nobel prizes have been awarded to Scotsmen. Quote from "The Mark of the Scots" by Duncan A Bruce.

The world’s first university faculty of engineering and technical science was in Glasgow.

67 US Politicians were born in Scotland that we know of.

There are estimated to be 20,000 Americans living in Scotland and half a million visit each year.

It is estimated that 15% of Canadians are of Scots descent.

Scotland invented branch banking and so brought banking facilities to the people and the world.

Scots emigres to the US are five times more likely to become dollar millionaires than those from any other country, according to a study of wealth. Thomas Stanley and William Danko, in their book The Millionaire Next Door, analysed the ethnic backgrounds of the wealthiest members of US society and discovered that while people of Scottish origin make up 1.7% of the population, they comprise 9.3% of its millionaires.


Slainte,
Dianne

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