List of Spanish inventions and discoveries

The following list is composed of items, techniques and processes that were invented by or discovered by people from Spain.

Spain was an important center of knowledge during the medieval era. While most of western and southern Europe suffered from the collapse of the Roman Empire, although declining, some regions of the former empire, Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula), southern Italy, and the remainder of the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire, did not to suffer from the full impact of the so-called Dark Ages when education collapsed with the collapse of the empire and most knowledge was lost. The Islamic conquests of places such as Egypt, which was a major part of the Byzantine Empire, and other places which were centers of knowledge in earlier times, gave the Muslims access to knowledge from many cultures which they translated into Arabic and recorded in books for the use of their own educated elites, who flourished in this period, and took with them to the Hispania after it fell under Muslim control. Much of this knowledge was later translated by Christian and Jewish scholars in the Christian kingdoms of the Reconquista from Arabic into Latin, and from there it spread through Europe.

Inventions and discoveries from the Golden Age of Al Andalus

Note: Although these inventions were created on the Iberian Peninsula, that does not mean they were not made by people of Spanish heritage due to the area being part of the Islamic Empire.

  • Alcohol distillation
  • Animal Testing, first recorded use of animals for medical testing was done by Ibn Zuhr, known as Avenzoar, (1094–1161).
  • Antiseptics were in used as early as the 10th century in hospitals in Islamic Spain. Special protocols, in Al Andalus, were used to keep hygiene before and after surgery.
  • Botany, Spanish botanist, like Ibn al-Baitar, created hundreds of works/catalogs on the various plants in not only Europe but the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In these works many processes for extracting essential oils, drugs as well as their uses can be found.
  • Brass type movable printer press/first printing device in Europe, first invented in Muslim Spain 100 years prior to the invention of printing press, by Johannes Gutenburg of Germany, in 1454.
  • Inheritance of traits first proposed by Abu Al-Zahrawi (936–1013 AD) more than 800 years before Austrian monk, Mendel. Al-Zahrawi was first to record and suggest that hemophilia was an inherited disease.
  • Inhalation anesthesia, invented by al-Zahrawi and Ibn Zuhr. Used a sponge soaked with narcotic drugs and placed it on patients face.
  • Ligatures, described in the work of al-Zarawi (936–1013 AD), Kitab al-Tasrif, one of the most influential books in early modern medicine. Describes the process of performing a ligature on blood vessels.
  • Metronome, invented by Ibn Firnas (9th century)
  • Mercuric oxide, first synthesized by Abu al-Qasim al-Qurtubi al-Majriti (10th century).
  • Migraine surgery, first performed by al-Zahrawi (936–1013 AD).
  • Modern surgery. Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (936–1013 AD), better known in the west as Albucasis, is regarded as the father of modern surgery and is the most quoted surgeon of all times. Albucasis invented over 200 tools for use in surgery - many still in use today.
  • Pathology - various Muslim physicians in Spain were crucial in the development of modern medicine. Pathology, obviously was an important development in medicine. The first correct proposal of the nature of disease was described by al-Zahrawi and Ibn Zuhr.
  • Pharmacopoeia (book of medicine). During the 14th century, the physician from Malaga, Ibn Baytar, wrote a pharmacopoeia naming over 1400 different drugs and their uses in medicine. This book was written 200 years before the supposed first pharmacopoeia was written by German scholar in 1542.
  • Speed of sound, was proposed by the Cordoba scholar Ibn Hazm (994–1064 AD). Ibn Hazm argued and calculated the speed of sound by echoes in the Mosque of Cordoba. He is also credited as being the first to propose that thunder was a production of lightning.
  • Spherical Earth Theory by Ibn Hazm (994–1064 AD).
  • Water and weight driven mechanical clocks, by Spanish Muslim engineers sometime between 900–1200 AD. According to historian Will Durant, a watch like device was invented by Ibn Firnas.

Architecture and construction

Chemistry

Computing and Communications

Cuisine
  • Chocolate caliente (hot chocolate) - the Mesoamericans drank chocolate strait bitter and sometimes flavored with spicy peppers. Spanish conquistadors were not fans of the original mix and instead created their own sweeten hot chocolate by adding sugar from sugar cane. For many years, the Spanish kept their prized chocolate a secret until its expansion into other European courts.
  • Chupa Chups
  • Chorizo
  • Jamón ibérico
  • Spanish omelette
  • Jerez - also known as Sherry
  • Paella
  • Spanish cuisine

Economics

Fashion

Spain has been a center of fashion since medieval times. Barcelona and Madrid have both been named as fashion capitals of the world, with Barcelona being the fifth most important fashion capital in the world back in 2015. Spain is the home country of the largest fashion retail store and textiles designer in the world, Zara and its parent Inditex, making their CEO main shareholder, Amancio Ortega Gaona, the second wealthiest man in the world in 2015.

Inventions:

Mathematics and statistics

Medicine and biology
Drawing by Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1899) of neurons in the pigeon cerebellum
  • Synthesis of ribonucleic acid (RNA) by Nobel prize Laureate Severo Ochoa (1905–1993).[18]
  • Neuroscience by Nobel prize Laureate (1906) Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934).[19]
  • Discovery of the microglia or Hortega cell by the neuroscientist Pío del Río Hortega (1882–1945) [20]
  • Discovery that the human cell has 46 chromosomes - jointly discovered with a Swedish scientist.
  • Discovery that the parasitic agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi, reproduce by cloning - discovered by Francisco J. Ayala.
  • The effect of hormone levels on the mind - crucial to forming a relationship between psychology and endocrinology, by Gregorio Marañón.
  • First European description of pulmonary circulation by scientist, surgeon and humanist Miguel Servet (1511–1553) [21]
  • A worldwide used "two-piece" disposable syringe (1978) by Manuel Jalón Corominas (1925–2011) [22][23]
  • Use of Radiology and Radiotherapy for diagnostics by Celedonio Calatayud (1880-1931).[24]
  • Animal Testing, first recorded use of animals for medical testing was done by Ibn Zuhr, known as Avenzoar, (1094–1162).
  • Antiseptics were in used as early as the 10th century in hospitals in Islamic Spain. Special protocols, in Al Andalus, were used to keep hygiene before and after surgery.
  • Botany, Spanish botanist, like Ibn al-Baitar, created hundreds of works/catalogs on the various plants in not only Europe but the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In these works many processes for extracting essential oils, drugs as well as their uses can be found.
  • The CRISPR System - Discovered by Francisco Mojica, from the University of Alicante. The discovery of the CRISPR system is the discovery of the 21st century in the fields of medicine, genetics, virology, immunology, biochemistry and molecular biology. This new technology has revolutionized research in genetics and biochemistry and molecular biology. The CRISPR revolution brings us new tools to edit genomes with great accuracy and precision. It may one day help us cure genetic disorders and cancers.
  • Ectopic pregnancy - first described by Al-Zahrawi (936–1013 AD).
  • Eye glasses, first invented by Ibn Firnas in the 9th century.
  • Inheritance of traits first proposed by Abu Al-Zahrawi (936–1013 AD) more than 800 years before Austrian monk, Mendel. Al-Zahrawi was first to record and suggest that hemophilia was an inherited disease.
  • Inhalation anesthesia, invented by al-Zahrawi and Ibn Zuhr. Used a sponge soaked with narcotic drugs and placed it on patients face.
  • Laryngoscope by singer, music educator, and vocal pedagogue Manuel García (1805–1906).[25]
  • Ligatures, described in the work of al-Zahrawi (936–1013 AD), Kitab al-Tasrif, one of the most influential books in early modern medicine. Describes the process of performing a ligature on blood vessels.
  • Migraine surgery, first performed by al-Zahrawi (936–1013 AD).
  • Modern surgery. Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (936–1013 AD), better known in the west as Albucasis, is regarded as the father of modern surgery and is the most quoted surgeon of all times. Albucasis invented over 200 tools for use in surgery - many still in use today.
  • Nuubo - Wearable medical technology that measures heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, body temperature and current location.
  • Pathology - various Muslim physicians in Spain were crucial in the development of modern medicine. Pathology, obviously was an important development in medicine. The first correct proposal of the nature of disease was described by al-Zahrawi and Ibn Zuhr.
  • Pharmacopoeia (book of medicine). During the 14th century, the physician from Malaga, Ibn Baytar, wrote a pharmacopoeia naming over 1400 different drugs and their uses in medicine. This book was written 200 years before the supposed first pharmacopoeia was written by German scholar in 1542.
  • Silver bromide method.
  • Wheelchair - was first invented for the use of the most powerful man in the world at the time, King Phillip II of Spain, who was suffering from gout.

Meteorology

Military
  • Use of aggressive dogs in warfare
  • First professional army in Europe – men were hired and trained in Spain to join the army as their professional job not as some levy or through hiring mercenaries
  • Falcata swords used by Iberian tribes.
  • Gladius Hispanensis (antennae swords) - Swords adopted by the Romans after the second Punic war. The Iberian sword was considered superior to that of the Romans.
  • Guerrilla warfare developed in Spain during the Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian peninsula.
  • Miquelet lock was invented by gunsmiths in Madrid during the late 16th century(around ca 1570)
  • Molotov cocktails were first developed in Spain during the Spanish civil war and were ordered to be used by the Nationalist forces against Soviet T-26 tanks supporting the Spanish Republic.
  • Tercios greatly modernized fighting in Europe. It is seen by military historians as one of the great developments of combined arms and tactics for warfare. The Spanish Tercios were undefeated in every war until Battle of Rocroi in 1643 and were greatly feared as an invincible army.
  • Toledo steel - The Iberian region has been known for high quality metal working and sword productions since pre-Roman times. Toledo steel refers to both the high quality steel and that legacy of steel work in the Iberian peninsula from pre-Roman to post-Roman times in the Middle Ages. **Damascus steel was said to be the only rival of Toledo steel in the Middle Ages.
  • Rapier Spain was the first European country to use rapiers

Musical Instruments

Sociology, Philosophy and Politics
  • Anarcho-syndicalism
  • Averroism - the school of philosophy founded by Al-Andalus philosopher Averroes. Averroes in one of the most quoted men of the medieval era and has greatly influenced Western Europe.
  • Balance of Powers
  • Borda Count - by Ramon Llull, around 1299, centuries before Jean-Charles de Borda[28]
  • Condorcet criterion - by Ramon Llull, around 1299, centuries before Nicolas de Condorcet[28]
  • Expropriative anarchism
  • International Law - According to the main argument agreed at Salamance, the common good of the world is of a category superior to the good of each state. This meant that relations between states ought to pass from being justified by force to being justified by law and justice. Hence calling for international law.
  • Justification of war - argued greatly in the School of Salamanca. The main argument was given that war is one of the worst evils suffered by mankind, the adherents of the School reasoned that it ought to be resorted to only when it was necessary in order to prevent an even greater evil. A diplomatic agreement is preferable, even for the more powerful party, before a war is started. Even war for the conversion of pagans and infidels was considered unjust at the school of Salamanca.
  • Maimonides
  • Razon Historica
  • Raciovitalismo
  • Rights of People - Francisco de Vitoria is the first western European to argue for the rights of man and is considered the father of modern rights of people theory. His most famous work is Ius Gentium (Latin for The Rights of People)
  • Stoicism - Some of the most important stoic philosophical works are by Iberian born or descendent philosophers including the works of Seneca the younger, born in Cordoba, as well as the stoic masterpiece, Meditations, by Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, born in Rome but whose family originate in Ucubi, Spain (small town close to Cordoba).
  • Second Scholasticism - Francisco Suarez is considered the most important European scholastic after Thomas Aquinas.
  • School of Salamanca Movement - greatly intertwined with second scholasticism, but it was the rise in philosophical works on politics, ethics, religion, society and human rights. As we know, our modern concept of human rights, equality and liberty originate in the enlightenment revolutions, especially in France and US, however, about 300–200 years before the enlightenment, the great scholars of the University of Salamanca were writing and discussing the same ideas. The ideas of international law, balance of powers, civil law, order, and just war were all discussed and debated by these Spanish scholars. Francisco Suarez is the most famous Salamancan scholar of this era. Is considered the most important European scholastic after Thomas Aquinas.

Transportation
Pitcairn PCA-2 autogyro, was built in the U.S. under Cierva license, 1931.
The Peral Submarine
  • Aerial tramway designed by Spanish engineer, Leonardo Torres y Quevedo. It was Manufactured by J. Enoch Thompson, and built in 1913 by the Spanish company The Niagara Spanish Aerocar Co. Limited. The first aerial tram was opened in August 1916, and has since been updated in 1961, 1967 and 1984. She continues in operation as a tourist attraction.

Physics and Astronomy
  • Equatorium
  • The first telescope was invented by Catalan spectacle maker, Juan Roget, before the Dutch inventor Hans Lipperhey according to Catalan historian, Simon de Gualleuma, and British historian, Nick Pelling.
  • Theoretical work on Gravity by Juan Bautista Villalpando (born 1552 in Córdoba, died 22 May 1608). He may be the father of gravitational theory and influence Newton, who indeed had copies of Buatista's work on gravity, geometry and architecture. Baustista produced 21 original propositions on the center of gravity and the line of direction.
  • First full-pressured astronaut suit, called the escafandra estratonáutica, designed and made by Emilio Herrera Linares, in 1935. The Russians then used a model of Herrera's suit when first flying into space of which the Americans would then later adopt when creating their own space program.
  • First planetarium by Ibn Firnas.
  • speed of sound, was proposed by physicist from Cordoba, Ibn Hazm (994–1064 AD). Ibn Hazm argued and calculated the speed of sound by echoes in the Mosque of Cordoba. He is also credited as being the first to propose that thunder was a production of lightning.
  • Spherical Earth Theory by Ibn Hazm (994-1064 AD).
  • Tables of Toledo
  • Viscoelastic gravity layer
  • Water and weight driven mechanical clocks, by Spanish Muslim engineers sometime between 900–1200 AD. According to historian Will Durant, a watch like device was invented by Ibn Firnas.
  • Magnetic wormhole - first ever manmade wormhole created at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona by Spanish physicist Jordi Prat-Camps. The magnetic wormhole makes the magnetic field invisible.[35]

Miscellaneous
  • Modern rules of chess. Although chess has its origins in India, the modern rules of chess have their origin Spain. It is still under debate whether the rules were invented in the Islamic period or when the Christians took Toledo.
  • El Ajedrecista, invention of the automatic chess by engineer and mathematician Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (1852–1936) [36]
  • The mop (1956) by Manuel Jalón Corominas (1925–2011).[22]
  • The first stapler, designed and created in the Basque country of Spain for French King, Louis XV, in the 18th century. The staples had engraved on them the royal emblem.
  • First cigarette. The mesoamericans, like the Mayans and Aztecs smoked tobacco by using different leaves as rolling paper, the Spanish were the first to manufacture the grandfather of the modern day cigarette. When tobacco first made it onto Spanish shores in the 17th century, maize wrappers were used to roll and then fine paper.
  • The oldest folding/pocket knife have been found during the Iron Age (pre-Roman times)in Spain. The title is contested with folding knives found in Hallstatt culture region in Austria from around the same time.
  • Foosball. The first patent for table football belonged to Spaniard, Alejandro Finisterre, though he credits his friend, Francisco Javier Altuna, with the invention.
  • Glass mirrors, used in Islamic Spain as early as 11th century – 200 years prior to the Venetians.
  • Lollipops were first invented by Enric Bernat Fontlladosa between 1956 and 1957.
  • The sharpener created in 1945 by Ignacio Urresti.

See also

References
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  2. "Biography of Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila (1787–1853)". U.S. National Library of Medicine.
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  4. Schufle, Joseph A. (1975). "Juan Jose D'Elhuyar, Discoverer of Tungsten". Journal of Chemical Education. 52 (5): 325. Bibcode:1975JChEd..52..325S. doi:10.1021/ed052p325.1.
  5. Weeks, M. E. (1968). Discovery of the Elements (7 ed.). Journal of Chemical Education. pp. 385–407. ISBN 0-8486-8579-2. OCLC 23991202.
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  7. D. Campbell, Arabian Medicine and Its Influence on the Middle Ages, p. 5.
  8. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-16101495
  9. http://guardianlv.com/2013/09/self-healing-polymers-will-soon-be-invading-your-household/
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  13. Giraud, Bibli. Sacr., II 334-336 (gives list of his writings)
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  17. Pawlowsky-Glahn, Vera; Egozcue, Juan José; Tolosana-Delgado, Raimon (2015-03-30). Modeling and Analysis of Compositional Data. ISBN 9781118443064.
  18. Nobelprize.org. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959".
  19. "History of Neuroscience". Society for Neuroscience. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
  20. "Pio del Rio Hortega". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  21. 2011 “The love for truth. Life and work of Michael Servetus”, (El amor a la verdad. Vida y obra de Miguel Servet.), printed by Navarro y Navarro, Zaragoza, collaboration with the Government of Navarra, Department of Institutional Relations and Education of the Government of Navarra, 607 pp, 64 of them illustrations, p. 215–228 & 62nd illustration (XLVII)
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  23. (in Spanish)manuel jalon inventor fregona Archived 2012-04-14 at the Wayback Machine
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  29. "Vector Flight". Archived from the original on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
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  31. Cargill Hall, R. (1986). History of rocketry and astronautics: proceedings of the third through the sixth History Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, Volumen 1. NASA conference publication. American Astronautical Society by Univelt, p. 85. ISBN 0-87703-260-2
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  33. Humble 1981, p. 174.
  34. http://www.niagaraparks.com/niagara-falls-attractions/whirlpool-aero-car.html
  35. http://www.livescience.com/51925-magnetic-wormhole-created.html
  36. Torres and his remarkable automatic devices. Issue 2079 of Scientific American, 1915
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