If any language could be described as the language of the world, it would certainly be English. It has the broad span that enables it to readily adopt new words, as described in the posting "The Story Of The English Language".
HSBC is the world's second-largest bank and second-largest public company in the world. Almost certainly, more money flows through London's financial district than anywhere else in the world. The last I saw, the British pound was worth more than any other currency in the world (although that is not entirely a good thing).
William Shakespeare is considered to have been the greatest writer ever, in any language, and his themes can be found all over modern television.
The Titanic is the most famous ship in history, even if it is for the wrong reason.
The BBC is easily the world's number one news service, partly because it is offered in so many languages.
Norman Baden Powell started the International Boy Scouts.
The only comet that most people can think of by name is Halley's Comet, discovered by Sir Edmund Halley.
In 1808, John Dalton published "A New System Of Chemical Philosophy". This was the start of modern chemistry, without which the world as we know it would be impossible.
In 1825, Michael Faraday discovered benzene, which is the vital starting point for much of organic chemistry.
Hydrogen is the most prominent element in the universe, and was found by Henry Cavendish. The oxygen that we need to live was found by Joseph Priestley. Nitrogen was found by Daniel Rutherford.
Matches were invented by chemist John Walker.
When it comes to atoms, England really shines. Electrons were discovered by J.J. Thomson and neutrons by James Chadwick. Henry Moseley introduced the idea of atomic numbers. Ernest Rutherford discovered protons and the concept of radioactive half-life. (Rutherford was born in New Zealand but his parents were British, and he later became British).
Louis Essen invented the atomic clock.
Francis Crick, along with American James Watson, was the first to work out the molecular structure of DNA.
Galileo was the first to use a telescope to look at celestial bodies. But it suffered from chromatic aberration until John Dollond invented the achromatic lens. A telescope based on lenses is limited in size because the lens can only be supported by it's edges. Sir Isaac Newton got the idea of replacing the lens with a concave mirror, and today all of the largest optical telescopes in the world are based on mirrors.
It was Sir Isaac Newton who founded modern physics with his laws of motion and development of calculus. He was the first to define gravity and began our understanding of light by breaking it down into it's component colours (colors) with a prism.
Henry Fox Talbot did as much as anyone to get photography started.
William Sturgeon invented the electromagnet and the electric motor, without which the modern world would be unimaginable. Neither would the modern world be imaginable without Charles Parson's steam turbine.
There has rarely been a scientist like Michael Faraday, all modern electrical theory and equipment began with him.
From my native Gloucestershire came Charles Wheatstone who, with William Cooke, was the inventor of the telegraph. This was the first step in modern communications.
Modern electronics began with vacuum tubes. These were invented by John Ambrose Fleming and include the cathode ray tubes that were used in televisions and computers until recently.
The U.S. recognizes Thomas Edison as the inventor of the light bulb, but Britain credits it's own Joseph Swan.
Radar came about because of the work of Sir Edward Appleton. Sir Frank Whittle invented the jet engine. Christopher Cockerell invented the hovercraft. The first practical vertical take off and landing plane was the Harrier. The only successful supersonic passenger transport is the Concorde, and the plane that got modern jet passenger aviation started was the Dehavilland Comet. It was actually Frederick Lanchester who developed the airfoil theory that makes flight possible.
John Harrison developed the marine chronometer. This was a very accurate clock which could be used at sea because it was not based on a pendulum. A pendulum was considered as unreliable at sea because it's timing might be affected by the pitching and rolling of the ship in rough water. This brought about our modern system of latitude and longitude. It was easy enough to take a reading of latitude, just measure the angular altitude of the north star over a flat horizon. Longitude was much more difficult. But this clock could be set to Greenwich Mean Time and carried on the ship. Local solar time could be measured with a sundial, and the difference between the two revealed the longitude of the ship.
William Oughtred invented the slide rule, around which all of modern engineering depended until electronic calculators came along.
Charles Babbage is considered as the "father of the computer", with his mechanical computers. George Boole developed the Boolean Algebra, upon which computer science is based. Alan Turing was the first to introduce a programmable calculator. Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web, without which you would not be reading this.
The Industrial Revolution was certainly the beginning of the modern world, it began in Manchester. Thomas Newcomen's development of the steam engine got it underway.
Henry Bessemer developed a way of mass-producing steel, without which the modern world would be unimaginable. Harry Brearley later introduced stainless steel.
Josiah Wedgwood revolutionized the mass production of pottery.
Can you imagine the world without trains? The brothers George and Robert Stephenson and Richard Trevithick got railroads started. Maglev trains were invented by Eric Laithwaite. The world's first metal bridge was the "Iron Bridge" across the Severn River, which downstream passes the area where I was born. London had the first modern subway system, and arguably the greatest feat of engineering is the Chunnel.
Oliver Joseph Lodge invented spark plugs, and also did a lot to contribute to the development of radio. The battle tank, around which modern land warfare revolves, was first used by Britain. John Starley produced the world's first commercially successful bicycle.
The modern idea of freedom began with the Magna Charta and the political concept of right and left began when members of the British Parliament would sit to either the right or the left of the aisle, depending on their political views.
Edwin Budding, from my native Gloucestershire, invented the lawnmower.
Also in Gloucestershire was a country doctor named Edward Jenner, who happened to notice that people who worked around cows never seemed to get smallpox. This observation was the beginning of vaccines and the modern science of immunology. Today, there is a statue of Dr. Jenner in Gloucester Cathedral.
Joseph Lister developed antiseptics, which must have saved hundreds of millions of lives. Modern supermarkets would not be possible without the use of "tin cans", soft steel coated with tin, to hold food. They were invented by Peter Durand.
The next time you put on your clothes remember James Hargreaves, inventor of the spinning jenny, John Kay, inventor of the flying shuttle and, William Henry Perkin, inventor of the first synthetic dye.
Luke Howard identified the three basic types of cloud in the sky.
I feel that this heritage is something that I have to live up to.
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