From leeches to whale carcasses
Humans have invented numerous things, from primitive tools to the latest artificial intelligence. Some of these inventions are of course more relevant than others, and indeed some inventors are more celebrated than others.
While science and religion seem to be on opposite sides of the spectrum, for millennia, they worked synergistically. So much so, that many a men of the cloth came up with innovative ideas that lead to great inventions.
In this gallery, we remember some of the greatest inventions by Catholic priests. Curious? Click on.
Belgian Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest invented a steam “car” before Benz, Daimler, and Maybach were alive. When we talk about the automobile, we’re making reference to a self-propelled vehicle, not necessarily designed to transport people.
Verbiest came up with the design in the 1670s while on a mission in China. In fact, his invention was merely for Emperor Kangxi’s entertainment. It was 26 inches (65 cm) long, had a round boiler, and was not suitable to carry a human. Still, it could move autonomously.
Details of his invention can be found in his work ‘Astronomia Europea.’ Although no original plans remain, in 2002, engineers at Italian carmaker Brumm recreated a working model based on Verbiest's descriptions.
Guglielmo Marconi gets the credit when it comes to the invention of the wireless telegraph system, but Brazilian priest Roberto Landell de Moura deserves a mention for his pioneering work on long-distance audio transmissions.
Landell invented what is now known as amplitude modulation (AM) in 1899. The priest patented the idea but failed to secure investors for his wave transmitter.
Portuguese priest Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão was born in Brazil but studied in Lisbon and Coimbra. He was the first person to start playing around with the idea of different air densities and how lighter objects could fly.
Gusmão presented the idea of his flying machine to King Joao V of Portugal, who invited him to present it to the royal court in 1709. The priest successfully launched a small paper balloon propelled by heated air.
Gusmão’s design did not factor in transportation but it was groundbreaking in aviation nonetheless, leading to the Montgolfière-style hot air balloon in 1783.
Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão also designed a conceptual fire-powered airship called Passarola, an idea he showcased to the Portuguese king in 1709. Unfortunately, it never came to fruition.
Polish immigrant Casimir Zeglen, who was the priest of St. Stanislaus, the largest Polish church in the US, invented the silk bulletproof vest.
The invention was triggered by the assassination of Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison (pictured) in 1893.
In 1897, Casimir Zeglen demonstrated how this invention worked by being shot in public in a Chicago square. But as bullets became more powerful, the silk bulletproof vest became obsolete in 1913.
Scotsman Alexander Bain created a basic device to send images through a wire in the 1840s. There was however a problem with synchronicity between sender and receiver. Italian priest Giovanni Caselli solved this problem.
Caselli created the pantelegraph, which was the forerunner of the modern fax machine. It was a rather large device, at six feet (1.8 meters) tall.
Emperor Napoleon III liked it so much that he used it to connect Paris and Lyon in 1865. This was nearly a decade before the telephone was invented!
“The world’s most durable battery,” according to the Guinness World Records, was created by Italian priest Giuseppe Zamboni in 1812.
The battery in question has been powering a bell at Clarendon Laboratory in Oxford University since at least 1840. The Zamboni pile, or the Clarendon Dry Pile, is an early form of electric battery.
The long-lasting "electrostatic battery" is built from discs of silver foil, zinc foil, and paper. Or at least, that’s what scientists believe. They won’t know for sure until the bell stops working and they open it. Until then, all we can do is celebrate Zamboni’s invention.
The invention of this component of electric transformers is credited to Irish Catholic priest Nicholas Callan.
Callan’s invention was crucial for scientific advancements in the 19th century. Without it, there would be no radio waves or X-rays.
In 1821, English scientist Michael Faraday (pictured) invented the first electric motor by converting electromagnetism into mechanical energy. Faraday also created the first dynamo, an electric generator where mechanical energy is transformed into electricity.
Then, Hungarian Benedictine priest and physicist Anyos Jedlik improved Faraday’s designs, leading to the foundations of the modern DC motor.
Jedlik created a “unipolar inductor” in 1861, which was six years before Werner Siemens and Charles Wheatstone presented their “dynamo-electric principle.” The Hungarian priest never made his invention public, so Siemens and Wheatstone took the credit for it.
The invention of the internal combustion engine is often wrongly attributed to Etienne Lenoir in 1859 or Nicolaus Otto in 1861, both of which are wrong. It was actually invented by Italian engineer and priest Eugenio Barsanti in 1856.
While teaching at the Collegio San Michele in Volterra, Italy, the priest teamed up with engineer Felice Matteucci to create the first engine. In 1858 he created a two-cylinder, 5-horsepower motor.
Eugenio Barsanti died on April 16, 1864, just as a production deal was being negotiated. Matteucci lacked business skills, so he lost the manufacturing deal to Nicolaus Otto (pictured).
Giovanni Caselli was indeed a prolific inventor. Other creations of his include the nautical electric torpedo, the hydromagnetic rudder, and the cinemograph (which measured the speed of trains).
A barocyclonometer is a device used to determine the location and movement of a cyclone. It was invented by Spanish Jesuit priest José María Algué in 1897.
Algué lived most of his life in the Philippines, where he created a device that combined a barometer and a cyclometer, allowing tropical typhoons to be tracked.
José María Algué also invented the microseismograph, which detected microquakes caused by storms at sea.
Sources: (Listverse) (ScienceAlert) (NPR)
See also: Women's inventions and discoveries that were credited to men
Things you didn’t know were invented by Catholic priests
When science and religion work synergistically
LIFESTYLE Inventors
Humans have invented numerous things, from primitive tools to the latest artificial intelligence. Some of these inventions are of course more relevant than others, and indeed some inventors are more celebrated than others.
While science and religion seem to be on opposite sides of the spectrum, for millennia, they worked synergistically. So much so that many men of the cloth came up with innovative ideas that led to great inventions.
In this gallery, we remember some of the greatest inventions by Catholic priests. Curious? Click on.