[Wobble73]

Yeah, well we invented the television as part of an insidious plot to rot the world's minds.  Unfortunately, it proved just as effective on our own populace.

Since when have you been Scottish?

Boosh

Boosch?????] What does that mean?

You do realize there were mechanical computers before electronic computers, right? I don't mean simple counting devices like the abacus either.

Yeah I know about Charles Babbage too!

Oh look, he's British as well!

[QuantumDelta]

Yeah, well we invented the television as part of an insidious plot to rot the world's minds.  Unfortunately, it proved just as effective on our own populace.

Since when have you been Scottish?

Boosh

Ehh no

[Wobble73]

Yeah, well we invented the television as part of an insidious plot to rot the world's minds.  Unfortunately, it proved just as effective on our own populace.

Since when have you been Scottish?

Boosh

Ehh no

Sorry QD beat you to it! 

[QuantumDelta]

 
So you did 

[Mongoose]

Farnsworth's design was the first fully-electronic television system, making it the true forerunner of the modern TV setup.  Plus, he has a cooler name, and was immortalized by Futurama, which wins him additional awesome points.

(Also, boosh.)

[Colonol Dekker]

We have the nuclear bomb
TAKE THAT BRITON!
Britain

Good luck aiming that bomb without computer aided guidance!
 

Let alone flying it over, or reading the instructions.

Anyhoo, i thought mister Einstein was key in it's developement?

[Scotty]

Mister Fermi much more so.  Einstein just floated the idea to heads of state.

[BloodEagle]

Mister Fermi much more so.  Einstein just floated the idea to heads of state.

 

And drew up the blueprints.

[Flipside]

It was strangely prophetic that Einstein was once quoted as saying 'I don't know what World War 3 will be fought with, but I do know what World War 4 will be fought with. Sticks and Stones'.

[karajorma]

Farnsworth's design was the first fully-electronic television system, making it the true forerunner of the modern TV setup.

If you're going to claim that Farnsworth invented the TV because his was digital while Baird's wasn't then I want you to admit that the Wright Brothers didn't invent powered flight cause Traian Vuia was the man who invented the first plane which didn't require a catapult or specially designed track to take off.

So you're still down to Americans having only one actual invention in the whole of history.

[SpardaSon21]

What about the McCormick reaper?

[iamzack]

Yeah, well we invented the television as part of an insidious plot to rot the world's minds.  Unfortunately, it proved just as effective on our own populace.

Since when have you been Scottish?

Boosh

Ehh no

oh yeah sweet tonguey action!

[karajorma]

What about the McCormick reaper?

Patrick Bell of Scotland created a reaper that used a revolving reel, cutting knife and canvas conveyor in 1828. This machine was used around his county and some may have been exported, but the device was never patented.

A much more sophisticated mechanical reaper was invented in 1831 by Robert Hall McCormick in Walnut Grove, Virginia, and patented by his son Cyrus McCormick in 1834 as a horse-drawn farm implement to cut small grain crops.

Sorry, but no. Hell, the Romans had a mechanical reaper at one point anyway so he was around two thousand years too late to claim he invented it.

[Flipside]

Kind of like the Telephone, which was, apparently, a Patent Theft by Bell...

At least, according to QI.

[Mongoose]

Farnsworth's design was the first fully-electronic television system, making it the true forerunner of the modern TV setup.

If you're going to claim that Farnsworth invented the TV because his was digital while Baird's wasn't then I want you to admit that the Wright Brothers didn't invent powered flight cause Traian Vuia was the man who invented the first plane which didn't require a catapult or specially designed track to take off.

See, I was thinking more along the lines of crediting Langley over the Wright brothers, as he had a full-scale aircraft built before they did (which unfortunately crashed when he attempted to launch it off the top of a houseboat).  I hadn't even heard of Vuia before now, but given the fact that the Wrights built bicycles for a living, I don't think the concept of sticking a few wheels on the Flyer would have been a massive leap for them.  My real point about Farnsworth is that he made the breakthrough that allowed for a feasible television delivery model...plus the aforementioned Futurama reference.

(Please do note that this topic is all in jest, and I could care less about which person from which country invented what first.  I can think of far better topics to start penis-waving over. )

[karajorma]

but given the fact that the Wrights built bicycles for a living, I don't think the concept of sticking a few wheels on the Flyer would have been a massive leap for them.

Given the need for a catapult (and a headwind) to launch, I doubt it was quite that simple. 

My real point about Farnsworth is that he made the breakthrough that allowed for a feasible television delivery model...plus the aforementioned Futurama reference.

You what? Baird managed to broadcast using his system. Just cause Farnsworth's was better doesn't mean you can discount his invention as being the first.

(Please do note that this topic is all in jest, and I could care less about which person from which country invented what first.  I can think of far better topics to start penis-waving over. )

You only say that cause it's an old joke that the only thing America ever invented was Condensed Milk.

(A fact made even funnier by the fact that some French guy invented it independently over 30 years earlier )

[Flipside]

Let's not forget Cheese-In-A-Can as one of those great US contributions to the world of invention

Edit: Seriously though, America's creative heartland tends to be science and medicine, rather than entertainment or communication, I think Japan are probably leaders of the pack in those.

[karajorma]

I'm not trying to take anything away from America. They have been incredibly successful as a nation at improving upon inventions created by other people, often to the degree that people think they were invented in America. They're much better at it than the UK has been for many years.

I just find it amusing when they claim to have invented things. Let's not forget that the most famous American inventor, Edison never actually invented half the things he was supposed to have invented and spent much of his time trying to crush much better inventors than himself (like Tesla for instance).

[Flipside]

Agreed, I suppose it's all stages though, as was mentioned, Babbage created the 'computing engine', but then, it could also be argued that Clive Sinclair was the father of Home computing, since he started to define the computer as a household object, rather than a business one, he did not invent the computer, but he did invent the kind of computer that made them such a common object today.

Same with TV, Telephones, Radio etc, the 'inventor' is the person who came up with the concept, but in truth, invention is usually a chain of a great many people over a large period of time.

[Mongoose]

but given the fact that the Wrights built bicycles for a living, I don't think the concept of sticking a few wheels on the Flyer would have been a massive leap for them.

Given the need for a catapult (and a headwind) to launch, I doubt it was quite that simple. 

Even the original Flyer didn't need a catapult; it utilized a simple sled on a wooden rail.  The Wrights apparently did use catapults a few years later, though; it's fun to think about how that same concept was utilized much later on aircraft carriers.  Interestingly, according to one of the Wiki articles on the subject, Wilbur Wright seemed to think that a wheeled aircraft was inferior to a catapult-launched one, as it required a large level field as opposed to a small device. I will grant that the Wright design required a headwind for proper function, though it's only fair to note that even modern airliners preferably take off into a headwind.

You only say that cause it's an old joke that the only thing America ever invented was Condensed Milk.

(A fact made even funnier by the fact that some French guy invented it independently over 30 years earlier )

Can't say I've ever heard said joke, so that wouldn't be why I said it.