Did you know?

Some facts about Ulster-Scots innovation & invention:

  • Sir James Martin the famous Ulster-Scot from Crossgar in County Down invented the ejection seat for aeroplanes.

  • Over 7,000 lives have been saved using MB's Ejector Seat, which is now in use with more that 90 air forces and navies. The number of lives saved increased at an average of more than three a week. This is all thanks to the invention of the ejector seat which James Martin, the famous Ulster-Scot invented.

  • There is a life-size bronze sculpture of the famous Ulsterman Professor Pantridge at Lagan Valley Island in Lisburn.

  • The famous Ulsterman Frank Pantridge was the man who developed the world's mobile defibrillator and became known as the "Father of emergency medicine".

  • The famous Ulsterman Frank Pantridge was born into the farming and tradition on the outskirts of the Plantation Town of Hillsborough, Co Down.

  • Ulsterman Frank Pantridge introduced Belfast surgeons to the operation of mitral valvotomy in 1949.

  • Harry Ferguson was a famous Ulster-Scot who invented the first tractor that didn\'t just tow implements like a horse, but had a special hydraulic system.

  • The famous Harry Ferguson who is internationally recognised as one of the greatest inventors and innovators of the 20th Century and came from Growell in County Down.

  • At the age of 17, Harry Ferguson had decided that farming life was not for him.

  • Harry Ferguson's efferts led to the introduction of the Stormont Road Races Act of 1932 which made possible the first Ulster Grand Prix.

  • Harry Ferguson designed and built a new-style plough for the Ford Tractor in his May Street Garage, Belfast.

  • Harry Ferguson, the famous Ulster-Scot merged his company with Massy-Harris (a large firm on Toronto) to form Massey-Ferguson. Harry Fergus was the Chairman of the company.

  • The famous Ulster-Scot Harry Ferguson invented the model using four wheel drive for wide public use and a device for preventing the locking of wheels in a skid.

  • That a full-scale replica of Harry Ferguson's aeroplane, an early Ferguson-Brown tractor and a Sherman-Ferguson plough are on display in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra, Co Down.

  • In August 1990 the Northern Bank issued a £20 note which featured the famous Ulster-Scot Harry Ferguson.

  • Recently the University of Ulster established the "Harry Ferguson Engineering Village" within the Facility of Engineering after the famous Ulster-Scot Harry Ferguson.

  • A commemorative plaque is displayed at Growell and an Ulster History Circle "Blue Plaque" is on the Ulster Bank Building, which was the former showroom of Harry Ferguson Limited, Donegal Square East, Belfast. There is also a granite memorial to his pioneering flight on the North Promenade in Newcastle.

  • Sir Hans Sloane from Kilyleagh in County Down was a famous Ulster-Scot who invented milk chocolate.

  • Sloane Square, Sloane Street, Hans Place and Hans Road in the centre of London were all named in the honour of the famous Ulster-Scot Sir Hans Sloane who invented chocolate.

  • James Murray was a famous Ulster-Scot who came from Culnady, Co Londonderry in 1788 and was the first person to discover how to dissolve magnesium carbonate into a liquid form.

  • Murray Street, Fisherwick Place, Belfast has a "Blue Plaque" mounted by the Ulster History Circle to mark the famous Ulster-Scot Sir James Murray as the Inventor of Milk of Magnesia.

  • Due to the efforts of the extraordinary Ulsterman William Thomson (Lord Kevlin) telegraph cable was laid on the seabed from Ireland to Canada so that we could phone and make contact with each other.

  • William Thomson was an extraordinary Ulsterman who was the most important scientist of the Victorian age.

  • The famous Ulsterman William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) was born at 17 College Square East, Belfast on 26 June 1824.

  • In 1846 Ulsterman William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) made the first scientific calculation of the age of the earth, thus challenging the biblical fundamentalists who claimed that it began 6,000 years ago.

  • Ulsterman William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) was awarded a knighthood in November 1866 at the age of 42 for the success in Thomson's transatlantic cable.

  • Ulsterman William Thomson became Baron Kelvin of Largs in 1892 at the age of 68.

  • An Ulster History Circle "Blue Plaque" can be found at Lord Kelvin's birthplace in College Square, Belfast. The Institute of Physics unveiled one at the University of Glasgow also on 11 January 1999.

  • John Boyd Dunlop was a Scotsman who came to Ulster in the middle of the 19th Century. He invented a tube from thin rubber sheets and fixed this to a wooden wheel with strips of linen from one of his wife's old dresses and a teat from a baby's bottle to create the first tyre!

  • A "Blue Plaque" commemorating John Boyd Dunlop can be found on a building at 38/42 May Street, Belfast where his workshop was situated!

  • Joseph Black was a famous Ulster-Scot who first identified carbon dioxide in our air and he was the son of a Scot who settled here during the Plantation of James I.

  • The man who first described "OZONE" (atmosphere) was Thomas Andrews from Ulster. He was also the first person to liquefy gases, which led to uses in refrigerators and bottled gas, and the fuel of rockets!

  • Augustine Henry who had Ulster-Scots connections was the discoverer of the kiwi fruit!

  • Augustine Henry of Ulster-Scots descendant discovered a rose which flowered all year round.

  • A memorial was established many years ago in Portglenone forest - the Augustine Henry Grove which consists of several specimen trees and bushes in honour of Augustine Henry.