Canadian gadgets and scientific breakthroughs
Celebrate our national holiday with a look at some notable made-in-Canada tech toys and homegrown scientific achievements.
Harmony
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Logitech Harmony remotes
Created by Mississauga, Ont.-based Easy Zapper and then sold to Logitech in 2004 (for tens of millions of dollars), the Harmony line of universal remotes are billed as the world's smartest as they're a cinch to program (connect them to the Net via a PC's USB port) and a breeze to use with ''activity'' commands like ''Play a Movie.'' (credit: Logitech)
Two words, Avro Arrow.
Wow, only 10!!! there are alot more than 10 great things us Canadians have invented / created.
Andy, bang on, the Avro Arrow should be in there as well, even if it never made it main stream it was still an incredible acheivment that we STILL should be proud of, and a little sad that politcs got in the way and killed it. Likely won’t be the last time that happens either!
Happy Canada Day all!!!
God keep our land, glorious and free………..
You’re right of course, there are tons of great Canadian achievements that didn’t make our list. We wanted to do something with a variety of fields and eras without making it a 50 image gallery.
So by all means keep adding to the list in the comments, it’s a great way to share the pride this Canada Day!
The Americans killed the Avro Arrow. They didn’t want their inferior jets to be exposed.
The one thing that every smart person on this planet know’s, if it weren’t for the Avro Arrow, then the U.S. wouldn’t have had their Jetfighters they have to this day, and the British/French wouldn’t of had the Concord. This is fact. The other is the BRAINDEAD Prime Minister we had at the time. Another Fact. Thanks to him, we lost the prime tech. aroung the world that still being copied!! Those with the I.Q. of a cigerette ash, at the ease of brainwashing, look to thiers as the best…ask most Americans….they know no better!! Canada, home of the best of the bsst!! The problem with us, we sit back with no need to brag!!
Sounds like you need to brag to me!
Yes, it’s because of the USA but it’s OUR P.M. that made the sad and bad decision…
PC what do you expect the same thing will happen to our Cando Program…
And many more to follow…
Avro Arrow was great but were you aware that the AV Roe Company (AVRO) was a British Company that bought the Victory Aircraft company in Malton Ontario. this was the same great British company that built the Lancaster Bombers with the British V12 Rolls Royce Merlin engines…. don’t forget the Avro Arrow would not have got off the ground had it not been for Frank Whittle the British inventor of the modern gas turbine + without Robert Dunlop who invented the pneumatic tire would also have prevented the Arrow from taxing to the runway…To say that the British and French would never have designed Concorde is ridiculas, you mean to say the AVRO parent company in Manchester, England did not know what was going on at AVRO Canada (er, I don’t think so). To engineer something takes a lot of contribution from all areas of the world and let me tell you that a lot of British engineers and workers worked at the AVRO company in Malton , Ontario
Good god, you’ll be saying next that Alexander Graham Bell was a Canadian who was in fact born and rasied in SCOTLAND studied in Scotland and England prior to emigrating to Canada in his early 40′s of course we Scottish know our ancestry and Bell helped the development of deaf children in England and Scotland, even adding his name to the SI unit of Decibel… now I think of Newton, Faraday, Watt, Joule, this list goes on… please tell me how many SI units are named after Canadians or USA engineers and scientists…. I suppose you will be saying next that William and Kate are Canadian because they are touring over here!
my god alan that was a little winded, eh. a little high strung are we, to much tea i say. lol
Billy, thanks… actually reading back it does sound a bit like that… actually not wound up at all, I just want people to be aware of giving credit where its due… most great inventions don’t come from one source…. erm, I’m not English so don’t drink tea I’m afraid, but I do like a wee dram now and again.
Great posts, Alan, but you should know that the Arrow was not as “great” as we have been told. It was quite fast with a continuous maximum speed rating of mach 1.9 but this was not the fastest at the time. Several aircraft of the period were faster. The Arrow flew to 58,000 feet which was high but not as high as the record set by the Lockheed Starfighter which was already in service.
A lack of speed and altitude, however, were not why the program was cancelled. The Liberals first decided to cancel the program in 1957 apparently due to cost. They were defeated before they could act. Records show that the aircraft would have cost $9.7 million each compared to about $2 million for a Voodoo or $3.75 million for a Delta Dart.
In 1958 the military also recommended cancellation to Cabinet. Their main problem with the Arrow seems to be its 1254 nm maximum ferry range. Both the Voodoo and Delta Dart could be ferried more than 1930 nm. At the time most parties, except for the manufacturer, were agreed that the program should end. All the rest is mythstory.
I am surprised that the Laser technology is not in the list
My father worked for the Canadian government and developed much of the technology that is the current medical laser use.
Kinda surprised Mars weather tracking network, tactical SENSORs and that flying probe thing they want to fly through Mars’ atmosphere got beat by a blackberry? (although blackberry’s are still pretty cool)
Top of the list the ARVO ARROW, then the world’s first anti gravity suit,short take off and landing aircraft, and the robertson screw.
Canadarm
if you are going to put a video game company then you should have put Ubisoft Montreal instead of EA
EA Sports is amazing! What good games has ubisoft made?
i agree that ea sports consistantly kick ass in all they do,(except need for speed) i am STILL WAITING FOR A CFL GAME. where is that bit of fun. GO CANADA GO!!!
^^^^ Oooooooops my mistake. Should have previewed all of the the ten.
Nice list with some surprises but several would easily be considered also-rans when compared to the Arrow, the G-suit (right on Dave) and the concept and design of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) by Owen Maynard (yet another Avro engineer that joined NASA). I think your research uncoverd some interesting facts but you missed the obvious.
Re: The Canadarm, ever notice that in Hollwood movies when they show the space shuttle with the arm extended, the word “Canada” has been removed from the arm?
God forbid the U.S give proper credit for Canadian technology.
If not so typical, it might by funny!
The citizens of the U.S. are the most brainwashed society on this planet!! They know-no-better!!
The rights and all the related patents were sold to an american company.
OK?
Although it’s debatable, but ummm the “telephone”. Communicating across the Atlantic was a pretty big step for humanity (in terms of its technology) and made the world that much smaller. It was the precursor to most (all, perhaps?) of the communications technology we have today.
Seriously, a universal remote beat out other inventions and breakthroughs? A computer gaming company that’s not even Canadian? I would also bet that Electronic Arts in Canada doesn’t even employ solely Canadians. The researchers at RIM and Paradigm are probably not all Canadians either. This is a pretty shabby list.
How about Alexander Graham Bell and his invention of the telephone, in Brantford Ontario…..The Light bulb, at U of T. then sold to Thomas Edison, that pattens the same thing 5yrs later, and is given the invention….the 1st light bulb is still at U of T. How about the invention of a provincial health plan…..only copied globally!! None of these are on there either!!
I think you will find that Humphry Davy (UK) (he of famous miner lamp fame) was the first person ever to create the incandescent light by passing current through a thin strip of platinum. of course Sir H, Davy did not build light bulbs, but he invented and understood the power of the incandescent light. To me there is one thing to manufacture and use technology to build great things, but it is an even greater wonder to come up with original thought such as Isacc Newton at a very young age developed Calculus and laws of gravity and motion….. around 400 years ago…. don’t think he was Canadian though….. like most things, there were also others at the same time in Germany developing Caculus and the light bulb was the same thing…. in England they believe it was Joseph Swan who invented the incandescent light bulb first… funny old world, everyone around the world boasts about this and that… oh any it was Brazilians that beat the Wright brothers to actually fly an areoplane…. but they are never going to convince the USA folks of that….
I think that theyre were somethings on that list that americans are jealous that we created and some that im ashamed made the list and some that surprised me whem they didnt make the list all in all we r better they suck ;P
Let’s not forget the game of basketball, which was invented in the 1890′s I believe.
Dont forget the Marsh Peg and net. These pegs and nets are used by every junior and proffesional leaque in the world as well as in most arena’s around the world. They were invented in Kitimat, BC, by Fred Marsh who was the superintendant of the Kitimat arenas at the time. These pegs and nets have saved many lives and reduced serious injuries to almost zero in collisions with the nets.
Don’t forget the pacemaker. A very important piece of technology if I’m not mistaken
there is a lot more than that, and i didn’t think that all of those were “great” inventions or “break-throughs”.
Other medical inventions include the pacemaker developed at Toronto General and Pablum developed at Sick Kid’s in Toronto. The Synthesizer was also a Canadian invention. They could probably make this a Top 100 list and still miss quite a few.
this gets worse, Dr. Robert Moog born in New York, USA was the inventor of the synthesizer….. please stop telling these readers lies… in some ways you are correct, HE was North American, but from NY, USA.
There’s several mundane things that have made a huge impact on everyday life that should not be overlooked.
The Paint Roller
The Robertson Screw
The World Wide Web…….
Quite surprised that the original list of 10 had only 3 truly important items, along with a collection of games, gadgets, gimmicks and toys. Fortunately, the commenters have rounded out the list with many other much more significant entries. Also embarrassed by the profound ignorance displayed by some of the comments regarding the U.S. in general and the Avro Arrow in particular. ‘Only in Canada’, you say?
Sorry to burst your Canuck bubble but insulin is a Romanian invention. See http://www.rounite.com/2008/09/12/nicolae-paulescu/