Prominent English figures from the field of science and mathematics include Sir Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Joseph Priestley, J. J. Thomson, Charles Babbage, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, Christopher Wren, Alan Turing, Francis Crick, Joseph Lister, Tim Berners-Lee, Andrew Wiles and Richard Dawkins. Experts claim that the earliest concept of a Metric system was invented by John Wilkins, first secretary of the Royal Society in 1668.[136] As birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, England was home to many significant inventors during the late 18th and early 19th century. Famous English engineers include Isambard Kingdom Brunel, best known for the creation of the Great Western Railway, a series of famous steamships, and numerous important bridges, hence revolutionising public transport and modern-day engineering.[137]
Inventions and discoveries of the English include; the first industrial spinning machine, the first computer and the modern computer, the World Wide Web along with HTTP and HTML, performance of the first blood transfusion, the vacuum cleaner, the lawnmower, the seat belt, the hovercraft, the electric motor, the microphone and steam engines. Theories such as the Darwinian theory of evolution and the atomic theory. Newton was the promulgator of universal gravitation, Newtonian mechanics and infinitesimal calculus, while Robert Hooke promulgator the Hooke's law of elasticity. Other inventions include the iron plate railway, the thermosiphon, tarmac, the rubber band, the mousetrap, "cat's eye" road safety device, joint development of the light bulb, steam locomotives, the seed drill, the jet engine and many modern techniques and technologies used in precision engineering.
