Inventions From the Aussies
Among many foreigners, Australia is the land of Vegemite, koalas and a dedication to green living.
The country ranks in the top 10 for adventure, citizenship, entrepreneurship, cultural influence and quality of life among the 2017 U.S. News Best Countries rankings, but may sometimes be overlooked in another category: inventiveness.
A number of popular — and in some cases, lifesaving — technologies came from the land Down Under.
Here’s a look at five life-changing inventions you may not have known came from Australia.
Google Maps
Google Maps was created by a pair of Denmark-born but Sydney-based developers.
Brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen co-founded a startup mapping company in early 2003 called Where 2 Technologies. A year later, they sold that company to Google, which would later turn it into Google Maps.
The brothers were awarded for making major gains in the information and communications technology field, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Their work positioned Australia “as a global leader in online services,” according to the paper.
The Ultrasound
Calling it the CAL echoscope, researchers David Robinson and George Kossoff built the first ultrasound scanner in 1961.
The pair worked at the Ultrasonic Research Group of the Commonwealth Acoustic Laboratories, and in May 1962, Robinson and Kossoff recorded Australia’s first ultrasound image. The discovery “helped establish the reputation of the Sydney group at the forefront of research in ultrasound,” according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
While similar technology was used in other machines around the world, Robinson and Kossoff’s device and its successors produced images of equal or better quality.
Wi-Fi
In the 1990s, a research team of Australian inventors created a technology for the high-speed wireless delivery of data between devices over a network. Today this technology is more commonly known as the basis for “Wi-Fi.”
The team made up of John O’Sullivan, Terence Percival, Graham Daniels, Diethelm Ostry and John Deane developed the technology that made the wireless LAN just as fast as its cable contemporaries.
The Pacemaker
In 1926, Dr. Mark C. Lidwill invented the earliest model of the pacemaker while working at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia.
The early versions of the technology were complicated and difficult to use, but the invention was streamlined overtime and is commonly used in medical practice today.
Lidwell’s invention isn’t the only major medical device and research to come from the country. Australian inventors also created the cochlear implant — or bionic ear, and the Gardasil and Cervarix vaccinations that protect against certain types of cancer-causing HPV.
Black Box Flight Recorder
Australian scientist David Warren is best known for inventing the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, also known as “the black box.”
Warren invented the world’s first black box flight recorder in 1953 while working at the Aeronautical Research Laboratory. Warren and his team spent years developing the technology, which has been installed in commercial aircraft as a result of mandatory aviation guidelines.
The technology has been credited with recording critical information to make flights safer, and it has proven integral to investigations into aviation accidents.
When it comes to air travel, Australian inventors have also been credited with creating the inflatable aircraft escape slide.
More from U.S. News
5 World’s Fair Inventions That Could Have Changed Everyday Life
The 10 Most Peaceful Countries
International Tourism in U.S. Declines Since Donald Trump Elected President
5 Inventions You Didn’t Know Came From Australia originally appeared on usnews.com
