The Top 10 Major Irish Contributions To The World

As I recover from yet another epic St. Patrick's Day fest, I tend to ponder on just what it means to be Irish. There are an estimated 14 million people in the U.S. alone who claim this heritage. The total world wide is over 80 million. So just what is it about having Irish blood that makes us so proud? The truth is since the first Celtic settlements on the emerald isle over 3000 years ago, the Irish have been changing and shaping our world like no other race. With that never quit attitude, and the stubbornness to see any hardship through to its end. They gave birth to modern music and dancing and Hurling is considered one of the oldest team sports in the world. Here is a look at my top 10 major Irish contributions to the U.S. and the world. 10. Milk chocolate: In the 18th century Sir Hans Sloane, from County Down, encountered cocoa while he was in Jamaica, where the locals drank it mixed with water, and he is reported to have found it nauseating. However, he devised a means of mixing it with milk to make it more pleasant. When he returned to England, he brought his chocolate recipe back with him. By the 19th century, Cadburys was selling tins of Sloane's drinking chocolate. 9. Guinness: Enough said. 8. Splitting the atom: Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton, a physicist from Dungarvan, Co Waterford, won the Nobel Prize for his work with John Cockcroft. In the late 1920s/early 1930s, the two conducted "atom-smashing" experiments at Cambridge University. Walton became the first person to artificially split the atom. 7. Nickel Zinc battery: The battery was developed by an Irish chemist, Dr. James J. Drumm (1897–1974) and installed in four two-car railway sets, between 1932 and 1948, for use on the Dublin-Bray railway line. Today it is used to power cell phones. 6. Monorail: Louis Brennan, from Mayo, was the inventor of the monorail. He did much of the work on a monorail locomotive which was kept upright by a gyrostat. In 1903 he patented a system that he designed for military use; he successfully demonstrated the system, on November 10, 1909, in Gillingham, England. 5. Color photography: John Joly, from County Down, was the first to invent the color photograph back in 1894, although it did not gain widespread acceptance until many years later. 4. The Tank: When Winston Churchill, in 1915, issued an all points bulletin for the invention of a machine capable of withstanding rifle fire, flattening barbed wire fences, and rolling over no man’s land Irishman Walter Gordon Wilson obliged by inventing the modern tank. 3. Tractor: Harry Ferguson, from Northern Ireland, a bicycle repair man with a genius for mechanical inventions, invented the modern tractor as well as the first four wheel drive Formula One racing car. 2. Submarine: John Philip Holland, from Clare, invented the submarine and it was commissioned in 1900 by the US Navy. 1. Automobile: Henry Ford, son of an Irish immigrant, transformed the world with his low price automobile which created modern life, suburbs, highways, mobility etc, forever. Irish immigrants also built this nation. From railroads to skyscrapers to ships, you name it, and it was probably built by an Irishman. James Hoban from County Killkenny, designed the White House. Irish immigrants also made up more than 80% of the soldiers and sailors during the American Revolution, and the American Civil War. There is a joke that the Irish would have ruled the world had alcohol not been created. I almost believe that. By the way, it's also considered the sexiest accent in the world! I hope everyone had a great St. Paddy's Day and thanks for reading!