Invention
Where does Stethoscope come from?
French doctor René Laennec invented it in 1816 at a Paris hospital, after noticing that a rolled-up sheet of paper carried heart sounds to his ear. His first version was a simple wooden tube.
More Inventions
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Invention
Animated feature film
📍 Buenos Aires, Argentina
The first feature-length cartoon wasn't Snow White (1937) but El Apóstol, made in Buenos Aires in 1917 by Quirino Cristiani from 58,000 frames of cut-out animation. Its only copy was lost in a 1926 studio fire.
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Invention
Panama hat
📍 Ecuador (Montecristi to Cuenca)
Panama hats are woven in Ecuador from toquilla palm straw. They got the wrong name because travellers, including Gold Rush prospectors crossing the isthmus, bought them in Panama. UNESCO listed the weaving craft in 2012.
Invention
Dolos (breakwater block)
📍 East London, South Africa
These giant concrete 'jacks' that lock together to tame waves were designed in 1963 for the harbour of East London, South Africa. Their Afrikaans name refers to knucklebones, and they now guard coasts around the world.
More from Europe
Game
Squash
📍 Harrow (London), England
Squash began around 1830 at Harrow School in London, when pupils noticed that a punctured ball, which “squashed” against the wall, made the old game of rackets far more varied.
Nature
Great Dane (dog breed)
📍 Germany
Despite its name, the Great Dane is a German breed with no known link to Denmark. Germans call it the Deutsche Dogge; the 'Dane' comes from its French name, grand danois.
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Word
Smithereens (the word)
📍 Ireland
Smithereens comes from Irish smidirín, 'a tiny fragment', from smiodar, 'fragment', plus the Irish diminutive -ín, the same ending as in colleen. It turns up in English in the early 1800s.