The traditional engineering industry is still a major source of Swedish inventions, but pharmaceuticals, electronics and other high-tech industries are gaining ground. A large portion of the Swedish economy is to this day based on the export of technical inventions, and many large multinational corporations from Sweden have their origins in the ingenuity of Swedish inventors.[2]
17th century
Christopher Polhem (1661–1751) was a Swedish scientist, inventor and industrialist. He made significant contributions to the economic and industrial development of Sweden, particularly mining. He reinvented the
Cardan joint under the name of "Polhem knot" (Polhemknut) independently of
Gerolamo Cardano, an Italian mathematician who invented the knot in 1545. His greatest achievement was an automated factory powered entirely by water; automation was very unusual at the time.[citation needed]
The
Stockholms Banco became the first European bank to print
banknotes (credit creation) from 1661 onwards, founded by
Johan Palmstruch. It engaged in lending as well as commercial payments which set it aside from the earlier innovations of the Amsterdam-based Wisselbank. This made Sweden one of the innovators of 17th century finance along with the
Dutch Empire and the
British Empire (once the
Bank of England had been founded some years later in 1694).[3]
18th century
Anders Celsius (1701–44) was an
astronomer and mathematician most famous for inventing the 100-point thermometer scale, widely used across the world.
Jonas Lidströmer (1755–1808), was a Swedish inventor and officer in the
Royal Swedish navy. He is behind a large number of mechanical devices and innovations, such as steel grinderies, ship docks, compasses etc.[5]
Per Georg Scheutz (1785–1873) was a 19th-century Swedish lawyer, translator, and inventor, who is best known for his pioneering work in computer technology. The best known of his inventions is the Scheutzian calculation engine, invented in 1837 and finalized in 1843.
Martin von Wahrendorff (1789–1861) was a Swedish diplomat and inventor. In 1837 Wahrendorff applied for patent on a new breech calculating, later known as the Wahrendorff breech. The first breech loaded Wahrendorff gun was manufactured at Åker in 1840.
19th century
From the 1870s, engineering
companies were created at an unmatched rate and engineers became considered heroes of the age. Many of the companies founded by early pioneers are still internationally familiar.
Martin Wiberg (1826–1905) is known as a
computer pioneer for his 1875 invention of a machine the size of a
sewing machine that could print logarithmic tables. Apart from this invention, Wiberg invented numerous other devices and gadgets, among these a
cream separator and a pulse
jet engine.
Helge Palmcrantz (1842–1880), Swedish inventor and industrialist. In 1873 Palmcrantz patented the multi-barrel, lever-actuated, machine gun that later would be known as the
Nordenfelt machine gun.
Gustaf de Laval (1845–1913) was a Swedish engineer and inventor who made important contributions to the design of
steam turbines and dairy machinery. The most famous invention was the milk-
cream separator. In 1883 he and others founded
AB Separator (later
Alfa Laval). He obtained over one hundred patents in total.
Carl Rickard Nyberg (1858–1939), inventor of the
blowtorch. After
Primus started producing blowtorches he also decided to make
paraffin oil/kerosene cookers. The first model, called Viktoria, wasn't very successful, but the later Svea did better. Nyberg also worked on many other inventions, for instance, steam engines, aeroplanes, boat propellers and other machines. He was most famous as an aviation pioneer and he became known as "Flyg-Nyberg". From 1897, onward, outside his home in
Lidingö he built and tested his
Flugan (The Fly).
Sven Gustaf Wingqvist (1876–1953) was a
Swedish engineer, inventor and industrialist, and one of the founders of
Svenska Kullagerfabriken (S.K.F.), one of the world's leading ball- and roller bearing makers. Sven Wingqvist invented the multi-row self-aligning
radialball bearing in 1907.
Hans von Kantzow (1887–1979) is known to have invented the steel alloy
Kanthal. In 1931
AB Kanthal was founded for the exploitation of the invention.
Anders Knutsson Ångström (1888–1981) was a
Swedishphysicist and
meteorologist who was known primarily for his contributions to the field of atmospheric radiation. He is credited with the invention of the
pyranometer, the first device to accurately measure direct and indirect solar radiation.[6]
Carl Munters (1897–1989), Swedish inventor, best known for inventing the
gas absorption refrigerator. After inventing the foam plastic he started his own company and developed, among other things, new insulation materials, air conditioners, and dehumidification devices. At his death, Munters had over a thousand patents.
Laila Ohlgren (1937–2014), inventor of mobile phone call-button dialling based on phone storage of the number to be dialled
Arne Asplund (1903–1993) was inventor of the
Defibrator pulping refiner and the defibrator-method (also called Asplund-method) for pulping wooden chips.
Oscar Kjellberg was a
Swedish inventor and industrialist. Founder of
ESAB, in 1904, and
Kjellberg Finsterwalde, in 1922. He invented the coated electrode used in
manual metal arc welding (Swedish Patent: 27152, 29 June 1907), by dipping a bare iron wire in a thick mixture of carbonates and silicates. His pioneering of
covered electrode development paved the road during the next twenty years in the research of reliable flux coated electrodes.
Austria's
Carl Hellmuth Hertz (1915–80) began research on ultrasound in
medical examinations in the early 1950, thereby becoming known throughout the world. A Swedish physician,
Inge Edler (b. 1911-2001) told Hertz that he wanted to devise a non-invasive method for examining the
heart. Echocardiography has revolutionized cardiovascular diagnostics. In 1977 Hertz and Edler received the American equivalent of the Nobel Prize in medicine, the Lasker Prize. The use of ultrasound in medical diagnostics is increasing sharply in a number of different fields.
Johan Richter (1901–1997) invented during the 1930s the continuous bleaching process for paper. Then during the WW2 he took on the more challenging continuous cooking process for pulp. Virtually all paper in the world is today produced with processes developed by Richter. He holds more than 750 patents.
Arvid Gerhard Damm (died 1927) was a
Swedish engineer and inventor. He designed a number of
cipher machines, and was one of the early inventors of the
wired rotor principle for machine encipherment. His company, AB Cryptograph, was a predecessor of
Crypto AG.
René Malaise (1892–1978) was a Swedish
entomologist, explorer and art collector who is mostly known for his invention of the
Malaise trap and his systematic collection of thousands of insects.
Sven Wingquist (1876–1953) invented the
self-aligning ball bearing in 1907. He founded a global company,
SKF (AB Svenska Kullagerfabriken), still the world's leading producer of industrial bearings.
Arvid Palmgren (1890–1971) invented the
spherical roller bearing in 1919 when working for
SKF. This bearing could take considerably heavier loads than the self-aligning ball bearings, and was quickly adopted by heavy industries.
Tetra Pak (1951) is an invention for storing, packaging and distributing liquid foodstuffs, for example, milk and juice.
Erik Wallenberg (1915–99) was the main inventor, while businessman
Ruben Rausing (1895–1983) developed and produced it. (See box). Several new package types have been added. The most ubiquitous is the Tetra Brik (1969).
In the late 1950s, the first working Bottle Return Machine (or
Reverse vending machine) was invented and manufactured by "Wicanders" from Sweden.[11]
Håkan Lans (born 1947) is recognised as one of Sweden's most outstanding inventors. Among his inventions is the
digitizer, the predecessor of the
computer mouse. He is also credited with the further development of the satellite-guided
Global Positioning System (GPS) into the
Automatic Identification System (AIS). Lans's system has become world standard for shipping and civil aviation. He is also famous for a patent regarding computer graphics.
Magnus Kellström (1941–) is an engineer graduated from
Chalmers University of Technology that invented the toroidal roller bearing (also known as
SKF CARB bearing). The bearing was introduced in 1995,[12] and forms together with a
spherical roller bearing a "self-aligning system".
The energy saving light bulb was invented by a consortium at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm in 1973.
Arne Tiselius (1902–71) used electrophoresis in the 1940s to analyse various proteins. Tiselius's work has been followed by other similar methods. All are important for medical and biological research. Tiselius received the Nobel Prize for
chemistry in 1948.
In 1958,
Rune Elmqvist developed a small battery-powered
pacemaker that can be inserted under the skin of a heart patient.[citation needed] It produces electrical impulses that help the heart muscle work normally. In the same year,
Åke Senning at the
Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm carried out the world's first pacemaker operation.
Peter Nordin (born 1965) is a Swedish computer scientist who has contributed to artificial intelligence, automatically generated computer programming, machine learning, and evolutionary robotics. He is currently (as of 2007) VP of Research at Institute of Robotics in Scandinavia AB (iRobis). [relevant?]
In 1968,
Lars Leksell (1907–86) invented the
gamma knife for
brain surgery. The 'knife' uses concentrated gamma radiation on the
tumour or malformation. The method is bloodless and patients can often leave hospital on the day of the operation.
The transmission of high voltage direct current, HVDC, is a method developed at
ASEA (now ABB) under Uno Lamm (1904–89). ABB remains one of the leading makers of
HVDC technology, now also used for terrain cable.
[1]
Adam Dunkels was recognized by American MIT's
Technology Review as one of the top 35 young inventors in the world, notably for
Micro IP which allows tiny gadgets such as car keys and credit cards to communicate using
Internet protocols.[13]
^"About Reverse Vending Machines". Reverse Vending. Retrieved 19 October 2014. The First working Bottle Return Machine was invented and manufactured by "Wicanders" from Sweden used in the late 1950s.
^"Hedersdoktor". Chalmers University of Technology. Retrieved 7 December 2013.