About the film archive
Learn about the history behind our documentary film archive from the 1940s.
An overview of Scotland's great inventors.
Famous Scottish inventors
'Scotland is a beautiful land, though rugged, and has been the nurse of many famous inventors. Macadam, creator of the macadamised road; Watt, who built the first locomotive engine; Murdock, who showed us how to light our cities with gas; Nasmyth, inventor of the steam-hammer; Telford, builder of the Caledonian canal; Henry Bell, who built the first steamship; Alexander Bell, the first man to transmit the human voice along an electric wire; Simpson, who developed the use of chloroform; Ross, who conquered malaria; and a host of others whose greatness dwarfs the barren careers of modern dictators.'
(Films of Britain - British Council Film Department Catalogue - 1941)
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Learn about the history behind our documentary film archive from the 1940s.
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