5 Australian inventions that changed the world

Australia is a country that is normally thought of as sports savvy and rugged. It isn’t very often that the country’s technological marvels are appreciated. Here we will look at 5 inventions from Australia that changed the way we live.

1. Ultrasound – The Commonwealth Acoustic Laboratories developed this lifesaving device, which helps parents check on the health of their unborn child. The technology is safer than X-Rays and bounces sub-aural sound waves off soft body tissue to generate an image.

2. Cochlear Implants – Sydney doctor Graeme Clark has helped millions of people around the world to hear well. Clark’s study started in 1967 and by 1985 the implants were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

3. Black box flight recorders – Dave Warren was an Australian chemist, who believed that the mysteries surrounding fatal accidents could be solved by those involved in it. Warren reasoned that a device that would survive a crash and record voice and data from instruments would hold the key to how the disaster occurred.

4. Wi-Fi – Melbourne’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization gave birth to early models of today’s Wi-Fi. John O’Sullivan, who was a science fellow at the organization, was trying to detect mini black holes, which were the size of an atomic particle. The experiment failed, but Wi-Fi was born.

5. Dual-flush Toilets – Being among one of the driest places in the world to be inhabited, Australians know the value of water. Dual-flush toilets were invented in the early 1980’s by Bruce Thompson. These toilets dispose water in two adjustments, one of liquids and another for everything else. The customized toilet helps save a lot of water in Australia and now around the world as well.