If you have experienced the 2010 soccer world cup then you would be rather familiar with the famous vuvuzela and its peculiar sounds.
Little did you know that the vuvuzela was invented by Freddie “Saddam” Maake back in 1965.
All he did was fabricate an aluminium version of a bicycle horn.
Everybody knows what a CAT scan is, but not everybody knows that it was developed by a South African.
Computed Axial Tomography Scan or CAT was created by Cape Town physicist Allan Cormack and his associate, Godfrey Hounsfield.
Oil from Coal (Sasol)
Sasol is the world’s first, and largest, oil-from-coal refinery and it provides 40% of the country’s fuel.
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The world’s first heart transplant was performed by Dr Chris Barnard in Cape Town on 3 December 1967.
After Barnard’s first operation he became an international celebrity.
He went on to perform more than 10 other heart transplants. One of the recipients survived a further 23 years.
Eric Merrifield created Dolosse. They are large, unusually shaped concrete blocks that can weigh up to 20 tons.
The structures are designed to break up waves and protect harbor walls and coastal installations.
University of Johannesburg Physicist, Professor Vivian Alberts, developed solar power technology.
We never would have thought that the potential end to global warming came all the way from Joburg.
Speed Gun
Obviously a cricket loving country would invent this.
In 1992 Henri Johnson revolutionised cricket and tennis when he invented the first radar gun to measure the speed of a fast-flying ball.
– Richelle Neethling