RIYADH, 6 June 2004 — Sweden is widely-known as a nation of inventors. When the names of Swedish innovators and their inventions, improvements and discoveries are listed, it often sounds like nationalistic boasting. Nonetheless, it is remarkable how many ingenious, life-improving machines, gadgets, appliances, systems, medicines, explanations and methods originated from the Nordic nation.
The success of the Swedish business sector has largely depended — and will continue to depend — on Sweden’s ability to find new methods and new solutions for new eras.
So remarkable is this phenomenon that there are numerous theories about its explanations. One of the most plausible is the fact that Sweden is a remote, far-flung, thinly populated country with a severe climate, where in the old days it required both inventiveness and very hard work just to survive.
The history of Swedish inventions begins as far back as the 17th century with medical doctor and Renaissance man Olof Rudbeck the Elder (1630-1702), who among other things discovered the human lymphatic system.
Since those days, inventions have followed more or less continuously. Below is a small selection of Swedish inventors and their most important inventions: Anders Celsius (1701-44), the Celsius (or Centigrade) thermometer; Carl von Linne (1707-78),. Systema naturae, a systematic classification of plants, animals and minerals; Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-86), chlorine and other chemical elements; John Ericsson (1803-89), the maritime screw propeller; Alfred Nobel (1833-96), dynamite; Gustaf de Laval (1845-1913), the cream separator; Lars Magnus Ericsson (1846-1926), development of telephone instruments and switchboards; Johann Peter Johansson (1853-1943), the adjustable wrench; Nils Gustav Dalen (1869-1937), gas-powered maritime beacons; Fredrik Ljungstrom (1875-1964), the steam turbine; Sven Wingquist (1876-1953), the roller bearing; Baltzar von Platen (1898-1984), the refrigerator without moving parts; Victor Hasselblad (1906-78), the single lens reflex camera; Erik Wallenberg (1915-99), and Ruben Rausing 1895-1983), the Tetra Pak beverage packaging systems; Rune Elmquist (1906-96), the pacemaker.
Among recent Swedish inventors and their inventions are Nils Bohlin’s three-point safety belt; Ericsson’s digital AXE telephone switchboard stations; Hakan Lans’ computere mouse, color screen graphics for computers and GPS systems for Satellite navigation, Lar’s Leksell’s surgical Gamma Knife and AstraZeneca’s ulcer medicine Losec.
Swedish medical researchers have also been instrumental in developing local anesthetics, intravenous imaging and beta blockers for cardiovascular diseases.