Greatest Spanish contribution(s) to the world ?

[crudshoveller]

For my offering I tender the cyclic pitch control used in helicopters. Designed and patented by the Marquis de Pescara.

[Sirius2b]

Mexicans did not "invent" color television, per se. However, Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena, a Mexican, is recognized for developing the first technology to effectively transmit color images commercially. This took place in the 1940s. Color television devices have been in existence since the 1920's, in one form or another.

See what I mean...

[P. Courvel]

Spain gave the world two things ! Corrida and the Inquisition !

[Cambrius (The Red)]

See what I mean...

Mean what? I'm stating facts. Look them up.

[Maciamo]

The telepheric :
El primer transportador de plano inclinado para pasajeros del mundo fue construido por Leonardo Torres Quevedo[2] en la ciudad de San Sebastián (España) en 1907 para permitir a la aristocracia donostiarra acceder sin problemas a la cima del Monte Ulía

The oldest funiculars are Austria (1515), English (1575) and Irish (1777). There are others predating the first Spanish one of 1907.

Table football :
El futbolín con las piernas separadas lo inventó un gallego, conocido gracias a la leyenda difundida por el mismo creador: Alexandre de Fisterra, quien dijo ser herido durante uno de los bombardeos de Madrid durante la Guerra Civil Española. Viendo a muchos niños heridos como él en el hospital (por ejemplo, incapaces de poder jugar al fútbol), pensó en la idea, inspirándose en el tenis de mesa. Alexandre confía a su amigo Francisco Javier Altuna, un carpintero vasco, la fabricación del primer futbolín siguiendo sus instrucciones.[

The invention of table football dates back to the 1890's in the UK and was patented in 1923, 13 years before the start of the Spanish Civil War.

The Syringe :
Algo tan simple que ha hecho tanto bien... Manuel Jalón, inventor de la fregona, creó la jeringuilla hipodérmica desechable, algo que hoy en día nos parece tan normal que muchas veces no le damos el valor necesario. Su aparición hizo mucho por la higiene sanitaria y significó un gran avance gracias al uso de los plásticos en la no proliferación de enfermedades.

Historical timeline from Wikipedia

* The first piston syringes were used in Roman times. during the 1st century AD Celsus mentions the use of them to treat medical complications in his De Medicina.
* 9th century AD: The Iraqi/Egyptian surgeon Ammar ibn 'Ali al-Mawsili' created a syringe in the 9th century using a hypodermic needle, a hollow glass tube, and suction to remove cataracts from patients' eyes, a practice that remained in use up until at least the 13th century and which came into renewed use in the 20th century.
* c. 1650: Blaise Pascal invented a syringe (not necessarily hypodermic) as an application of what is now called Pascal's law.
* 1760: Forms of intravenous injection and infusion began.
* 1844: Irish physician Francis Rynd invented the hollow needle and used it to make the first recorded subcutaneous injections, specifically a sedative to treat neuralgia.
* 1853: Charles Pravaz and Alexander Wood developed a medical hypodermic syringe with a needle fine enough to pierce the skin. Shortly thereafter, the first recorded fatality from a hypodermic-syringe induced overdose was Wood's wife from self administered morphine.
* 1946: Chance Brothers in Smethwick, Birmingham, England produce the first all-glass syringe with interchangeable barrel and plunger, thereby allowing mass-sterilisation of components without the need for matching them.
* 1956: New Zealand pharmacist and inventor Colin Murdoch granted New Zealand and Australian patents for a disposable plastic syringe.
* 1974: First US patent for a plastic disposable syringe received by African American inventor, Phil Brooks, U.S. patent #3,802,434 received on April 9, 1974.

No mention of Spain. I checked up Manuel Jalón Corominas and he "only" invented the two-part disposable syringe, not the syringe itself. That was in 1978, so I guess the credit for the disposable syringe should go to the American Phil Brooks, who patented it 4 years earlier.

[Wilhelm]

Spain gave the world two things ! Corrida and the Inquisition !

Bullfighting is also very popular in southern France, specially in Nimes :

The oldest funiculars are Austria (1515), English (1575) and Irish (1777). There are others predating the first Spanish one of 1907.

I didn't talk about funiculars, I talked about telepherics, it's not the same.

Historical timeline from Wikipedia
No mention of Spain. I checked up Manuel Jalón Corominas and he "only" invented the two-part disposable syringe, not the syringe itself. That was in 1978, so I guess the credit for the disposable syringe should go to the American Phil Brooks, who patented it 4 years earlier.

Of course in anglo-saxon sources you won't find any spanish invention, but see these :

http://www.tiempodeculto.com/articul...nventosEsp.htm

http://listas.20minutos.es/lista/cua...ortante-62347/

[Reinaert]

Spain gave the world two things ! Corrida and the Inquisition !

Another way of saying Spain didn't contribute anything positive to the world.

But.. I know some positive ..

Pablo Picasso
Gaudi
Ortega Y Gasset

[Carlitos]

Doma Vaquera is a discipline mainly Spanish, mainly from Andalusia, Extremadura and Leon Castilian province of Salamanca, these regions being the most important with respect to wild herds.

It originated in the work developed in the field with livestock management, such as bulls away for a run, getting the cattle from one place to another or holding corral.

As competition has a significant presence in many rural areas of Spanish, although in recent years is starting to gain importance in France. The exhibition takes place in a smooth and bounded track called rectangular. Its measures range from a minimum (18 m wide and 40 m long) and other maximum (20 m wide by 60 m long), which are the regulations for the competitions of major importance.

The horse used in this discipline must combine a submissive character with a strong dose of speed and agility. Although its origins were used Purebred Spanish horses, are now highly prized horses Hispanic Anglo, Hispanic Anglo Arabs, Anglo Arabs and English Thoroughbreds.

[Sirius2b]

Another way of saying Spain didn't contribute anything positive to the world.

But.. I know some positive ..

Pablo Picasso
Gaudi
Ortega Y Gasset

Likewise, although very much mentioned already, the Spaniard that I admire most, is again Santiago Ramon y Cajal, and he is recognised as the one that gave the correct interpretation of for neural working, which, undeniably gave birth to Neurobiology and Neuroscience.

(If well, based in his turn in the methods of the Italian Camillo Golgi).

For their works, both received the Nobel Prize in 1906.

(All this, without denying the previous work and contributions of, for example, the French Paul Brocca, or the Germans, Wernieke, Brodmann, etc....)

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9orie_du_neurone

I is the Spaniard I admire most and I don't try to put him down, just because an average Spaniard would do that, in the reverse case.

Regards.

[Carlitos]

Carlitos....

[^ lynx ^]

Spain gave the world two things ! Corrida and the Inquisition !

The Inquisition was born in France. Please, educated yourself.

Regards.

PS- We all know that this thread is most likely to get locked, ruined by the usual *****(s).

[Drac]

The first computer game is recognized as a Spanish invention even by English WikiPedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard...do#cite_note-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ajedrecista

[P. Courvel]

The Inquisition was born in France. Please, educated yourself.

The French Inquisition was only in France. Spain gave the word an international dimension with its colonies.

[^ lynx ^]

If France would have not created Inquisition there would have not been spanish inquisition either. And the spanish inquisition barely acted in Spain's colonies, btw.

Regards.

[Drac]

Spain is renowned for Flamenco music and dance. It is ironically is of mixed Gypsy, Spanish, Byzantine, Sephardic and Moorish origin. Too hybrid to be just Spanish.

Besides the Gypsy influence, that's a bit hard to believe, considering that Flamenco is only about 200 years old.

[Carlitos]

There are different hypotheses about the origins of flamenco. It is relatively modern flamenco as we know it today, no doubt the Spanish Gypsies have brought their own style and are the first to professionalize the art of flamenco, but I personally do not see any other group from another country gypsy song and dance flamenco, if it was a purely gypsy art, other European gypsy flamenco dancer and sing, and I think not.

Flamenco art is a distinctly Andalusian building, genuine and unique, we make them our influences in a total symbiosis to purity, we are not obsessed like pure European center without influence.

[Carlitos]

The story of the man who accused Spielberg of plagiarism and died in the attempt.

E.T. allegedly was Spanish, but allegedly stole the idea.

Some will ask: And that's a Spanish contribution to the world? and the answer is that it is a contribution, as did many children happy and adults and moved a big industry around that dear being called ETpity that we stole the idea!, allegedly.

In October 1975 the Barcelona artist Joaquín Blázquez created, commissioned by the American publishing house 'Warren Magazines', a' Melvin ', star of the cartoon published the following year at number 49 of' Vampirella ', titled' Then one foggy Christmas Eve. " This personage is the one you see in the image above. It is very probable that I remember someone. Seven years later, a similar stupid, jumped to the big screen to end up becoming one of the most important icons of cinema: 'ET The Extra-Terrestrial. "

Blázquez became obsessed with prosecute Steven Spielberg. Without ever receiving any answer or explanation, suffering from a deep nervous breakdown, the artist died at forty years of a stroke caused by continued intake of drugs and alcohol.

The documentary 'against E. Melvin T. ', which will come the year in which twenty five world premiere of the film, Spielberg, whose trailer can be seen here, shows us the complex life history of Joaquín Blázquez.

Victor Sarabia directed a documentary about his neighbor in Premia de Mar, a town near Barcelona, where he lived in the 70s a group of artists, writers and editors momentous in the history of comics for adults in Spain. Conchita, the widow of Blázquez has had to move and has delivered all the material from her husband to Sarabi. Among the drawings, super 8 films, diaries, personal letters and newspaper clippings, are also letters to Spielberg, as follows:

http://www.blogdecine.com/historias-...berg-de-plagio






Bone already have: The radio, the helicopter, the submarine, the Talgo, ET, not bad at all

[Sirius2b]

Priceless.

This thread have to go up... and up it goes.

Regards.

[Carlitos]

Another great contribution of Spain to the world is Atlantis.


MADRID, 14 Mar. (Reuters) -



Atlantis was in Doñana and the tsunami destroyed a


http://http://www.europapress.es/soc...314112536.html




An international research team led by an American scientist may have finally given the location of the lost city of Atlantis. The legendary civilization was destroyed by a tsunami thousands of years ago and was cibierta by banks of mud in southern Spain.

"This is the power of tsunamis," said Reuters chief investigator Richard Freund. "It's so hard to understand that they can reach more than 90 miles inland, and that's more or less what we're talking about," said Freund, University of Hartford, Connecticut, who led an international team of quest to find the location Atlantis real.

To solve the ancient mystery, the team used a satellite photo of an alleged sunken city to find the site just north of Cadiz. There, buried in the marshes of Doñana National Park, believe it stood the ancient city of Atlantis, consisting of several rings.

Throughout the years 2009 and 2010, the team of archaeologists and geologists used a combination of soil depth radar, digital mapping, and underwater technology to inspect the site.

The discovery of Freund within Spain of a bizarre series of "city monument, built in the image of Atlantis by refugees after the likely destruction of the city by a tsunami, researchers gave added evidence, he said. Atlantis residents that perished in the tsunami fled inland and built new cities, he added.

The team's findings were released Sunday in the documentary "Searching for Atlantis", a special National Geographic chain.

While it is difficult to ascertain the location of Atlantis was in Spain, Freund said the "spin" of their work was to find ruins of cities like the one that was buried in the marshes on the southern coast of Spain. "We found something that nobody else has seen before, which lends credibility, especially for archeology," said Freund.

The Greek philosopher Plato, Atlantis dates back some 2,600 years ago, and described it as "an island opposite the strait known as the Pillars of Hercules, the Straits of Gibraltar today. Using the detailed reference to Plato's Atlantis like a map, searches have focused on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and the best possible sites for the city.

Tsunamis in the region have been documented for centuries, says Freund. One of the biggest was a 10-story high wave that hit Lisbon in November 1755.

The debate over whether Atlantis really existed has lasted thousands of years. The 'Dialogues' of Plato about 360 BC are the only known historical source of information about the emblematic city. Plato said the island called Atlantis "in a single day and night ... disappeared in the depths of the sea."

Experts plan new excavations at the site creeen found Atlantis and the mysterious "city" about 250 miles inland from Spain to study more closely the geological formations and to date the remains.

[loco_aullador]

Stop insulting and lets get serious about that. Spain has brought a lot to humankind. People who say bad words or tries to offend do not know nothing about Spain, its culture or its history. Corridas and Inquisition? someone who goes to Spain and think thats all that it has brought to humankind do not know NOTHING, they do not read nothing about its culture or history. What about literature and poetry?, i saw the british post, literature and poetry are mentioned so why not here? lets see:

Literature and Poetry: Cervantes, Calderon de la Barca, Perez Galdos, Alberti, Miguel de Unamuno, Lope de Vega, Antonio Machado, here you have some examples but theres a lot of more.

I would not mention arts, too obvious

You mentioned fashion in the british, lets take a look what we have in Spain

Fashion: Amaya Arzuaga, Roberto Berino, Victorio y Lucchino, Custo Barcelona, Balenciaga, Pertegaz, Zara Inditex

Dont use wikipedia, it lies a lot, almost anyone can put anything there, remember when someone write that a famous actor (i would not say who) died and was alive?. But look what it says about Narcis Monturiol: "He was the inventor of the first combustion engine-driven submarine. Someone told that wasnt true?"

What about famous architects? Someone knows "a guy" called Gaudi? Rafael Guastavino i Moreno (the one who design the grand central station in manhattan and many many others around all the States), bofill, calatrava

What about the language? The spanish is the second language by numers of native speakers (329 million).

Theres many more things but i dont have enough time now, im busy. Greetings.

[Drac]

Stop insulting and lets get serious about that. Spain has brought a lot to humankind. People who say bad words or tries to offend do not know nothing about Spain, its culture or its history. Corridas and Inquisition? someone who goes to Spain and think thats all that it has brought to humankind do not know NOTHING, they do not read nothing about its culture or history. What about literature and poetry?, i saw the british post, literature and poetry are mentioned so why not here? lets see:

Literature and Poetry: Cervantes, Calderon de la Barca, Perez Galdos, Alberti, Miguel de Unamuno, Lope de Vega, Antonio Machado, here you have some examples but theres a lot of more.

I would not mention arts, too obvious

You mentioned fashion in the british, lets take a look what we have in Spain

Fashion: Amaya Arzuaga, Roberto Berino, Victorio y Lucchino, Custo Barcelona, Balenciaga, Pertegaz, Zara Inditex

Dont use wikipedia, it lies a lot, almost anyone can put anything there, remember when someone write that a famous actor (i would not say who) died and was alive?. But look what it says about Narcis Monturiol: "He was the inventor of the first combustion engine-driven submarine. Someone told that wasnt true?"

What about famous architects? Someone knows "a guy" called Gaudi? Rafael Guastavino i Moreno (the one who design the grand central station in manhattan and many many others around all the States), bofill, calatrava

What about the language? The spanish is the second language by numers of native speakers (329 million).

Theres many more things but i dont have enough time now, im busy. Greetings.

I agree. For example, in other "polls" they got recreational contributions, like Tarot cards, comic books, games (snooker, bridge, etc.), yet you would think that the remarkable achievement (because it's not only "recreational" but actually a technological achievement as well) of making the world's first computer game (a multi-billion dollar industry today) would be featured in such a poll, but it did not. Somehow I think that if its inventor had been from Britain or Germany it would have made the "polls".

[loco_aullador]

Well we the spanish are very good in forgetting our history and remembering only the worst things we did in the past (it is more remembered the Armada Invencible incident-great spanish loss against Britain-than the Jenkin's ear war-spanish win against british for example). Also we dont do anything to let the world (not even Spain) know our achivements and great personalities, we always wait other countries to give their oppinions and later we start complaining. Like said a spanish-american philosopher and novelist, George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".

[Maciamo]

Literature and Poetry: Cervantes, Calderon de la Barca, Perez Galdos, Alberti, Miguel de Unamuno, Lope de Vega, Antonio Machado, here you have some examples but theres a lot of more.

Are they supposed to be famous outside the Spanish-speaking community (apart from Cervantes for one book, Don Quixote) ?

You mentioned fashion in the british, lets take a look what we have in Spain

Fashion: Amaya Arzuaga, Roberto Berino, Victorio y Lucchino, Custo Barcelona, Balenciaga, Pertegaz, Zara Inditex

Famous worldwide ? I only know Zara...

What about the language? The spanish is the second language by numers of native speakers (329 million).

The number of native speakers is irrelevant as a contribution to the world. What matters is how many non-native speakers decide to learn the language. I only listed the English language in the list of contributions to the world (and ignored even my native French language) because it is a fact that English is the only dominant international language nowadays, especially for sciences, technology, business, travel and diplomacy. English is unavoidable nowadays. Other languages aren't.

[edao]

I voted other. I think Spanish/Iberian culture in general would be their greatest contribution. A bit of a wooly answer, but I think as global cultures go it is very rich.

[Maciamo]

If France would have not created Inquisition there would have not been spanish inquisition either. And the spanish inquisition barely acted in Spain's colonies, btw.

Regards.

I think that the forced conversions carried on by Spanish (and Portuguese) missionaries can be seen as an extension of the Spanish Inquisition. The purpose of the inquisition is to subdue the biggest part of the world population as possible to Roman Catholicism. It is a sort of Christian Jihad, if you will.