Invention Eponyms

The English language contains hundreds of terms called eponyms, or people’s names that have become common nouns. For example, Josef Pulitzer is the eponym and founder of the Pulitzer prize, a cash sum given to those who promote peace and excel in physics, medicine, chemistry and literature. The eponym of the Caesar salad is 20th century Italian-American chef Caesar Cardini, who invented this culinary delight in 1921.

Some of history’s most important inventions are eponymously named. The Diesel engine was titled after German engineer Rudolph Diesel, who described his invention in a patent dated 1892. French educator Louis Braille loaned his name eponymously to the system of writing for the blind, which he introduced in the 1820s.

Pasteurization, the process by which food and beverages are heated to destroy harmful microorganisms, was named eponymously for another Frenchman, chemist Louie Pasteur. German bacteriologist Julius R. Petri invented a circular glass dish for growing bacteria cultures in a laboratory setting. This invention was designed by and eponymously named for Julius Petri in 1887.

Electrical power output is measured in watts, a term derived from the surname of 18th century Scottish inventor, and designer of gears and engines, James Watt. Interested in these types of terms? Visit my website for links to eponyms at wordsmithradio.org.