America v England. The brain war has begun!

I was hoping to see these mentioned but they were overlooked. Two milestone discoveries by the Brits:

Dr William Harvey in 1628 laid the foundation for modern medicine by being the first to discover and explain the circulation of blood in the human body and the function of the human heart. Harvey was also the first to document human embryonic development.
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John Harrison was the first to define longitude as a measurement determined by time and not by distance or astronomical measurements. He was also the first to come up with a practical timekeeping instrument accurate enough for determining longitude position over great distances. It was already known how to accurately figure latitude position by celestial navigation

For three centuries this was considered to be the world’s most perplexing scientific problem. Hundreds of ships had sunk and many thousands of naval and merchant mariners were lost at sea due to mistaken estimates in longitude position. In 1714 The British government offered a prize of £20,000 to anyone who came up with a proven method of accurately determining longitude. That would compare to a sum of $250,000 now. Harrison’s theory contradicted the prevailing thought of leading scientists then including Isaac Newton. But after 12 years of proof through actual maritime usage, Harrison was awarded the prize money in 1773.

So I am guessing that discoveries are being counted as the saem things as inventions, even though they are not.

Good question, Cory. Now you have me thinking. The OP said "inventions" but then he cited pennicillin.

Dr. Harvey's medical discoveries significantly changed the world in a positive way, but they were not inventions.

OTOH, Harrison's chronometer, as well as its purpose and method of use, would definitely be eligible for patents today. So that would qualify as an invention.

Virtually all inventions are conceived and built on an existing body of knowledge and with the use of existing materials. But they must have a new, unique, or improved function or application to be considered patentable. Even a new method for performing a common operation can be patented. A medical procedure is patentable. An HP ink jet cartridge has over 100 separate patents that apply to it.