Say whatever you want about the Dutch, but we all know that they are quite the resourceful bunch. They literally turned sea into land. As the saying goes “while God created the Earth, the Dutch created the Netherlands”. Even though this is a topic that we can discuss exhaustively about, that is not exactly what this blog is about. It is about all the life changing inventions, both quirky and ingenious, that were created by none other than the Dutch. And what better time to cover it than with the Dutch Design Week coming up on the 21^th - 29^th of October in Eindhoven. Let us take a look at the marvelous ideas the Dutch have already contributed to the world.

Submarine While on the topic of the Dutch and their control over the sea, Cornelis Drebbel, a Dutch engineer and inventor was the first to build the first navigable submarine in the 17^th century. The submarine had a wooden frame and was completely covered by leather. After this, between the years 1620 and 1624 Drebbel successfully built two other submarines.

Orange Carrots Yes, you read it right, ORANGE carrots. In most countries carrots tend to be orange nowadays. This has not always been the case. Before the 17^th century, carrots were yellow, purple and white. It was in the 17^th century that Dutch growers harvested the orange colored carrots in tribute to Willem of Orange who led the fight for Dutch independence. We do not know the exact biochemistry of it all, but what we do know is that they contain about 4 times the amount of vitamin A than their counterparts and a lot of beta-Carotene. Hey, you can never go wrong with more vitamin.

Wifi & Bluetooth Dutch electrical engineer Vic Hayes, also known as the “Father of WiFi”, established the standards to make WiFi feasible. Inventor Jaap Haartsen (Dutch) and co-inventor Sven Mattisson (Swedish) were responsible for the introduction of Bluetooth. What else can we say than, the next time you are accessing the net through WiFi or sharing a file through Bluetooth remember to thank the Dutch inventors who made this possible.

The Thermometer This one is somewhat of an ironic one. The reason being that the inventor of the alcohol and mercury thermometer was a Dutchman by the name of Daniel Fahrenheit. Ironic because in the Netherlands, the temperature is measured in Celsius.