Test your knowledge: 3 fun French invention facts

Answers at foot of page

1. Selfie starter

Modern mobile phones seem to be able to do just about everything short of make a cup of tea – and one of the most popular features is the camera.

We have a Frenchman to thank for that. In 1997, Philippe Kahn developed software that could send and receive images instantaneously, hooked a digital camera up to his mobile... and the rest is history on a selfie-stick.

Q: The first photo taken on a camera phone was of what?

2. Can can

 Napoleon knew an army marches on its stomach, but feeding troops on the move was a challenge – and starvation a real danger. In 1800, he offered a cash prize to whoever could come up with a way to preserve daily rations. Nine years later, the award was given to Nicolas François Appert.

His method involved sealing a thick glass bottle filled with food, wrapping it in canvas, then dunking it in boiling water to cook. Countryman Pierre Durand made the switch from glass jars to tin cans.

Q: How much was the original prize offered by Napoleon?

3. HB or not HB?

During the Napoleonic Wars, exportation to France of early styles of English and German pencils was barred. As such, Nicolas-Jacques Conté, an army officer, was compelled to develop a new mixture of powdered graphite and clay that was then fired in a kiln to produce the lead pencil filling we still use today. 

33 years later, mathematician Bernard Lassimonne patented the first pencil sharpener – before then people had simply used a knife – but it took its recognisable form 19 years later with the appearance of Thierry des Estivaux’s model.

Q: Everyone knows the ‘lead’ in a pencil is actually graphite – but what was graphite called when it was discovered?

Answers

1. The first camera phone photograph was of inventor Philippe Kahn’s newborn daughter.

2. The prize was 12,000 francs.

3. When graphite was discovered, it was mistakenly identified as a form of lead – hence the name plumbago (Latin for lead ore).