The Atwood machine was invented in 1784 by English mathematician George Atwood.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by Smithsonian, Wikipedia, and DBpedia; minor terminology variation (mathematician vs physicist) does not affect core claim.
Sources
- Atwood machine (en.wikipedia.org)
- https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_1802767 (americanhistory.si.edu)
- https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Atwood/ (mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk)
- https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/atwood-george (encyclopedia.com)
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/1204.2984 (arxiv.org)
- https://phys.libretexts.org/Courses/Prince_Georges_Community_College/General_Physics_I:_Classical_Mechanics/18:_Atwoods_Machine (phys.libretexts.org)