
On this day in 1923, Sir James Dewar, the inventor of the vacuum flask, died.
Dewar's discovery was a by-product of his lifetime's work on cryogenics. However, the flask was not manufactured for commercial or domestic use until 1904 when two German glass blowers formed Thermos GmbH. Dewar also discovered superconductivity and, with Sir Frederick Abel, invented the explosive, cordite.

