When choosing the greatest inventor, one has to ask, "Could this have been thought of without some other development preceding it?" For example, the electric light could not have come into being in 1879 without Faraday's work. Therefore Jenner must win, as many of the other inventors would not have been alive without vaccination.
Linda Taylor, Cambridge

From the bicycle chain, came the motorbike and car, and from two bicycle engineers, the Wright Brothers, came the aeroplane. However the bicycle has not been surpassed in terms of simple efficiency is coupled with no ill effects for mankind or planet.
Hugh Morgan, Wimbledon, London

It is perhaps true that electricity, being a natural phenomenon, was not really invented. However, the understanding of how it was created led to understanding how it could be created in a manageable process and harnessed for beneficial use. Its enormous benefits can be seen in its role as an essential element in our every day lives, both in business and domestic needs. Without it there would be hardly anything but cottage industries.
Brian Hansford, Weyhill, Hampshire

In your search for the greatest British invention, no one has mentioned the United States of America. Trying to duck that one are we? You really shouldn't.
Gregory Stebbins, Rockwall, Texas USA

Hats off to Daniel Polani for drawing attention to James Clerk Maxwell, who, along with Newton, is one of the two most influential scientists ever produced from anywhere. Yet he never appears in lists, not even in the list of 100 most influential Scotsmen currently plastered in ads all over London. If electricity does win, let us all at last make sure that he becomes as widely acknowledged as Newton, Faraday and Berners-Lee.
Lena Dachuna, Miri, Malaysia

I am surprised at the omission from your list of the float glass process. I cannot think of any other industrial process that has virtually been adopted by the whole world. As for the effect on our way of life, consider the glass content of the shell of many modern buildings and vehicles.
Robert Bride, Bath, Somerset

One the most important transport inventions you seemed to have not mentioned is reflecting road studs, also know as cat's eyes, invented by Percy Shaw in 1934. Although very simple, they are a major factor in road safety.
Bernard Rose, Wirral, Cheshire

Surely Alan Turing should be included in your list? He was the designer of the world's first electronic computer at Bletchley Park. The Colossus helped to decode German messages and contributed greatly to shortening the Second World War.
Beulah Dillon, Omagh, Northern Ireland

A great British invention is the stocking frame by the Rev William Lee of Oxton, Nottinghamshire. It was the forerunner of the knitting machine bar frame, or fully-fashioned frame. The stocking frame created the next stage from Thomas High and Richard Arkwright’s spinning inventions and enabled fully-fashioned hosiery to be produced, leading to all manner of products that we have today, from surgical appliances to car seating.
Andrew Hotchkiss, Nottinghamshire

Frank Whittle pioneered the jet engine theory, but Dr Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain saw Whittle's patents and showed his own patent of 1935 to German aircraft manufacturer Ernst Heinkel in 1936. From this, the first jet aircraft, the HE 178, first flew on 27th August 1939, twenty months ahead of Whittle’s Gloster. This is a good example of a pioneering British invention brought to a speedy solution in another country.
Paul Gregory, Hanworth, Middlesex

Should the cavity magnetron be included in your list? It helped radar to be improved dramatically, without which we would not have safety in the sky and sea. The cavity magnetron also led to the development of microwaves and consequently the microwave oven. Next time you heat up your chicken tikka, thank my father, Dr Harry Boot.
Christopher Boot, London

Electricity as demonstrated by Faraday is the greatest invention. Electricity is a power that is produced remotely at a generating plant and can then be distributed passively through a simple network of wires to be reproduced as a local source of power. Our whole lifestyles revolve around this phenomena and every commodity and appliance that we use is brought to us or is manufactured through its use.
Ian Currie, Sale, Lancashire

You mention the water closet as an important invention but it resulted in millions dying from water-borne diseases. More important was the invention by William Joseph Dibdin, a chemist employed by the London Metropolitan Board of Works who in 1887 devised large filters that could purify sewage biologically before disposal. The result was cleaner water supplies and a vast improvement in public health.
Brian Read, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire