The invention of the ATM

Over the years, Glasgow has been no stranger to momentous discoveries and inventions: university lecturer William Cullen was the first to demonstrate artificial refrigeration in 1748; inventor James Watt perfected his steam engine in 1775; chemist Sir William Ramsay ‘discovered’ helium in 1895. But it wasn’t until 1966 that a man named James Goodfellow joined their ranks. A young development engineer at Glasgow firm Kelvin Hughes, he was the first to come up with the idea for a card-and-PIN cash machine, a reaction to the fact that banks were being forced to shut on Saturdays. His thunder was stolen, however, by a rival Scottish engineer who helped Barclays install a cheque-based ATM in 1967 – a year before the initial invention had been publicly unveiled. These days, thankfully, the aptly named Goodfellow is generally recognised for who he was: the PIN prodigy who made the world’s readies more reachable.