Birth control pill voted Best Belgian Invention

The contraceptive pill is the Best Belgian Invention, according to listeners to the Dutch-speaking radio station Radio 1. The pill won the title with 38% of the votes. Other inventions on the shortlist were the jpeg compressed photo image, the Mercator projection (which portrays the three-dimensional globe in a two-dimensional form), the praline and the saxophone.

The contraceptive pill was not purely the invention of Turnhout gynaecologist Ferdinand Peeters. He took an idea that had been partially developed and already marketed in the US and improved on it greatly. Dr Peeters never took out a patent on his discovery, which would surely have netted him millions. As a strictly observant Catholic, he never quite came to terms with how his invention clashed with the view of the church. Peeters’ son, Marc, was present on Friday to receive the award at Radio 1.