Sir Joseph Whitworth, 1st Baronet (21 December 1803 – 22 January 1887) was an English
engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. In 1841, he devised the
British Standard Whitworth system, which created an accepted standard for
screw threads. Whitworth also created the
Whitworth rifle, often called the 'sharpshooter' because of its accuracy and considered one of the earliest examples of a
sniper rifle.