MetaFilter posts tagged with Inventors

The Doers Club

ryoshu — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:05:20 -0800

And the Pursuit of Happiness

ericb — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:35:06 -0800

Maira Kalman (previously - 1 | 2 | 3) on Benjamin Franklin.

He's joined Lucy in the sky...

CitizenD — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:26:28 -0800

Albert Hofmann, the inventor/discoverer of LSD, has died at the age of 102. Wiki. The Albert Hofmann Foundation. Erowid entry on LSD. Hofmann's often-cited essay, "LSD, My Problem Child." Late in his life, he questioned his own invention. A conversation with Dr. Hoffman. "I believe that if people would learn to use LSD's vision-inducing capability more wisely, under suitable conditions, in medical practice and in conjunction with meditation, then in the future this problem child could become a wonderchild." -- Albert Hofmann (1906-2008)

So long and Thanks!

about_time — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 10:43:32 -0800

Some of the inventors and creators that died in 2007 who leave behind something for us to remember them by: David H. Shepard (Optical Readers, Farrington B numeric font), J. Robert Cade (Gatorade), Herbert Saffir (The Hurricane Scale), George Rieveschl (beta-dimethylaminoethylbenzhydryl ether hydrochloride --- a.k.a. Benadryl), Arthur Jones (Nautilus machines), Jack Odell (Matchbox Cars), Raymond Douglas (Color in the NY Times), George Kovacs (The ubiquitous halogen torchiere lamp), Martin J. Weber (The Posterization technique), Edwin Traisman (Cheez Whiz and McD's French Fries), Ed Yost (Modern Hot-Air Ballooning), Theodore Maiman (The Laser), John Billings (The Rhythm Method), Paul C. Lauterbur (The M.R.I.), John W. Backus (Fortran), Florence Z. Melton (Slippers), James Hillier (The Electron Microscope), Iwao Takamoto ("Scooby-Doo"), and Momofuku Ando (Instant Ramen). So it goes.

this is going to change the world ...

madamjujujive — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:46:22 -0800

Gizmo - using news footage from the 1920s to the 1950s, Howard Smith created an amusing 1977 documentary about contraptions made by the inventors, technophiles, and eccentrics of yesteryear. The last 7 minutes is Letterman interviewing Smith. (Google video, 1 hr., 19 min. Via beans beans good for your heart)

Exhausted Air Recycling System

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 10:05:06 -0800

Australian inventor Chris Bosua, frustrated by the inefficiency of his air compressor, devised a method of recycling the exhaust air from air tools. His Exhausted Air Recycling System (E.A.R.S.) improves efficiency by eighty percent. It runs cooler, almost halves the power consumption, extends the life of the compressor, provides a cleaner working environment, and reduces the noise of an air tool to that of a sewing machine. Happy Earth Day, everyone!

The anti-Borlaug

blahblahblah — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 11:41:04 -0800

Unsung Anti-Heroes: There are a few relatively unknown individuals who have saved more lives than anyone else on the planet. Norman Borlaug is credited with saving over a billion lives by starting the Green Revolution; he later won a Nobel Prize. Simon Petrov stopped the world from being annihilated in a nuclear war, and later won $1,000 from the San Francisco Bay Civic Association. Howard Florey, more than Alexander Fleming, made mass-produced penicillin possible, saving upwards of 50 million people, while Peter Safar invented CPR, and so on. But what about the opposite? One conservative site asks "who is the anti-Borlaug?" with a mix of more or less radical results. Leaving aside those who were directly responsible for mass deaths, who does the hive mind nominate as the anti-Borlaug?[more on some of of these heroes and anti-heroes inside]

A technological Hero

blahblahblah — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 11:10:52 -0800

Leonardo is overrated: the steam turbine was invented two millennia ago by Hero of Alexandria who developed the aeolipile as a toy. Hero was also responsible for the first vending machine (for holy water) and hydraulic automatic temple doors, along with advances in areas as diverse as physics and mathematics. A translation of Hero's influential Pneumatics is available online, featuring illustrated examples of many of his inventions, many of which are related to clever devices for drinking or prayer, or both.

Robert Moog

teletype1 — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 20:50:45 -0800

Robert Moog has passed away after battling a brain tumor for several months. There aren't any news stories up yet, but simply key his name into Google and it's plain to see his influence on every aspect of music. The family has a caringbridge page filled with tributes and several journal entries.

Invention Pioneers of Note

Devils Rancher — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 10:09:04 -0800

History of the Flame-broiled Burger! It's Flashy, it's Trashy, it's satirical, it's Fun-- it's The History Channel's Invention Pioneers of Note!

BBC Seeks Crackpot Inventors

re6smith — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 03:36:28 -0800

BBC Seeks Crackpot Inventors: Dave Gorman, of Googlewhack fame, seems to be fashioning himself into the first techno-comedian. His latest project for BBC Radio 4, entitled , seeks wacky inventions and world-shattering solutions from you. Sort of a reality radio version of half bakery or roundtuit.

Scientific Americans

chicken nuglet — Fri, 27 May 2005 10:08:46 -0800

The US Postal Service has issued a series of postage stamps honoring great American scientists including: Josiah Willard Gibbs, thermodynamicist best known for the Gibbs Phase Rule; Barbara McClintock, geneticist who showed genes could transpose within chromosomes; John von Neumann, mathematician who made significant contributions in game theory and computer science; and Richard Feynman, infamous physicist best remembered for his work on quantum electrodynamics, the Manhattan Project, Feynman Diagrams, and his testimony at the Space Shuttle Challenger hearings.

Pneumatic!

OmieWise — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 13:27:29 -0800

“A TUBE, A CAR, A REVOLVING FAN!” In 1870 the first subway in New York was built using a huge pneumatic tube. Alfred Beach was the inventor. The first link is to a whole book about the process, this link is to the section of nycsubway.org about Beach and his invention. And you thought pneumatic tubes were just for 1940s office fun!

A real life professor frink

drezdn — Thu, 20 May 2004 11:03:26 -0800

Maybe the age of the individual inventor isn't over. Woody Norris is the inventor of the personal helicopter, precise Hypersonic sound emitter, and the first palm-size digital voice recorder... And never graduated from college.

Final Frontier, the space between our ears.

troutfishing — Fri, 16 Apr 2004 07:39:11 -0800

A viilage to reinvent the world : Gaviotas "In 1965 Paulo Lugari was flying over the impoverished Llanos Orientales, the “eastern plains” that border Venezuela. The soil of the Llanos is tough and acidic, some of the worst in Colombia. Lugari mused that if people could live here they could live anywhere.....The following year Lugari and a group of scientists, artists, agronomists and engineers took the 15-hour journey along a tortuous route from Bogota to the Llanos Orientales to settle."

"...they would need to be very resourceful. So they invented wind turbines that convert mild breezes into energy, super-efficient pumps that tap previously inaccessible sources of water [powered by a child's playground seesaw!], and solar kettles that sterilize drinking water using the furious heat of the tropical sun....They even invented a rain forest!" (from "Gaviotas - A village to reinvent the World", by Tim Weisman) Amidst the strife of war torn Columbia, Gaviotas persists and even flourishes. " "When we import solutions from the US or Europe," said Lugari, founder of Gaviotas, "we also import their problems."....Over the years Gaviotas technicians have installed thousands of the windmills across Colombia....Since Gaviotas refuses to patent inventions, preferring to share them freely, the design has been copied from Central America to Chile."

Gaviotas is real, yes, but it is also a state of mind - as if Ben Franklin, Frank Lloyd Wright, Leonardo Da Vinci - all of the great those giants who reinvisioned the possible - were reincarnated : as a small Columbian village on a once-desolate plain. "Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez has called Paolo Lugari the "inventor of the world." "

Office Supply Geeks Unite!

anastasiav — Wed, 03 Mar 2004 10:50:51 -0800

The Early Office Museum :: check out communications technologies used by our Grandparents, as well as Punched Card Tabulating Machines and much, much more!

Did you hear the joke about the pencil? Its pointless.

anastasiav — Wed, 18 Feb 2004 10:44:08 -0800

The Pencil Pages :: An Introduction to Pencils and Pencil Collecting
with gallery, pencil geek humor, pencil trivia, and much more

The History of Eating Utensils

anastasiav — Sat, 06 Dec 2003 23:56:46 -0800

The History of Eating Utensils

What happened to the Modem Guy?

falameufilho — Mon, 01 Dec 2003 12:52:12 -0800

What happened to the Modem Guy? A great story on two partners and personal computer pioneers, Hayes (who got the fame) and Heatherington (who got the money).

useless inventions

gravelshoes — Sun, 29 Dec 2002 04:45:09 -0800

Industrialised society's fascination with useless invention: as a kid I used to love the work of Heath Robinson, inventor of (among others) a method of testing safety matches, the potato peeler, and an inoffensive method of weighing a lady friend. His American equivalent was the slightly more scientific Rube Goldberg. Occasional attempts of the patently useless to make the leap into the real world have been furthered considerably by the Japanese art of Chindogu, made popular by Kenji Kawakami, inventor of (among others) the Hay fever hat, the portable road crossing, and dusting shoes for cats. Maywa Denki seems to transcend earthy Chindogu with fish-based and musical (via sharpeworld) inventions.

Dean Kamen Mania

IndigoSkye — Sun, 17 Nov 2002 09:37:24 -0800

Present day Thomas Edison strikes again. More fine stuff from the guy who brought you the Segway HT. Dean Kamen, and his fine folks at DekaResearch, appear to have invented a device which promises to save countless lives across the globe, power villages, and runs on water. What's next? The perpetual motion machine?

plinth — Tue, 06 Aug 2002 12:41:14 -0800

Walter Mallow dead at 72. Don't know him? He invented clumping cat litter, perfected liquid paper (invented by Bette Nesmith Graham), the heat-resistant tiles on the Space Shuttle, and many other things. Wow.

anastasiav — Thu, 02 May 2002 11:23:56 -0800

Did you know that May is National Artisan Gelato Month? The Food Reference Website is an endless source of Facts and Trivia about eating and food. For instance, do you know the story behind how Dr Percy Spencer actually came to invent the microwave oven? Or that Nostradamus wrote a popular cookbook?

jonmc — Wed, 19 Dec 2001 11:10:46 -0800

Proof that there are some brilliant teenage girls out there. This robotic rescue device was created by a couple of teenaged twin sisters, no less. Just imagine what these two will accomplish by the time they reach adulthood. The Craig sisters make excellent alternative role models to the likes of Britney and Christina. You go, girls.

skallas — Mon, 22 Oct 2001 09:15:42 -0800

2001 Young Inventors Awards Program winners announced. I'm really digging this pedal lawnmover and the direct water injector for plants.