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.
posted by about_time
on Dec 26, 2007 -
13 comments
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)
posted by madamjujujive
on Apr 24, 2007 -
10 comments
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!
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium
on Apr 22, 2007 -
31 comments
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.
posted by teletype1
on Aug 21, 2005 -
77 comments
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." "
posted by troutfishing
on Apr 16, 2004 -
12 comments
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.
posted by jonmc
on Dec 19, 2001 -
24 comments
ID Magazine released a new issue that highlights 40 designers that are under 30 years of age. Most are doing cutting-edge, cool things, but one person stands out: Krysta Morlan. She won
a nationwide invention award for a air cooling system for body casts. She's also invented
a killer water-bike that lets the physically disabled exercise in a pool. You know what's even more amazing than her innovative designs? She's only 16 years old, still in high school, and builds these things to help her overcome her cerebral palsy.
posted by mathowie
on Jan 13, 2000 -
1 comment
