Edwin S. Gaustad
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195305357
- eISBN:
- 9780199850662
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305357.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
The tenth and youngest son of a poor Boston soapmaker, Benjamin Franklin would rise to become, in Thomas Jefferson's words, “the greatest man and ornament of his age”. This book offers a portrait of ...
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The tenth and youngest son of a poor Boston soapmaker, Benjamin Franklin would rise to become, in Thomas Jefferson's words, “the greatest man and ornament of his age”. This book offers a portrait of this towering colonial figure, illuminating Franklin's character and personality. Here is truly one of the most extraordinary lives imaginable, a man who, with only two years of formal education, became a printer, publisher, postmaster, philosopher, world-class scientist and inventor, statesman, musician, and abolitionist. The book presents a chronological account of all these accomplishments, delightfully spiced with quotations from Franklin's own extensive writings. The book describes how the hardworking Franklin became at age twenty-four the most successful printer in Pennsylvania and how by forty-two, with the help of Poor Richard's Almanack, he had amassed enough wealth to retire from business. The book then follows Franklin's next brilliant career, as an inventor and scientist, examining his pioneering work on electricity and his inventions of the Franklin Stove, the lightning rod, and bifocals, as well as his mapping of the Gulf Stream, a major contribution to navigation. Lastly, the book covers Franklin's role as America's leading statesman, ranging from his years in England before the Revolutionary War to his time in France thereafter, highlighting his many contributions to the cause of liberty. Along the way, the book sheds light on Franklin's personal life, including his troubled relationship with his illegitimate son William, who remained a Loyalist during the Revolution, and Franklin's thoughts on such topics as religion and morality.Less
The tenth and youngest son of a poor Boston soapmaker, Benjamin Franklin would rise to become, in Thomas Jefferson's words, “the greatest man and ornament of his age”. This book offers a portrait of this towering colonial figure, illuminating Franklin's character and personality. Here is truly one of the most extraordinary lives imaginable, a man who, with only two years of formal education, became a printer, publisher, postmaster, philosopher, world-class scientist and inventor, statesman, musician, and abolitionist. The book presents a chronological account of all these accomplishments, delightfully spiced with quotations from Franklin's own extensive writings. The book describes how the hardworking Franklin became at age twenty-four the most successful printer in Pennsylvania and how by forty-two, with the help of Poor Richard's Almanack, he had amassed enough wealth to retire from business. The book then follows Franklin's next brilliant career, as an inventor and scientist, examining his pioneering work on electricity and his inventions of the Franklin Stove, the lightning rod, and bifocals, as well as his mapping of the Gulf Stream, a major contribution to navigation. Lastly, the book covers Franklin's role as America's leading statesman, ranging from his years in England before the Revolutionary War to his time in France thereafter, highlighting his many contributions to the cause of liberty. Along the way, the book sheds light on Franklin's personal life, including his troubled relationship with his illegitimate son William, who remained a Loyalist during the Revolution, and Franklin's thoughts on such topics as religion and morality.
Lee Fleming, Lyra Colfer, Alexandra Marin, and Jonathan McPhie
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148670
- eISBN:
- 9781400845552
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148670.003.0017
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
This chapter shows the early emergence of Silicon Valley and Boston. Much has been made of the cultural differences between Silicon Valley in the Bay Area and Boston's Route 128. The chapter digs ...
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This chapter shows the early emergence of Silicon Valley and Boston. Much has been made of the cultural differences between Silicon Valley in the Bay Area and Boston's Route 128. The chapter digs beneath this surface portrait, discerning which organizations are most generative. It looks at the structural differences between two leading technology hubs. Using patent data that capture inventor networks, the chapter highlights the importance of careers. It also reveals much greater information flow and career mobility across organizations and industries in the Valley than in Boston. This movement of people and ideas was spurred by the critical intermediary roles of certain institutions which functioned like the anchor tenants that were the pollinators in the biotechnology clusters in Chapter 14. The chapter thus argues that this anchoring of diversity is central to the formation of technology clusters.Less
This chapter shows the early emergence of Silicon Valley and Boston. Much has been made of the cultural differences between Silicon Valley in the Bay Area and Boston's Route 128. The chapter digs beneath this surface portrait, discerning which organizations are most generative. It looks at the structural differences between two leading technology hubs. Using patent data that capture inventor networks, the chapter highlights the importance of careers. It also reveals much greater information flow and career mobility across organizations and industries in the Valley than in Boston. This movement of people and ideas was spurred by the critical intermediary roles of certain institutions which functioned like the anchor tenants that were the pollinators in the biotechnology clusters in Chapter 14. The chapter thus argues that this anchoring of diversity is central to the formation of technology clusters.
Donald G. Godfrey
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252038280
- eISBN:
- 9780252096150
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252038280.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This is the first biography of the important but long-forgotten American inventor Charles Francis Jenkins (1867–1934). The book documents the life of Jenkins from his childhood in Indiana and early ...
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This is the first biography of the important but long-forgotten American inventor Charles Francis Jenkins (1867–1934). The book documents the life of Jenkins from his childhood in Indiana and early life in the West to his work as a prolific inventor whose productivity was cut short by an early death. Jenkins was an inventor who made a difference. As one of America's greatest independent inventors, Jenkins' passion was to meet the needs of his day and the future. In 1895 he produced the first film projector able to show a motion picture on a large screen, coincidentally igniting the first film boycott among his Quaker viewers when the film he screened showed a woman's ankle. Jenkins produced the first American television pictures in 1923, and developed the only fully operating broadcast television station in Washington, D.C. transmitting to ham operators from coast to coast as well as programming for his local audience. This biography raises the profile of C. Francis Jenkins from his former place in the footnotes to his rightful position as a true pioneer of today's film and television. Along the way, it provides a window into the earliest days of both motion pictures and television as well as the now-vanished world of the independent inventor.Less
This is the first biography of the important but long-forgotten American inventor Charles Francis Jenkins (1867–1934). The book documents the life of Jenkins from his childhood in Indiana and early life in the West to his work as a prolific inventor whose productivity was cut short by an early death. Jenkins was an inventor who made a difference. As one of America's greatest independent inventors, Jenkins' passion was to meet the needs of his day and the future. In 1895 he produced the first film projector able to show a motion picture on a large screen, coincidentally igniting the first film boycott among his Quaker viewers when the film he screened showed a woman's ankle. Jenkins produced the first American television pictures in 1923, and developed the only fully operating broadcast television station in Washington, D.C. transmitting to ham operators from coast to coast as well as programming for his local audience. This biography raises the profile of C. Francis Jenkins from his former place in the footnotes to his rightful position as a true pioneer of today's film and television. Along the way, it provides a window into the earliest days of both motion pictures and television as well as the now-vanished world of the independent inventor.
Stuart Macdonald
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199241477
- eISBN:
- 9780191696947
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199241477.003.0007
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation, Organization Studies
This chapter explains how organizations resist information from external sources. It starts with an elaboration of the not-invented-here (NIH) syndrome, the condition in which organizations reject ...
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This chapter explains how organizations resist information from external sources. It starts with an elaboration of the not-invented-here (NIH) syndrome, the condition in which organizations reject external information gathered from external sources. Relating to the appearance of NIH syndrome is the refusal of organizations to recognize independent inventors who may offer chances to promote great innovations and change the way organizations operate. The chapter then discusses how different government policies in different countries support independent inventors, including the patent system. It ends by citing how independent inventors can innovate things that ‘big organizations’ have provided for ‘big science’.Less
This chapter explains how organizations resist information from external sources. It starts with an elaboration of the not-invented-here (NIH) syndrome, the condition in which organizations reject external information gathered from external sources. Relating to the appearance of NIH syndrome is the refusal of organizations to recognize independent inventors who may offer chances to promote great innovations and change the way organizations operate. The chapter then discusses how different government policies in different countries support independent inventors, including the patent system. It ends by citing how independent inventors can innovate things that ‘big organizations’ have provided for ‘big science’.
B. Zorina Khan and Kenneth L. Sokoloff
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195342109
- eISBN:
- 9780199866823
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195342109.003.0010
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
This chapter examines the structures of patent systems in countries around the world and how they evolved over the course of the 19th century. It focuses on the sources of innovation in the design of ...
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This chapter examines the structures of patent systems in countries around the world and how they evolved over the course of the 19th century. It focuses on the sources of innovation in the design of intellectual property institutions and the systematic variation in the specifications of intellectual property institutions across countries and over time. The chapter analyzes the effects of the respective systems on patterns of patenting, the composition of inventors, and the direction of inventive activity. It discusses how and why there was a marked tendency towards convergence in international patent laws over the 19th century. Finally, the chapter highlights the lessons that history offers for today's developing countries, concluding that intellectual property institutions function best when their rules and standards are flexible and adjust to individual circumstances.Less
This chapter examines the structures of patent systems in countries around the world and how they evolved over the course of the 19th century. It focuses on the sources of innovation in the design of intellectual property institutions and the systematic variation in the specifications of intellectual property institutions across countries and over time. The chapter analyzes the effects of the respective systems on patterns of patenting, the composition of inventors, and the direction of inventive activity. It discusses how and why there was a marked tendency towards convergence in international patent laws over the 19th century. Finally, the chapter highlights the lessons that history offers for today's developing countries, concluding that intellectual property institutions function best when their rules and standards are flexible and adjust to individual circumstances.
Hans Andersson and Christian Berggren
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199693924
- eISBN:
- 9780191730580
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199693924.003.0004
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation, Knowledge Management
In this chapter, we argue that knowledge integration is not just an organizational- and team-level practice but concerns the everyday activities of inventive engineers and researchers involved in ...
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In this chapter, we argue that knowledge integration is not just an organizational- and team-level practice but concerns the everyday activities of inventive engineers and researchers involved in development activities. The chapter investigates and illustrates how inventive individuals in non-managerial positions contribute to innovation and knowledge integration. The focus is on inventors who generate ideas and scan new knowledge fields to complement deep knowledge in their own domains in order to turn ideas into new solutions. The chapter illustrates the practices of those innovative individuals, such as combining knowledge across different fields, pursuing individual exploration as well as collaborative search, and participating in formal projects but simultaneously using them as permeable entities to further their own innovative ideas. In this way, the chapter contributes to an understanding of the micro-level of knowledge integration activities in technology-based firms.Less
In this chapter, we argue that knowledge integration is not just an organizational- and team-level practice but concerns the everyday activities of inventive engineers and researchers involved in development activities. The chapter investigates and illustrates how inventive individuals in non-managerial positions contribute to innovation and knowledge integration. The focus is on inventors who generate ideas and scan new knowledge fields to complement deep knowledge in their own domains in order to turn ideas into new solutions. The chapter illustrates the practices of those innovative individuals, such as combining knowledge across different fields, pursuing individual exploration as well as collaborative search, and participating in formal projects but simultaneously using them as permeable entities to further their own innovative ideas. In this way, the chapter contributes to an understanding of the micro-level of knowledge integration activities in technology-based firms.
William C. Carter
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300114638
- eISBN:
- 9780300133363
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300114638.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This chapter presents a brief biography of Ernest Forssgren. Forssgren was born in 1894 in northern Sweden. In his late teens, he decided to seek his fortune in another country and went to London for ...
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This chapter presents a brief biography of Ernest Forssgren. Forssgren was born in 1894 in northern Sweden. In his late teens, he decided to seek his fortune in another country and went to London for a short time, then to Paris. He appeared in Proust's life so at two crucial points: first in 1914 and then in 1922. Forssgren was also an amateur linguist, a fierce Anglophobe, and an unsuccessful inventor.Less
This chapter presents a brief biography of Ernest Forssgren. Forssgren was born in 1894 in northern Sweden. In his late teens, he decided to seek his fortune in another country and went to London for a short time, then to Paris. He appeared in Proust's life so at two crucial points: first in 1914 and then in 1922. Forssgren was also an amateur linguist, a fierce Anglophobe, and an unsuccessful inventor.
Deborah Levine Gera
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199256167
- eISBN:
- 9780191719578
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199256167.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter surveys a wide range of texts which tell of human’s ascent to civilised life and their acquisition of language as part of the process. It discusses that in these progress narratives, ...
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This chapter surveys a wide range of texts which tell of human’s ascent to civilised life and their acquisition of language as part of the process. It discusses that in these progress narratives, speech was seen either as a gift from the gods, the brainchild of a single inventor, or the product of a joint effort by a society of men. It conducts a study of these inventors, followed by a close examination at some detailed accounts of the various stages of language development. It investigates the place assigned language within the overall development of civilisation, and the parallels between the invention of language and the discovery of other arts, in particular fire.Less
This chapter surveys a wide range of texts which tell of human’s ascent to civilised life and their acquisition of language as part of the process. It discusses that in these progress narratives, speech was seen either as a gift from the gods, the brainchild of a single inventor, or the product of a joint effort by a society of men. It conducts a study of these inventors, followed by a close examination at some detailed accounts of the various stages of language development. It investigates the place assigned language within the overall development of civilisation, and the parallels between the invention of language and the discovery of other arts, in particular fire.
Clare Pettitt
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199253203
- eISBN:
- 9780191719172
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199253203.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
In the 19th century, as now, intellectual property was a curious and slippery kind of property. Intellectual property was difficult to lay claim to, or to ‘own’, and sustaining any kind of ...
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In the 19th century, as now, intellectual property was a curious and slippery kind of property. Intellectual property was difficult to lay claim to, or to ‘own’, and sustaining any kind of proprietorial or remunerative relationship with one's ideas and inventions often proved problematic. This book takes the current critical discussion of copyright law and the construction of the artist in England during the Victorian period out of its literary-critical isolation and restores it to the wider debate in the period about labour and value. This allows for a more complex and resonant reading of Victorian novels in the context of intellectual ownership than has been possible before. It discerns the political and social importance of the recasting of the artist as hero from the Romantic period onwards, and contextualises the artist-hero in a wider political debate. Copyrights and patents allowed writers and inventors to gamble on future returns for their work.Less
In the 19th century, as now, intellectual property was a curious and slippery kind of property. Intellectual property was difficult to lay claim to, or to ‘own’, and sustaining any kind of proprietorial or remunerative relationship with one's ideas and inventions often proved problematic. This book takes the current critical discussion of copyright law and the construction of the artist in England during the Victorian period out of its literary-critical isolation and restores it to the wider debate in the period about labour and value. This allows for a more complex and resonant reading of Victorian novels in the context of intellectual ownership than has been possible before. It discerns the political and social importance of the recasting of the artist as hero from the Romantic period onwards, and contextualises the artist-hero in a wider political debate. Copyrights and patents allowed writers and inventors to gamble on future returns for their work.
Clare Pettitt
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199253203
- eISBN:
- 9780191719172
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199253203.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
Throughout the 19th century, issues of property and ownership dominated legal and parliamentary debates in England. This chapter focuses on the debates about patents and copyright, both centred on ...
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Throughout the 19th century, issues of property and ownership dominated legal and parliamentary debates in England. This chapter focuses on the debates about patents and copyright, both centred on the conflict between a perceived ‘natural’ and ‘incontrovertible’ right of property on the part of inventors and authors in their own productions, and the economic imperative of the marketplace and the national economy, which demanded that such ‘unalienable’ property be made alienable and ceded to public use. The discursive relationship between writers and inventors in the 1830s and 1840s is explored, along with the ways in which certain kinds of labour, inventing and writing among them, were reconstructed as unalienated: how work was made to become pleasure.Less
Throughout the 19th century, issues of property and ownership dominated legal and parliamentary debates in England. This chapter focuses on the debates about patents and copyright, both centred on the conflict between a perceived ‘natural’ and ‘incontrovertible’ right of property on the part of inventors and authors in their own productions, and the economic imperative of the marketplace and the national economy, which demanded that such ‘unalienable’ property be made alienable and ceded to public use. The discursive relationship between writers and inventors in the 1830s and 1840s is explored, along with the ways in which certain kinds of labour, inventing and writing among them, were reconstructed as unalienated: how work was made to become pleasure.
Clare Pettitt
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199253203
- eISBN:
- 9780191719172
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199253203.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
In May 1851, the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations was held at Hyde Park in London, England. There was so much in this Exhibition that was copied, imitated, die-cast, ...
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In May 1851, the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations was held at Hyde Park in London, England. There was so much in this Exhibition that was copied, imitated, die-cast, lithographed, electroplated, stereotyped, daguerreotyped, galvano-plastic, and so on, that the Exhibition itself posed questions about the relationship of monetary to aesthetic value and the status of the ‘real’ and ‘original’ in an emerging economy of reproduction and imitation. This chapter argues that the reform of the patent law at mid-19th century was profoundly affected by a literary lobby, including Charles Dickens and other members of the Society of Arts, which maintained the analogies with copyright law despite the evidence that industrial innovation had now become a largely corporate, and not an individual, endeavour. The chapter shows the crucial importance of the close juxtaposition of artworks and machines at the Exhibition of 1851 to the subsequent discussion of the status and intellectual property of artists and inventors.Less
In May 1851, the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations was held at Hyde Park in London, England. There was so much in this Exhibition that was copied, imitated, die-cast, lithographed, electroplated, stereotyped, daguerreotyped, galvano-plastic, and so on, that the Exhibition itself posed questions about the relationship of monetary to aesthetic value and the status of the ‘real’ and ‘original’ in an emerging economy of reproduction and imitation. This chapter argues that the reform of the patent law at mid-19th century was profoundly affected by a literary lobby, including Charles Dickens and other members of the Society of Arts, which maintained the analogies with copyright law despite the evidence that industrial innovation had now become a largely corporate, and not an individual, endeavour. The chapter shows the crucial importance of the close juxtaposition of artworks and machines at the Exhibition of 1851 to the subsequent discussion of the status and intellectual property of artists and inventors.
Michael Brian Schiffer
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520238022
- eISBN:
- 9780520939851
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520238022.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
Most of us have heard that Benjamin Franklin conducted some kind of electrical experiment with a kite. What few of us realize is that he played a major role in laying the foundations of modern ...
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Most of us have heard that Benjamin Franklin conducted some kind of electrical experiment with a kite. What few of us realize is that he played a major role in laying the foundations of modern electrical science and technology. This book, rich with historical details and anecdotes, brings to life Franklin, the large international network of scientists and inventors in which he played a key role, and their inventions. We learn what these early electrical devices—from lights and motors to musical and medical instruments—looked like, how they worked, and what their utilitarian and symbolic meanings were for those who invented and used them. Against the panorama of life in the eighteenth century, the book tells the story of the very beginnings of our modern electrical world. The earliest electrical technologies were conceived in the laboratory apparatus of physicists; because of their surprising and diverse effects, however, these technologies rapidly made their way into many other communities and activities. The author conducts us from community to community, showing how these technologies worked as they were put to use in public lectures, revolutionary experiments in chemistry and biology, and medical therapy. This story brings to light the arcane and long-forgotten inventions that made way for many modern technologies—including lightning rods (Franklin's invention), cardiac stimulation, xerography, and the internal combustion engine—and conveys the complex relationships among science, technology, and culture.Less
Most of us have heard that Benjamin Franklin conducted some kind of electrical experiment with a kite. What few of us realize is that he played a major role in laying the foundations of modern electrical science and technology. This book, rich with historical details and anecdotes, brings to life Franklin, the large international network of scientists and inventors in which he played a key role, and their inventions. We learn what these early electrical devices—from lights and motors to musical and medical instruments—looked like, how they worked, and what their utilitarian and symbolic meanings were for those who invented and used them. Against the panorama of life in the eighteenth century, the book tells the story of the very beginnings of our modern electrical world. The earliest electrical technologies were conceived in the laboratory apparatus of physicists; because of their surprising and diverse effects, however, these technologies rapidly made their way into many other communities and activities. The author conducts us from community to community, showing how these technologies worked as they were put to use in public lectures, revolutionary experiments in chemistry and biology, and medical therapy. This story brings to light the arcane and long-forgotten inventions that made way for many modern technologies—including lightning rods (Franklin's invention), cardiac stimulation, xerography, and the internal combustion engine—and conveys the complex relationships among science, technology, and culture.
Kendra Preston Leonard
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252042706
- eISBN:
- 9780252051562
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042706.003.0009
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Women played many musical roles in the film industry. They accompanied silent films at the organ with existing repertoire, made new compositions of incidental music and songs, and improvised ...
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Women played many musical roles in the film industry. They accompanied silent films at the organ with existing repertoire, made new compositions of incidental music and songs, and improvised accompaniments at the keyboard; they constructed and disseminated cue sheets and educated their fellow musicians and the public in trade journals and newspapers; and they were inventors: Alice Smythe Jay created a mechanism to synchronize piano rolls with films, while Carrie Hetherington invented and promoted the Fotoplayer. In World War I, with men serving abroad, women were increasingly vital to the industry, advancing the cause of professional women throughout the music industry.Less
Women played many musical roles in the film industry. They accompanied silent films at the organ with existing repertoire, made new compositions of incidental music and songs, and improvised accompaniments at the keyboard; they constructed and disseminated cue sheets and educated their fellow musicians and the public in trade journals and newspapers; and they were inventors: Alice Smythe Jay created a mechanism to synchronize piano rolls with films, while Carrie Hetherington invented and promoted the Fotoplayer. In World War I, with men serving abroad, women were increasingly vital to the industry, advancing the cause of professional women throughout the music industry.
Chris Bleakley
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198853732
- eISBN:
- 9780191888168
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198853732.001.0001
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics, Logic / Computer Science / Mathematical Philosophy
Algorithms are the hidden methods that computers apply to process information and make decisions. The book tells the story of algorithms from their ancient origins to the present day and beyond. The ...
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Algorithms are the hidden methods that computers apply to process information and make decisions. The book tells the story of algorithms from their ancient origins to the present day and beyond. The book introduces readers to the inventors and events behind the genesis of the world’s most important algorithms. Along the way, it explains, with the aid of examples and illustrations, how the most influential algorithms work. The first algorithms were invented in Mesopotamia 4,000 years ago. The ancient Greeks refined the concept, creating algorithms for finding prime numbers and enumerating Pi. Al-Khawrzmi’s 9th century books on algorithms ultimately became their conduit to the West. The invention of the electronic computer during World War II transformed the importance of the algorithm. The first computer algorithms were for military applications. In peacetime, researchers turned to grander challenges - forecasting the weather, route navigation, choosing marriage partners, and creating artificial intelligences. The success of the Internet in the 70s depended on algorithms for transporting data and correcting errors. A clever algorithm for ranking websites was the spark that ignited Google. Recommender algorithms boosted sales at Amazon and Netflix, while the EdgeRank algorithm drove Facebook’s NewsFeed. In the 21st century, an algorithm that mimics the operation of the human brain was revisited with the latest computer technology. Suddenly, algorithms attained human-level accuracy in object and speech recognition. An algloirthm defeated the world champion at Go - the most complex of board games. Today, algorithms for cryptocurrencies and quantum computing look set to change the world.Less
Algorithms are the hidden methods that computers apply to process information and make decisions. The book tells the story of algorithms from their ancient origins to the present day and beyond. The book introduces readers to the inventors and events behind the genesis of the world’s most important algorithms. Along the way, it explains, with the aid of examples and illustrations, how the most influential algorithms work. The first algorithms were invented in Mesopotamia 4,000 years ago. The ancient Greeks refined the concept, creating algorithms for finding prime numbers and enumerating Pi. Al-Khawrzmi’s 9th century books on algorithms ultimately became their conduit to the West. The invention of the electronic computer during World War II transformed the importance of the algorithm. The first computer algorithms were for military applications. In peacetime, researchers turned to grander challenges - forecasting the weather, route navigation, choosing marriage partners, and creating artificial intelligences. The success of the Internet in the 70s depended on algorithms for transporting data and correcting errors. A clever algorithm for ranking websites was the spark that ignited Google. Recommender algorithms boosted sales at Amazon and Netflix, while the EdgeRank algorithm drove Facebook’s NewsFeed. In the 21st century, an algorithm that mimics the operation of the human brain was revisited with the latest computer technology. Suddenly, algorithms attained human-level accuracy in object and speech recognition. An algloirthm defeated the world champion at Go - the most complex of board games. Today, algorithms for cryptocurrencies and quantum computing look set to change the world.
Michael Brian Schiffer
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520238022
- eISBN:
- 9780520939851
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520238022.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This chapter addresses a number of electrical products devised by the Enlightenment community of visionary inventors. The electric orrery was simply a clever device for showing that electricity could ...
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This chapter addresses a number of electrical products devised by the Enlightenment community of visionary inventors. The electric orrery was simply a clever device for showing that electricity could produce rotary motion. The Franklin motor demonstrated that electrostatic forces could produce nontrivial mechanical effects. It is suggested that the electric ignition of internal combustion engines, and perhaps the engines themselves, had their beginnings in eighteenth-century electrostatic technology. Since the 1740s, lecturers had used the mechanical effects of electricity to produce sound. The case of telegraphy brings into sharp relief the obstacles faced by inventors working on electrical systems at the dawn of the nineteenth century. Franklin and his friends bequeathed to Thomas Edison and other nineteenth-century workers fundamental scientific principles and terminology, a plethora of technological effects, many fascinating devices and product ideas, and the fervent and infectious belief that electrical science and technology could create a better world.Less
This chapter addresses a number of electrical products devised by the Enlightenment community of visionary inventors. The electric orrery was simply a clever device for showing that electricity could produce rotary motion. The Franklin motor demonstrated that electrostatic forces could produce nontrivial mechanical effects. It is suggested that the electric ignition of internal combustion engines, and perhaps the engines themselves, had their beginnings in eighteenth-century electrostatic technology. Since the 1740s, lecturers had used the mechanical effects of electricity to produce sound. The case of telegraphy brings into sharp relief the obstacles faced by inventors working on electrical systems at the dawn of the nineteenth century. Franklin and his friends bequeathed to Thomas Edison and other nineteenth-century workers fundamental scientific principles and terminology, a plethora of technological effects, many fascinating devices and product ideas, and the fervent and infectious belief that electrical science and technology could create a better world.
Lillian Hoddeson and Peter Garrett
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780262037532
- eISBN:
- 9780262345033
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262037532.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This is the first full-length biography of the prolific inventor Stanford R. Ovshinsky (1922-2012). Ovshinsky’s discoveries led to the creation of many important information and energy technologies, ...
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This is the first full-length biography of the prolific inventor Stanford R. Ovshinsky (1922-2012). Ovshinsky’s discoveries led to the creation of many important information and energy technologies, from phase-change electronic memories and rewritable CDs and DVDs to nickel metal hydride batteries, thin-film solar panels, and flat panel displays. In the process, his work helped open a new scientific research area centered on amorphous and disordered materials. A brilliant, self-educated pioneer of materials science, Ovshinsky began his career as a machinist and toolmaker before becoming an independent inventor and later the charismatic director of his own substantial research and development laboratory, Energy Conversion Devices (ECD). Guided by the social democratic values of his youth, he worked for nearly half a century with his partner and second wife Iris, eventually with hundreds of collaborators, to address important social problems like climate change. At the same time, their progressive values shaped the culture of the ECD community as a model egalitarian organization. Ovshinsky’s important contributions include his alternative energy technologies, with which he aimed to reduce and eventually eliminate dependence on fossil fuels. Increasingly important are the semiconductor devices based on his discovery of the Ovshinsky switching effect, which are becoming the basis of new information technologies.Less
This is the first full-length biography of the prolific inventor Stanford R. Ovshinsky (1922-2012). Ovshinsky’s discoveries led to the creation of many important information and energy technologies, from phase-change electronic memories and rewritable CDs and DVDs to nickel metal hydride batteries, thin-film solar panels, and flat panel displays. In the process, his work helped open a new scientific research area centered on amorphous and disordered materials. A brilliant, self-educated pioneer of materials science, Ovshinsky began his career as a machinist and toolmaker before becoming an independent inventor and later the charismatic director of his own substantial research and development laboratory, Energy Conversion Devices (ECD). Guided by the social democratic values of his youth, he worked for nearly half a century with his partner and second wife Iris, eventually with hundreds of collaborators, to address important social problems like climate change. At the same time, their progressive values shaped the culture of the ECD community as a model egalitarian organization. Ovshinsky’s important contributions include his alternative energy technologies, with which he aimed to reduce and eventually eliminate dependence on fossil fuels. Increasingly important are the semiconductor devices based on his discovery of the Ovshinsky switching effect, which are becoming the basis of new information technologies.
Ray Zone
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813124612
- eISBN:
- 9780813134796
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813124612.003.0011
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter discusses autostereoscopic cinema, which has always been considered as the “holy grail” for utopian inventors. Semyon Ivanov successfully created autostereoscopic motion pictures in the ...
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This chapter discusses autostereoscopic cinema, which has always been considered as the “holy grail” for utopian inventors. Semyon Ivanov successfully created autostereoscopic motion pictures in the 1940s, and soon a slew of motion pictures were being filmed and presented using this method. This process was followed by the single-strip 3-D systems and other works in stereography. The chapter ends with a discussion on the Festival of Britain, which marked the end of the novelty period of stereoscopic cinema.Less
This chapter discusses autostereoscopic cinema, which has always been considered as the “holy grail” for utopian inventors. Semyon Ivanov successfully created autostereoscopic motion pictures in the 1940s, and soon a slew of motion pictures were being filmed and presented using this method. This process was followed by the single-strip 3-D systems and other works in stereography. The chapter ends with a discussion on the Festival of Britain, which marked the end of the novelty period of stereoscopic cinema.
Hermione Giffard
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226388595
- eISBN:
- 9780226388625
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226388625.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter offers a historical exploration of the origins and perpetuation of the heroic inventor narrative associated with Frank Whittle and later Hans von Ohain. The chapter begins by showing ...
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This chapter offers a historical exploration of the origins and perpetuation of the heroic inventor narrative associated with Frank Whittle and later Hans von Ohain. The chapter begins by showing through historiographical as well as archival research how Whittle was turned into a British national hero in 1944 as the result of a deliberate government policy to regulate information about a secret weapon. It then examines how this legacy continued to be shaped and propagated in the post-war period including in museums and history books. This leads to the question of why the German invention narrative never challenged the narrative of Whittle in Britain; the chapter argues that it was by virtue of American advocacy that Hans von Ohain began to be promoted as a German equivalent of Whittle giving rise to the ‘dual inventor’ story known today. The chapter weaves together the literature on the jet engine in Britain, Germany and the United States. It explores technological nationalism and the corrosive effects that it can have on the telling of history, both public and professional.Less
This chapter offers a historical exploration of the origins and perpetuation of the heroic inventor narrative associated with Frank Whittle and later Hans von Ohain. The chapter begins by showing through historiographical as well as archival research how Whittle was turned into a British national hero in 1944 as the result of a deliberate government policy to regulate information about a secret weapon. It then examines how this legacy continued to be shaped and propagated in the post-war period including in museums and history books. This leads to the question of why the German invention narrative never challenged the narrative of Whittle in Britain; the chapter argues that it was by virtue of American advocacy that Hans von Ohain began to be promoted as a German equivalent of Whittle giving rise to the ‘dual inventor’ story known today. The chapter weaves together the literature on the jet engine in Britain, Germany and the United States. It explores technological nationalism and the corrosive effects that it can have on the telling of history, both public and professional.
Jeannette E. Brown
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190615178
- eISBN:
- 9780197559673
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190615178.003.0009
- Subject:
- Chemistry, History of Chemistry
Dr. Patricia Carter Sluby (Fig. 5.1) is a primary patent examiner retired from the US Patent and Trademark Office and formerly a registered patent agent. She is also ...
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Dr. Patricia Carter Sluby (Fig. 5.1) is a primary patent examiner retired from the US Patent and Trademark Office and formerly a registered patent agent. She is also the author of three books about African American inventors and their patented inventions. Patricia’s father is William A. Carter Jr., and her mother is Thelma LaRoche Carter. Her father was the first black licensed master plumber in Richmond, VA, and his father also had the same distinction in Columbus, OH, years earlier. Her father was born in Philadelphia, PA, and attended college. Her grandfather went from Virginia to look for work in Canada and became a stonemason. Later he relocated back to the United States, where he soon married in Boston, MA, and several of his children were born there. Later, the family moved to Philadelphia where Patricia’s father was born. Her mother, who attended Hampton Institute, taught school and later managed the office for Patricia’s father’s business. Patricia’s mother was born and raised in Richmond, as were most of her maternal relatives. Patricia had three brothers. They were all born during segregation in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy. Patricia was born on February 15, in Richmond. She attended kindergarten through eighth grade in segregated schools that were within walking distance of home. In school, they studied from hand-me-down books, but her black teachers were well trained and well informed. They had bachelor’s degrees; some had master’s or even PhD degrees. To go to high school, Patricia took a city bus across to the east side of town, to the newly built school for black students, which incorporated eighth grade through twelfth grade. Her teachers were excellent instructors who lived in her neighborhood and knew her parents quite well. The teachers looked out for the neighborhood kids and acted as surrogate parents outside the confines of the home. Teachers and principals were also great mentors, dedicated to their craft; they encouraged students to understand the world and function as responsible adults. Patricia excelled in science and math.
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Dr. Patricia Carter Sluby (Fig. 5.1) is a primary patent examiner retired from the US Patent and Trademark Office and formerly a registered patent agent. She is also the author of three books about African American inventors and their patented inventions. Patricia’s father is William A. Carter Jr., and her mother is Thelma LaRoche Carter. Her father was the first black licensed master plumber in Richmond, VA, and his father also had the same distinction in Columbus, OH, years earlier. Her father was born in Philadelphia, PA, and attended college. Her grandfather went from Virginia to look for work in Canada and became a stonemason. Later he relocated back to the United States, where he soon married in Boston, MA, and several of his children were born there. Later, the family moved to Philadelphia where Patricia’s father was born. Her mother, who attended Hampton Institute, taught school and later managed the office for Patricia’s father’s business. Patricia’s mother was born and raised in Richmond, as were most of her maternal relatives. Patricia had three brothers. They were all born during segregation in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy. Patricia was born on February 15, in Richmond. She attended kindergarten through eighth grade in segregated schools that were within walking distance of home. In school, they studied from hand-me-down books, but her black teachers were well trained and well informed. They had bachelor’s degrees; some had master’s or even PhD degrees. To go to high school, Patricia took a city bus across to the east side of town, to the newly built school for black students, which incorporated eighth grade through twelfth grade. Her teachers were excellent instructors who lived in her neighborhood and knew her parents quite well. The teachers looked out for the neighborhood kids and acted as surrogate parents outside the confines of the home. Teachers and principals were also great mentors, dedicated to their craft; they encouraged students to understand the world and function as responsible adults. Patricia excelled in science and math.
B. Zorina Khan
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- June 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190936075
- eISBN:
- 9780190936112
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190936075.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental, Economic History
Innovation prizes were regularly sponsored by the Franklin Institute and other mechanics’ institutes throughout the United States. The analysis shows that administered innovation systems in the ...
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Innovation prizes were regularly sponsored by the Franklin Institute and other mechanics’ institutes throughout the United States. The analysis shows that administered innovation systems in the United States demonstrated the same endemic characteristics as their European counterparts. Unlike the more democratic nature of patent markets, the judges, participants, and winners belonged to wealthier and more privileged classes. Prize systems failed to induce the desired outcomes, and the allocation of awards was typically idiosyncratic and unrelated to characteristics of the invention. Their administration was rife with poor governance, and the administrative costs often exceeded the amounts being disbursed to inventors. Rather than providing effective inducements for novel inventive activity, prizes primarily served as marketing and publicity mechanisms for firms that wished to commercialize already existing innovations.Less
Innovation prizes were regularly sponsored by the Franklin Institute and other mechanics’ institutes throughout the United States. The analysis shows that administered innovation systems in the United States demonstrated the same endemic characteristics as their European counterparts. Unlike the more democratic nature of patent markets, the judges, participants, and winners belonged to wealthier and more privileged classes. Prize systems failed to induce the desired outcomes, and the allocation of awards was typically idiosyncratic and unrelated to characteristics of the invention. Their administration was rife with poor governance, and the administrative costs often exceeded the amounts being disbursed to inventors. Rather than providing effective inducements for novel inventive activity, prizes primarily served as marketing and publicity mechanisms for firms that wished to commercialize already existing innovations.
