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Some of the awards are loosely based on
well-known sayings, while others were created specifically for this
story. Either way, these aren't the kind of awards that most people
would want to win.
Here, then, are the winning
inventors, along with their awards:
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The "No
One Knew I Was An Inventor" award goes to Charles Lindbergh, who
was the anonymous co-inventor of the heart fusion pump. His pump
made it possible for surgeons to perform open-heart surgery.
Runner-up for this award is a two-way tie between Abraham Lincoln
and Mark Twain. Lincoln remains the only U.S. president to receive
a patent, while Mark Twain once earned more money from one of his
inventions than from his writings that year.
-
The
"Annie Oakley / Whatever You Can Do, I Can Do Better" award goes
to Stephanie Kwolek. Inventing what many would consider a man's
product while working in a man's world at du Pont, Ms. Kwolek
invented Kevlar in 1965. She began working at the company to pay
for her schooling, in which she planned to become a fashion
designer. Instead, her Kevlar has saved the lives of more than
2,000 police officers.
-
Borrowing from last week's story, we present the "What Were You
Thinking When You Let Them Name Your Invention After You?" award
to Joseph Guillotin, whose family changed their last name after he
died.
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The
"I'll Do Whatever I Can To Save Money" award goes to the inventor
of the calliope, Joshua Stoddard, who lived with his parents until
he was 30.
- The "Keen Sense Of The Obvious"
award goes to Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47 assault
rifle. Mr. Kalashnikov once said of his very LOUD invention, "I
shot with it a lot. I still do. That is why I am hard of hearing."
Say what?
[to top of second column in this article] |
-
The "I Almost Lost My Life While
Inventing That Product" award goes to Alfred Nobel, the inventor of
dynamite. This award could also be named the "I Didn't Die While
Inventing This But Several Of My Employees Did" award. I will spare
you the details on this one.
-
Then
there's the "I Tried To Improve My Reputation By Creating Awards
And Naming Them After Myself" award. See Nobel, above.
-
The
"Everyone Thought I Was An Inventor But I'm Not" award goes to
Rube Goldberg. Rube is our favorite non-inventor here at Invention
Mysteries. He was the cartoonist who drew complex contraptions
that would require a minimum of a dozen steps to perform a simple
task such as picking up a golf ball. The irony is that Rube never
invented anything in his life.
- The "I Passed Up A Fortune When I
Invented This Thing" award is a two-way tie between Tim
Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web, and Joshua Lionel
Cowen, inventor of the "electric flowerpot."
Berners-Lee could have patented the Web and made money each time
someone visits a website, but his desire was for everyone to be
able to benefit from the Web, so he chose not to patent it.
Joshua Lionel Cowen, of Lionel Train fame, let his friend Conrad
Hubert have the electric flowerpot for practically free. Conrad
Hubert converted it into a flashlight and built a business around
it. That business is known as Eveready Battery, and the rest is
history.
Well, that's our list of
award-winning inventors for now. Sadly, we are out of space. If you
know of any other inventors who should be on this list, you can send
me your nominees and I'll consider using them the next time we do an
awards article.
[Paul Niemann]
Paul Niemann is the author of Invention Mysteries. He can be reached
at niemann7@aol.com.
© Paul Niemann 2005 |
