Where can a great idea take you? Anywhere—especially when you’re a child with a boundless future ahead of you. Take IBM Master Inventor Lisa Deluca. Her first brush with invention occurred in second grade, when she prototyped an idea she had for a full-body umbrella. This sparked a rich future for Lisa, setting her down a path of invention that has culminated in over 400 patents, making her the most prolific female inventor in IBM history. Every child deserves the chance to encounter the same spark—especially girls, whose rich curiosity is often underserved due to lack of exposure to female role models in STEM careers. That’s why IBM is working with the Ad Council and four other major companies on the “She Can STEM” campaign. It encourages girls to get involved in science, technology, engineering and math by promoting the accomplishments of role models like Lisa. We’re encouraging every woman in a STEM career to post a picture of their younger self juxtaposed with their current picture, showing young girls that “If she can STEM, so can you.” IBM believes sparking girls’ futures starts with showing them that their great ideas can take them anywhere they’d like to go. Join the #SheCanSTEM conversation on social with leaders like Lisa today.
Robert Watson-Watt was born on 13th April 1892 in Brechin.
Robert had big boots to fill, he claimed he was a descendant of James Watt, although no evidence of any family relationship has been found. But like Watt he went on to make his own important contribution to the world as a pioneer of radar technology.
Although he did not invent the idea of radio detection, Watson-Watt was the first to prove it could work on a large scale.
Born the son of a carpenter and cabinet maker, he attended Damacre Road School, where he was awarded the ‘Smart Medal’ as ‘Dux’ (top prize-winner) of Brechin High School.
He went on to study at University College in Dundee, then part of St Andrew’s University. After he graduated with a BSc in Engineering, his professor William Peddie encouraged him to continue to study 'wireless telegraphy’. This was the common name for radio at the time.Watson-Watt was employed as a meteorologist at the Meteorological Office in 1915.
He worked on equipment that could detect thunderstorms, researching how to detect lightning and the signals emitted as it ionises the surrounding air. His research was aimed at giving airmen in fragile aircraft advance warning of potential lightning strikes.
In 1916 Watson-Watt had the idea of using a cathode ray oscilloscope in aircraft to measure and plot electrical signals on a display screen. However, his idea was not realised until 1923.
In 1924 he moved from Farnborough to work at the newly established research centre at Ditton Park near Slough. The research centre joined with the National Physical Laboratory and Watson-Watt took charge of the Radio Department in Teddington, Middlesex.
One of his projects was to investigate radio interference and how it might be used to advantage in wartime. The Air Ministry set up a committee to advance air defences in the UK in 1933. Nazi Germany claimed to possess a 'death ray’, which used radio waves said to be capable of destroying targets in Britain.
Watson-Watt was asked to develop a response to this threat – a ray that could destroy German aircraft before they attacked. He believed such a thing was not feasible. However, he believed he could develop a machine able to detect an aircraft in flight before it was visible.
The pioneering work that Watson-Watt undertook resulted in the design and installation of a chain of radar stations along the East and South coast of England in time for the outbreak of war in 1939. This system, known as Chain Home and Chain Home Low, provided the vital advance information that helped the Royal Air Force to win the Battle of Britain.
Due 9/15/15: The Westly Foundation is awarding cash prizes of $20,000 each to young innovators in California with creative solutions to community problems at home or around the world.
We are awarding cash prizes of $20,000 each to innovators under age 29 with creative solutions to community problems who live or attend school in California. Students from California who are attending school out of state are also eligible to apply.
We are looking for individuals who have worked on a scalable project that has been prototyped and, ideally, tested with the community-in-need. We’d like to begin communicating with potential applicants to guide them through the process, so your assistance is invaluable. Applications are due September 15, but we give priority review to those who apply by June 1.
Past winners have included both non-profit and for-profit entrepreneurs, who have crafted solutions across a range of disciplines, from distribution of surplus medicine, to providing alternatives to incarceration, to creating educational software for youth.
Please let me know if there’s any information or questions I can answer that would be helpful. Thank you very much.
In the photo above, Max Factor, Hollywood make-up specialist (left) and Dr. J. R. Pratt, chemist, were testing a new lipstick on a shaven guinea pig (circle) in 1939. A baby guinea pig was used for the test because its under skin is ten times more sensitive than that of a human being.
Mounted on the dashboard of his patrol car, with its lens pointing forward through the windshield, a motion-picture camera belonging to Officer R. H. Galbraith of the California Highway Patrol took photographs of the automobiles he trails along the highways, making a permanent film record of any traffic violations for possible later use in court.
More punch than can be found in a box-glove is contained in a new electric glove invented by Cirilo Diaz of Cuba for use by police while handling rough characters or in quelling riots. Persons contacted by an officer wearing the glove receive a 1,500-volt shock, sufficient to remove all traces of fight. A half-pound battery worn on the belt supplies the power, all wiring being concealed beneath the coat.
Police officials in New York, where the device was first demonstrated in 1935, were favorably impressed by its effectiveness.
Jan Szczepanik (June 13, 1872 – April 18, 1926) was a Polish inventor, with several hundred patents and over 50 discoveries to his name, many of which are still applied today, especially in the motion picture industry, as well as in photography and television. Some of his concepts helped the future evolution of TV broadcasting, such as the telectroscope or the wireless telegraph, which greatly affected the development of telecommunications.
Probably the most popular among Szczepanik’s works was the world’s first effective bulletproof vest, made of steel sheets, in 1901. The resistance of the material was confirmed by the military, after revolver shots and blows with slash weapons. The vest was bought, among others, by Nicholas II and the King of Spain, Alfonso XIII, whose life was saved during the attack in 1905, thanks to Szczepanik’s invention. The Tsar of Russia wanted to honor Szczepanik with the order of Saint Anna, but Szczepanik, most probably for patriotic reasons, refused to accept it.
A diagram of an elaborate slab-moving invention from Jacques Besson‘s 1582 book Theatrum instrumentorum et machinarum Iacobi Bessoni Delphinatis, mathematici ingeniosissimi.
My latest miniature artwork! A tiny flying machine flying through the skies. It has been made in a vintage watch case and closed on the front with a piece of glass. The machine is made entirely from watch parts as well as a bit of fabric. The background sky has been hand-painted and there is an ultra-tiny man piloting the craft.
“While I was perfectly convinced, from the outset, that success would be ultimately achieved, it was not until by slow improvement I evolved the so-called “Magnifying Transmitter” that I obtained convincing evidence of the feasibility of wireless power transmission on a vast scale for all industrial purposes.
"The chief discovery, which satisfied me thoroughly as to the practicability of my plan, was made in 1899 at Colorado Springs, where I carried on tests with a generator of fifteen hundred kilowatt capacity and ascertained that under certain conditions the current was capable of passing across the entire globe and returning from the antipodes to its origin with undiminished strength. It was a result so unbelievable that the revelation at first almost stunned me. I saw in a flash that by properly organized apparatus at sending and receiving stations, power virtually in unlimited amounts could be conveyed through the earth at any distance, limited only by the physical dimensions of the globe, with an efficiency as high as ninety-nine and one-half per cent.
The mode of propagation of the currents from my transmitter through the terrestrial globe is most extraordinary considering the spread of the electrification of the surface. The wave starts with a theoretically infinite speed, slowing down first very quickly and afterward at a lesser rate until the distance is about six thousand miles, when it proceeds with the speed of light. From there on it again increases in speed, slowly at first, and then more rapidly, reaching the antipode with approximately infinite velocity. The law of motion can be expressed by stating that the waves on the terrestrial surface sweep in equal intervals of time over equal areas, but it must be understood that the current penetrates deep into the earth and the effects produced on the receivers are the same as if the whole flow was confined to the earth’s axis joining the transmitter with the antipode. The mean surface speed is thus about 471,200 kilometers per second — fifty-seven per cent. greater than that of the so-called Hertz waves — which should propagate with the velocity of light if they exist. The same constant was found by the noted American astronomer, Capt. J. T. T. See, in his mathematical investigations, for the smallest particles of the ether which he fittingly designates as “etherons.” But while in the light of his theory this speed is a physical reality, the spread of the currents at the terrestrial surface is much like the passage of the moon’s shadow over the globe.
"It will be difficult for most people engaged in practical pursuits to measure or even to form an adequate conception of the intensity of inspiration and force I derive from that part of my work which has passed into history. I have every reason to consider myself one of the most fortunate men, for I experience incessantly a feeling of inexpressible satisfaction that my alternating system is universally employed in the transmission and distribution of heat, light and power and that also my wireless system, in all its essential features, is used throughout the world for conveying intelligence. But my pioneer efforts in this later field are still grossly misunderstood.”
–Nikola Tesla
“World System of Wireless Transmission of Energy.”Telegraph and Telegraph Age, October 16, 1927.
“It is providential that the youth or man of inventive mind is not blessed with a million dollars. He would find it difficult to think. The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. No big laboratory is needed in which to think. Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born. That is why many of the earthly miracles have had their genesis in humble surroundings.”
–Nikola Tesla
“Tesla Sees Evidence Radio and Light Are Sound.” New York Times, April 8th, 1934.
Although the system of world wireless power transmission consumed most of his attention throughout his life, Nikola Tesla still brought the world many wonderful inventions and discoveries. Stated in chronological order, some of the more notable ones are:
The rotating magnetic field, 1882;
System of arc lighting, 1886;
Tesla motor and system of alternating current power transmission that utilized the rotating magnetic field discovery creating polyphase systems of AC, 1888;
System of electrical conversion and distribution by oscillatory discharges, 1889;
Generators of high-frequency currents and effects of these, 1890;
Transmission of energy through a single wire without return, 1891;
The “Tesla coil,” or oscillation transformer, which was the basis to his wireless transmission of energy making Tesla the true father of radio, 1891;
Investigations of high-frequency effects and phenomena, 1891-93;
System of transmission of intelligence and power without wires, 1891-1905;
Neon light signs, 1893;
Researches and discoveries in radiations, material streams and emanations, today known as X-rays, and X-ray imaging, 1893-1898;
Mechanical oscillators and generators of electrical oscillations, 1894-95;
Radioactivity and cosmic ray discovery published in a series of papers in the "Electrical Review,” New York, 1896-1898;
High-potential vacuum tubes, 1896-1898;
Explained the harms of X-rays and safer ways to use them, 1897;
High-potential magnifying transmitter, 1897;
Economic transmission of energy by refrigeration, 1898;
Remote control, or what Tesla called his “Art of Telautomatics,” 1897-99;
Discovery of stationary electrical waves in the earth, 1899;
Art of transmitting energy by stationary waves through earth, 1899-1900;
Burning of atmospheric nitrogen, and production of other electrical effects of transcending intensities, 1899-1900;
Apparatus for the utilization of cosmic radiation, 1901;
Art of Individualization. Tesla described this as a method of absolute privacy in wireless communication, 1902-1903;
Magnifying transmitter on a large scale, 1902;
Speedometers on new principles, means for lightning protection, types of steam and gas turbines, pressure and vacuum pumps and other apparatus, 1916-1926.
Teleforce, or his “New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-Dispersive Energy Through Natural Media.” This is his particle beam weapon, circa 1930s.
In 1913, in a desperate attempt to get funding for his Wardenclyffe Tower, which he considered his most important project, but was struggling with a lack of funds, Nikola Tesla patented a new type of water fountain in hopes of collecting revenue to help pay for his new wireless system. Obviously, he wouldn’t capitalize on this endeavor, but the innovation still remains.
“Nikola Tesla, in the opinion of authorities, today is conceded to be the greatest inventor of all times. Tesla has more original inventions to his credit than any other man in history. He is considered greater than Archimedes, Faraday, or Edison. His basic, as well as revolutionary discoveries for sheer audacity have no equal in the annals of the world. His master mind is easily one of the seven wonders of the intellectual world.“
–Hugo Gernsback
(“Nikola Tesla and His Inventions — An Announcement.” Electrical Experimenter, January, 1919.)
Nikola Tesla in a pre-hearing interview with his legal counsel in 1916 to protect his radio patents from Guglielmo Marconi
Tesla: “This is the transmitter which was already so far developed that I obtained discharges of 16 feet and a tension of 4 million volts. The secondary flat spiral usually connects to the antenna, and this coil on the vertical stand is another tuning coil to adjust the oscillations to a low frequency. Now, it is a mere matter of proportioning this circuit to the antenna in order to transmit, with the same apparatus I built in 1895, 1896, in 1897, messages across the Atlantic with the greatest facility. I will agree at any time to construct an apparatus exactly as I have described at that time and, without the slightest change, I will affect transmission across the Atlantic as easily as rolling off a log.”
Counsel: “Is that a spark apparatus?”
Tesla: “Yes, in this instance it was a spark apparatus; but I operated it also without a spark, with alternating current. I operated it with damped waves or with undamped waves. But remember that I had a system with small capacity, large self induction—no outflow of energy. Energy could not radiate; that is the reason why I got this tremendous pressure which you cannot get in an antenna which radiates too much energy in electromagnetic waves.”
Counsel: “ Mr. Tesla, speaking about that apparatus you said that the energy could not get out. How was the transmission then made, as for instance, across the Atlantic, or elsewhere? Is it through these earth currents that you spoke of?”
Tesla: Yes of course, through the earth currents. If I simply generated electromagnetic waves, I would be in the same box that Marconi is in, or anybody else; I would have to use an awful lot of power and I would not be able to get across. I would have to use a bigger apparatus. But, if I adapt this apparatus to the antenna in the way I want to adapt it, there is no difficult of transmitting across the Atlantic with this very same apparatus.“
Counsel: ” I do not yet get quite clear just what the effect is of keeping the energy from leaking out from the antenna.“
Tesla: "Well, sir, I have given you the simplest mathematical formula which, of course, experts are perfectly familiar with. You are not. Now, let me explain.
"If we put it in an equation, we will have on one side the decrement of the antenna, and on the other the resistance of the antenna multiplied by the square root of the capacity divided by the self-induction…”
(“Nikola Tesla On His Works With Alternating Currents and Their Application to Wireless Telegraphy, and Transmission of Power.” Twenty First Century Books, Breckenridge, Colorado, 2002.)
“Even the gods of old, in the wildest imaginings of their worshipers, never undertook such gigantic tasks of world-wide dimensions as those which Tesla attempted and accomplished.”
–John J. O'Neill. “Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla.” 1944.
“The progressive development of man is vitality dependent on invention. It is the most important product of his creative brain. Its ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of the forces of nature to human needs. This is the difficult task of an inventor who is often misunderstood and unrewarded. But he finds ample compensation in the pleasing exercise of his powers and in the knowledge of being one of that exceptionally privileged class without whom the race would have long ago perished in the bitter struggle against pitiless elements.”
–Nikola Tesla
“My Inventions I – My Earlier Life.” Electrical Experimenter, February, 1919.
“If you mean the man who really invented, in other words, originated and discovered — not merely improved what had already been invented by others, then without a shade of doubt, Nikola Tesla is the world’s greatest inventor, not only at present, but in all history.“
“Tesla has secured more than one hundred patents on inventions, many of which have proved revolutionary. Science accords to him over 75 original discoveries, not mere mechanical improvements. Tesla is an originator in the sense that Faraday was an originator. Like the latter he is a pioneer blazing the trail; aside from this he is a discoverer of the very highest order.”
“Ninety percent of the entire electrical industry pays tribute to his genius. All electrical machinery using or generating alternating current is due to Tesla. High tension current transmission without which our long distance trolley cars, our electrified lines, our subways would be impossible, are due to the genius of Tesla. The Tesla Induction Motor, the Tesla Rotary Converter, the Tesla Phase System of Power Transmission, the Tesla Steam and Gas Turbine, the Tesla Coil, and the Oscillation Transformer are perhaps his better known inventions.“
“Why the world at large does not know Tesla, it is answered best by stating that he has committed the unpardonable crime of not having a permanent press agent to shout his greatness from the housetops. Then, too, most of Tesla’s inventions, at least to the public mind, are more or less intangible on account of the fact that they are very technical and, therefore, do not catch the popular imagination, as, for instance, wireless, the X-ray, the airplane, or the telephone.”
”NIKOLA TESLA, in the opinion of authorities, today is conceded to be the greatest inventor of all times. Tesla has more original inventions to his credit than any other man in history. He is considered greater than Archimedes, Faraday, or Edison. His basic, as well as revolutionary, discoveries for sheer audacity have no equal in the annals of the world. His master mind is easily one of the seven wonders of the intellectual world.”
–Hugo Gernsback
“Nikola Tesla and His Inventions — An Announcement.” Electrical Experimenter, January, 1919.
(Hugo was an inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best known for publications including the first science fiction magazine.)
A Method of transformation of electrical energy by oscillatory condenser discharges. It was predicted by Tesla that this apparatus afforded vast possibilities and would play an important part in the future.
“This type of apparatus is identified with my name as certain as the law of gravitation is with that of Newton. I know that some have claimed that Professor Thomson also invented the so-called Tesla coil, but those feeble chirps ne'er went beyond Swampscott. Professor Thomson is an odd sort of man; very ingenious, but he never was a wireless expert; he never could be. Moreover, it is important to realize that this principle is universally employed everywhere. The greatest men of science have told me that this was my best achievement and, in connection with this apparatus I may say that a lot of liberties have been taken. For instance, a man fills this space [break D] with hydrogen; he employs all my instrumentalities, everything that is necessary, but calls it a new wireless system – the Poulsen arc. I cannot stop it. Another man puts in here [referring to space between self-inductive lines L L] a kind of gap – he gets a Nobel prize for doing it. My name is not mentioned. Still another man inserts here [conductor B] a mercury[-arc] rectifier. That is my friend Cooper Hewitt. But, as a matter of fact, those devices have nothing to do with the performance.
“If these men knew what I do, they would not touch my arrangements; they would leave my apparatus as it is. Marconi puts in here [break D] two wheels. I showed only one wheel; he shows two. And he says, “See what happens when the wheels are rotated; a wonderful thing happens!” What is the wonderful thing? Why, when the teeth of the wheels pass one another, the currents are broken and interrupted. That is the wonderful thing that happens? The Lord himself could not make anything else happen unless he broke his own laws. So, in this way, invention has been degraded, debased, prostituted, more in connection with my apparatus than in anything else. Not a vestige of invention as a creative effort is in the thousands of arrangements that you see under the name of other people – not a vestige of invention. It is exactly like in car couplings on which 6,000 patents have been taken out; but all the couplings are constructed and operated exactly the same way. The inventive effort involved is about the same as that of which a 30-year-old mule is capable. This is a fact.
“This is one of the most beautiful things ever produced in the way of apparatus: I take a generator of any kind. With the generator I charge a condensing. Then I discharged to condenser under conditions which result in the production of vibrations. Now, it was no sense Lord Kelvin that the condenser this charge would give this vibration, but I perfected my apparatus to such a degree that it became an instrument utilizable in the arts, In a much broader way than Lord Kelvin had contemplated as possible. In fact, years afterwards when Lord Kelvin honored me by presenting to the British Association one of my oscillators of a perfected form, he said that it was “a wonderful development and destined to be of great importance.”
–Nikola Tesla
(Tesla explaining his wireless art in a pre-hearing interview with his legal counsel in 1916 to protect his radio patents from the Guglielmo Marconi and the Marconi Company.)
“Nikola Tesla On His Works With Alternating Currents and Their Application to Wireless Telegraphy, and Transmission of Power.” Twenty First Century Books, Breckenridge, Colorado, 2002.
The Scottish chemist and physicist co-directed the Davy-Faraday Research Lab at the Ri from the end of the 19th Century. He is best known for inventing the Dewar flask aka vacuum flask aka Thermos.
Though he sadly didn’t profit from its widespread popularity, as he didn’t patent his invention before Thermos started using the design ()
Dewar’s flask aided his work into the liquefaction of then-so-called permanent gases like hydrogen and helium, as he could work at temperatures close to absolute zero ❄️
Whilst at the Ri he built machinery to yield high quantities of liquid oxygen, and showed that liquid oxygen and liquid ozone are attracted to the poles of a magnet
He also gave 9 series of Christmas Lectures for children! On topics ranging wide from ‘A Soap Bubble’ to 'The Story of a Meteorite’ to 'The Chemistry of Light and Photography’.
Arto Galoussian, the Inventor of the Multi-Feed Satellite Dish
As a young man living in the Soviet Union in the 60’s Arto Galoussian was one of Yerevan Technical College’s brightest minds, excelling in the Radio Electro-communication field of study.
After leaving the Soviet Union, Galoussian ended up in the Kingdom of Iran during the late 60’s. Serving in the Shah’s army Galoussian was noticed for his physical and technical abilities and was utilized for radio communication projects for the Iranian military.
In the 70’s prior to the revolution, Galoussian immigrated to London, U.K. where he established his satellite communication business. It was in the early 90’s where Mr. Galoussian first finalized his patent of the multi-feed satellite dish. Being one of the first independent satellite contractors in the city of London, Mr. Galoussian worked on various satellite communication installation projects for the Russian Federation, Republic of Iran and United States Embassies within London. In addition,Galoussian was contracted by different worldly figureheads, from Saudi dignitaries and princes, Mr. Conrad Black on several occasions (Daily Telegraph owner), and in general was well acquainted with London’s elite.
Mr. Galoussian’s constraint for his patent was the funding which was needed in the early stages of his patent file to finalize inventorship. Although Mr. Galoussian was the first to establish the multi-feed satellite dish in 1993, he was unable to maintain the rights to his patent. It was several years later where an Italian company, IRTE Multisat and later Channel Master finalized the rights to Galoussian’s invention of the Multi-Feed Satellite Dish which till this day is used for satellite dish communications.
Source: Monarchy of Historical Armenia. (2015, April 22). Arto Galoussian - the Inventor of the Multi-Feed Satellite Dish clothing. [Facebook post]. Retrieved from Monarchy of Historical Armenia.
“What was once considered impossible is now quite easily achieved. Kings and lords come and go and leave nothing but statues in a desert, while a couple of young men tinkering in a workshop change the way the world works.”
Ahmed Mohamed, the Muslim American teen who became a household name after being arrested for a homemade clock, has done well for himself. After sending an invite back in September, Obama finally made good on his promise to Ahmed — and it couldn’t have happened on a better night.
This is amazing! Props to Obama, for reminding us to foster kids’ curiosity and creativity.
Here are some talks by more cool kids who are killing it:
