Welcome to Wiser Now’s weekly email blast which reflects my eclectic interests and, I hope, yours. This week, my focus is on Inventors Month because one of my primary goals with Wiser Now Wednesday is to stimulate your curiosity. I am endlessly astounded by human ingenuity and its solutions, consequences, and absurdities.
I hope you find these offerings fun, and perhaps even useful, and welcome your feedback. (Kathy@WiserNow.com) And if you haven’t yet pressed the subscribe button so this newsletter doesn’t go to spam, please do so now.
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The Quirky Quote
All creative people want to do the unexpected. ~ Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood actress and inventor
The Quirky Facts
Hedy Lamarr was always more than a pretty face, and when she learned during World War II that radio-controlled torpedoes could be easily jammed and set off course by the Allied Forces’ enemies, she thought of a solution and together with her friend, composer George Antheil, developed it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t adopted by the US Navy until the 1960s, but it was in some ways a precursor to GPS and Bluetooth technology, and the pair were belatedly inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.
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It's the May Hall of Fame induction ceremony that makes this National Inventors Month. This year, 29 inventors were honored after the ceremony was cancelled during the Covid pandemic. Many awards are given posthumously, such as that of Patricia Bath, pictured (1942–2019), who invented the Laserphaco Probe for cataract surgery, and received the patent in 1986. She is part of an impressive list being honored by the Inventors Hall of Fame, and you can find many more on Wikipedia’s list of inventors, but I, of course, am most interested in accidental inventions, quirky inventions, and unintended consequences both good and bad.
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You’ll find some of those accidental inventions in the trivia quiz. As for quirky inventions, that list is nearly endless. One of my favorite sources is Bored Panda with its list of 30 that includes:
- A knitted beard hat (pictured)
- Anti-theft zip-lock lunch bags that make your sandwich look moldy
- Anti-pervert stockings that make a woman’s legs look disgustingly hairy
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- An ab enhancer – Basically a metal half girdle that produces six-pack-like indentations on a man’s stomach when removed
- A dog umbrella – Hold your umbrella in one hand, and the dog’s leash and umbrella in the other
- A door that flips down into a doorway ping pong table
- LED slippers so you don’t stub your toes in the middle of the night
- And so many more
By definition, inventions are intended to solve a problem or fill an unmet need, but many have unintended consequences.
The inventor/creator of Mother’s Day, Anna Jarvis, meant to honor her beloved mother and all mothers when the event was first celebrated on May 10,1908. But when the annual day soon became commercialized, she dubbed the florist, greeting card, and confectionery companies “charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and termites” for their greed.
Others have happier outcomes as the trivia quiz and Resources below reveal.
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The Quirky Observations
One of my favorite stories of unintended consequences involves Scottish scientist Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, who invented radar to detect enemy planes prior to World War II. He was once pulled over for speeding by a radar-gun toting policeman in Canada, a use for his invention he hadn’t foreseen. As a result, he wrote this poem:
A Rough Justice
Pity Sir Watson-Watt,
strange target of this radar plot
And thus, with others I can mention,
the victim of his own invention.
His magical all-seeing eye
enabled cloud-bound planes to fly
but now by some ironic twist
it spots the speeding motorist
and bites, no doubt with legal wit,
the hand that once created it.
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The Featured Product
The Wiser Now slide show “Innovative Inventions” is a perfect product to go with this week’s topic. It’s focused on what’s curious and amusing and includes:
- 5 Trivia quizzes covering the Ig Nobel awards (a spoof of Nobel Prizes), the order of inventions, “Could they have?” (Could Babe Ruth have signed autographs with a ballpoint pen?), accidental inventions, and telling fact from fiction.
- Word games about inventing new words and new definitions for old words
- Discussions related to the worst, best, and most amusing inventions, and more of the unintended consequences of inventions (including the radar device and some of those in the quiz below.)
Check it out and be inspired to create what still needs to be invented.
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Please Spread the Word
WNW is an award-winning publication used by activity professionals, teachers, aging adults and their grandkids, and lots of people in between. Please share it, and if you represent an organization that would like a customized version or would consider becoming a sponsor, send me a note at Kathy@WiserNow.com.
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Directions for Sharing
Each week, the links to the current and seven previous Wiser Now Wednesdays are provided in the archive (“WN Wed Archive” on the far right of the menu bar). Click on the issue you want to share, and when it appears, at the top of the screen you will see “Share” with an f for Facebook and a bird for Twitter. Click on them to share to your contacts or just copy the URL at the top of your screen and send it to them in an email. Thank you!
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The Questions
If you look up the world’s greatest inventions, you will get a wide range of possibilities from sites that laud potato chips and chocolate chip cookies to others going back in time to praise fire and the wheel, to those that cheer computers and all the technology they have fostered. Now add your own opinions:
- What do you think are the greatest inventions of all time?
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What inventions do you think should not have been invented or at least not shared before their flaws were worked out?
- What product do you wish you had had the ability and forethought to invent?
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Cooks are also inventors when they put new ingredients in a traditional recipe. For an example, see avocado ice cream. Are you a creative cook?
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The Quiz - What accidental invention stories are true?
Below are descriptions of 7 that were unintentional, but can you tell which of our descriptions about them are true? (Answers at the end of the email)
1. Women have often invented items to make their lives easier. One case in point: Josephine Cochrane, who in 1886 patented the first electric toaster.
True ___ False ___
2. In 1945 Percy Lebaron Spencer was working on devices related to radar use. While standing near a functioning magnetron, Spencer noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. He soon figured out that it was the microwaves that had caused it, which led to the creation of the first microwave oven.
True ___ False ___
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3. Another Spencer, Spencer Silver, a researcher at 3M, invented Post-It Notes. In 1970, while trying to make a strong adhesive, he created only a weak glue. Not until 10 years later, did he use the glue to attach a grocery list to his steering wheel for his drive home, and post-its were born.
True ___ False ___
4. Saccharin, the oldest artificial sweetener, was accidentally discovered in 1879 by researcher Constantine Fahlberg, who was working at Johns Hopkins University. Fahlberg had spilled some of the chemical on his hands, and didn’t wash them before lunch, causing his bread to taste unusually sweet.
True ___ False ___
5. Michael Faraday was a prolific inventor including of the first electric generator. In 1824, he built rubber balloons to help him carry out experiments with hydrogen. Manufacturer Thomas Hancock quickly saw those balloons as possible toys and soon they were found at parties everywhere.
True ___ False ___
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6. Nuclear engineer and Inventors Hall of Famer Lonnie Johnson has had an impressive career with the U.S. Air Force, NASA, and other prestigious organizations, but proving he also has a fun side, he gets credit for inventing the Slip ‘n Slide.
True ___ False ___
7. One smell most of us remember from childhood (or our children’s childhood) is the odor of Play-Doh, the brightly-colored, nontoxic modeling clay. This product was accidentally invented in 1955 by Joseph and Noah McVicker who were trying to make a less messy, non-rubberized eraser.
True ___ False ___
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Answers to the quiz
1. False. Josephine Cochrane patented the first automated dishwasher in 1886. Her company eventually became part of KitchenAid.
2. True
3. Partly false: It was Silver’s colleague, Arthur Fry, who, (4 years later, not 10) irritated that the slips of paper he used to mark pages in his choir hymnal kept falling out, remembered the weak glue and Post-it Notes were born. What do you use them for?
4. True
5. True
6. False. Lonnie Johnson is the inventor of the Super Soaker®, which was an offshoot of his work on an environmentally friendly heat pump.
7. False. They were trying to make a new wallpaper cleaner.
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My multiple goals are to amuse and inspire you, to share what I and people whom I admire are doing, to stimulate your curiosity and spur you to action. I hope you enjoyed this offering. You can access previous issues here. I welcome your feedback. (Kathy@WiserNow.com)
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