LaparoscopyFor centuries surgeons have been purposefully cutting holes in people trying to heal them. Background Before anesthesia, antibiotics, and Lister’s germ theories surgery often meant a slow and painful death from infection. Putting things into perspective, more people died in the US Civil War from infection than from direct strike of a weapon. Purposefully cutting … Continue reading "Laparoscopy"
Velox Photo PaperBaekeland, a chemistry student, worked on an improved photographic paper. Before his invention, photo papers required bright sunlight for exposure. This constraint limited photo developing to daylight hours on sunny days and made photo print results unpredictable. Baekeland created a high contrast reliable photo paper. His paper was sensitive enough to work with gas lighting, … Continue reading "Velox Photo Paper"
Overnight MailFedEx is the first overnight mail delivery service. At the time, the idea was widely derided. Before FedEx, the only way to reliably deliver a package quickly was via overnight courier, an extremely expensive option. In 1965, Yale undergrad student Fred Smith wrote a paper describing the idea as an undergraduate in Yale. Smith reasoned … Continue reading "Overnight Mail"
Pneumatic Hammer (Jackhammer)1871 As the US and Europe quickly built ever-larger cities and railroads they needed equipment to manipulate the earth at a large scale. The jackhammer is one of these innovations. The jackhammer vastly lowered the cost of blasting rocks and coal. Before the jackhammer men used hammers to blast away at rocks, breaking big rocks … Continue reading "Pneumatic Hammer (Jackhammer)"
Gas Extraction from Coal & Gas Powered LanternCombining gas extracted from coal into a lantern, then into lights, allowed for non-candle bright lights. This literally lit up the industrial era. Factories could function at night and people could stay awake longer. Gas lighting vastly increased productivity. In 1667, Thomas Shirley published a report describing flammable gas naturally seeping from coal. In 1684, … Continue reading "Gas Extraction from Coal & Gas Powered Lantern"
Electronic Cipher (Enigma)Enigma is a cipher, a machine that implements an algorithm to encrypt and decrypt messages. On Feb. 23, 1918, Scherbius applied for his first patent for what would become the most well-known cipher machine in history, the Enigma. Initially marketed for commercial purposes the German army modified a version for military encryption in 1926. Nazis … Continue reading "Electronic Cipher (Enigma)"
- Blue Ocean Strategy Basics – Breaking the Value/Cost Trade-Off
Oftentimes spending more doesn’t get more and, sometimes, gets less Michael Porter is the father of modern business strategy theory and defined a few basic ideas. Core among them is that business centers around competition. Competitors, new market entrants, suppliers, customers, and substitute products are five forces that influence profitability, he argued in his famous … Continue reading "Blue Ocean Strategy Basics – Breaking the Value/Cost Trade-Off"
Tractor Treads1904 Benjamin Holt “In the Roberts Island tract, where a man could not walk without sinking to his knees, and where tule-shoed horses could not be used, the new traction engine was operated without a perceptible impression in the ground.” Farm Implement News, May 18, 1905 “It looks like a caterpillar,” said a photographer observing … Continue reading "Tractor Treads"
Rechargeable Battery1859 Frenchman Gaston Planté invented the lead-acid rechargeable battery. In the early years, his battery lacked commercial value. Planté’s battery stored electricity and recharged easily but tended to release the electric in enormous bursts that, at the time, offered limited utility value. Before the Planté battery was the Voltaic Pile and later derivatives. These were … Continue reading "Rechargeable Battery"
Game TheoryGame theory serves as the foundation of systematized decisionmaking and modern economics. Indeed, Minimax game theory underlies modern economics and is responsible for countless economic insights, many of which won Nobel Prizes. Besides game theory, von Neumann eventually modeled the lenses behind the Los Alamos plutonium nuclear bomb. As a Jewish refugee from Europe whose … Continue reading "Game Theory"
Integrated Circuits (Microchips)In early electronic computers, each circuit involved a vacuum tube. They were large, relatively slow, and consumed a lot of power. Shockley, Brattain, and Bardeen created the semiconductor. Their circuits eliminated the need for vacuum tubes. Kilby and Noyce discovered that semiconducting material held burned-in semiconductor circuits. Their printed circuits worked like the much larger … Continue reading "Integrated Circuits (Microchips)"
Cotton GinWhitney’s innovation vastly lowered the price of cotton. Before Whitney’s cotton gin, producing cotton was economically inefficient because of the enormous cost to separate cotton from seeds. After the innovation, cotton became a profitable crop. Background Coming of age during the Revolutionary War, Whitney made a nail company, at the age of 15. Later, he … Continue reading "Cotton Gin"
High Strength, Mass Produced Steel (Bessemer Steel)Vastly increased the quality and decreased the price of steel. Unlike the iron furnaces, that created small amounts of high strength iron, the Bessemer process created enormous amounts of much stronger steel. The Bessemer process is still in use today. On Aug. 24, 1856, Bessemer described the process of forcing air through steel that dramatically … Continue reading "High Strength, Mass Produced Steel (Bessemer Steel)"
Commercial JetlinerJets vastly increases productivity. Early iterations of the industry also enhanced fun and image once the technology improved. The first commercial passenger jet, the Comet, tended to disintegrate mid-flight. Large windows and a poor understanding of metal stress created a literally fatal design flaw. After three crashes the public refused to board the jet. Eventually, … Continue reading "Commercial Jetliner"
DDT“We are accustomed to look for the gross and immediate effects and to ignore all else. Unless this appears promptly and in such obvious form that it cannot be ignored, we deny the existence of hazard. Even research men suffer from the handicap of inadequate methods of detecting the beginnings of injury. The lack of … Continue reading "DDT"
