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"
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)"
Automated Flour MillOliver Evans’ mill vastly lowered the cost while increasing the quality of flour. These mills automated the milling of flour much like Arkwright automated the creation of fabric. The automatic mills were popular with farmers. Evans automated mill reduced the time and increased the quality and consistency of flour. George Washington purchased one that is … Continue reading "Automated Flour Mill"
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)MRI allows physicians to see and diagnose soft tissue without surgery. Background MRI is one of these cases where everybody argues somebody else invented it for patent priority. However, courts and historians find that physician Raymond Damadian was first to make an MRI that scans people (prior MRI’s would scan small pieces of organic material). … Continue reading "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)"
ParachuteParachutes lowered the risk of flight, encouraging innovation in flying. In 1782, the Montgolfier brothers launched the first hot air balloon from the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette — the last of the French aristocracy who would be beheaded during the revolution — watched as the balloon lifted … Continue reading "Parachute"
Electronic Airline Reservation System (SABRE)As the Cold War heated up during the 1950s, the United States installed an enormous number of missiles, radars, and nuclear weapons to track and respond to nuclear war. WWII radars were good enough for propeller planes but the delay between detection and analysis proved too slow for jet engines and missiles. SAGE As the … Continue reading "Electronic Airline Reservation System (SABRE)"
Weather ForecastThe development of the telegraph in 1835 made weather forecasting possible. Before that time, people used various methods to guess changes in the weather. Some observations were accurate. For example, the correlation of barometric pressure to weather changes. However, there was not enough geographically widespread data to methodically forecast weather. The Britsh government charged Francis … Continue reading "Weather Forecast"
Spinning JennySpinning Jenny’s are significantly more efficient spinning wheels, allowing wool to be produced at a much lower price. Each Jenny did the work of multiple spinners. The Jenny (slang for Engine in British English) was unwelcome in Hargreaves’ village because it caused yarn prices to decline. Chased by angry tradesmen, he fled from the spinning … Continue reading "Spinning Jenny"
DefibrillatorClear! Defibrillators are the electric paddles that restart hearts. In 1957, Dr. Pantridge and Dr. John Geddes invented cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Eventually, he went on to innovate a portable defibrillator that weighed 70kg and ran from car batteries, installing it in a Belfast ambulance. No sooner did the devices prove effective then, by 1968, they … Continue reading "Defibrillator"
- Blue Ocean Strategy Basics – Buyer Experience Cycle
Put yourself in the shoes of your buyer The Buyer Experience Cycle (BEC) is a superficially short and often overlooked blue ocean exercise. In the books, tutorials, and even the tool itself, the BEC is always coupled with the Buyer Utility Map though they’re separate parts of the exercise. In short, the BEC is a … Continue reading "Blue Ocean Strategy Basics – Buyer Experience Cycle"
TouchscreenTouch screens existed in science fiction long before they entered the real-world. Star-Trek: The Next Generation made extensive use of what today are modern touch screens decades before they became common. Johnson described the touch screen in a seminal paper. Johnson himself never actually created nor patented a touch-screen. Sam Hurst at the U. of … Continue reading "Touchscreen"
Digital Video Recorder (DVR)Digital Video Recorders (DVR’s) record digitally, to disk or flash memory, rather than analog recording to tape. This allows end-users to quickly fast-forward, rewind, and jump to a section of a recording rather than slowly searching. Tivo and ReplayTV both launched DVR’s at the 1999 Consumer Electronics Show. As they did with videotapes, broadcasters and … Continue reading "Digital Video Recorder (DVR)"
Electrical Generator (Dynamo)1831 Michael FaradayJoseph Henry No one person “discovered” electricity. The story about Ben Franklin flying a kite with a key in a thunderstorm and discovering electricity when the kite was struck by lightning is especially ridiculous. A Russian apparently tried the same experiment soon after reading about it and was electrocuted. Alessandro Volta, who invented … Continue reading "Electrical Generator (Dynamo)"
Protease InhibitorsHistory They first called it gay men’s cancer. Then announced it affected intravenous drug users. People became skeptical when they added Haitians as a risk factor. Being gay, a drug user, or black was a death sentence? My openly gay high school English teacher became sick and quickly died in the middle of a semester. … Continue reading "Protease Inhibitors"
Fiber Optic CableFiber optic cable is extremely thin cable that uses light, rather than electricity, to send information. Background In 1854, John Tyndall demonstrated that light bends through water. In 1880, Bell showed an analog voice signal propelled by light. He called it a Photophone. However, the process was subject to interference and abandoned. Additionally, Europeans demonstrated … Continue reading "Fiber Optic Cable"
