August is Inventor’s month; it is a period to celebrate the brilliant minds and hands that mold the world we’re in today. As inventors, they have made the lives of all of society much easier, safer, and worthwhile. From the little inventions to huge ones, all may seem simple as of now, but a great mind started it off; like the matchstick to make fire, the pen you use for writing, the car that takes you to work, and so much more. These are as a result of inventors; people like you and me who made the world better with their innovations.
We will be recognizing some top inventions, the mind of the great(s) behind them, and how they came about making their inventions.
Telephone
The telephone is a telecommunication device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be heard directly. It was invented by Alexander Graham Bell; Alexander Bell was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.
As a child, young Bell displayed curiosity about his world; he gathered botanical specimens and ran experiments at an early age. His best friend was Ben Herdman, a neighbor whose family operated a flour mill. At the age of 12, Bell built a homemade device that combined rotating paddles with sets of nail brushes; creating a dehusking machine that was used at the mill and used steadily for a number of years. In return, Ben’s father John Herdman gave him the run of a small workshop in which to “invent”. From his early years, Bell showed a sensitive nature and a talent for art, poetry, and music; which was encouraged by his mother. With no formal training, he mastered the piano and became the family’s pianist.
Most, if not all of us are well versed with the use of the online tool. Google started out as just a search engine, but now it has become a technology company; specialized in most internet-related services and products. Google was founded on September 4, 1998, by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University in California. Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; they were both Ph.D. students at Stanford University in California.
Electric Light Bulb
The light bulb is one of the most popular inventions in our world today. We use it to light up our homes, offices, streets; even transformed to light up our cars so we can move with them at night. The light bulb had a host of inventors but the most notable and successful of them is Thomas Edison. Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman who has been described as America’s greatest inventor.
Edison was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by his mother who used to be a school teacher. He attended school for only a few months. However, one biographer described him as a very curious child who learned most things by reading on his own. As a child, he became fascinated with technology and spent hours working on experiments at home.
Facebook is a social app we will definitely regard as the most popular social app in the world; with 1 billion downloads as of 2012, and 500 million users every day. It was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes.
Zuckerberg built a website called “Facemash” in 2003 while attending Harvard University. Facemash, an online service for students to judge the attractiveness of their fellow students. Because of Zuckerberg’s violation of university policy in acquiring resources for the service, it was shut down after two days. Despite its mayfly-like existence, 450 people (who voted 22,000 times) flocked to Facemash. That success prompted Zuckerberg to register the URL http://www.thefacebook.com in January 2004. He then created a new social network at that address with fellow students Saverin, Moskovitz, and Hughes.
Computer Programming
An odd one, but computer programming is essential in running applications, systems, software, and so on. This is done by writing codes, that is instructions to give specific results. Early computer programming was co-invented by Grace Hopper. Grace Hopper was an American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral.
Hopper was very curious as a child; this was a lifelong trait. At the age of seven, she decided to determine how an alarm clock worked. She dismantled seven alarm clocks before her mother realized what she was doing; she was then limited to one clock. Shows how her mind works and how it made her one of the great inventors.
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