Inventors, Geniuses and

Visionaries
Presentation by Charlotte Wieck, Kirsti Berghuser and
Jan Krewega
What makes an inventor?
What characteristics does a visionary
have?
When do we call someone a genius?
Inventor
Makes or creates something that has not existed before
Inventions typically are machines or other devices of
practical use
Most base their work on discoveries of others, improving
the existing devices
Inventors deliberately try to find solutions to a given
problem
Discover: to find or learn about an object for the first
time, to find something unexpectedly
Genius
In roman mythology genii refers to spirit
Today: someone with exceptionally great mental or
creative ability
Geniuses make huge original leaps in their field, rather
than just extending the previous body of work
In contrast to a prodigy, a genius must have created or
brought in something new in an established field
Visionary
Vision: apparition or revelation that appears in sleep or
trance
Latin visio: seeing
A visionary is someone who has or shows the ability to
think about or plan the future with great imagination or
wisdom
Also: something experienced powerfully in the imagination,
esp. concerning the future (ex.: a political or economic
vision
Johann Gutenberg (1390 1468)
Metal-worker and inventor,
lived in Mainz and Strasbourg
Famous for his contributions
to the technology of printing
Invented movable type for
Europe (Buchdruck mit
beweglichen Lettern), an
improvement on the block
printing
It has been used for over 300
years

Johann Gutenberg
Koreans and Chinese already knew about block
printing and even movable metal types
Unclear whether Gutenberg knew of these
techniques or invented them independently
Introduced efficient methods into book production,
which caused a boom in the production of texts in
Europe
Gutenbergs most famous work, the Gutenberg Bible
was the first mass-produced work.
Johann Gutenberg
Printing with movable type is one of the foundations
of modern culture
It has been spread all over the world
Printed books and pamphlets were cheaper than the
old handwritten ones, they facilitated the education of
the lower classes as well as the higher ones
Printing intensified and accelerated all great historical
developments, such as Humanism, Renaissance and
Reformation.
Education as well as scientific discussions, politics,
music, art and literature were supported by the
increasing amount of newspapers, pamphlets, books
and journals available.
Otto Lilienthal 1848 - 1896
Lilienthal was a pioneer of human
aviation. Building the first
successful human-carrying glider,
the Derwitzer Gliderin 1891.
But this distinction in fact belongs
to Sir George Cayley who
accomplished this feature nearly
forty years previously.
Nevertheless, Lilienthal's contributions to the
development of heavier-than-air flight remain
significant. He made over 2000 flights in gliders of his
design between 1891 and his death five years later.
Lilienthal helped to prove that heavier-than-air flight
was practical without flapping wings, laying the
groundwork for the Wright brothers a few years later
to build the first successful powered airplane.
Lilienthal suffered a number of crashes in his
experiments, but his aircraft could only reach low
speeds and altitudes. On 9 August 1896, a gust of
wind fractured his wing and he fell from a height of
17 m, breaking his spine. He died the next day,
saying, "Opfer mssen gebracht werden!" ("Sacrifices
must be made!")
Thomas Alva Edison (1847 1931)

US-American inventor and
businessman
1,093 patents
Worked as telegraph operator,
pig slaughterer, selling snacks
on train and started a business
selling vegetables
Foundation of Menlo Park
research lab, the first institution
set up with the specific purpose
of producing constant
technological innovation and
improvement
Thomas Alva Edison
Edison did not invent the electric light bulb, he just
developed further ideas from earlier inventors as Joseph
Swan and William Sawyer
By 1879 they could successfully mass-produce long-
lasting light bulbs
Lewis Lattimer, an African American did much of the
work leading to the improvement of the light bulb
Thomas Alva Edison
During the War of Currents era, Edison constructed
the first electrical chair for the state of New York
Edison promoted his own direct current (DC) against
his adversary Nikola Teslas more efficient alternating
current (AC)
In order to prove the danger of AC, Edison (who
actually was against the death penalty) invented and
used the electrical chair to execute several animals
(including Topsy the Elephant)

Thomas Alva Edison
Most of Edisons inventions were improvements of
already existing ideas
Even more of his inventions are said to have actually
been made by his numerous employees
Edison used an industrial approach and team-based
development
He showed unique skills in winning the patents and
beating his opponents by influence and better
marketing
Thomas Alva Edison
List of contributions
Phonograph
Kinetoscope
Dictaphone
Radio
Electric bulb
Autographic printer
Tattoo gun
Henry Ford
1863 - 1947
Interested in
engineering from an
early age on
1903: Incorporation of Ford Motor Company
Ford plans to build a car that his own workers can afford
1908: Model T as America Everyman Car
To meet the growing demand, Ford combined
precision manufacturing, standardised and
interchangeable parts, division of labour and in
1913 the continuously moving assembly line.
The assembly line revolutionised automobile
production by significantly reducing assembly
time per vehicle and thus lowering the costs.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869 1948)
Born in Porbandar, India.
One of the founding fathers of the
modern Indian state
Gandhi supported satyagraha (non-
violent protest) as a means of
revolution
Studied law at the University of
London, became leader of the
Indian movement for independence
after WW I
Mahatma Gandhi
Gained worldwide publicity through his policy of civil
disobedience and the use of fasting as a form of political
protest
One of his most striking actions was the salt march from
March 12, 1930
Gandhis principle of satyagraha (way of truth or pursuit
of truth has inspired generations of democratic and anti-
racist activists including Martin Luther King and Nelson
Mandela

Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhis philosophies and his ideas of satya (truth)
and ahimsa (non-violence) were drawn from
traditional Hindu beliefs
The concept of non-violence is a central element in
Indian religion
Gandhi had great influence among the Hindu and
Muslim communities of India
On January 30, 1948 Gandhi was shot by a Hindu
radical


Albert Einstein 1879 - 1955
Theoretical physicist, widely regarded
as greatest scientist of the 20th century.
Theory of relativity, major contributions
to the development of quantum
mechanics, statistical mechanics and
cosmology.
1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his
explanation of the photoelectric effect
and "for his services to Theoretical
Physics".
In popular culture, Einstein has become
synonymous with someone of very high
intelligence or the ultimate genius. His
face is also one of the most
recognizable the world-over.
In 1902 obtain employment as a technical assistant
examiner at the Swiss Patent Office. He occasionally
rectified their design errors while evaluating the
practicality of their work.
In 1904, Einstein's position at the Swiss Patent
Office was made permanent. He obtained his
doctorate after submitting his thesis "On a new
determination of molecular dimensions" in 1905.
What makes his work remarkable is that, in each
case, Einstein boldly took an idea from theoretical
physics to its logical consequences and managed to
explain experimental results that had baffled
scientists for decades.
Brownian motion
Photoelectric effect
Special relativity
Energy equivalency
E = mc2.
General relativity
Einstein became increasingly isolated in his research over
a Generalized Theory of Gravitation (being characterized
as a "mad scientist" in these endeavors) and was
ultimately unsuccessful in his attempts at constructing a
theory that would unify General Relativity and quantum
mechanics.
He died at Princeton in 1955, leaving the Generalized
Theory of Gravitation unsolved. His brain was preserved
in a jar.
Tim Berners-Lee (*1955)
Inventor of the World
Wide Web and head of
the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C), which
oversees its continued
development.

Born in London, England.
Caught hacking with a friend and was banned from using the
university computer soon after.
The first web-site was first put online on August 6, 1991.
No royalties; His greatest single contribution, was to make his idea
available freely, with no patent and no royalties due.

In 1994 he founded World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) and in 2003, the organization decided that
their standards must be based on royalty-free
technology so they can be easily adopted by anyone.
It is just as important to be able to edit the web as
browse it.
Computers can be used for background tasks that
enable humans to work better in groups.
Every aspect of the Internet should function as a
web, rather than a tree structure.
Computer scientists have a moral responsibility as
well as a technical responsibility.