Inventors & Inventions Set Vol 1-4

1416 Pages·2009·84.15 MB·English

by  Alvin K. Benson

Great Lives from History
Great Lives from History
Volume 1
4
Abbas ibn Firnas - Philip Emeagwali
Editor
Alvin K. Benson
Utah Valley University
Salem Press
Pasadena, California Hackensack, New Jersey
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Copyright © 2010, by Salem Press
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∞ ThepaperusedinthesevolumesconformstotheAmericanNationalStandardforPermanenceofPaperforPrinted
Library Materials, Z39.48-1992 (R1997).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Great lives from history. Inventors and inventions / editor, Alvin K. Benson.
p. cm. — (Great lives from history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-58765-522-7 (set : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-58765-523-4 (vol. 1 : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-1-58765-524-1 (vol. 2 : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-58765-525-8 (vol. 3 : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-1-58765-526-5 (vol. 4 : alk. paper)
1. Inventors—Biography. 2. Inventions—History. I. Benson, Alvin K. II. Title: Inventors and inventions.
T39.G75 2009
609.2’2—dc22
2009026443
printed in the united states of america
Contents
Publisher’s Note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Carl Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Editor’s Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Walther Bothe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv Herbert Wayne Boyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Key to Pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix Otis Boykin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Complete List of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi Willard S. Boyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
List of Inventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvii Louis Braille . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Giovanni Branca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
4Abbas ibn Firnas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Jacques Edwin Brandenberger. . . . . . . . . . . 133
Edward Goodrich Acheson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Walter H. Brattain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
George Biddell Airy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Karl Ferdinand Braun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
George Edward Alcorn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Wernher von Braun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Ernst Alexanderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 John Moses Browning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Luis W. Álvarez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 William Bullock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Marc Andreessen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Robert Wilhelm Bunsen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Archimedes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Luther Burbank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 William Seward Burroughs . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Sir Richard Arkwright. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 David Bushnell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Edwin H. Armstrong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Nolan K. Bushnell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Arthur James Arnot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
John Vincent Atanasoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Cai Lun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Hertha Marks Ayrton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Robert Cailliau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
John Campbell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Charles Babbage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Marvin Camras. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Roger Bacon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Chester F. Carlson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Leo Hendrik Baekeland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Wallace Hume Carothers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Alexander Bain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Willis Carrier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Benjamin Banneker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 George R. Carruthers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
John Bardeen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Edmund Cartwright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Patricia Bath. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 George Washington Carver . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Andrew Jackson Beard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 George Cayley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
J. Georg Bednorz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Vinton Gray Cerf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Semi Joseph Begun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Georges Claude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Georg von Békésy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Josephine Garis Cochran. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Alexander Graham Bell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Sir Christopher Cockerell . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Carl Benz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Stanley Norman Cohen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Friedrich Bergius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Samuel Colt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Emile Berliner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 William Fothergill Cooke . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Tim Berners-Lee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 William David Coolidge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Clifford Berry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Martin Cooper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Sir Henry Bessemer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Peter Cooper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Edwin Binney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Martha J. Coston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Gerd Binnig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Frederick Gardner Cottrell. . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Clarence Birdseye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Jacques Cousteau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Katharine Burr Blodgett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Joshua Lionel Cowen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Marie Anne Victoire Boivin . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Seymour Cray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
H. Cecil Booth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Bartolomeo Cristofori . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
v
Inventors and Inventions
Sir William Crookes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Walt Disney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Caresse Crosby. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Carl Djerassi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Ctesibius of Alexandria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Herbert Henry Dow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Charles Stark Draper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Glenn H. Curtiss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 Charles Richard Drew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Richard G. Drew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Louis Jacques Daguerre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 John Boyd Dunlop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Gottlieb Daimler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Nils Gustaf Dalén . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 George Eastman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Raymond Damadian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 John Presper Eckert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Abraham Darby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Harold E. Edgerton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Sir Humphry Davy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Thomas Alva Edison. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Mark Dean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 Albert Einstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
John Deere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Willem Einthoven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Lee De Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 Gertrude Belle Elion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Sir James Dewar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Philip Emeagwali. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Rudolf Diesel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
vi
Publisher’s Note
Great Lives from History: Inventors and Inventions tronomy(15),automotivetechnology(16),biology(14),
(4vols.)joinstheGreatLivesseries,whichprovidesin- business management (12), cartography (1), chemistry
depth critical essays on important men and women in (59),civilengineering(12),communications(31),com-
all areas of achievement, from around the world and puterscience(36),electronicsandelectricalengineering
throughouthistory.Theserieswasinitiatedin2004with (88),entertainment(3),firescience(1),foodprocessing
The Ancient World, Prehistory-476 C.E. (2 vols.) and (6),genetics(6),geography(2),geology(2),horticulture
followedin2005byTheMiddleAges,477-1453(2vols.) (1),householdproducts(21),industrialtechnology(3),
andTheRenaissanceandEarlyModernEra,1454-1600 manufacturing (40), maritime technology (3), mathe-
(2 vols.); in 2006 by The 17th Century, 1601-1700 (2 matics(25),mechanicalengineering(42),medicineand
vols.) and The 18th Century, 1701-1800 (2 vols.); in medicaltechnology(34),militarytechnologyandweap-
2007byThe19thCentury,1801-1900(4vols.)andNo- onry (33), music (9), naval engineering (9), navigation
toriousLives(3vols.);andin2008byThe20thCentury (7), oceanography (1), optics (14), packaging (3), pho-
(10vols.).Withthisnewinstallment,theentireseriesex- tography(9),physics(104),plumbing(1),printing(7),
tends to 31 volumes, covering 4,885 lives. and railway engineering (8).
Theinventorscoveredinthesevolumesarealsoiden-
Scope of Coverage
tifiedwithoneormoreofthefollowingcountriesorre-
Great Lives from History: Inventors and Inventions
gions: Australia (2), Austria (1), Belgium (4), Canada
features 409 essays covering 413 individual inventors
(11),China(3),Croatia(2),CzechRepublic(1),Egypt
(including27women)fromalltime,worldwide.Alles-
(3), England (46), Estonia (1), France (20), Germany
sayswerewrittenspecificallyforthisnewpublication.
(39),Greece(2),Hungary(3),India(2),Iran(1),Ireland
Theeditorshaveincludedinthissetthoseinventorsrec-
(3),Israel(1),Italy(9),Japan(4),Netherlands(9),Nige-
ognizedforshapingmoderntechnologyandthewaywe
ria(1),NorthernIreland(2),Poland(2),Russia(8),Scot-
livetoday—coveragethatisessentialinanyliberalarts
land (15), Sicily (1), Spain (1), Suriname (1), Sweden
curriculum.Theeditor’scriteriaforincludingtheseindi-
(5),Switzerland(5),Turkey(1),UnitedKingdom(63),
vidualsinthispublicationtookintoaccounttheirfame
United States (246), Uzbekistan (1), and Wales (1).
as inventors, the significance of their inventions, the
amountoftimetheyspentinventing,theirrepresentation Essay Length and Format
ofworldinventors,theirrelevancetoclasscurricula,and Each essay is from 2,000 to 2,500 words in length
theirinteresttohighschool,undergraduate,andgeneral (roughly3to4pages)anddisplaysstandardready-refer-
readers. ence top matter offering easy access to following bio-
Forpurposesofthispublication,theterm“invention” graphical information:
was defined to include not only mechanical and other
physicaldevicesbutalsoprocesses(e.g.,theBessemer (cid:127) Theessaytitleisthenameoftheindividualasbest
processformakingsteel),software(suchasGraceHop- known.
per’sinventionofCOBOL),andsystemssuchasthose (cid:127) Theindividual’snationalityandoccupationfollow
applied to business management. Pure scientific theo- on the second line (e.g., Japanese physicist).
ries (such as laws of physics) were excluded, although (cid:127) A summary paragraph highlighting the individ-
rare exceptions were made for such systems and tools ual’shistoricalimportanceinrelationtohisor
that have had a comprehensive influence on our way herinventionsindicateswhythepersonisstud-
ofinteractingwiththeworld,suchasAristotle’sinven- ied today.
tionofthefirstsystemofbiologicaltaxonomy,Newton’s (cid:127) The Born and Died lines list the most complete
creationofthecalculus,andEinstein’stheoriesofrela- datesofbirthanddeathavailable,followedby
tivity. themostpreciselocationsavailable,aswellas
Bycategory,thecontentsincludepersonswhosein- anindicationofwhentheseareunknown,only
ventions fall into one or more of the following areas: probable,oronlyapproximate;bothcontempo-
acoustical engineering (2), aeronautics and aerospace raryandmodernplace-names(wheredifferent)
technology (32), agriculture (13), architecture (6), as- arelisted.Aquestionmark(?)isappendedtoa
vii
Inventors and Inventions
date or place if the information is considered (cid:127) KeytoPronunciation:Akeytoin-textpronuncia-
likelytobetheprecisedateorplacebutremains tion of unfamiliar names appears in all vol-
inquestion.A“c.”denotescircaandindicates umes. Pronunciation guidelines for difficult-
thathistorianshaveonlyenoughinformationto to-pronounce names are provided in the first
place the date of birth or death near the year paragraph of the essay’s “Early Life” section.
listed. When a range of dates is provided for (cid:127) CompleteListofContents:Thisalphabeticallistof
birth or death, historians are relatively certain contents appears in all four volumes.
thatthebirthordeathyearcouldnothaveoc- (cid:127) ListofInventions:Thisisanindexofallthemajor
curred outside the date range. inventionscovered,showingtheinventorinpa-
(cid:127) Also known as lists other versions of the individ- rentheses.
ual’sname,includingfullnames,givennames, (cid:127) Sidebars:Akeyfeatureofeveryessayinthispub-
alternative spellings, pseudonyms, and nick- lication is a sidebar on one of the inventor’s
names. mostimportantinventions,whichappearsina
(cid:127) Primary fields lists all categories of invention, shaded box beside the biography.
fromAcousticalEngineeringthroughRailway
Engineering. ThebackmattertoVolume4includesseveralappen-
(cid:127) Primary inventions lists the inventions for which dixes and indexes:
the inventor is best known.
(cid:127) History of U.S. Patent Law: an essay discussing
Thebodyofeachessay,whichalsoincludesabyline patent law in the United States
for the contributing writer-scholar, is divided into the (cid:127) Chronological List of Entries: inventors covered,
following three parts: arranged by birth year
(cid:127) Time Line
(cid:127) EarlyLifeprovidesfactsabouttheindividual’sup- (cid:127) BiographicalDirectoryofInventors:anannotated
bringing and the environment in which he or listingofinventorsthatgoesbeyondthecover-
shewasreared,aswellasthepronunciationof age in the essays
hisorhername(ifunfamiliartoEnglishspeak- (cid:127) Electronic Resources
ers). Where little is known about the person’s (cid:127) Bibliography
early life, historical context is provided.
(cid:127) Life’s Work, the heart of the essay, consists of a Finally, volume 4 ends with three useful indexes:
straightforward, generally chronological, ac-
count of the period during which the individ- (cid:127) Category Index: entries by area of achievement,
ual’s most significant achievements were ac- fromAcousticalEngineeringthroughRailway
complished. Engineering
(cid:127) Impactisanoverviewoftheindividual’splacein (cid:127) Geographical Index:entries by country or region
history, particularly as his or her inventions (cid:127) Subject Index: a comprehensive index including
changed the way we live. personages,inventions,concepts,technologies,
terms, principles, and other topics of discus-
Theendmatterofeachessayincludesthefollowing sion,withfullcross-referencesfromalternative
resources: spellingsandtothecategoryandgeographical
indexes
(cid:127) FurtherReading—annotatedbibliography,astart-
ing point for further research. Contributors
(cid:127) Seealso—listscross-referencestoessaysintheset SalemPresswouldliketoextenditsappreciationto
covering other inventors of interest. all involved in the development and production of this
work.Theessayshavebeenwrittenandsignedbyschol-
Special Features arsofhistory,thesciences,andotherdisciplinesrelated
Several features distinguish this series as a whole to the essays’ topics.
fromotherbiographicalreferenceworks.Thefrontmat- Special thanks go to Alvin K. Benson, Professor of
ter includes the following aids: Physics at Utah Valley University, who developed the
viii
Publisher’s Note
contentslistandcoveragenotesforcontributingwriters ManofAmericaAward,AlcuinTeachingandResearch
to ensure the set’s relevance to high school and under- Award,DistinguishedLeadershipAward,aCitationof
graduatecurricula.ProfessorBensonservedasaProfes- MeritoriousAchievementingeophysicalresearch,Pro-
sor of Physics in the Indiana University system from fessoroftheYearintheBYUCollegeofPhysicaland
1972 to 1978; from 1978 to 1986 he worked in re- MathematicalSciences,BestPaperAwardinthePhysi-
search and development for Conoco, Inc. and DuPont; calSciencesfromTheUtahAcademyofSciences,Arts,
andfrom1986to2001hewasaProfessorofGeophysics andLetters(2005),andtheFacultyExcellenceAwardin
at Brigham Young University, retiring in September, the UVSC School of Science and Health (2006).
2001.Hehasauthoredorcoauthoredmorethanfourhun- Without all these expert contributions, a project of
dredresearcharticles,threebooksongeophysics,anda thisnaturewouldnotbepossible.Afulllistofthecontri-
CD-ROMongeophysics,andheistherecipientofthe butors’namesandaffiliationsappearsinthefrontmatter
HonoraryBauschandLombAward,OutstandingYoung of this volume.
ix
Editor’s Introduction
Great Lives from History: Inventors and Inventions Inventorsandtheirinventionsprovideawindowon
concentrates on inventors who centered much of their history that parallels the story of human progress and
livesontheinventiveprocessandwhoseinventionshave corresponds to the cultural revolutions that have im-
raisedthehumanstandardofliving.Emphasisisplaced pactedtheworld.Althoughinventionsarenotdistributed
notonlyontheinventors’biographiesbutalsoonthesto- evenlyovertime,theyhaveforthemostpartdeveloped
ries behind their inventions: the forces and circum- systematically as dictated by human need or desire for
stances motivating them and the impact that their in- improvement.Earlyinventionscenteredaroundthene-
ventive genius and resulting inventions have had on cessitiesoflife,particularlyfarming,housing,andcloth-
humankind. Inventors were chosen based on whether ing.AftertheMiddleAges,theemphasisshiftedtoliter-
theirinventionshavehadanimpactontheworldinone acyandnumericalskills.JohannGutenberg’sinvention
or more of the following ways: ofthemetalmovable-typeprintingpresswasthefounda-
tion for the “learning revolution,” as books became
(cid:127) by changing the way people work and play, con- cheap and were made available to the general public.
tributing to the improvement of life Duringthe1700’s,thefocusoninventionsmovedtode-
(cid:127) by altering culture and society for the better vices and processes that increased the ease and effi-
(cid:127) by saving lives and extending longevity ciencywithwhichhumantaskscouldbeaccomplished.
(cid:127) by helping to eliminate boring, hard work The invention of the steam engine fueled the Indus-
(cid:127) by teaching important principles and creativity trialRevolution.Duringthelatterpartofthenineteenth
(cid:127) by advancing science and technology century, electricity was harnessed for practical usage.
(cid:127) by standing the test of time, being used by many Inventionofdevicesthatcoulduseelectricityintheev-
people over generations. erydayworldsparkedthe“communicationrevolution.”
In the twentieth century, more and more inventions
Inventions range from tangible mechanical or other were made using a systematic scientific approach in
physicaldevicestomechanicalandchemicalprocesses. industrial research laboratories, research universities,
Eachessayshedslightontheinventiveprocess,thehard and government laboratories. Inventions that include
work,thenumerousdeadends,andthesuccessesthatthe microelectronics, computers, telecommunications, ro-
inventors encountered. botics, and synthetic materials unleashed the “digital
InventorsandInventionsfocusesonthelivesofinven- revolution” that led to the emergence of the World
torswhofosteredanideaforsomethingthatdidnotexist Wide Web, as inventors and their inventions concen-
until they made it happen, as contrasted to discoverers tratedincreasinglyonglobalconnectedness.Includedin
whofoundsomethinginherentinnaturethatwasalways GreatLivesfromHistory:InventorsandInventionsare
therejustwaitingtobebroughttolight,suchasAlexan- theimportantinventorswhoseinventionsspanadiverse
derFleming’sdiscoveryofpenicillinin1928.Nylonin- rangeofdisciplinesandwhohelpedtospearheadandde-
volvedbothadiscoveryandaninvention. Usingthedis- velopthelearning,industrial,communication,anddigi-
covery of the chemical structure of silk fibroin and talrevolutionsthatdramaticallychangedandshapedthe
cellulose,WallaceHumeCarothersinventedsyntheticny- world.
lon.Exceptforrareandveryimportantinstances,puresci- Great Lives from History: Inventors and Inventions
entifictheoriesandmathematicalformulationsarenotin- includes inventors from all time periods of human his-
cluded,andexceptforafewcases,innovators—thosewho tory,ancienttomodern,andfromallpartsoftheworld,
movedaninventionintoacommercialmode—arelikewise including many from thinly represented areas of the
notincludedinthiswork.Mostinnovatorshavenotbeen world.Duringancienttimes,inventiveprominencewas
inventors.Someinventorshavealsobeeninnovators,but centeredinChina,Egypt,andtheEuphratesRiverVal-
mosthavenot.Forexample,TheodoreHaroldMaimannot ley,thenmovedtoGreeceandRome,thentotheIslamic
onlyinventedthefirstoperablelaserbutalsoestablished world,thentoEurope,andfinallytoAmerica.Theoldest
thescientificenvironmentandbusinessstructurethatled known wheel can be traced to Mesopotamia and is be-
to its numerous applications and commercial success. lievedtodatebackmorethan5,000yearsago.Thein-
xi