Places of Invention tells the stories of historic and modern communities where people, resources, and spaces have come together to spark inventiveness.
Resources
Since the Lemelson Center opened in 1995, we have addressed “places of invention” through a variety of activities for adult and/or scholarly audiences. Use these resources to investigate your place of invention.
- Lemelson Center symposia and research reports
- Lemelson Center online articles
- A Basement Workshop . . . and So Much More
- Documenting the workspace of inventor Chuck Popenoe.
- Fort Collins, Colorado: This Hot Spot Glows Green
- Fort Collins may have gained notoriety recently for the "balloon boy" hoax, but the northern Colorado city should be known instead as a hot spot of invention and innovation in the field of clean energy.
- From the Collections: Lock It or Lose It--the Kryptonite Bike Lock Story
- In 1972, Stanley Kaplan and Michael Zane changed the face of bicycle security with the Kryptonite lock.
- From the Collections: Sam and Friends Return to Their Place of Invention
- Jane Henson and her five children have donated ten puppet figures to the Museum--the earliest examples of the global phenomenon known as the Muppets.
- From the Collections: Seeing in the Dark
- Many of us who work at the National Museum of American History have a favorite object or two. Mine is part of the photographic history collections.
- From the Collections: The Ruby Slippers: Inventing an American Icon
- Hollywood has become legendary for its ability "to reflect . . . the collective daydreams of America," as illustrated by the innovation that went into the creation of one iconic movie prop--Dorothy's ruby slippers in "The Wizard of Oz."
- Genius, Self-Taught
- Elmer Gates (1859-1923) invented many things, including the familiar children's toy box with geometric pegs and holes. But his life work was "the experimental study of mind and the most successful ways of using it." Elmer Gates invented to study his own creative process.
- Hip-Hop and African American Innovation
- African American innovators are creating new musical tools with traditional records and turntables.
- Imagining Places of Invention
- How does Wallace and Gromit's place of invention compare to the real thing?
- MIT and World War II: Ingredients for a Hot Spot of Invention
- The region surrounding Cambridge, Massachusetts, is known today as a vibrant place of invention. But an earlier hot spot started to form there in 1930, when Karl Taylor Compton became president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- Notes from the Director: Back to the Eco-Future
- History can be a source of simple but elegant solutions to some of today's most intractable energy problems.
- Notes from the Director: Bottling the Hot Spot
- What causes a hot spot of innovation like Cambridge, Massachusetts, or Silicon Valley to form?
- Notes from the Director: Caofeidian--China's City of the Future or Urban Laboratory?
- With more than 15 million people a year relocating from the countryside to the city, China is urbanizing faster than any other nation and is experimenting with urban solutions.
- Notes from the Director: Cultures of Innovation
- Lemelson Center Director Art Molella looks at the social climates receptive to and encouraging of invention and innovation.
- Notes from the Director: Eco-Cities
- Today, the buzz is all about "sustainability," with an emphasis on alternative energies, renewable resources, and carbon-neutral technologies. Sustainability, however, has taken on a whole new dimension with the rise of the eco-city concept.
- Notes from the Director: Looking at the inventive side of urban planning
- What happens when ideology and urban planning meet? Lemelson Center director Art Molella talks about the history of "invented edens."
- Notes from the Director: Remarkable New Jersey!
- New Jersey, or at least that part of it nearest New York City, has a long history as a technological region, born out of Thomas Edison's laboratories, the prototypes of all industrial research labs.
- Notes from the Director: The Knowledge Factor in Silicon Valley
- Why does Silicon Valley continue to flourish and reinvent itself, despite periodic pronouncements of imminent decline or technological demise?
- Notes from the Director: This Is Futurama!
- World's fairs, at least for the past century or so, have been all about material progress and imagining technological futures.
- Silicon Valley: Success, Failure, and a Bit of Luck
- Perhaps the most emulated high-tech hot spot is Silicon Valley.
- The Birth of Hip-Hop: Innovation against the Odds
- Sometimes a culture of innovation blossoms as a product of its environment ... and sometimes innovation flourishes in spite of its surroundings.
- The Inventor and the Innovative Society
- What do Renaissance Italy, 19th century New York City, and California's Silicon Valley have in common? The Center's first symposium explored how these societies nurtured and sustained the inventive impulse.
- Thomas Edison's Places of Invention
- Rather than an enterprise of lone individuals, 19th-century invention involved communities of skilled operatives, machinists, superintendents, and manufacturers who drew on practical experience to design, build, and refine new technology.
- Transforming the Nation's Capital into a Place of Invention
- Washington's Reconstruction-era status as a swampy, undeveloped town belied the visionary activity brewing there.
- Lemelson Center podcasts
- Ashok Gadgil's thirst to save lives (part 1) (15:43)
- Ashok Gadgil's invention can save thousands of lives by purifying water quickly and cheaply.
- Play it » 15.1 MB file
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- Ashok Gadgil inspires future inventors (part 2) (19:33)
- Ashok Gadgil talks about his work to improve health in the developing world.
- Play it » 8.2 MB file
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- Gwen Ottinger studies technology's role in environmental justice (18:37)
- Hi-tech and low-tech give power to the people.
- Play it » 11.5 MB file
- Historian David Rhees tours the "Medical Alley" hot spot (24:00)
- How did Minnesota spawn a world-class cluster of medical device companies?
- Play it » 20.4 MB file | Read Transcript
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- Inventor and entrepreneur Bryan Willson tackles global-energy problems (21:57)
- For innovations at Colorado State University's Engines & Energy Conversion Laboratory (EECL), location matters.
- Play it » 18.4 MB file | Read Transcript
- John Andrade and Jennifer Orgolini support environmental stewardship (23:03)
- John Andrade and Jennifer Orgolini discuss innovative approaches to beer-making... and place-making.
- Play it » 22.1 MB file
- John Fernandez builds globally competitive communities (18:54)
- The U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development takes us inside Regional Innovation Clusters.
- Play it » 22.7 MB file | Read Transcript
- Lalith Seneviratne helps communities harness sustainable power (19:36)
- In a showcase example of social entrepreneurship, innovator Lalith Seneviratne devised a means to bring sustainable electricity to rural Sri Lanka.
- Play it » 8.2 MB file
- Norman Winarsky taps into Silicon Valley's culture of innovation (23:45)
- At SRI International, Winarsky builds on the ground-breaking work of Douglas Engelbart, using computers to augment human ability.
- Play it » 20 MB file | Read Transcript
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- Ryan Lintelman traces the roots of America's motion picture industry (21:27)
- In the 1880s, Thomas Edison and fellow inventors in West Orange, New Jersey, caused the American film industry to boom.
- Play it » 21.2 MB file | Read Transcript
- Sharon Rogone invents for preemies (part 1) (20:24)
- Sharon Rogone, a neonatal nurse-turned-inventor, talks about her first invention and why she started to invent.
- Play it » 8.8 MB file | Read Transcript
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- Sharon Rogone invents for preemies (part 2) (19:17)
- Sharon Rogone, a neonatal nurse-turned-inventor, talks about her inventions and how they help preemies.
- Play it » 8.1 MB file | Read Transcript
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- Steven Gdula speaks about an invention "hot spot"--your kitchen! (20:44)
- Invention in the warmest room in the house--the kitchen!
- Play it » 8.9 MB file
- Articles and websites on places of invention
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