Edgar Meyer is a biochemist, artist and sculptor who creates large scale models of molecules.  The collection contains original and reference audio cassettes of Meyer’s presentation titled “Get a Grip –Molecules You Can Handle,” a CD-ROM containing digital images taken at the presentation, and a 16 mm film titled Exercising the PDP II. Meyer’s discusses his work creating large scale models of the polio virus.

The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation was founded in 1995 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History through a generous gift from the Lemelson Foundation.  The Center’s mission is: to document, interpret, and disseminate information about invention and innovation; to encourage inventive creativity in young people; and to foster an appreciation for the central role invention and innovation play in the history of the United States. The Innovative Lives series brings Museum visitors and American inventors together to discuss inventions and the creative process and to experiment and play with hands-on activities related to each inventor’s product.  This collection was created by the Innovative Lives Program of the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.