Word: inventor
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Though Edison is usually cited as the father of the lightbulb, it's more accurate to give Edison credit as the creator of the first commercially viable lightbulb. As early as 1820, inventors were homing in on the principles that would lead to the first electric illumination. An English inventor, Joseph Swan, took their early work and developed the basis of the modern electric lightbulb in 1879 - a thin paper or metal filament surrounded by a glass-enclosed vacuum. When electricity runs through the filament, the bulb glows. Edison refined the design, trying filaments made out of platinum and cotton...
...called the Anchor Bar. The wings were the brainchild of Teressa Bellissimo, who covered them in her own special sauce and served them with a side of blue cheese and celery because that's what she had available. Except for the occasional naysayer who claims to be the true inventor, these facts are reasonably undisputed. The rest of the story is anybody's guess...
...Paul, who died today at 94 in White Plains, N.Y., was no mere antique hitmaker to the rock generations that both learned from him and put his kind of music out of business. He was an inventor and an inspiration. He pioneered recording on tape, creating dozens of layers of sound with an early reel-to-reel tape machine. He designed (though he did not construct) one of the first synthesizers. He devised the first eight-track tape recording system, which would not become generally accepted until 15 years later, when the Beatles made their White Album. And he invented...
...Year Without Summer [1816]. There was quite a lot of volcanic activity for several years prior to that, and it created a cloud of dust high up in the atmosphere. The earth cooled very quickly, at least in the northern hemisphere. And crops started to fail. So [German inventor Karl Drais] saw that it was more and more expensive to feed a horse, and he came up with what was originally called a Draisine. It was really a scooter that eventually evolved into a bicycle. People couldn't feed their horses, and they started driving these Draisines - just like...
...Paul "Pablos" Holman, an inventor at Intellectual Ventures, says the proposal would be used only as a last resort - as a "Plan C." But many experts are skeptical of its practicality. "I have a hard time picturing doing this on the magnitude required, but it's an interesting idea," says University of Florida Professor of Geological Sciences Ellen Martin. "It may be easier to just dump a bunch of ice cubes out of an airplane, but it will take a lot of those too." (See pictures of the destruction of Hurricane Gustav...