Author Archive
Google Developing Its Own Phone?
Google Phone
In what is sure to affect their stock ratings, Google has admitted to having a “phone project” in the works. Now, in typical google fashion, they are rather tight lipped about the details, and speculation has people guessing that they’re introducing their own phone to compete with Apple’s upcoming iPhone. However, there is a pretty good chance that the phone project has nothing to do with hardware, and will instead focus on what has already made Google billions – advertising.
Read the rest of this entry »
No Comments »
Sumarian Inventions – Bull Lyre
Bull Lyre invented by Ancient Sumarians of Iraq
Read the rest of this entry »
No Comments »
Getting Financial Help For Your Inventions
Getting financial help with your invention idea can be a difficult task. Luckily, if you get a bit creative, there are a number of ways you can get funding for a new invention.
First, if you are still a student, then there are numerous contests that will provide scholarships, and sometimes cash, for winning. Check out the collegiate inventors competition and the NCIIA.
If you are out of college and you still would like funding, you can do a few things to help make your idea a reality. First, starting a business and obtaining a business loan is a very good way to get financial backing. The downside is that you will need to pay this back eventually, so if your idea fails, you could be on the hook for thousands of dollars.
Government grants are another method of getting money. The upside is that you can get a good bit of money, and you don’t have to pay it back. However, grants like this can be extremely competative, and you have to make sure that your invention covers an area where a grant is currently open.
If you have some connections, you can also try to contact a venture capital firm – they will invest and fund your invention in order to bring it to market. The downside of this is that they’ll want a share in the profits, and they may want to become more involved, which can comprimise your original vision.
While it is difficult to get financial help to make your invention a reality, it is definately not impossible.
2 Comments »
Aztec Inventions – Chewing Gum
Chances are, at some point in your life, you’ve chewed gum. But, did you know that the Aztecs and Mayans were among the first to use it?
When the conquistadores invaded in 1518, they ran across Aztec prostitutes chewing gum on the corners.
The actual discovery of chewing gum came a few hundred years earlier, however, by the Mayans. They found that chicle, a thick milky liquid that oozes out of cuts made in the wild sapodilla tree and then hardens into gum, was extremely tasty when chewed. As with many other popular pastimes, the importance of chicle to the Maya is clearly from their mythology: The culture hero Kukulkan (”the Feathered Serpent”), who conquered the Maya and changed their way of life to such an extent that he became worshiped as a god, was a great chewer of gum.
No Comments »
Ancient India Inventions
Ancient India is not typically a civilization that receives a lot of publicity about inventions. However, as with any civilization that last for an extended period of time and flourishes, it has made some notable innovations.
Along with the ancient Mayans, the ancient Indians are thought to be one of the earliest civilizations that thought in terms of billions of years. While most ancient civilizations had thought thousands of years into the future, the Hindus have scriptures dealing with events spanning billions of years.
Relating to this is a Hindu concept of the creation of the world. A 9th century Hindu scripture, The Mahapurana by Jinasena claims that the world is uncreated, as time itself is, without beginning and end. And it is based on principles.
Amazingly, they even had theories regarding the sun and Earth. Aryabhata, it so happens, was apparently quite sceptical of the widely held doctrines about eclipses and also about the belief that the Sun goes round the Earth. As early as the sixth century, he talked of the diurnal motion of the earth and the appearance of the Sun going round it.
A Mathematician named Pingala also developed a numbering system similar to what we refer to as the binary system. They were also the first to use 0 as a placeholder in numbers such as 809 and 89. While the Babylonians had a concept that was similar to zero, it was merely used as a placeholder and was often just a blank space.
While the Indians had many more innovations than the ones above, these were a few that are notable.
What Did Albert Einstein Invent?
Albert Einstein is one of the most well known American inventors/physicists of all time – but his famous equation – e = mc^2 is just one of his many inventions and discoveries.
While not an invention in the literal sense – it was not a creation per se – Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity was, and is, one of the most ground breaking science breakthroughs of all time. This was made in 1905, and built on the three century old Galileo principle of relativity. Some of the central assertions to this theory are that time and space are relative to the observer, the speed of light is the maximum attainable velocity in the universe, and that mass and energy are interchangeable according to the equation E=mc^2.
While Einstein cannot be credited with the invention of the atomic bomb, the famous equation above is the theoretical basis of it. Energy (E) = mass (m) x the speed of light in a vacuum (c^2). The most famous consequence of this was its application in the atomic bomb – By measuring the mass of different atomic nuclei and subtracting from that number the total mass of the protons and neutrons as they would weigh separately, one could obtain an estimate of the binding energy available within an atomic nucleus. This could be (and was) used in estimating the energy released in the nuclear reaction, by comparing the binding energy of the nuclei that enter and exit the reaction.
Einstein also gave the solution to the question, “Why is the sky blue”, in 1911, through a formula that explained how light scattered off of air molecules.
In 1916, Einstein expanded his Special Theory of Relativity to include a General Theory of Relativity. This theory is primarily concerned with large scale effects of gravitation. This has been one of the cornerstones of cosmology and our understanding and view of the universe – primarily that large celestial bodies produce curvatures in space-time, which forms a gravitational field. From a planets gravitational pull of its moons to black holes, the General Theory of Relativity is incredibly broad.
The Bose-Einstein Condensate is a state of matter formed by bosons cooled to temperatures very near to absolute zero. It was proposed by Einstein in 1925 and built upon the work of Satyendra Nath Bose, hence the name.
Einstein was an incredible individual who changed the way we see and explain our universe – even over 50 years after his death, this theories are still in use and referenced.
Amazing Inventions – Samuel Morse and the History of the Telegraph
The invention of the Telegraph was not an isolated idea in history – rather, it was the eventual outcome of a number of scientific developments. To see where it began, we have to go back to 1825.
Read the rest of this entry »
No Comments »
Chinese Inventions – Zhou Inventions & Innovations
The Zhou Dynasty of Ancient China lasted from 1122 BC to 256 BC, followed the Shang (Yin) Dynasty, and preceded the Qin Dynasty. The Dynasty itself was the longest running in Chinese history – though the Zhou control of China lasted for a much shorter period than the dynasty itself. Through the dynasty, there were many impressive inventions in innovations, ranging from the development of writing to the introduction of iron to Chinese Society.
During the Zhou reign, Chinese territory nearly doubled, in large part due to the introduction of iron weapons to the Chinese military. They were also the first to use horsemen and chariots for war – as such, warfare progressed from a more respectful upper class fight to brutal foot soldier war. They also started building clay walls around their cities to protect from barbarian invasions.
Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments »
Egypt Inventions – Interesting Inventions of Ancient Egypt
When most people think of Ancient Egypt, the first things that come to mind are pyramids, pharohs, mummies, and curses.
Given that the Egyptians gave to us the wonderous pyramids, it should come as no surprise that they also had a number of inventions that were no small feats. The Egyptian civilization spanned thousands of years, and during that time they made numerous advances in the fields of agriculture, academia, and astrology.
As simple as it may seem, the advent of black ink was very important. Ink and papyrus were more convienent than having to carve something into stone, and as evidenced from the numerous scrolls recovered, the Egyptians ink was extremely durable, lasting thousands of years.
Read the rest of this entry »
No Comments »
Mayan Inventions
Amazing architecture of a Mayan Temple
Mayan inventions include a calander and a complex heiroglyphics system. While it cannot be said that they were the sole inventors of such advancements, they did invent them independently in the Western Hemisphere, and their calendar and wrintings differed from that of the Egyptions and Chinese.
Read the rest of this entry »
19 Comments »