Insights
National Inventors’ Day: A Salute to Edisons Everywhere
February 10, 2014
- Buzz
- National Inventors’ Day: A Salute to E...
Remember the 1980s? MTV launched. The Berlin Wall fell. And people were in hot pursuit of the next great invention. The disposable camera was invented, along with disposable contact lenses. Engineers built a prototype for the first HDTV. The forensic science field was forever changed by the breakthrough of DNA fingerprinting.
New inventions were debuting on the market at dizzying speeds, and many of them vastly improved health, communication, and technology.
How appropriate then, that in 1983, on the anniversary of Thomas Edison’s birthday, U.S. President Ronald Regan proclaimed February 11 National Inventors’ Day “in recognition of the enormous contribution inventors make to the nation and to the world.”
Other countries have marked occasions to honor inventors, too. Argentina celebrates Inventors’ Day on September 29, the birthday of ballpoint pen inventor Laszlo Jozef Biro. Hungary celebrates on June 13, in honor of Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who patented synthesized vitamin C.
Photo: Vitamin C viewed through the lens of the Modernist Cuisine team. Credit: The Photography of Modernist Cuisine
Fast-forward thirty-one years. Around the world, scientists, engineers, physicists, even teenagers, continue to push the boundaries of what is possible. Together, they are the lifeblood for technological progress and economic well-being.
Today, on this special occasion designed to rekindle the spirit of imagination and fuel the inventor in all of us, we encourage you to learn about and honor past, present, and future inventors.
Visit Project Eureka! and the IV Lab blog to read stories about inventors in history, today’s bleeding edge scientists, and the next-generation Edisons. If you’re an inventor, we hope you’ll tell your story, too.
Happy National Inventors’ Day, friends. Onward and upward toward your next great venture!
