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Found 17 Stories
Montage of book covers published in the Lemelson Center Studies series
Lemelson Center Books

Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation

Books in the interdisciplinary Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation series explore the history of invention and innovation and the work of inventors and the technologies they create.

4 detailed ink drawings on facing pages of a gridded notebook. Left: 3 drawings are labeled Old Style Intermittent Kiln, Fort Warren Mortar Mill, and Steam Mortar Mill Used at Fort Taylor by Brevet-major J. Sanders. Right: Hoffmans Annular Kiln.
Blog

Communicating with Sketches

Sketching is an essential part of the invention process.

The author has set out the tools and instructions needed to repair his son’s bike on the garage floor in front of the bike
Blog

Maintain It

Things break. That’s why maintenance should go hand in hand with innovation.

A TechShop staff member demonstrates a new tool.
Spark!Lab

A Spark!Lab for Grownups

Recently, I got to visit TechShop in nearby Arlington, VA. What I realized following our visit is that TechShop is basically the grownup version of Spark!Lab.

The three Smithsonian staffers who creatively rescued a lost cell phone.
Blog

Creative Problem Solving at Work

A visitor's "lost" cell phone leads to inventive problem solving at the Lemelson Center.

Spark!Lab

Roll Out the Old . . . Bring in the Sound!

As we ready Spark!Lab for its next theme, Things that Make Sound, I interviewed Interpretive Exhibits Coordinator Tim Pula about the process of developing new activities.

Fish toys invented by Jerome Lemelson
Invention Stories

Jerome Lemelson: Toying with Invention

One of the most interesting things about Jerome Lemelson’s toy patents is the way in which they parallel interests that he was pursuing in other fields.

Beyond Words

Video: From Child Scientist to Playful Inventor

What does children’s play have to do with the work of serious scientists?

Beyond Words

Video: Play to the Future

Is the quality and quantity of children’s play changing? How do new electronic and digital technologies affect children at play? How can new technologies provide rich motor and sensory experiences? If play is changing, how will that affect invention?

Beyond Words

Video: All Work and No Play?

Is it important for adults to make time to play? How do work, play, creativity and productivity relate to each other? When is the last time you played?

Beyond Words

Video: Play for Play's Sake (How Do You Describe Play?)

Does play serve a purpose or is the point of play to have no purpose?

The Invention Process broken down into seven "it" phrases.
Places of Invention

Inventing an Exhibition

The exhibition development process uses invention skills and mirrors the invention process generally.

Lemelson Lightbulb Graphic Identity
Invention Stories

Innovation in Engineering—What It Is, and What It Isn’t

If an invention does not meet a need or is otherwise unappealing, it is not innovative.

Sparky
Encouraging Innovative Thinking

Creating a Nation of Innovators

"We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world," President Obama told us in his recent State of the Union address. If we are to "win the future," he said, we must encourage and support innovation, especially in young people.

Lemelson Center Books

The Spirit of Invention

The Spirit of Invention: The Story of the Thinkers, Creators, and Dreamers Who Formed Our Nation (2009) by Julie M. Fenster tells the stories of both heralded and unknown inventors from all eras and walks of life.

Lemelson Center Books

Notes from the Director: The Spirit of Invention

I’m very excited about the publication of Julie Fenster’s intriguing new book,The Spirit of Invention: The Story of the Thinkers, Creators, and Dreamers Who Formed Our Nation, published in collaboration with the Lemelson Center.

MIND database logo for non-Smithsonian archival materials
Archives

Franklin Institute Committee on Science and Arts Records, 1824-1900

Inventor Name Franklin Institute Committee on Science and Arts

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