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Invention Stories

Explore the stories of inventors, both famous and little-known.

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Invention Stories

Reinventing the Chair: A Pencil Sketch in Three Dimensions

The humble chair has long been the subject of invention and reinvention. From reclining and office chairs to today's ever-shrinking airline seats, designers have wrestled with ways to make it more appealing to the eye, more compact, more ergonomic, but, regrettably, hardly more comfortable.

Invention Stories

And We Were There . . .

The Lemelson Center's first website premiered 20 years ago today.

Photograph of morel mushrooms
Invention Stories

Fungi in Focus

Do recent innovations using mushrooms have the promise to save the world?

NASCAR racers take a turn around the track.
Invention Stories

SAFER Barriers at NASCAR

After the tragic death of racing legend Dale Earnhardt in 2001, NASCAR and industry partners have been inventing their way to safer tracks.

A glass paperweight featuring Albert A. Pope (1843-1909), Hartford bicycle manufacturer and leader of the American “good roads” movement, about 1890s
Invention Stories

An Interview with Albert A. Pope

Albert A. Pope (1843-1909), Hartford bicycle manufacturer and leader of the American “good roads” movement, describes his bicycles and his business in an 1896 interview with "Cycling World."

Invention Stories

Send Me a Kiss by Wireless

In exchanging emoji's with my daughter, I'm part of a long history of communicating by wireless.

An invention using LEGOS
Invention Stories

Inventions Take Over the White House Science Fair

Five inventions presented at the White House Science Fair that blew me away.

Elizabeth Magie Phillips, inventor of "The Landlord's Game," a precursor to "Monopoly"
Invention Stories

The Woman Inventor Behind “Monopoly”

The invention process can be messy. Case in point: the invention of "Monopoly."

Invention Stories

Spring Training: The Fun, The Safe and The Effective

Now that spring training 2015 is finally underway, I thought it might be fun to take a closer look into some the equipment the boys of summer might be using to perfect their pitching, and sharpen their swing and fielding fundamentals.

Notes on the Odyssey Controller
Invention Stories

Playing Games on the Job

Playing vintage video games must fit under the “other duties as assigned” part of my job description.

Invention Stories

The Electric Guitar’s Long, Strange Trip

From its gentle 16th-century acoustic origins to the souped-up "Frankenstein"

Invention Stories

How to Hover

Inventions to tackle the fascination with floating a few inches off the ground.

Ralph Baer plays his Telesketch game, 1977.
Invention Stories

Ralph Baer: The Inventor I Knew

Director Art Molella reflects on his friendship with "the father of video games," the late Ralph Baer.

Lunch box featuring G.I. Joe, from the collections at the National Museum of American History
Invention Stories

G.I. Joe Turns 50!

G.I. Joe, born during the height of the Cold War, has become one of the most successful and well-known action figures.

Ralph Baer plays his Telesketch game, 1977.
Invention Stories

Remembering Ralph Baer

The Lemelson Center notes with great sadness the passing of our friend Ralph Baer on 6 December 2014. Now considered the “father of video games,” Ralph shared the following cautionary tale in 2008, attesting to the potential fragility of the independent inventor's legacy.

Invention Stories

Alexander Calder's "Gwenfritz": Rededicating a Modernist Icon

On Halloween day, a gorgeous 40-foot-tall black specter mysteriously rematerialized at its old haunts on the west lawn of the National Museum of American History.

Vending machine potato chip options.
Invention Stories

Potato Chip Inventions

Today they come in all flavors—salt and vinegar to prawn and ham. Here's the story behind the potato chip.

Sample card for McGill’s patent fasteners
Invention Stories

Fascinating Fasteners

Who knew the history of staples and paper clips could be so fraught?

Hungarian stamp honoring the invention of the Rubik's cube. Features image of hands manipulating the toy with a stopwatch in the background.
Invention Stories

A Twist of Fate: The Invention of the Rubik’s Cube

Forty years ago, Ernő Rubik thought up the idea for the Rubik’s Cube in order to help teach three-dimensional design to his students. Today the number of Rubik’s Cubes sold worldwide is estimated at about 350 million.

Black and white photograph of crowds on the beach in Atlantic City, NJ in 1908.
Invention Stories

Invention Hits the Beach

Curious about the origins of the beach chair, research led me to the story of Wilhelm Bartelmann, a German basketmaker who invented the “strandkorb,” a wicker chair designed for the beach.

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