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DO Try This at Home!

Create Your Own Cardboard Gramophone

The Gramophone is an early device created to reproduce sound recordings and was invented by a German-born American inventor named Emil Berliner. Learn how you can make your very own gramophone using objects from around your home with this great Spark!Lab activity!

Places of Invention

Invention Hot Spot: Growth of the Scientific Community in Washington, DC, in the Late 1800s

The nation's capital, home of the US Patent Office and the Smithsonian Institution, became an important invention center after the Civil War.

Places of Invention

MIT in World War II: A Hot Spot of Invention

Places of Invention tells the stories of historic and modern communities where people, resources, and spaces have come together to spark inventiveness.

Places of Invention

Invention hot spot: The rise of "Medical Alley" in Minnesota in the 1950s–1970s

Places of Invention tells the stories of historic and modern communities where people, resources, and spaces have come together to spark inventiveness.

Places of Invention

Invention Hot Spot: Birth of Hip-Hop in the Bronx, New York, in the 1970s

Hip-hop artists and their fans pursued joy and self-expression despite the dire realities of their surroundings.

Places of Invention

Invention hot spot: Green energy in Fort Collins, Colorado, today

Places of Invention tells the stories of historic and modern communities where people, resources, and spaces have come together to spark inventiveness.

Places of Invention

Places of Invention Exhibition Overview

Places of Invention takes visitors on a journey through time and place to meet people who lived, worked, played, collaborated, adapted, took risks, solved problems, and sometimes failed—all in the pursuit of something new.

Places of Invention

And We’re Off! Launching the “Places of Invention” Affiliate Pilot Project

Six Smithsonian Affiliate museums and their community partners participated in a kick-off workshop with the Lemelson Center

Places of Invention

Revolutionary Invention: Hip-Hop and the PC

What do hip-hop music and personal computers have in common? They were both children of the turbulent 1970s, born to innovative people who, building on inventive skills and technologies, nurtured them through creativity, collaboration, risk taking, problem solving, flexibility, and hard work.

Places of Invention

On the Road with Smithsonian Affiliations: Places of Invention in Western Massachusetts

While on a trip through Western Massachusetts, Jennifer was excited to experience the truth of the Lemelson Center’s assertion that, while they have chosen historic and contemporary examples for their exhibition, invention can happen anywhere.

Places of Invention

Academic Hip-Hop

Both insiders and outsiders contribute valuable perspective to courses on hip-hop music taught at colleges and universities.

Places of Invention

Fort Collins, a Place of Invention

Going behind the scenes at Colorado State University's Engines and Energy Conversion Lab.

Lemelson Center Research

Documenting Invention: Understanding Inventors' Spaces

An exploration of best practices for documenting the labs, workshops, and creative spaces of America’s inventors

Places of Invention

A Basement Workshop . . . and So Much More

Chuck Popenoe, inventor of the SmartBolt, gave us a tour of his special space of invention.

Invention Stories

Hip-Hop and African American Innovation

The creation of heroes has been important for American society. Heroes help define what it means to be an American, produce narratives about our collective historical past, stabilize our cultural surroundings, and represent the best of what we want our culture to be.

Invention Stories

Notes from the Director: Back to the Eco-Future!

So many of the sustainable environmental technologies of today hold promise but are distinctly futuristic--from nanotechnology-based photovoltaics and engineered biofuels to a full-blown vision of the hydrogen economy.

Places of Invention

Caofeidian—China's City of the Future or Urban Laboratory?

China declared the eco-city as the country's new urban/industrial strategy.

Lemelson Center Research

Cultures of Innovation

The Center's international workshop on Cultures of Innovation looked at factors across nations and cultures that encourage positive technical change or lead to resistance to innovation.

Invention Stories

Eco-Cities: Can They Work?

Along with Westminster University (UK) and the Johns Hopkins University, the Lemelson Center is co-sponsor of the International Eco-City Initiative. Among the products of the collaboration is a new study of eco-city standards, which attempt to put these new cities to the test.

Places of Invention

Invention Hot Spot: Silicon Valley and the Beginnings of the Computer Revolution in the 1970s

Places of Invention tells the stories of historic and modern communities where people, resources, and spaces have come together to spark inventiveness.