The belief that great ideas arise from unexpected brain farts is widely embraced, yet rarely true. The legend about Isaac Newton and the apple is probably to blame. Surely you’ve heard it. Isaac is sitting under an apple tree, pondering the true meaning and purpose of life, when without warning a piece of falling fruit strikes him in the head. Instead of ordering a Redd’s Apple Ale, he discovers gravity. History provides no clues as to whether he called out “Eureka!” or “#$@&*!”
The ancient Greek word “Eureka”, which translates to “I have found it!” was allegedly shouted by Archimedes as he climbed into the bathtub and observed the water rising. This profound experience led him to a method for measuring the volume of irregularly shaped objects, a discovery so thrilling that he leapt out of the tub and ran through the streets au naturel. To this day, the words “genius” and “eccentric” remain inseparable.
Fortunately for ensuing generations, the iconic image of a brilliant idea is not a naked Archimedes, but rather the familiar overhead light bulb, representing the “Eureka Moment” when the fog clears and clarity rushes in. This feels appropriate, in light of the fact that one of history’s great geniuses, Thomas Alva Edison, is routinely credited with the invention of said bulb.
The prolific Edison was determined never to let a good idea slip away. He liked to nap sitting in an easy chair with his arms dangling over the sides. Each hand held a steel ball, suspended over a metal pan. As the first waves of sleep washed over him, his hands would relax, and the resulting “clang” would awaken him. His experience taught him that insights bubble to the surface at the margins of sleep, when the prefrontal cortex goes off duty and the occipital lobe comes out to play.
Edison may very well have captured some worthy thoughts using this method. The light bulb was not one of them. He neither invented the incandescent light, nor did he come up with the final version in a single flash of cerebral brilliance. Historians list nearly two dozen inventors prior to Edison. Superior engineering is what earned Tom the credit; he had a better filament material (which he found after filing his patent), a higher vacuum (due to the availability of a better pump), and a higher resistance (which enabled economical distribution of power from a central source).
It may very well have been his experience with the light bulb that prompted Edison to quip “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” His most famous achievement, it seems, was the result of a “Eureka Decade”.
Another well-known pioneer who changed history is Jonas Salk, credited with the first successful polio vaccine. To locate Dr. Salk’s “Eureka Moment”, you would need to sift through over 300 linear feet of files, representing tens of thousands of documents, which chronicle his work at UC San Diego. It’s a safe bet that he didn’t pull the needle from the haystack on the first try (“Eureka!”…I’ve cured polio!), but systematically removed the placebos, one straw at a time.
The idea of a quirky genius whose neurons suddenly fire in a unique and powerful sequence is sexier than the image of a deliberate, plodding worker, but it’s unrealistic. The distinction is more than anecdotal. More than a third of people recently polled called the past century the “American Century”, based on innovation; second place Japan scored about half as many votes. For the U.S. to keep the lead, we are challenged to understand what worked, and to keep doing it.
The great Edison himself left us with this advice; “To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.” For the sake of argument, let’s assume that every one of us has the same basic prerequisite for inventiveness, that is to say, a brain. Aside from sleeping with steel balls in hand, digging through metaphorical haystacks, or becoming hoarders, how do we get to the ideas that will make this the next American Century?
The following story involves neither fruit, bathtubs, nor steel balls, but nevertheless illustrates some of the real keys to invention:
It was 1929 in the Mississippi River town of Quincy, Illinois when two young men drove their girlfriends up to Lookout Point. Romance was already in the air, but one of the women said it would help the mood if they could listen to music in the car (Passion). Bill and Elmer had some experience tinkering with radios, and they soon set about trying to get one to work in a car (Teamwork).
After methodically eliminating each of the many sources of electrical noise (Hard Work), the boys finally got their music playing. Soon thereafter, at a Chicago radio convention, they met up with an entrepreneur named Paul Galvin, who was looking for a new product (Luck). Galvin installed the radio in his Studebaker, and drove around showing it off, eventually getting enough orders to fund production. The big businesses of the day were Radiola, Columbiola and Victrola; it was only logical that Galvin would call his new venture Motorola. As you may have heard, the company went on to do quite well.
Little is known of the young woman whose Eureka vision of back seat mood music started it all, but the two young fellows who did the grunt work both continued to invent (Persistence). Elmer Wavering stayed in the automotive field and developed the electrically efficient alternator, enabling power windows, power seats and air-conditioning. Bill Lear ventured into aviation, where he invented radio direction finders, autopilots, fully automated landing systems and a mass-produced business jet which bears his name.
For Bill Lear, all of this was not bad for a guy who dropped out of school after the eighth grade (Great inventions do not always come from highly trained experts).
Author Profile - Paul W. Smith - leader, educator, technologist, writer - has a lifelong interest in the countless ways that technology changes the course of our journey through life. In addition to being a regular contributor to NetworkDataPedia, he maintains the website Technology for the Journey and occasionally writes for Blogcritics. Paul has over 50 years of experience in research and advanced development for companies ranging from small startups to industry leaders. His other passion is teaching - he is a former Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Paul holds a doctorate in Applied Mechanics from the California Institute of Technology, as well as Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
