It's National Inventors' Day, as well as International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and Thomas Edison's birthday. The global reach of American innovation cannot be overstated. Our inventions and our scientific personnel have impacted our world. Here are a few examples of the depth of American thought in science and invention.
As one of history's great inventive geniuses Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) secured patents for more than a thousand inventions. His patents included the incandescent electric light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture projector. Edison was a classic example of the nineteenth-century American success story. Through talent, energy, and hard work, he rose from poor beginnings in a small Midwestern town to a position of eminence and wealth.
Archaeologist of Sound and historian Patrick Feaster spent two months in “the nation's attic” – three floors above the Smithsonian – and discovered a treasure trove of old early recordings, when inventors experimented with glass, cardboard, cardboard covered with wax, tin foil, and mixtures of paraffin and wax as their recording mediums. He tracked old card catalog cards, used modern technology to play long-vanished sound, and inexplicably, allowed someone in France to hear his great-grandfather's voice for the first time.
During StarTalk, Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson speaks to neuroscientist Mayim Bialik about women in STEM and careers in science, then speaks to panelists about women in science.
4,000 Years of Women in Science : https://4kyws.ua.edu/