|Atari Tennis was a high-tech novelty in 1976|
You are capable of inventing something that can change the world. Don't think so? Look at the inventors of the past. The late Steve Jobs created the Atari Tennis game released in 1976 - hilariously simple today - and would begin to revolutionize the way the rest of the world viewed computers. Until that time the computer was a regarded by most people as a mega-complicated, high-tech device better left to engineers, mad scientists and science fiction writers. "It is of no use to normal people." was the general consensus. Earlier inventors met with similar attitudes:
- Daniel Schectman's quasicrystals were deemed impossible until he won the Nobel Prize for his discovery.
- Karl Gauss didn't tell anyone when he discovered non-Euclidean geometry because he was afraid they would make fun of him.
- Alexander Graham Bell was laughed at when he thought he could convert a homemade childrens' toy into a communication network. The toy was two tin cans with a string connecting them.
- Orville and Wilbur Wright were the center of jokes when they talked of their plans to test a flying machine they had invented.
- Buckminster Fuller was often called a "crackpot".
Watch these shows to get some inspiration on your journey to becoming the next inventor to revolutionize the world!
Building Big: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig
Design Squad: http://pbskids.org/designsquad
"When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign: That the dunces are all in confederacy against him." - Jonathan Swift