Download or read book The Greatest Invention written by Silvia Ferrara and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this exhilarating celebration of human ingenuity and perseverance—published all around the world—a trailblazing Italian scholar sifts through our cultural and social behavior in search of the origins of our greatest invention: writing. The L where a tabletop meets the legs, the T between double doors, the D of an armchair’s oval backrest—all around us is an alphabet in things. But how did these shapes make it onto the page, never mind form complex structures such as this sentence? In The Greatest Invention, Silvia Ferrara takes a profound look at how—and how many times—human beings have managed to produce the miracle of written language, traveling back and forth in time and all across the globe to Mesopotamia, Crete, China, Egypt, Central America, Easter Island, and beyond. With Ferrara as our guide, we examine the enigmas of undeciphered scripts, including famous cases like the Phaistos Disk and the Voynich Manuscript; we touch the knotted, colored strings of the Inca quipu; we study the turtle shells and ox scapulae that bear the earliest Chinese inscriptions; we watch in awe as Sequoyah single-handedly invents a script for the Cherokee language; and we venture to the cutting edge of decipherment, in which high-powered laser scanners bring tears to an engineer’s eye. A code-cracking tour around the globe, The Greatest Invention chronicles a previously uncharted journey, one filled with past flashes of brilliance, present-day scientific research, and a faint, fleeting glimpse of writing’s future.

Download or read book Building a Cashless Society written by Niklas Arvidsson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-02-22 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book tells the story of how Sweden is becoming a virtually cashless society. Its goal is to improve readers’ understanding of what is driving this transition, and of the factors that are fostering and hampering it. In doing so, the book covers the role of central banks, political factors, needs for innovation, and the stakeholders involved in developing a cashless ecosystem. Adopting a historical standpoint, and drawing on a unique dataset, it presents an academic perspective on Sweden’s leading role in this global trend. The global interest in the future of cash payments makes the Swedish case particularly interesting. As a country that is close to becoming a cashless economy, it offers a role model for many other countries to learn from - whether they want to stimulate or reduce the use of cash. This highly topical book will be of interest to politicians, researchers, businesses, financial service providers and payment service providers, as well as fintech start-ups, regulators and other authorities.

Download or read book What Is the Most Important Invention written by Tony Stead and published by Capstone Classroom. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "We depend on inventions to live in the 21st century, such as washing machines and smoke detectors, but which one is the most important invention? This fourth grade class looks at nine inventions and argues why each is the most important. Read this book to help you decide: What is the most important invention?" -- back cover.

Download or read book Life Ascending written by Nick Lane and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2010-10-01 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2010 Royal Society Prize for science books Powerful new research methods are providing fresh and vivid insights into the makeup of life. Comparing gene sequences, examining the atomic structure of proteins and looking into the geochemistry of rocks have all helped to explain creation and evolution in more detail than ever before. Nick Lane uses the full extent of this new knowledge to describe the ten greatest inventions of life, based on their historical impact, role in living organisms today and relevance to current controversies. DNA, sex, sight and consciousnesses are just four examples. Lane also explains how these findings have come about, and the extent to which they can be relied upon. The result is a gripping and lucid account of the ingenuity of nature, and a book which is essential reading for anyone who has ever questioned the science behind the glories of everyday life.

Download or read book The Most Powerful Idea in the World written by William Rosen and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Most Powerful Idea in the World argues that the very notion of intellectual property drove not only the invention of the steam engine but also the entire Industrial Revolution." -- Back cover.

Download or read book Creativity for Engineers written by Balbir S. Dhillon and published by World Scientific Publishing Company Incorporated. This book was released on 2006 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 7. Creativity measurement and analysis. 7.1. Introduction. 7.2. Metrics for determining innovative companies' performance. 7.3. A formula for predicting creative ideas. 7.4. Fault tree analysis (FTA). 7.5. Control charts. 7.6. Cause and effect diagram. 7.7. Probability tree analysis. 7.8. Creativity improvement with parallel redundancy. 7.9. Time-dependent creativity analysis with Markov method -- 8. Creativity climate. 8.1. Introduction. 8.2. Variables influencing peoples' perception of the working climate, examples of changes in the total environment influencing innovation, and key reasons for organizations to foster creativity and innovation. 8.3. Organization's creative culture attributes. 8.4. Creative climate dimensions and creative work environment determinents. 8.5. Steps for fostering creative environment in companies and guidelines for managing team members that foster creative work climate. 8.6. Tips for facilitating in a "cold" organizational climate with respect to creativity. 8.7. Workplace creativity climate assessment checklist -- 9. Creativity barriers. 9.1. Introduction. 9.2. Reasons for resistance to change in organizations and the types of organizations finding creativity most difficult. 9.3. Obstacles to innovation in large organizations and their overcoming steps. 9.4. Management barriers to creativity and reasons for prevention of innovation in mass-produced products. 9.5. Ways for managers to kill creativity and ways used by technical managers to block creative ideas. 9.6. Stumbling blocks and building blocks to creativity. 9.7. Types of barriers to an individual's creative thinking and suggestions for overcoming them. 9.8. Creativity inhibitors an engineer may encounter while inquiring into and solving the problem. 9.9. Barriers to creativity in textile industry -- 10. Creativity in quality management, software development process, rail transit stations, and specific organizations. 10.1. Introduction. 10.2. Creativity in quality management. 10.3. Creativity in software development process. 10.4. Creativity in rail transit stations. 10.5. Creativity in specific organizations -- 11. Creativity testing, recording, and patents. 11.1. Introduction. 11.2. Creativity testing. 11.3. Creativity recording. 11.4. Patents

Download or read book Chilled written by Tom Jackson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-07-16 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling, mystery-lifting narrative history of the refrigerator and the process of refrigeration The refrigerator. This white box that sits in the kitchen may seem mundane nowadays, but it is one of the wonders of 20th century science – life-saver, food-preserver and social liberator, while the science of refrigeration is crucial, not just in transporting food around the globe but in a host of branches on the scientific tree. Refrigerators, refrigeration and its discovery and applications provide the eye-opening backdrop to Chilled, the story of how science managed to rewrite the rules of food, and how the technology whirring behind every refrigerator is at play, unseen, in a surprisingly broad sweep of modern life. Part historical narrative, part scientific mystery-lifter, Chilled looks at the ice-pits of Persia (Iranians still call their fridge the 'ice-pit'), reports on a tug of war between 16 horses and the atmosphere, bears witness to ice harvests on the Regents Canal, and shows how bleeding sailors demonstrated to ship's doctors that heat is indestructible, featuring a cast of characters such as the Ice King of Boston, Galileo, Francis Bacon, and the ostracised son of a notorious 18th-century French traitor. As people learned more about what cold actually was, scientists invented machines for making it, with these first used in earnest to chill Australian lager. The principles behind those white boxes in the kitchen remain the same today, but refrigeration is not all about food – a refrigerator is needed to make soap, penicillin and orange squash; without it, IVF would be impossible. Refrigeration technology has also been crucial in some of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the last 100 years, from the discovery of superconductors to the search for the Higgs boson. And the fridge will still be pulling the strings behind the scenes as teleporters and intelligent computer brains turn our science-fiction vision of the future into fact.

Download or read book Inventors Who Changed the World written by Heidi Poelman and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2018-10-01 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the ranging curiosity of Leonardo da Vinci to the dedication and sacrifice of Marie Curie, Inventors Who Changed the World is a young child's first introduction to the brilliant people who taught us the meaning of perseverance and innovation. Simple text and adorable illustrations tell the contributions of nine renowned inventors from around the world: Cai Lun, Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Grace Hopper, Johannes Gutenberg, and Louis Pasteur. Inspire your own little inventor with the words of these inventive heroes who changed the world.

Download or read book Learn from the Past Create the Future written by Maria de Icaza and published by WIPO. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Inventions and Patents" is the first of WIPO's Learn from the past, create the future series of publications aimed at young students. This series was launched in recognition of the importance of children and young adults as the creators of our future.

Download or read book How We Got to Now written by Steven Johnson and published by Riverhead Books. This book was released on 2015-09-22 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a celebration of ideas: how they happen and their sometimes unintended results. Johnson shows how simple scientific breakthroughs have driven other discoveries through the network of ideas and innovations that made each finding possible. He traces important inventions through ancient and contemporary history, unlocking tales of unsung heroes and radical revolutions that changed the world and the way we live in it

Download or read book 1001 Inventions that Changed the World written by Jack Challoner and published by Barrons Educational Series Incorporated. This book was released on 2009 with total page 960 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a review of technological innovations and inventions, from the ancient world to the present day.

Download or read book Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries written by Rodney Carlisle and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2008-04-21 with total page 711 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique A-to-Z reference of brilliance in innovation and invention Combining engagingly written, well-researched history with the respected imprimatur of Scientific American magazine, this authoritative, accessible reference provides a wide-ranging overview of the inventions, technological advances, and discoveries that have transformed human society throughout our history. More than 400 entertaining entries explain the details and significance of such varied breakthroughs as the development of agriculture, the "invention" of algebra, and the birth of the computer. Special chronological sections divide the entries, providing a unique focus on the intersection of science and technology from early human history to the present. In addition, each section is supplemented by primary source sidebars, which feature excerpts from scientists' diaries, contemporary accounts of new inventions, and various "In Their Own Words" sources. Comprehensive and thoroughly readable, Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries is an indispensable resource for anyone fascinated by the history of science and technology. Topics include: aerosol spray * algebra * Archimedes' Principle * barbed wire * canned food * carburetor * circulation of blood * condom * encryption machine * fork * fuel cell * latitude * music synthesizer * positron * radar * steel * television * traffic lights * Heisenberg's uncertainty principle

Download or read book Wonderworks written by Angus Fletcher and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-03-08 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A brilliant examination of literary invention through the ages, from ancient Mesopotamia to Elena Ferrante, showing how writers created technical breakthroughs as sophisticated and significant as any in science, and in the process, engineered enhancements to the human heart and mind"--

Download or read book Innovation and Invention in Medical Devices written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2001-12-01 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objective of the workshop that is the subject of this summary report was to present the challenges and opportunities for medical devices as perceived by the key stakeholders in the field. The agenda, and hence the summaries of the presentations that were made in the workshop and which are presented in this summary report, was organized to first examine the nature of innovation in the field and the social and economic infrastructure that supports such innovation. The next objective was to identify and discuss the greatest unmet clinical needs, with a futuristic view of technologies that might meet those needs. And finally, consideration was given to the barriers to the application of new technologies to meet clinical needs.

Download or read book The Great Invention written by Ehsan Masood and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world’s principal measure of the health of economies is gross domestic product, or GDP: the sum of what all of us spend every day, from the contents of our weekly shopping to large capital spending by businesses. GDP also includes the myriad things that our governments pay for, from libraries and road-line painting to naval dockyards and nuclear weapons.The Great Invention reveals how in just a few decades GDP became the world’s most powerful formula: how six algebraic symbols forged in the fires of the 1930's economic crisis helped Europe and America prosper, how the remedy now risks killing the patient it once saved, and how this fundamentally flawed metric is creating the illusion of global prosperity—and why many world leaders want to be able to ignore it but so far remain powerless to do so. Drawing on interviews, firsthand accounts, and previously neglected source materials, The Great Invention takes readers on a journey from Capitol Hill to Whitehall—on the trail of theories made in Cambridge, tested in Karachi, and designed for global application—into the minds of unworldly geniuses seduced by the allure of power and the demands of politics.

Download or read book The Telephone Patent Conspiracy of 1876 written by A. Edward Evenson and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-11-05 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The invention of the telephone is a subject of great controversy, central is which is the patent issued to Alexander Graham Bell on March 7, 1876. Many problems and questions surround this patent, not the least of which was its collision in the Patent Office with a strangely similar invention by archrival Elisha Gray. A flood of lawsuits followed the patent's issue; at one point the government attempted to annul Bell's patent and launched an investigation into how it was granted. From court testimony, contemporary accounts, government documents, and the participants' correspondence, a fascinating story emerges. More than just a tale of rivalry between two inventors, it is the story of how a small group of men made Bell's patent the cornerstone for an emerging telephone monopoly. This book recounts the little-known story in full, relying on original documents (most never before published) to preserve the flavor of the debate and provide an authentic account. Among the several appendices is the "lost copy" of Bell's original patent, the document that precipitated the charge of fraud against the Bell Telephone Company.

Download or read book Recent Advances in Aircraft Technology written by Ramesh K. Agarwal and published by IntechOpen. This book was released on 2012-02-24 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book describes the state of the art and latest advancements in technologies for various areas of aircraft systems. In particular it covers wide variety of topics in aircraft structures and advanced materials, control systems, electrical systems, inspection and maintenance, avionics and radar and some miscellaneous topics such as green aviation. The authors are leading experts in their fields. Both the researchers and the students should find the material useful in their work.