Abstract
During the decades in which the United States achieved industrial preeminence, independent, professional inventors flourished. Before the era of the industrial research laboratory that began with the rise of the large electrical and chemical manufacturers, and before the time of the great national laboratories that originated with the militarization of nuclear power, the nation’s inventiveness was concentrated in the independent professionals. Later, it resided in the industrial and government laboratories. The role and characteristics of the large laboratories, however, are fairly well understood because they are well publicized and with us today, while the role of the independent inventors has been sentimentalized, trivialized, or forgotten. The historian’s responsibility is clear.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arieti, Silvano, 1976. Creativity: The Magic Synthesis. New York: Basic Books.
Black, Max, 1962. Models and Metaphors. Studies in Language and Philosophy. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
Byrn, Edward B., 1896. “The Progress of Invention During the Past Fifty Years,” Scientific American 75 (25 July): 82–83.
Carlson, Bernard, 1983. “Edison in the Mountains. The Magnetic Ore Separation Venture, 1879–1900,” History of Technology 8: 37–59.
Cheney, Margaret, 1886. Tesla. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Chipman, Robert A., 1965. “De Forest and the Triode Detector,” Scientific American 212 (March): 92–100.
De Forest, Lee, 1950. Father of Radio. The Autobiography of Lee De Forest. Chicago: Wilcox and Follet Co.
Dyer, Frank L. and T.C. Martin, 1910. Edison, His Life and Inventions, 2 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers.
Edison, Theodore M., 1969. “Diversity Unlimited: The Creative Work of Thomas A. Edison,” condensation of a paper delivered at the M.I.T. Club of Northern New Jersey, 24 January.
Flieger, Wilhelm and Nathan Keyfitz, 1968. World Population: An Analysis of Vital Data. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Hughes, Thomas P., 1971. Elmer Sperry: Inventor and Engineer. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Hughes, Thomas P., 1983. Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880–1930. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Josephson, Matthew, 1959. Edison. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Ladd, Story B., 1902. “Patents in Relation to Manufacturers,” in U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census,Twelfth Census of the United States. 1900. Manufactures. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, Vol. X, pt. IV, 766.
Rathenau, Walther, 1921. In Days to Come. London: Allen and Unwin.
Woytinsky, W. S. and E. S. Woytinsky, 1953. World Population and Production. Trends and Outlooks. New York: The Twentieth Century Fund.
Ziolkowski, Theodore, 1981. “Science, Frankenstein, and Myth,” The American Scholar 50: 34–56.
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hughes, T.P. (1988). The Era of Independent Inventors. In: Ullmann-Margalit, E. (eds) Science in Reflection. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 110. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2957-9_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2957-9_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-277-2713-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2957-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive