Three Major Inventions

Jessica C Northey

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Successful Inventions

Electromagnetic power (AC)

Synthesizer pop music

Video game consoles

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Nikola Tesla(“Herskovits,” 2011)

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Electromagnetic power (AC)

“Tesla’s discovery of the rotating magnetic field produced by the interactions of two and three phase alternating currents in a motor

winding was one of his most significant achievements, and formed the basis of his

induction motor and polyphase system for the generation and distribution of electricity.

Large amounts of electrical power could be generated and transmitted efficiently over

long distances.” (Herskovits)

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How did Tesla invent the technology?

“He invented his rotating magnetic field principle while in Budapest

His experiments with high frequency and high potential alternating currents resulted in the development of the "Tesla coil." This device is a transformer with an air core that has both its primary and secondary tuned in resonance.

Tesla also developed the precursors of modern neon and florescent lights. He constructed these lights, elongated glass tubes filled with gas and coated with phosphor, excited in his high voltage experiments.

He also discovered that high voltage current could be made harmless by using alternating current scheme at very large frequencies.” (Herskovits)

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The Original Inventor“In 1943, the Supreme Court granted full rights to Tesla for the invention of radio, nullifying the claims of Marchese Gugliemo Marconi who had patented a two-tuned-circuit design and a more practical four-tuned-circuit modeled after Tesla's.

Marconi's patent on the invention of radio was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court because Tesla's work predated it (Case #369, 6/21/43).” (Herskovits)

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Kraftwerk(“Kraftwerk | bilder,” 2011)

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Synthesizer pop music

“Without them you wouldn't have nightclub dance music. You wouldn't have Moby or Fatboy Slim or Bjork (former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos has worked with her). You wouldn't have hip-hop (when Old School was

new, Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force combined two Kraftwerk riffs on "Planet Rock"). You

wouldn't have the '80s-'90s bands like New Order and Depeche Mode, or the Detroit industrial bands that gave rise to the electronica of today that includes

Balkanized genres like drum-and-bass and trance.” ("Kraftwerk | bilder," 2011)

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How did Kraftwerk invent the technology?

During the 1970s, they invented the rock-format synthesizer pop song

In 1968, founders Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider met while studying classical music in Dusseldorf

Experimenting with tape recorder manipulation and echo machines, running traditional instruments like flutes and organ through them to create their music

They perfected the synthesizer pop song, abandoning tightly composed shorter pieces closer to radio format rock ("Kraftwerk | bilder," 2011)

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The Original InventorKraftwerk was before their time. They had to wait for technology to catch up with their ideal sounds. “By 1974, the acoustic instruments were giving way to synthesizers, and Kraftwerk found brief commercial success with the album ‘Autobahn,’ which reached No. 5 on the pop charts.

A shortened version of the 22-minute title track was released in the U.S. as a single and was a novelty hit.” (Dirks, 2004)

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Ralph Baer(“RHB,” )

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Video Game Consoles

“A young Nolan Bushnell played Odyssey at a trade show. Bushnell went on to found

Atari and create the arcade version of Baer’s Ping-Pong game, the now infamous Pong.

Baer's groundbreaking work has shaped the leisure-time activities of a large segment of

the world's population and spawned numerous businesses.” (“Ralph,” 2008)

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How did Ralph invent the technology?

1972: The Odyssey by Magnavox

The console was already programmed with the games

The cartridges used a programming language that communicated with the game

Putting the game cartridge in the console turn the game on, likewise taking it out turns the console off

First home video system (2009)

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The Original Inventor“I am an independent engineering consultant and internationally known inventor generally credited with creating the video game console industry in the 1960’s.

Having been an active engineer for the past seventy years, I have accumulated over 150 U.S. and foreign patents, many of which are in the Consumer Electronics area and have resulted in a variety of products, including many successful electronic toys and games. Typical of these is the SIMON game, an early single-chip microprocessor-controlled game that has been popular for over 30 years.” (“RHB,” )

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References• Herskovits, Z. (n.d.). To the smithsonian or bust: the scientific legacy

of nikola tesla. Yale Scientific Magazine, Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/19991022041430/www.yale.edu/scimag/Archives/Vol71/Tesla.html

• Kraftwerk | Bilder. (2011). [Web]. Retrieved from http://kraftwerk.com/photo/index.php

• Dirks, R. (2004, November 18). Kraftwerk invented synth-pop music. Retrieved from http://www.azcentral.com/ent/music/articles/1119kraftwerk.html?&wired

• RHB. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.ralphbaer.com/

• Ralph Baer: recovering the history of the video game . (2008, December). Retrieved from http://invention.smithsonian.org/resources/online_articles_detail.aspx?id=531

• (2009). History of Video Games Pt 2 - Ralph Baer & Magnavox Odyssey [Web]. Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgAbLUTb0Lg

• Style 16, “african tree” . [Web]. Retrieved from http://teslamania.delete.org/frames/SpecialLichs.html

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