I invent nothing; I rediscover. Auguste Rodin
The inventor Nikola Tesla was inventing a new way to transmit electricity, and his technology was threatening to destroy everything J P Morgan and Thomas Edison had built. The Men Who Built America VI: Owning it All, History 2012
Necessity is the mother of invention. Mid-16th century proverb, variously attributed
Edison invented inventing here at the world’s first industrial laboratory. And he laid down precise rules for it: is there a market for the invention? Get financial backing before you start. Publicise the whole thing in advance so that when it comes up the consumers are ready to pay for it. And plough every penny you make back into making more inventions. James Burke, Connections s1e9: Countdown, BBC 1978
Every one of man’s inventions acts like a trigger to cause change. James Burke, Connections s1e10: Yesterday, Tomorrow & You
Well, first of all whether people appreciate the invention, whether it fits into what they understand about their needs and aspirations, it has to be affordable and it has to be legal. Dr Jonathan Liebenau, London School of Economics
Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and, therefore, the foundation of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared. J K Rowling
Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos. Mary Shelley
Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn't have in your home. David Frost
I’m proud of my invention, but I’m sad that it is used by terrorists. Mikhail Kalashnikov
The inventor ... looks upon the world and is not contented with things as they are. He wants to improve whatever he sees, he wants to benefit the world; he is haunted by an idea. The spirit of invention possesses him, seeking materialization. Alexander Graham Bell, plaque Alexander Graham Bell Museum, Nova Scotia
Everyday miracles have transformed our homes, our worlds and ourselves. Everyday Miracles: The Genius of Sofas, Stockings and Scanners I, BBC 2015
Inventors and designers have transformed our homes. ibid.
Our first everyday miracle ... Foam ... Just quite how important materials are – they are at the heart of civilisation … ibid.
A new technology that soon everyone in the world would want ... Cragside: he [Armstrong] wanted to go electric ... The light-bulb was born ... In 1948 transistors arrived that could do the same job as valves ... Next came silicon ... LED lights ... ibid.
Concrete has been used as a building material for over four thousand years ... It can be moulded in almost any shape ... Steel is unbelievably strong under tension. ibid.
Plywood is another everyday miracle ... The glue bonds with the woods fibres and sets hard ... Strength, flexibility and mouldability ... The Mosquito was the fastest aircraft in the world, and the secret to its success was that it was made almost entirely of plywood ... All because of the remarkable properties of plywood. ibid.
Materials have transformed the ways we live. ibid.
We know it simply as plastic ... The ultimate manufacturing material ... Plastic fibres ... Nylon … ibid.
Tonight from Drax – the largest power station in Britain. The Genius of Invention I, BBC 2013
75% of power stations worldwide, including nuclear ones, use steam to generate electricity. ibid.
1712: the atmospheric steam engine: Thomas Newcomen … His first engine was installed at a coal mine near Birmingham in 1712. ibid.
James Watt: A separate condenser … allowed Watt to build steam engines that were more powerful, more efficient, more portable. ibid.
Queen Street Mill in Burnley: It’s home to over three hundred power looms, and it’s one of the first factories in the world. ibid.
By 1860 Lancashire produced half the cotton in the world. ibid.
Scientists were experimenting with Volta’s battery. ibid.
What Faraday had created here is the world’s first electricity generator. ibid.
The Savoy Theatre in London became the first public building in the world to fully exploit the wonders of electricity. ibid.
A golden age of electricity had begun. ibid.
The turbine is the last of our story of great inventions. ibid.
The unimaginable shock of speed and the ability to travel anywhere in the world. The Genius of Invention II: Speed, BBC 2013
The Steam Locomotive: Richard Trevithick 1804. ibid.
The Jet Engine: Sir Frank Whittle 1941. ibid.
Trevithick had shown how to use high-powered steam. ibid.
In 1930 he [Whittle] patented his design for the world’s first jet engine. ibid.
Suck – Squeeze – Bang – Blow = thrust out the back. ibid.
The modern jet engine contains thousands of parts. ibid.
The incredible gift of locomotion. ibid.
Nothing has shrunk the globe more than … instant communication. The Genius of Invention III: Communication
The electric telegraph was born out of a series of incremental steps. ibid.
Telstar had shrunk the wireless world. ibid.
Photography: it was William Henry Fox Talbot 1841 who succeeded where others failed. The Genius of Invention IV: Visual Image
The camera/obscurer is at least a thousand years old. ibid.
[Louis] Daguerre became rich and famous … Talbot – well he got terrible press. ibid.
Cinema came with its own army of naysayers and doom-mongers. ibid.
Electronic Television: Marconi-EMI 1937. ibid.
[John Logie] Baird created his first prototype using a combination of recycled parts and four key inventions from other people. ibid.
Seeing by Wireless – Inventor of apparatus wishes to hear from someone who will assist (not financially) in making working model – Write Box S.686, The Times, E.C.4. ibid. Baird’s advert in Times
I’m not sure if it’s ever been established that Edison really did invent in a very original way that great flush of newness that comes upon a man. Gordon Hendrix, historian
He was complex and contradictory. A brilliant inventor and a bumbling businessman ... An extraordinary men who revolutionised modern living: Thomas Edison. Horizon: The Wizard Who Spat on the Floor, BBC 1972
Edison foresaw an age when his inventions would be mass produced. ibid.
In 1875 for example he discovered a previously unknown electrical phenomenon which he called Etheric Force. He stumbled across it accidentally ... Edison had discovered the foundations of wireless electricity. ibid.
Edison tried a great variety of substances against the membrane of the transmitter. Drops of water. Sponge. Paper. Felt. Some two thousand chemicals ... He scraped off the carbon, pressed it into a little cake and he tried it. It proved to be the perfect transmitter of electricity impulses to the membrane. ibid.
The transmitter was a microphone as we know it today ... The wizard’s most spectacular trick was yet to come. Those are the first sounds ever recorded. The phonograph. ibid.
The progressive development of man is vitally dependent on invention. Its ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind over the real world. The harnessing of the forces of Nature to human needs. Nikola Tesla
There is one electrical genius who was nearly forgotten. A man who dreamt of giving the world an unlimited supply of energy: his name was Nikola Tesla. And he was the master of lightning. Tesla: Master of Lightning, PBS 2004
This is the story of a modern Prometheus. ibid.
It was Tesla who patented the technology for wireless communications that is used in all radio and television broadcasting. ibid.
The electrical equivalent of the wheel; and all this was achieved with alternating currents. ibid.
Twenty-two US patents were awarded to Nikola Tesla. ibid.
The war of the currents was over and Tesla was the winner. ibid.