PAST TECHONOMISTS
When one traces the chronology of techonomic activities forward through history, you can begin to see the cumulative nature of human technological creativity. To stand still as a civilization is to stagnate. We stand upon the shoulders of our predecessors, just as they stood on the shoulders of theirs. Our criteria for this making list were simple: We chose individuals throughout recorded history whose work was not only significant on its own, but also created a solid foundation for those who followed.
Thomas Edison (1847-1931)
One of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents, and credited with the invention of the light bulb, direct current, the phonograph and the motion picture camera, Thomas Edison was dubbed “The Wizard of Menlo Park.” Edison also originated the concept and implementation of electric-power generation and distribution to homes, businesses, and factories – a crucial development in the modern industrialized world.
He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large teamwork to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. Edison’s greatest techonomic contribution, then, may not have been his products, but the funding and importance he placed on his company’s research and development efforts. Indeed he was as inventive as an entrepreneur as he was as a scientist. Not only did Edison knew how to maximize profits through establishment of mass-production systems and intellectual property rights, he also founded 14 companies, including General Electric, and was active in business right up to the end.
Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872)
An American inventor and artist, Morse is best known for inventing the modern magnetic telegraph system and for developing the Morse code. The technology had its origins in a chance encounter on a sea voyage home from Europe in 1832. Morse met a fellow passenger who explained to him the new science of electromagnetism. Though he had little training in electricity, Morse realized that pulses of electrical current could convey information over wires, if one could devise a code to represent letters. Cumbersome telegraphs existed at the time, but were impractical machines requiring 26 separate wires – one for each letter of the alphabet. Morse’s epiphany was to create a single-wire model.
Success didn’t come overnight. It took Morse six years to come up with a workable design and the dot-and-dash code that represented both letters and numbers. By 1838, this coding system would become the primary language of telegraphy in the world, and is still the standard for rhythmic analog transmission of data. More importantly, Morse gave the world its first taste of truly instantaneous communications. The techonomic ramifications hastened the economic development of the United States, and changed the dissemination of news and information forever.
Henry Ford (1863-1947)
The founder of the Ford Motor Company was the father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. He was a prolific inventor holding 161 U.S. patents, and his introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry, and eventually the face of the American landscape. A pioneer of “welfare capitalism,” Ford strove to improve the lot of his workers and especially to increase efficiency. A true techonomist, he was the first to implement a 40-hour work week and to voluntarily pay a minimum wage, which he labeled as profit-sharing since these practices enabled Ford workers to afford the cars they were producing, thereby stimulating the economy.
Ford’s intense commitment to lowering manufacturing costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put a dealership in every city in North America and in major cities on six continents. He was among the first American entrepreneurs who articulated a global vision, calling consumerism the key to world peace. Ford left his legacy not only in the automobile industry, but through his still-thriving philanthropic institution, the Ford Foundation, whose impact has reached across the world.
James Watt (1736-1819)
The Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose dramatic improvements of the steam engine initiated changes in generating and applying power, transformed the world of work, and were a key innovation of the Industrial Revolution. In 1765, while working for the University of Glasgow, Watt was assigned the task of repairing a Newcomen engine, which was deemed inefficient but was considered the best steam engine of its time. Watt promptly began making improvements to Newcomen’s design.
Watt’s version of the engine quickly became the dominant design for all modern steam engines and would lead to the revolution in transportation that was soon embodied in the locomotive and steamboat. The more efficient steam engines led to the techonomic transformation of many methods of manufacture. In honor of his contributions to the development of the steam engine, a unit of power was named after Watt, which measures the rate of energy conversion.
Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468)
The secretive German goldsmith and printer is credited with being the first to use movable type in printing in around 1439, and is recognized as the inventor of the mechanical printing press. He also developed oil-based inks. Others had experimented with movable type, but Gutenberg’s techonomic epiphany was to mass produce the type made to fit a special press modeled after the olive and grape presses of the time. Gutenberg’s invention revolutionized the distribution of knowledge by making it possible to produce a large number of copies of a single work in a relatively short amount of time. His contemporaries called it “the art of multiplying books.”
The use of movable type was a marked improvement on the extremely labor-intensive handwritten manuscript, which was the existing method of book production in Europe, and changed European book-making forever. More importantly, the press enabled rapid spread of knowledge and contributed to the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, and the Protestant Reformation, making Gutenberg one of the most influential techonomists of the last millennium.