Invention, The Mother of Necessity

We all know that old saw, "Necessity is the mother of invention." Sometimes, however, an invention will come along and, aside from the novelty of it, we don't know what to do with it at first. Eventually the eureka moment comes, and we figure out that it actually has a useful purpose beyond that for which it was discovered or invented.

When Lasers were invented in 1960, they were called "a solution looking for a problem." The problems were finally found, and over the next 47 years they have multiplied into the hundreds. Examples include consumer electronics, information technology, Science, medicine, industry, law enforcement, entertainment, military and, last but not least, their first use in the general population, bar code scanners. 

Consider the uses of radio waves. In 1887 Heinrich Hertz, experimenting with radio waves, discovered that they could be transmitted through some materials and were reflected by others. Then in 1896 Guglielmo Marconi invented the radio which transmitted electrical impulses through the air with no wires, making possible wireless communication over great distances. In 1904 Christian Heulsmeyer demonstrated that radio waves could be used to detect ships to avoid collisions at sea. Later in the 1930s it was demonstrated that radio waves could detect airplanes. During World War II radar became highly developed and was even shown to be useful in locating rain and snow and detecting wind speed. Thus, basic research, centering on the behavior of radio waves, turned into devices that had a multitude of uses, none of which were envisioned while the basic research was being done. Quite by accident Percy Spencer, while building radar sets for Raytheon, discovered that the chocolate bar in his pocket melted in the presence of micro waves. He immediately knew that this was an important discovery. The microwave oven was the outgrowth of this discovery.

The role of scientific research is to learn the nature of things. The role of the inventor is to recognize the significance of discoveries and to see potential practical uses for them.

Many can see a problem and think, "There ought to be a better way to do this." But the inventor sees potential in seemingly unrelated facts or phenomena and inquires into how they might interact to produce something entirely new. They seek out the "better way" and bring their inventive minds to bear on solving the problem. The inventor, by nature, is persistent, and through trial and error will refine the thought process to it's essentials leading toward that Eureka moment. 

How many inventions can you think of that were solutions looking for a problem?

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