Opinion
We believe that without these famous inventors, we wouldn't have many of the commodities we have today: cell phones, computers, iPods/MP3 players, stereos, lights, cars/trucks/SUVs/semis, and airplanes.
If Alexander Graham Bell hadn't invented the simple telephone of the late 1800's, then we wouldn't have very much to communicate. We couldn't use land-line phones to call grandma, or send a text or IM friends. The invention of the telephone, our group believes, is just as important as the invention of the car. Most people, of almost all ages, use the internet multiple times per day: researching, school activities, email, blogs, chatrooms/IM, or face book/MySpace. People couldn't use their cell phones to call home to check in with parents or whatever else.
If Christopher Sholes hadn't invented the typewriter, who knows how many secretaries would have been without jobs in the late 1800's (1).
If Thomas Edison wouldn't have created the light bulb, we may still be living like Laura Ingalls Wilder on the Western frontier. Thanks to Thomas Edison, by 1890 electricity ran numerous machines all the way from fans to printing presses. We can pretty much thank Thomas Edison for the creation of cities. Electric streetcars made urban travel cheap and efficient, therefore, promoting the outward spread of cities (2).
One of Edison's other major inventions, the Electro Magnetic Phonograph, had many brand names in the United States: Gramophone, Victrola, Zon-o-phone, Graphophone, and Graphonola. In Germany, the Phonographs are called das Gramophone, which literally meant the Gramophone. The definition of Gramophone is a sound reproducer that uses grooved records. After 1901, the brand name Gramophone was no longer used. Its nickname, Grammy, however survived to start the annual Grammy Awards, and the award itself is in the shape of a Gramophone. (3) Our group believes that the Grammy awards are a very prestigious award and are very important in the music industry of the United States.
Like Edison, Wilbur and Orville Wright changed modern day travel as well. With their invention of the internal combustion engine airplane came many more planes. By World War I, there were bi-planes which had an exposed cockpit with two wings, one above the cockpit and one below. This would eventually lead to the passenger planes, which makes traveling quicker and in most cases, easier.
Next on the list is Henry Ford. Ford designed the Model-T. Without the Model-T we may not even have cars today. Thanks to Ford, Americans and most of the world have a convenient and personal way to get from point A to point B.
1. The Americans. Evanston, IL: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.
2. The Americans. Evanston, IL: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.
3. "Phonograph." Wikipedia. 22 Nov. 2008. 24 Nov. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/phonograph>.
