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Is the age of famous American
inventors over? In a list of 16 great American
inventors, the top six most familiar are all long
dead, while one of the most celebrated living
American inventors is largely unknown.
Respondents rated the names by familiarity, from
“I know for sure what they invented”
through “I know the name, don’t know
what they invented” to “never heard
of them.”
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The
most familiar was Thomas Edison, whose name and inventions
were highly familiar to virtually all respondents (mean
of 4.8). Charles Goodyear scored a strong mean of 4.4,
and Samuel Morse and George Westinghouse rated 4.1 each.
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High
in the second tier, George Eastman rated a strong 3.7,
while Herbert Henry Dow emerged with 3.3, completing the
chart-topping list of long-dead American inventors. |
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The
highest-placed living inventor is Robert Gallo, the biomedical
researcher, who rates 3.2 along with Les Paul, inventor
of the solid-body electric guitar. |
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Steve
Wozniak, coinventor of the Apple computers, was unfamiliar
to many (2.4), although he’s less unfamiliar to men
than to women (2.7 vs. 2.1). |
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At
the bottom of the list is Ray Kurweil with an overall
mean of just 1.9, despite the fact that he’s one
of the most prolific and prominent American inventors
alive today. |
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The
column averages show that overall men claim higher familiarity
with the names than women (3.4 vs. 3.0) and that familiarity
rises through the age cohorts (2.8 vs. 3.2 vs. 3.4). |
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