Obscure Inventions and Discoveries

edao

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I'm always facinated at how productive the European mind is when it comes to innovation and discovery, it would be interesting to post more obscure ones.

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John Napier - Logarithms

The method of logarithms was first publicly propounded in 1614, in a book entitled Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio, by John Napier Baron of Merchiston, in Scotland.

In mathematics, the logarithm of a number to a given base is the power or exponent to which the base must be raised in order to produce the number.


The use of logarithms to facilitate complicated calculations was a significant motivation in their original development. Logarithms have applications in fields as diverse as statistics, chemistry, physics, astronomy, computer science, economics, music, and engineering.


I went to Napier University in Edinburgh and his house/mini castle now forms part of the university.
 
The Paper Clip - Norway

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The fastening of papers has been historical referenced to as early as the 13th century, when people put ribbon through parallel incisions in the upper left hand corner of pages. Later people started to wax the ribbons to make them stronger and easier to undo and redo. This was the way people clipped papers together for the next six hundred years.

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[SIZE=-1]Johan Vaaler, a Norwegian inventor with a degree in electronics, science and mathematics, invented the paperclip in 1899. He received a patent for his design from Germany in 1899, since Norway had no patent laws at that time. He received an American patent in 1901 -- patent abstract "It consists of forming same of a spring material, such as a piece of wire, that is bent to a rectangular, triangular, or otherwise shaped hoop, the end parts of which wire piece form members or tongues lying side by side in contrary directions."

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The simple ideas are the best.


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