Become a Genius Inventor in 50 Easy Steps: with Real Life Stories of Great Inventors

By George King

Education is undergoing vast changes as progress in made in technology. However, the basic skill necessary for a anybody to succeed in this world is the same old ingenuity or creativity. Hence, the prime objective of education should be to encourage and allow the creative minds to try, fail, thrive, and blossom into genius inventors.
This book will help you gain knowledge in the following areas:
o Selecting a critical problem facing humanity
o Identifying your passion and choosing a problem to invent a solution
o Sources for understanding problems facing humanity
o How to stay updated using technology
o Latest trends in technology- AI, longevity, mobility, aviation, automation, etc.
o Techniques to update your knowledge – catching up with “state of the art”
o How to do a literature review and publish papers
o How to do a patent review and file patents
o Effective thought process – focusing your mind, mediation, physical fitness
o Creative thinking
o Using open source tools for design, prototyping, writing, etc.
o Raising funds – writing research proposals
o Startup – writing a startup business plan
o Overcoming setbacks, failures
o Writing your report and presenting your project
o Continuing the invention spirit

This book will open the eyes and minds of people to the wonderful universe of inventing a solution. This book has been written to aid people across the ability/ aptitude spectrum. The 50 steps have been conceived to enable all types of learners to benefit from the joy of experimenting and enriching their experience of becoming an inventor.
So look beyond the goals of achieving instant success and just indulge in enriching your knowledge, give wings to your creative dreams, shed your inhibitions and fear of being judged or failing at something. As they say, if you strive and achieve excellence in what you do, money and fame will chase you. Just Invent!

• Language: English
• Publisher: George King
• Release date: Oct 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463963531

Book preview

STEP 0   What is Inventing?

The inventor…looks upon the world and is not contented with things as they are. He wants to improve whatever he sees, he wants to benefit the world; he is haunted by an idea. The spirit of invention possesses him, seeking materialization – Alexander Graham Bell

Invention is the creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property (adapted from EPCD, 1947, 0.1).

Phew! That must have given your head a real spin. Not to worry, invention is all about providing a solution to a problem. Simple, is it not?

Inventors need not worry about the fundamentals of scientific theories; scientists are there worrying about it. Inventors should rather utilize the available scientific knowledge to provide real world solutions.

Finding out the thermal properties of microwave is science, but turning that knowledge into a microwave oven is Invention.

We can go on and on with examples. Therefore, to be a successful Inventor, you should demonstrate your problem solving skill through your Invention project.

Why an Invention Project is Important

An Invention project demonstrates your ability to combine the concepts that you learnt in various courses to invent a solution to a problem. Various competitions are held throughout the year to reward path-breaking solutions to problems humanity is facing. Your invention project will help you take part in such competitions and speed-up your career as an inventor.

It is never early to start your inventing project

Inventing something path-breaking is a long process which might take many months or even years. All it takes is a determined mind and plenty of grit. Hence start today and journey into the exciting world of inventing.

Inspiring Inventions – History of Inventions

Our human species – Homo Sapiens – has a long history of ingenious inventions which has enabled it to thrive and reach all parts of our planet as the successful hominid. Right from the use of stone tools to the interplanetary missions, we have come a long way. Today we are facing the challenge of overcoming climate change and ecological destruction. Moreover, going by the past record, we shall overcome this danger with the help of young minds like you. Soak in the history of inventions given as illustrations (Inventive Hominid) and as Inspiring Inventors/ Inventions in each of the chapters.

STEP 1  Problem Solving: Inventing a Solution

A solution, which does not prepare for the next round with some increased insight, is hardly a solution at all – Richard Wesley Hamming (1997).

What is a problem?

A matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome. –Oxford Dictionary

Now we are ready to solve the most pressing problems the world is facing.

Attention everyone! Here we come at last to blow away your problems.

The enduring problems of humankind

•Poverty – lack of money, food, water; wastage of food produce, over population, etc.

•Pollution – pollution of water, air, soil, oceans, etc.

•Climate change – release of CO2 from fossil fuel use, destruction of ecosystems, extinction of species

•Diseases – vector borne, waterborne, lifestyle diseases

•Scarcity of water – polluted water, saline water

•Scarcity of energy – lack of clean, affordable energy

•Asymmetrical availability of information, poor governance, corruption, offshore tax havens, etc.

•Specter of terrorism, cyber crimes, internet warfare, etc.

Relax! An inventor can earn his livelihood as long as there are plenty of problems to solve in this world. All these problems definitely have a solution. You can choose any problem to contribute your solution. Should you only choose a problem from your field of study?

Inspiring Inventors – The genius who lived and breathed Art & Innovation

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) is considered an Universal Genius whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography[1.1]. He is considered a polymath genius who did not leave any field untouched with his investigations. Not content with his breathtaking paintings and sculpture, his pioneering research extended into anatomy, designs for aircrafts, armored warfare vehicles, musical instruments, mechanical soldier, hydraulic pumps, mortar shells, steam cannon, etc. His investigations are preserved in 13,000 pages of original notes and drawings, a part of which can be seen online as Codex Arundel [1.2].

STEP 2   Come Out of Your Domain Mentality

To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk – Thomas Edison

You can solve any problem, if it is in your passion zone!

A dangerous disease afflicting our students is the disease of ‘The specialization’. They restrict their thinking by the specialization they have chosen to study. As pointed out earlier, inventing excellence needs a good conceptual grounding in the basic sciences – which we all study in school.

Education is supposed to give us the ability to visualize, research and solve any problem. However, what about expert knowledge that is necessary to solve a problem? If your problem is from your passion zone, you can become an expert in weeks or months by absorbing the knowledge relevant in that area.

The great inventors of yore did not even get a formal education; they just chose a problem and attacked it from all angles for months and years until they found a solution. So why should not we choose the problem which is interesting to us?

Once you choose the problem, you can always take courses online/ offline necessary to enhance your knowledge. So, do not restrict your choice of a problem within your academic specialization, go ahead, dream big and realize your full potential.

Inspiring Inventors – A portrait painter who invented the single wire telegraph

Samuel Morse, the inventor of the single wire telegraph system and co-developer of the Morse code, was originally a successful portrait painter. At the age of 34, while he was painting a portrait in Washington DC, he received news of his wife being seriously ill and of her death the next day. His wife was buried before he could reach home. Heartbroken, Morse decided to explore a means of rapid long distance communication and ultimately came up with the single wire telegraph system [2.2].

STEP 3   How to Identify Your Passion Zone?

The passion rebuilds the world for the youth. It makes all things alive and significant.-   Ralph Waldo Emerson, Love, Essays, First Series (1841).

Passion zone? What is this?

Effortless understanding- we all have a favorite subject/course that we just read through even before it is covered in class. We can just connect with the concepts without seeking help from anybody.

Acing tests without breaking a sweat – we score well in that course/ subject without hard work. Importantly, we ace questions, which are considered tough by our peers.

Hard to stop reading subjects – we just rush through the chapters in the book and are hungry for more or rummage through the subject with higher-class textbooks.

Are you getting the hint: now identify the subject/ area, which ticks all the above. It could be physics or chemistry or biology or, more specifically semi-conductors or superconductors or nuclear chemistry or ecology or acoustics or probability or psychology or ergonomics or economics or Vedic history or English poetry, etc. and that subject is in your passion zone.

Have you identified your passion? Write it down.

I am passionate about:

Inspiring Inventors – A boy who rose from poverty and lifted a nation into the stratosphere

Bharat Ratna Dr. A PJ Abdul Kalam (1931 – 2015) – an Indian scientist popularly known as People’s President (2002 to 2007) was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. Born in a family of limited means, Kalam supplemented his family income in his childhood by delivering newspapers around town [3.1]. Fascinated when his schoolteacher explained how a bird flies, he decided to study aeronautics. He dedicated himself to service of the nation through his life long tenure in DRDO (Defence research & development Organization) and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization).

He was known as the Missile Man of India for his work on the development of ballistic missiles and Satellite launch vehicle technology [3.2]. He was also instrumental in developing low cost cardiac stent and Orthosis calipers from advanced materials. Dr Kalam was passionate about transforming rural India into sustainable regions and outlined his vision through the concept of PURA (Providing Urban Amenities to Rural Areas). He collapsed at age 83, due to cardiac arrest while addressing college students and passed away. His worldly possessions consisted of few clothes and thousands of books. His legacy lives on through the books he has written and the way he lived true to Gandhiji’s saying, Be the change you wish to see in the world [3.3].

STEP 4   Form a Team: Should you work as a Group or go alone?

I believe in the essential unity of man and for that matter of all that lives.

-Mahatma Gandhi

Why a team is better than going it alone

In a team, the energy levels are multiplied. Magnitude of team potential is more than the sum of the individuals

One member having down time does not affect progress, as other members will pick up the slack.

Working in a group or a team enables you to enhance your skills in these areas 4.1, 4.2

•Valuing others opinions

•Delegating responsibility

•Solving conflicts among members

•Getting access to diverse ideas and creative thinking

•Finding and recruiting members with complementary skills

Rules for effective group work

•Discuss and delegate responsibility

•Appoint each individual to lead in a specific area

•Respect every member’s viewpoint

•Appreciate and give credit when it is due

•Ensure growth of all members

Advantages of going it alone

The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom.

-William O. Douglas

There are certain advantages of doing the project alone. These are:

 You are free to select a problem that interests you most

 You can work at your own pace according to your situation

 You do not have to wait for others to do their part

 You get all the credit for yourself

The disadvantages of working alone

 The project stalls if you are not able to work due to various reasons

 Like success, failure also is your own

 You cannot out