the concept of a genius?

Question

I've always wondered how people like einstein, bell, ford etc,
Come up with the concept of an idea that isnt was'nt real and produce a working model of their idea like the car or phone.

Now we have concepts like teleportation. Are people like this born to invent?

Answer 1

These people all had lots of supporting research done before their time. Especially Einstein. They were smart and, most importantly, persistant, but Newton's "standing on the shoulders of giants" claim speaks true for all of the most brilliant minds.

Answer 2

I believe these people are born with an innate ability - or curse - that drives them to investigate how things operate, to the most basic level.
Most people can simply watch a television, for instance, while others have to know exactly how it works.
Once they know the intricate workings of a devise, it just becomes a natural step to speculate how it can be improved or why, if this particular configuration works, why not just connect A to C and leave B out? Or why not just try and perform the same functions by developing a different strategy altogether.
Many times, their experiments result in new developments or a new direction altogether - completely different from their original objectives.
Even Einstein struggled with the idea that his formulas concerning time, space, energy and mass might represent some kind of mathematical quirks - but he had the genius to determine that it was reality and the way the universe actually works.
In answer to your question, yes, I believe people are "born to invent." And, regardless of how curious a person might be, they must also possess the genius to understand the complexities of what prompts the curiosity in the first place.

Answer 3

For every idea that makes it from imagination to realization in a workable invention, there were *many* ideas that went nowhere, sometimes because they were ill-conceived or outright impossible. When you look backwards with the eyes of science and history, the inventions you list make sense. However, looking at them in the context of their own era, they are all the more amazing. At the time the telephone was invented, futurists were predicting that humans of the future would be transported by great networks of vacuum pipes, whooshing people around through cities and countryside in capsules. Just before Einstein published his work in 1905, repsected physicists were saying that physics was pretty much "complete", and that future work would be cleaning up a little Newtonian theory here and there. Sometimes inventions and revolutionary ideas appear to come out of no where. However, they are *always* based on existing great ideas waiting to find a new application. Einstein used math he had learned from Minkowsky (coupled hyperbolic-elliptic nonlinear partial differential equations) to put together General Relativity.

Answer 4

I watched a TV programme recently which said that Einstein was slightly disabled, he had only a very slight indentation down the centre of his brain while most people have a deep crevasse. This usually results in the person not being able to see the difference between small things like "b" and "d". However in Einstein's case he could not see the difference between time and space.

This is the case in many other "geniuses", in which they are slightly disabled! They can see things with a different view to normal people so they can invent seemingly amazing things which nobody has ever thought of before.

Answer 5

I could be wrong, but this is just my two cents...

I don't think anyone is necessarily "born to invent"......but I do believe that some people's mental strengths might be heavier in certain areas than in the minds of others...

Be it math, science, or even music or any other area of art...

I just think that some people are born with stronger gifts in certain areas....and the inventions and innovations come about when they simply work hard and creatively and follow through on that gift....

...Hence the Einsteins...George Washington Carvers...and even the Beethovens!

Additionally...everyone believes something different, but I believe that that gift is something that is specifically granted by a much higher being than all of us!

Answer 6

Depends where you live with regard to who did what.
Facts, News. Religion. Its all the same.
Now that is inventive.
Henry Ford's production line was first used by the British Navy to make pulley blocks in the days of sailing ships.
Ford didn't invent the car.
There are many who would argue with Einstein.
Ma Bell's namesake would not get to first base without the undertaker who invented switching.

Answer 7

Faraday 1791-1867 was a thicko, but some mathematician proved him right nonetheless. Theres hope for us all.

Answer 8

Faraday was not a "thicko". He had no training inmathematics, but that is not the same thing. Conceptually, he was spot on.

Answer 9

some people are naturally tallented, but some inventions happen by accident.

Answer 10

Greatness comes from the desire to do what you love.