The Life of the Adventurous Inventor Dean Kamen

The Life of the Adventurous Inventor Dean Kamen Dean Kamen is an American businessman and inventor. Kamen is best known for the invention of the electric-powered Segway personal human transporter, best described as a stand-up scooter (see photo). The Segway was much publicized before its initial unveiling to the public with conspiracy level intrigue as an invention that was going to change the world. Nothing was known about it except its original name of Ginger and that Dean Kamen was the inventor, however, the speculation about Ginger had folks thinking it might even have been a revolutionary type of free energy device. Inventions Other than the Segway, Dean Kamen has had an interesting career as an inventor and together with his company Deka has produced several inventions in the fields of medicine and engine design. Below is a partial listing of his accomplishments, Kamen holds 440 U.S. and foreign patents. the first wearable infusion pumpthe first wearable insulin pump for diabeticsHomeChoice peritoneal dialysis systemimproved slide preparation for the ThinPrep Pap Testan advanced prosthetic armimproved Stirling engine designsthe iBot electric wheelchair that is an all terraina nonpolluting, low-power water-purifying systeminventions related to solar energy and power Biography Dean Kamen was born April 5, 1951, in Rockville Center, Long Island, New York. His father, Jack Kamen was a comic book illustrator for Mad Magazine, Weird Science, and other EC Comics publications. Evelyn Kamen was a school teacher. Biographers have compared Dean Kamens early years to those of Thomas Edisons. Both inventors did not do well in public school, both had teachers that thought they were dull and would not amount to much. However, the real truth is that both men were too smart and bored by their early educations, and both were avid readers who constantly educated themselves about what interested them. Dean Kamen was always an inventor, he tells a story about his first invention at the age of five, a device that helped him make his bed in the morning. By the time he reached high school Kamen was making money from his inventions which he built in the basement of his home and was designing and installing light and sound systems. Kamen was even hired to set up a system to automate the fall of the Times Square New Years Eve ball. By the time Kamen graduated from high school, he was making a living as an inventor and made more money per year than the combined income of his parents. Kamen attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute but dropped out before graduating to founded his first company, called AutoSyringe, to sell his medical invention (a drug infusion pump) that he invented during college. Dean Kamen eventually sold AutoSyringe to another health company, Baxter International, in 1982, in a deal that made Kamen a multimillionaire. Kamen used the profits from the sale of AutoSyringe, to found a new company, DEKA Research Development, named after the inventor DEan KAmen. In 1989, Dean Kamen founded his non-profit called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) designed to expose high schools to the marvels of science and technology. FIRST holds an annual robotic competition for high school teams. Quotes You have teenagers thinking theyre going to make millions as NBA stars when thats not realistic for even 1 percent of them. Becoming a scientist or engineer is. An innovation is one of those things that society looks at and says, if we make this part of the way we live and work, it will change the way we live and work. There is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any real substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am working on things that matter. I think an education is not only important, it is the most important thing you can do with your life. If you start to do things youve never done before, youre probably going to fail at least some of the time. And I say thats OK. Videos Dean Kamens profile on TED includes three videos: Dean Kamen on  inventing  and giving, Dean Kamen previews a new prosthetic arm, and Dean Kamen: The emotion behind  invention.Dean Kamen demonstrates his prosthetic arm on the Steve Colbert Show. Awards National Medal of Technology in 2000Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005

Find Out What Happened to the Mayan People

Find Out What Happened to the Mayan People The fall of the Maya is one of history’s great mysteries. One of the mightiest civilizations in the ancient Americas simply fell into ruin in a very short time, leaving many wondering what happened to the ancient Maya. Mighty cities like Tikal were abandoned and Maya stonemasons stopped making temples and stelae. The dates are not in doubt: deciphered glyphs at several sites indicate a thriving culture in the ninth century A.D., but the record goes eerily silent after the last recorded date on a Maya stela, 904 A.D. Many theories exist as to what happened to the Maya, but experts display little consensus. The Disaster Theory Early Maya researchers believed that some catastrophic event may have doomed the Maya. An earthquake, volcanic eruption, or sudden epidemic disease could have destroyed cities and killed or displaced tens of thousands of people, bringing the Maya civilization crashing down. These theories have been discarded today, however, largely because of the fact that the decline of the Maya took about 200 years; some cities fell while others thrived, at least for a while longer. An earthquake, disease, or another widespread calamity would have snuffed out the great Maya cities more or less simultaneously. The Warfare Theory The Maya were once thought to have been a peaceful, Pacific culture. This image has been shattered by the historical record; new discoveries and newly deciphered stone carvings clearly indicate that the Maya battled frequently and viciously among themselves. City-states such as Dos Pilas, Tikal, Copn, and Quirigua went to war with one another often, and Dos Pilas was invaded and destroyed in 760 A.D. Some experts wonder if they went to war with one another enough to cause the collapse of their civilization, which is quite possible. War often brings with it an economic disaster and collateral damage that could have caused a domino effect in the Maya cities. Civil Strife Theory Staying with a theory of unrest, some researchers believe civil war may have been a cause. As the populations in the large cities boomed, a great strain was placed on the working class to produce food, build temples, clear rainforests, mine obsidian and jade, and do other labor-intensive tasks. At the same time, food was becoming more and more scarce. The idea that a hungry, overworked working class might overthrow the ruling elite is not too far-fetched, especially if warfare between city-states was as endemic as researchers believe. The Famine Theory Preclassic Maya (1000 B.C.–300 A.D.) practiced basic subsistence agriculture: slash-and-burn cultivation on small family plots. They planted mostly corn, beans, and squash. On the coast and lakes, there was some basic fishing as well. As the Maya civilization advanced, the cities grew, their population growing much larger than could be fed by local production. Improved agricultural techniques such as draining wetlands for planting or terracing hills picked up some of the slack, and increased trade also helped, but the large population in the cities must have put great strain on the food production. A famine or other agricultural calamity affecting these basic and vital crops could certainly have caused the downfall of the ancient Maya. Environmental Change Theory Climate change may also have done in the ancient Maya. As the Maya were dependent on the most basic agriculture and a handful of crops, supplemented by hunting and fishing, they were extremely vulnerable to droughts, floods, or any change in the conditions that affected their food and water supply. Some researchers have identified some climatic change that occurred around that time: for example, the coastal water levels rose toward the end of the Classic period. As coastal villages flooded, people would have moved to the large inland cities, placing added strain upon their resources while losing food from farms and fishing. So...What Happened to the Ancient Maya? Experts in the field simply do not have enough solid information to state with clear-cut certainty how the Maya civilization ended. The downfall of the ancient Maya was likely caused by some combination of the factors above. The question seems to be which factors were most important and if they were linked somehow. For example, did a famine lead to starvation, which in turn led to civil strife and warring upon neighbors? Investigations havent ceased. Archaeological digs are ongoing at many sites, and new technology is being used to re-examine previously excavated sites. For example, recent research, using chemical analysis of soil samples, indicates that a certain area at the Chunchucmil archaeological site in Yucatan was used for a food market, as had been long suspected. Mayan glyphs, long a mystery to researchers, have now mostly been deciphered. Sources: McKillop, Heather. The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives. New York: Norton, 2004. National Geographic Online: The Maya: Glory and Ruin. 2007. NY Times Online: Ancient Yucatn Soils Point to Maya Market, and Market Economy. 2008.