How Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man came to be

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Vitruvian Man

At the dawn of the Roman imperial age, the first century B.C., the architect and thinker Vitruvius proposed that the human body could fit inside a circle, symbolic of the divine, and a square, associated with the earthly and secular — an idea that later became known as the theory of the microcosm, and came to power European religious, scientific, and artistic ideologies for centuries.

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11 amazing whiz kid inventors

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Inventor kids

You probably think  kids are only good at inventing excuses to avoid chores, but think again. These teens and tweens are the minds behind some revolutionary products from household staples, Philo Farnsworth’s electronic television to cool niche novelties magnetic locker wallpaper to an entire method of communicating braille.

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Drones: garage invention spawns multibillion-dollar defense industry

Abraham Karem

Abraham Karem began tinkering with drones in his garage in 1980.

Abraham Karem, is an engineer who had emigrated from Israel.  In 1980 he retreated into his three-car garage in Hacienda Heights outside Los Angeles and, to the bemusement of his tolerant wife, began to build an aircraft.

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Google Celebrates The Career Of Microchip Inventor Robert Noyce

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Inventor Robert Norton Noyce

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the life and career of inventor Robert Noyce, co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel. Noyce, who died in 1990, is credited with the invention of the integrated circuit. His patent for a “Semiconductor Device and Lead Structure” paved the way for the semiconductor revolution of the next decades.

He was called the Mayor of Silicon Valley and his relaxed corporate structures encouraged his employees to experiment in an era of buttoned-down austerity. Without Noyce and his various projects, you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now…

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Buckminster Fuller’s largest dome is now a National Historic Place

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Buckminster’s legacy given new wings.

Buckminster Fuller only designed about a dozen of domed structures to begin with, and many have either been torn down in lieu of new construction or simply left to rot. But not the dome at Materials Park in Ohio, it just received a $7 million facelift and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)…

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Winners Announced – DaVinci Inventor Showcase

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Dan Hobson, winner of the “Inventor of the Year Award” at the DaVinci Inventor Showcase

2011 turned out to be a banner year for the inventors and their products at the seventh annual DaVinci Inventor Showcase. The event took place at the Noah’s Event Center in Westminster, CO amidst a record crowd of attendees.

Winning top prize at this years event was Dan Hobson, CEO of Ross Nanotechnology for their product, NeverWet™, a nano-tech coating that completely repels water. However, this standout technology was only one of many that captured the imaginations of everyone who attended.

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Only One Week Left to Exhibit!

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Deadline for Exhibiting at the DaVinci Inventor Showcase is Friday, Oct 28th

The DaVinci Inventor Showcase is one of the nation’s premier events focused on creating a link between inventors and world marketplace. By allowing inventors to take center stage and tell the world about their product, they hope to create an unparalleled experience for everyone involved.

The DaVinci Institute often get asked the question about how many of the inventor for the DaVinci Inventor Showcase have become successful. The short answer is – “lots of them.” We don’t know the details on everyone, but we thought we’d share a few stories about some of them:

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‘The Lamplighter’ shines bright for Inventor Art Contest winner Tyler Voorhees

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The Lamplighter is one of five images in the ‘Jobs of Yesteryear’ series.

As the dust settles on the award ceremonies for the Inventor Art Contest held on Friday, October 14 at DaVinci Institute, ImpactLab took a moment to talk with Best of Show recipient Tyler Voorhees about his work, his future and his studio, Doc’s Lollipops…

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World remembers Apple’s Steve Jobs

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In Tokyo, Apple fans pay respect with digital candles–on iPads and iPhones, of course.

Steve Jobs, the visionary who co-founded and built Apple into the world’s leading tech company, died Wednesday. He was 56.  The terribly sad news that he has died is taking the world by storm. (Pics)

 

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Visionaries wanted – no need to apply, just do it

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What if they never existed?

Futurist Thomas Frey:  If Steve Jobs had never lived, would we still have the iPhone and iPad today? Similarly, if Walt Disney, George Lucas, and Pete Diamandis had all taken jobs on Wall Street instead of living their lives as true innovators, would we still have Disneyland, Star Wars, and the X-Prize Foundation today?

 

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Genius 13-Year-Old has a solar power breakthrough

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Would you believe this could be the new look of solar power?

7th grader Aidan Dwyer was walking in the woods during the winter, and looking up, he noticed something about the bare branches above him. They didn’t appear to be growing randomly. So he took some measurements of the angles of the branches, crunched some numbers, and wouldn’t you know it, he found that the ubiquitous Fibonacci Sequence was behind it all. He suspected there was a reason behind this. That trees were using this pattern to gather more light.

So he did an experiment. Using the same number of solar cells, he built two working models. One was a traditional, flat array will all of the panels on a single plane. The other used the Fibonacci Sequence to create the same spiraled pattern he observed in the trees. The results? The little man himself reports…

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Discover the Hidden Patterns of Tomorrow with Futurist Thomas Frey
Unlock Your Potential, Ignite Your Success.

By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.

Learn More about this exciting program.