The
Invention Test

Incorrect

The answer is A: Alexander Fleming.

Before the invention of antibiotics, even a simple paper cut could prove deadly if infection set in. In 1928, the Scottish physician Alexander Fleming was experimenting on the influenza virus. He returned from a holiday to find an antibiotic mold growing on a Petri dish that he’d forgotten to clean up.

“One sometimes finds what one is not looking for,” he later reflected. “I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I guess that was exactly what I did.”

Fleming himself failed in his attempts to purify penicillin. A decade later, a team of Oxford University scientists turned the mold into a drug that has saved hundreds of millions of lives. However, there may yet be a sting in the tail. Antimicrobial resistance, caused by the overuse of antibiotics in medicine and farming, could lead to catastrophic loss of life in the future.

Dr. Edward Jenner needed no such good fortune. He created the world’s first successful vaccine, after spotting that milkmaids infected with cowpox were immune to smallpox. Described by the World Health Organization as “one of the most devastating diseases known to humanity,” smallpox has caused millions of deaths over the last 3,000 years. The appalling condition was eradicated in 1980, making it the only infectious disease to have been granted this distinction.

Incorrect

The answer is B: Louis Pasteur.

Louis Pasteur was an incomparable Force for Good. The 19th-century scientist is perhaps best known for his germ theory, which demonstrated that microorganisms cause disease, something that was largely misunderstood until the development of high-powered microscopes. By pasteurizing (heating) wine (and then milk), he killed the bugs that quickly contaminate liquids and endanger individuals.

Having saved the wine industry from collapse in France, Pasteur turned his efforts to immunology, making vaccines against fowl cholera, anthrax and rabies by using the microbes in weakened states.

Charles Darwin, a contemporary of Pasteur and a great scientist in his own right, would have agreed with his observation. His theory of evolution by natural selection was an inspiration borne of rigor, not good fortune. Like many entrepreneurs, Darwin had to wait until the timing was right to publish “On the Origin of Species.” He sat on his bombshell for two decades until the culture of Victorian Britain had evolved to cope better with its implications.

Incorrect

The answer is B: Kodak.

Kodak engineer Steven Sasson developed a prototype digital camera in 1975. Weighing in at four kilos, the machine captured black-and-white images on a digital cassette tape, with a resolution of 0.01 megapixels. Today’s smartphones have a 12-megapixel camera and weigh less than 180 grams.

Founded in the late 1880s, the U.S. company was a notable pioneer in the 20^th century. The “Kodak moment” passed into everyday language, while taglines like “You press the button, we do the rest” were wildly successful. Kodak also played a significant role in the evolution of the first commercial digital cameras, working with partners like Canon and Apple. Yet, despite taking a technological lead, Kodak ultimately failed to heed the changing culture in which it operated. Kodak missed the moment.

The company filed for bankruptcy in 2012, but is now back in business, with a focus on innovative printing materials. Canon was a fast follower and now captures half of the world’s digital camera market, although its sales have been impacted by the increasing sophistication of smartphone cameras.

Incorrect

The answer is B: the first unassisted swim across the English Channel.

In 1875, Englishman Matthew Webb made history by becoming the first person to swim across the English Channel without artificial aids. Covered in porpoise fat, his 40-mile dip took just under 22 hours (and included several jellyfish stings). Earlier that year, American Paul Boyton had crossed the channel, but he had used an inflatable suit. Webb became a national hero, although his newfound celebrity status eventually went to his head. He tried to swim through the Whirlpool Rapids beneath Niagara Falls – despite warnings that any attempt was suicidal. His memorial reads: “Nothing great is easy.”

Boats have carried people across the Channel for at least 3,500 years. A French air balloon floated over to England as early as 1785. In 1880, construction began on a tunnel that would eventually connect the U.K. to the continent in 1994. But the first airplane to make the trip was piloted by French aviator Louis Blériot in 1909, complete with handlebar mustache. In just 36 minutes, Blériot was transformed from a bankrupt inventor into a world-famous manufacturer.

Incorrect

The answer is A: He wrote backwards.

Renowned for paintings such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci was a prodigious inventor who imagined extraordinary innovations – like the airplane, helicopter, parachute, diving suit and robots – centuries before technology caught up.

Something of a perfectionist, the polymath always lamented his inability to fly. His final words were: “I have offended God and mankind. My work did not reach the quality it should have.”

Leonardo wrote in a shorthand of his own creation, but he also mirrored his writing, starting on the right side of the page and moving to the left. Why? One theory is that he was left-handed and wanted to keep his hands clean of smudges. But perhaps it was just more inventive that way!

Incorrect

The answer is A: IBM.

For over 130 years, IBM has been at the forefront of computing advancements. From its early days in punch-card data processing to the development of magnetic tape, hard drives, floppy disks and personal computers, the company has been a byword for innovation. In 2022, its 8,682 patents included second-generation, two-nanometer nanosheet technology that can fit 50 billion transistors in a space roughly the size of a fingernail. (Two nanometers is smaller than the width of a single strand of human DNA.)

The 29 consecutive years coincided with IBM’s appointment of Lou Gerstner as CEO, who shepherded the company back to growth after a period of decline in the 1980s.

If you went for 3M, then you’re not far off. The company’s track record in innovation over the last century is impressive too, creating a portfolio of 60,000 products and more than 130,000 patents worldwide. The company’s “15% Culture,” which permits employees to dedicate 15% of their work time to trying out cool new stuff, led to the Post-it Note, among other winning inventions.

Samsung out-patented IBM in 2022 and then retained top spot in 2023.

Incorrect

The answer is A: General Robert Wood Johnson.

During the American Civil War, the vast majority of the 720,000 reported casualties were caused by infection and disease. Amputations were hurried and dirty. The young Robert Wood Johnson was deeply affected by stories from the front line. His family business was already making medicated bandages when he became inspired by Dr. Joseph Lister’s radical new procedure: antiseptic surgery. (Lister was himself inspired by Louis Pasteur’s germ theory.)

Johnson went all in. In partnership with his two younger brothers, he set about manufacturing the world’s first mass-produced, sterile surgical supplies, including sutures, absorbent cotton and gauze. Their ready-made dressings reduced infection rates and saved lives. Today, Johnson & Johnson is one of only two U.S. companies to hold an outright AAA credit rating (the other is Microsoft).

The household products company SC Johnson showed its own values-led approach in 1975, when founder Sam Johnson (no relation to the founders of Johnson & Johnson) chose to eliminate CFCs from its aerosol products worldwide, becoming one of the first companies to take a major, public stand against an ingredient that was harming the environment.

Incorrect

The answer is A: Abraham Lincoln.

In 1849, Abraham Lincoln received Patent No. 6469 for a device to lift boats over shoals, although his invention was never actually built. It leaves him as the only U.S. president to date who holds a patent. He had a natural inclination toward finding out how machinery worked and then tinkering with it to improve it, much like Benjamin Franklin. Lincoln once said that patents added “the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery and production of new and useful things.”

Although Roosevelt did not earn a patent, both he and Lincoln were the targets of assassination attempts. While Lincoln was fatally gunned down in 1865, Roosevelt survived his encounter. He carried the bullet from his would-be assassin in his chest for the rest of his life; its impact slowed by a folded 50-page campaign speech and a metal glasses case in his breast pocket. He duly put on his glasses and performed the speech, demanding that no harm should come to his assailant.

Incorrect

The answer is B: Patagonia.

For over 50 years, the outdoor apparel company Patagonia has held true to its Noble Purpose of changing the way business is done for the benefit of the environment and ecology. In 2022, U.S. founder Yvon Chouinard, himself a passionate rock climber and surfer, took the unprecedented step of bequeathing the whole business to an environmental trust, making Earth the “only shareholder.” The company remains for-profit, but with the aim of “proving that purpose and profits are inextricably linked.”

Tesla’s purpose is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy” through its electric vehicles and renewable energy generation and storage. In 2014, the company chose to open-source its battery patents, with the aim of fast-tracking mass adoption. The gesture has helped scale the battery energy storage industry globally. The cost of one kWh of lithium-ion battery capacity fell from $1,200 in 2010 to under $140 in 2023. The price is predicted to drop further to US$62/kWh by 2035.

Incorrect

The answer is B: Blockbuster.

At the turn of the millennium, the start-up Netflix was reeling from the dot-com crash. Its DVD-by-mail rental model was beginning to look increasingly frail. Meanwhile, Blockbuster was the top movie rental store in the U.S., with over a quarter of market share and around 87 million customers. Worldwide, the chain employed over 80,000 people across 9,000 stores and was nearing its peak value of $5 billion. But Goliath rejected David’s deal.

Just 10 years later, Blockbuster had filed for bankruptcy, unable to compete with slicker online services and the rise of video streaming. Netflix, however, had built its subscriber base with instant access and binge-watching in mind. Staying ahead of the curve, the company grew at an astronomical rate during the 2010s. It reinvented itself as a TV and movie studio, creating a one-stop shop for content. By 2017, Netflix had more subscribers than all the cable TV companies combined.

Netflix today has a market cap of $271 billion. Meanwhile, there is just one Blockbuster store remaining, located in Bend, Oregon. Curiously, this store became the subject of a Netflix series.

Amazon offered to buy Netflix for $15 million in 1998, but Netflix’s founders held their nerve. In fact, the meeting with Jeff Bezos persuaded them to focus on rental, as they would never beat Amazon in terms of online DVD retail. At the time of writing, Amazon Prime’s streaming and production service is just marginally ahead of Netflix for U.S. market share.