The Lemelson Centerf o r t h e St u d y o f I n ve n t i o n & I n n ova t i o n

2 0 1 0 A C T I V I T I E S R E P O R T

SmithsonianNational Museum of American HistoryLemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation

Cover: Working in the Brannock Device Company machine shop. Brannock Device Company records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Monica Smith and Gary Sturm display electric guitars during National Inventors’ Month. Smithsonian photo by Harold Dorwin.

Making bubbles in Spark!Lab—an introduction to the study of optics. Smithsonian photo by richard Strauss.

THiS SpreAD: Steve Madewell, Spark!Lab “resident eccentric,” working with young visitors in Spark!Lab. Smithsonian photo by richard Strauss.

A view of Spark!Lab. photo by Tricia edwards.

NASA food scientist Vickie Kloeris speaking at “Food for Tomorrow,” the Lemelson Center’s 2010 New Perspectives symposium. Smithsonian photo by Harold Dorwin.

Our mission is to document, interpret, and disseminate information about invention and innovation, to encourage inventive creativity in young people, and to foster an appreciation for the central role that invention and innovation play in the history of the United States.

The Lemelson Centerf o r t h e St u d y o f I n ve n t i o n & I n n ova t i o n

2 0 1 0 A C T I V I T I E S R E P O R T

LefT: Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Lemelson Center, 1996. From left: former NMAH director Spencer Crew, Dorothy Lemelson, Jerome Lemelson, and Lemelson Center director Art Molella. Smithsonian photo by Jeff Tinsley.

rigHT: Snap circuit activity in Spark!Lab. Smithsonian photo by Harold Dorwin.

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The Lemelson CenterSince 1995, the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation has built an impressive record of achievements that reflect our mission to increase public understanding of the importance of invention and innovation in our nation’s history . . . and future.

Our roots

Jerome Lemelson—“Jerry” to his family and friends—believed that the American creative and inventive spirit, both now and in the past, is both a deeply cherished national characteristic and the energy source of a powerful economic engine. He wanted Americans to understand and appreciate the fundamental role that invention plays in our everyday lives.

Jerry turned to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History as the place best prepared to help achieve his vision. With millions of visitors every year, the Museum had a ready audience eager to explore the full spectrum of American history.

A plan coalesced to create a center about invention and innovation within the Museum that would take advantage of all the Museum had to offer, from exhibitions and hands-on learning to invention-related collecting initiatives and research opportunities for scholars. In 1995, Jerry and his wife Dorothy (Dolly) presented a generous gift to the Smithsonian to found the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.

Our mission

The Lemelson Center has embraced Jerry’s far-reaching vision and is committed to increasing public understanding of the creative processes of invention and innovation. The Center’s staff lives our mission to document, interpret, and disseminate information about invention and innovation; to encourage inventive creativity in young people; and to foster an appreciation for the central role

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of invention and innovation in the history of the United States. We embody a philosophy akin to that of Jerry Lemelson and the inventors we study, of valuing creativity and embracing the potential rewards of intellectual risk-taking.

Our accomplishments

The Center’s activities advance scholarship on the history of invention, share stories about inventors and their work, and nurture creativity in young people. A few of our signature programs demonstrate the depth and breadth of our work:

✲✲ The annual New Perspectives on Invention and Innovation symposium brings together scholars, practitioners, and the public to explore invention through multidisciplinary themes.

✲✲ The Modern Inventors Documentation Program assists in the preservation of and increased access to the documentary record of invention and includes a unique database of invention archives in the United States and Canada.

✲✲ Invention at Play and other exhibitions, from temporary showcases to major gallery installations and traveling shows, present stories of inventors and their work throughout American history.

✲✲ Innovative Lives presentations connect students and museum visitors with inventors who share their childhood inspirations and creative work lives.

✲✲ Spark!Lab, our popular hands-on invention center, gives kids and their families the chance to experience the process of invention firsthand.

Moving forward

The Lemelson Center continues to expand its mission of exploring invention and innovation in American history by looking ahead to exciting new opportunities that offer the greatest rewards for our audiences.

Following the completion of the first phase of renovations to the National Museum of American History in 2008, the Lemelson Center unveiled two new major public spaces: the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Hall of Invention and Spark!Lab. The Lemelson Hall, a 3,500-square-foot gallery, currently features the award-winning Invention at Play exhibition. During the next stage of renovation, the Center will develop a new, larger Spark!Lab and a “Meet the Inventors” space adjacent to the Lemelson Hall.

LefT: Jerry and Dolly Lemelson. photo courtesy of the Lemelson family.

rigHT: NanoDays presentation in Spark!Lab. Smithsonian photo by richard Strauss.

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A new exhibition, Places of Invention, will open in the Hall when the West Wing reopens. This prominent, unified public presence will invite visitors of all ages to learn about the history of invention and innovation while finding their own inventive spirit.

Through our presence in the Museum and our online and outreach programs, we aspire to be the nation’s leading resource for the history of invention and for invention education. To achieve this vision, we are eagerly exploring the newest ideas, technologies, learning methods, design techniques, and communication formats that promise to engage an increasingly global and ever-changing audience in the discussion about invention and innovation in everyday life.

Forming partnerships

Throughout our range of activities, the Lemelson Center strives for results marked by unsurpassed quality. To maintain this consistent level of achievement while embracing new opportunities, the Center continues to seek out partners who complement our skills. We foster alliances with organizations that share our ideals and we strive to build mutually beneficial partnerships. We are currently exploring collaborations for Spark!Lab and our Places of Invention exhibition project.

Spark!Lab

Spark!Lab reveals the real story behind inventors’ work through hands-on activities that help kids and families learn about the history and process of invention. Infused with historical content, Spark!Lab’s interdisciplinary activities appeal to varied learning styles, ages, and abilities. Especially planned for families with children ages six to twelve, Spark!Lab welcomes all visitors to the Museum. Younger children delight in the “under-five zone,” with activities specially designed for their young minds.

The success of the Spark!Lab philosophy is clear not only in the number of visitors to the space, but also in the increasing interest in replicating the Spark!Lab concept in other parts of the United States and abroad. Opportunities exist on many levels for partnerships that extend the Spark!Lab concept both physically and virtually.

Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough trying the sailboard simulator in Invention at Play. Smithsonian photo by Hugh Talman.

Presentation by Nanotec –USA during NanoDays 2010. Smithsonian photo by richard Strauss.

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Places of Invention exhibition

The Center’s exhibitions underline the relevance of history and the importance of invention to our audiences. Places of Invention, now under development thanks in part to a generous grant from the National Science Foundation, will ask questions about historic and modern communities where people, resources, and spaces have come together to spark inventiveness. What is it about a particular place that excites a creative mind and makes it a “place of invention”? How do creative people shape the spaces in which they work? What makes one place a hotbed of innovation while a similar place may founder?

Places of Invention will not be a typical museum exhibition. It will become an innovative community itself, with opportunities for hands-on explorations, discussions, and public-generated content that will connect visitors in the Museum gallery and online with other communities of invention. To realize this project’s most innovative potential, we are actively seeking partners who will work with us on all aspects of exhibition development, from research to new media to interactive experience design.

An invitation

As the Lemelson Center looks forward to its twentieth anniversary, our enthusiasm for the message we bring to students, scholars, parents, museum visitors, and our virtual communities has never been stronger.

In 2010, we continued—and enhanced—our standard of excellence. With the support of partners who share that enthusiasm, we will build on this foundation to reach new levels of service, expertise, and imagination.

We invite you to join us in these endeavors.

Arthur Molella Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Director

rigHT: Visitors at the Hot Spots of Invention showcase. photo by Amanda Murray.

BeLow: Inventor Elmer Gates. from the elmer gates papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

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visit!“One of the main goals of the Lemelson Hall of Invention exhibition is to encourage inventive creativity in children. Your kids will love it.” —www.naviquan.com

Young visitors in Invention at Play. photo by Tricia edwards.

Solomon Adler’s sketch of his workspace, around 1955. from his

notebook in the Solomon Adler papers, Archives Center, National

Museum of American History.

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The Lemelson Center inspires the millions of visitors to the National Museum of American History through exhibitions and public programs that allow us to highlight invention and innovation in American history.

Exhibitions

The Lemelson Hall of Invention, currently hosting the award-winning exhibition Invention at Play, and Spark!Lab, a hands-on invention space, are the primary physical spaces where we meet Museum visitors. In 2010,

✲✲ 543,247 people visited Invention at Play.

✲✲ 205,172 people visited Spark!Lab.

✲✲ We welcomed the one millionth visitor to the Lemelson Center since reopening in 2008!

✲✲ In Increasing Scientific Literacy: A Shared Responsibility, Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough stated that visiting Invention at Play and Spark!Lab can help parents advance their children’s scientific literacy. www.si.edu/About/Increasing-Scientific-Literacy

On display from June through August, Solomon “Sol” Adler: Restless Inventor showcased a 20th-century inventor best known for his work with sewing machine technology. This Archives Center–Lemelson Center collaboration featured several of Adler’s sewing machine prototypes and his personal papers from the Museum’s collections.

The Lemelson Center puts invention on the map of the National Mall

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Button celebrating the one millionth visitor to Lemelson Center spaces.

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Public Programs

In 2010, the Lemelson Center continued to produce centerpiece events at the National Museum of American History, including our National Inventors’ Month celebration and the annual New Perspectives on Invention and Innovation symposium. We also explored new partnerships, including National Robotics Week and a theater project with American University.

✲✲ NanoDays in March and April, an annual nationwide celebration in collaboration with the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network.

✲✲ National Robotics Week, an annual April event designated by Congress to educate the public about the impact of robotics technology on society and to inspire students to pursue careers in robotics and related fields.

✲✲ The American University Theater Program offered graduate students in public history the opportunity to work with archivists and educators from the Lemelson Center during the students’ spring semester. They developed monologues that highlighted the invention process and brought the stories of inventors Marion O’Brien Donovan and Margaret Knight to life.

“I would like to say thank you so much for this [Invention at Play] website. I have just discovered you and it’s wonderful and educating.”

—Pamela Balsarini

ABove: Percussion activity during National Inventors’ Month in Spark!Lab.

LefT: Simon Beins, Ian Cheney, and Curt Ellis discuss their film, Truck Farm, at the “Food for Tomorrow” symposium.

Smithsonian photos by Harold Dorwin.

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“My daughter has never mentioned wanting to become a scientist—but because of [Spark!Lab volunteer] Mr. Iseman’s infectious enthusiasm and encouragement, she might think differently about future experiments in school—perhaps remembering the fun afternoon she spent at your museum.”

—Nina Coombs

“Food for Tomorrow” participant samples the fare from the latest innovation in dining: food trucks. Smithsonian photo by Harold Dorwin.

✲✲ National Inventors’ Month, an annual August event, centered on music and sound innovations and included special activities in Spark!Lab; conversations with visitors about objects from the collections; drum circles; and live performances by music collective Bluebrain of an original electronic score set to a compilation of silent films from the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

✲✲ The 2010 New Perspectives on Invention and Innovation symposium, held in collaboration with the Museum’s American Food and Wine History Project, explored “Food for Tomorrow.” Programming included a preview of the urban agriculture documentary, Truck Farm; a “three-course” symposium on innovation in food; a Twitter-fueled food truck muster at the Museum; tastings of innovative East Coast wines; and various public programs in and outside Spark!Lab.

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study!ABove: The Places of Invention exhibition will take visitors “behind the scenes” to meet the inventors whose work fueled the Golden Age of Hollywood. Here, Lena Horne performs “Honeysuckle Rose” for the camera, crew, and director George Sidney (center)—who invented a 3-D motion picture camera—during the filming of Thousands Cheer (1943). george Sidney Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

rigHT: Screen capture of a submission to the Tech Virtual Design Challenge.

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We study the past, but our research always brings us forwardScholarship carried out by the Lemelson Center provides the foundation for all of our work, from creating activities for Spark!Lab to planning exhibitions to connecting with historians and museum professionals.

Places of Invention Exhibition Project

The Lemelson Center continues the development of Places of Invention, an interactive, family-friendly exhibition that will follow Invention at Play in the Lemelson Hall of Invention. In September, the Lemelson Center was privileged to receive a $2.58 million grant from the National Science Foundation to fund the development, evaluation, and installation of the Places of Invention exhibition.

Research and outreach activity highlights in 2010 included:

✲✲ The Tech Virtual Design Challenge, a collaborative project with The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California, posed a series of challenges to develop and prototype design concepts for the upcoming Places of Invention exhibition using the virtual tools and environment of Second Life.

✲✲ The “Spirit of Silicon Valley” tour was conducted in conjunction with the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance conference (NCIIA) in San Francisco in March. The Lemelson Center organized and hosted this tour of historic and current innovation “hot spots” throughout Silicon Valley. Stops included the iconic Hewlett-Packard garage, SRI International, and Tesla Motors.

✲✲ Prototype e-newsletter and Prototype Online: Inventive Voices podcasts featured the Places of Invention theme.

✲✲ A variety of blogs, articles, and conference presentations related to Places of Invention.

NCIIA conference participants at Tesla Motors during the “Spirit of Silicon Valley” tour, an early product of our Places of Invention research. photo by Amanda Murray.

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Professional Outreach

The Documenting Invention website launched in 2010 presents tested methods of documenting the work of inventors and other creative individuals. The documentation, reports, bibliographies, case studies, images, and guidelines included on the site reflect 15 years of Lemelson Center research. Intended primarily for the professional community charged with preserving and understanding the records of the creative process, the website will continue to present the leading edge in scholarship on documenting invention.

The Lemelson Center partnered with Johns Hopkins University and the University of Westminster to develop “Eco-Cities in Pan-Asia: Comparative Issues and Perspectives,” the fifth international conference hosted by the International Eco-Cities Initiative.

Lemelson Center Director Art Molella travelled with the State Department to the Ukraine to discuss innovation and the qualities of innovative people and places.

Lemelson Center staff members were featured presenters at the following conferences:

✲✲ Association of Women in Science

✲✲ International Association for the Study of Environment, Space, and Place

✲✲ The International Committee for the History of Technology History and The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage

✲✲ Ultimate Block Party: The Arts and Sciences of Play “Play Panel”

Publications

The fifth book in our Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation series published with MIT Press went into production in 2010. The Color Revolution by Regina Blaszczyk offers a fresh and unique perspective on the myriad ways color affects our lives.

Research and Training Opportunities

The Lemelson Center supports the training of the next generation of historians and archivists through internship, fellowship, and travel-to-collections award programs.

The annual Lemelson Center Summer Archival Internship promotes the development of emerging archival professionals by offering the opportunity to work on many of the invention-related collections in the Museum’s Archives Center. In 2010, we hosted Kim Kennedy, a student at Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

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Lemelson fellows in residence in 2010:

✲✲ Gregory Wickliff, Associate Professor, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, who studied John William Draper and his contribution to early photography.

✲✲ Simone Mueller, Ph.D. candidate, Free University, Berlin, who examined the Western Union Telegraph Company Records and studied the interaction of global and local spheres at an early transatlantic cable station in Newfoundland.

✲✲ Ray Guins, Assistant Professor, SUNY Stony Brook, who studied the history of video games, particularly their collection, preservation, and documentation.

The Travel to Collections Award provides travel funds for research on the history of invention and innovation using the extensive holdings of the Museum’s Archives Center and curatorial divisions. In 2010, funding was awarded to:

✲✲ Carlotta Daro, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, McGill University, who examined the Western Union Telegraph Records, the Anglo American Telegraph Company Records, and the George H. Clark Collection of Radioana.

✲✲ David Hanlon, Associate Professor, St. Louis Community College, who studied components of the Draper Family Collection.

✲✲ David Nofre Mateo, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Amsterdam, who consulted the Computer Standards Collection, SHARE Records, Paul Armer Collection, SHARE Numerical Analysis Project Records, and John Clifford Shaw Papers.

✲✲ Nicholaas Mink, Ph.D. candidate, University of Wisconsin, Madison, who consulted the Carvel Ice Cream Records, Coon Chicken Inn Scrapbooks, Horn and Hardart Company Records, Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation Records, A. Bernie Wood Papers, and the library’s trade literature collection.

Wage card for Margaret Rowe, who worked at the Heart’s Content transatlantic cable station. western Union Telegraph Company records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

LefT: Screen capture of Documenting Invention.

BeLow: The Color Revolution by Regina Blaszczyk, now in the review stage for the Lemelson Center’s book series with MIT Press, looks at innovations in color from fashion to cars to appliances and more. Here, dressed in fuchsia, Mrs. Consumer contemplates a matching paint job for the family car. from Motor (Aug. 1926). Smithsonian institution Libraries.

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participate!

The Lemelson Center extends its expertise and experiences not only to visitors to the National Museum of American History but also to audiences beyond the Museum’s walls.

Spark!Lab Outreach

Spark!Lab is the centerpiece of the Lemelson Center’s educational efforts. In 2010, we began to take bold steps toward bringing the Spark!Lab experience to other institutions throughout the country.

With a grant from the LEGO Children’s Fund, Spark!Lab staff developed the Spark!Lab Outreach Kit Project. The kits replicate some of the most popular lab activities while providing opportunities for partner museums to connect their collections and exhibitions to themes of invention and innovation.

The Lemelson Center brings its unique perspective to you

LefT: Invention project by a student at the Washington Middle School for Girls. photo by Tanya garner.

rigHT AND BeLow: Gyroscope activity with Draper Laboratory at the Cambridge Science Festival. photos by Tricia edwards.

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During the pilot phase, Spark!Lab Kits will be distributed to five Smithsonian Affiliate museums:

✲✲ U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama

✲✲ Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center, Solomons, Maryland

✲✲ Western Science Center, Hemet, California

✲✲ Museum of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Beach, Florida

✲✲ Science Museum Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

The Discovery Space Children’s Museum, a non-Affiliate in State College, Pennsylvania, is also participating in the pilot kit project.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education

The Lemelson Center partnered with the SciGirls Museum Affiliates Pilot Project to encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM fields and, through activities in Spark!Lab and Invention at Play, to ensure that educational programs address the different ways that boys and girls learn. The Center was one of only ten sites in the United States selected to participate.

Spark!Lab staff were also invited to bring their STEM education expertise to a meeting at the White House that focused on women in these fields and particularly on encouraging girls to pursue STEM careers.

Collaborations

In 2010, the Lemelson Center continued to work with partners both inside and outside the Smithsonian Institution. These collaborations opened new possibilities for the Lemelson Center to introduce our programs to wider audiences.

✲✲ The summer Smithsonian Folklife Festival, an annual international exposition of living cultural heritage held on the National Mall, featured an “inside out” look at the Smithsonian. Lemelson Center staff offered hands-on activities focusing on unlocking the mysteries of the universe through invention and innovation, exploring Ralph Baer’s inventions for video games, and creating fun musical instruments.

✲✲ The USA Engineering and Science Festival, held in October on the National Mall, was designed to reinvigorate interest in our nation’s youth in science, technology, engineering, and math. The Lemelson Center, along with staff from Draper Laboratory, led hands-on activities about gyroscopes.

✲✲ A Lemelson Center staff member is part of the team developing Time and Navigation, a collaborative exhibition project with the National Museum of American History and the National Air and Space Museum due to open in 2013.

Technics turntable used by Grand-master Flash and a phonograph record of “Bustin’ Loose Part 1” by Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers.

The Birth of Hip-Hop: Innovation against the Oddsby Amanda Murray, Lemelson Center Project Assistant

Sometimes a culture of innovation blossoms as a product of its environment, nurtured by the physical and ideological elements of a place … and sometimes innovation flourishes in spite of its sur-roundings. The hip-hop movement tells the latter story.

Parts of New York City in the 1970s were blighted places in belea-guered times. Documentarian Bill Adler called the Bronx of that era “the American poster child for urban decay.”[1] Arsonists reduced block after block of buildings to rubble, and the poverty, corruption, and violence that pervaded the city were amplified in the Bronx.

Against this grim backdrop, inspiring proponents of problem-solv-ing, risk-taking, and creativity appeared. Hip-hop artists and their fans pursued joy and self-expression despite the dire realities of their surroundings. Painful times for a city and a nation became times of discovery and experimentation for disenfranchised youth in the Bronx.

Four elements of the hip-hop movement—graffiti art, break danc-ing, DJing, and MCing (rapping)—emerged together, but the earli-est hip-hop parties centered on the disc jockey. DJs Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash were not the only pioneers, but they exemplify the drive, skill, and resourcefulness that created hip-hop.

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We communicate through online and traditional media to keep our audience informed about the varied activities of the Lemelson Center.

Online Communications

In 2010, the Lemelson Center’s Inventive Voices podcast series focused on innovators working in contemporary places and spaces of discovery. Interviewees included:

✲✲ Remo Belli, drummer and inventor, on 1950s Los Angeles.

✲✲ Ryan Lintelman, National Museum of American History Research Specialist, on Thomas Edison and the early film industry’s move to Hollywood.

✲✲ Jane Lancaster, historian, on industrial psychologist Lillian Gilbreth.

✲✲ David Rhees, historian and Executive Director, Bakken Library and Museum, on Medical Alley, Minnesota.

✲✲ Norman Winarsky, Vice President of Ventures and Strategic Programs, SRI International, on Silicon Valley.

✲✲ Liz Lerman, dancer and choreographer, on her dance studio, the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, in Maryland.

✲✲ John Fernandez, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, on regional innovation clusters.

In July the Center launched a new e-newsletter, News Blast, which features updates on our projects. This complements Prototype, our e-newsletter focused on the history of invention.

“This podcast made the little ‘ah-ha’ light go off at least a couple of times.”

– Julie Gris

Can’t meet us in person? We come to your inbox, headphones, and TV.

Historian Jane Lancaster

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Awards

“At invention.smithsonian.org, there are audio and video podcasts from historians of technology. There are web feature-ettes on the development of the electric guitar, and the use of technology in the human body, from peg-legs to high-tech prosthetics, and plenty more.

It’s an imaginative and inspiring trip through much of what’s best about America. And invention.smithsonian.org is the Government Video Website of the Week!” –From GovernmentVideo.com

Electrified: The Guitar Revolution, a Smithsonian Network documentary featuring Monica Smith and other National Museum of American History staff members, won a CINE Golden Eagle Award in the Arts, Leisure, and Lifestyle category within the Professional Telecast Non-Fiction Division.

Notable Press

✲✲ Spark!Lab and its “resident eccentric,” Steve Madewell, were featured on Fox’s early morning television show with Holly Morris, seen on the Washington, D.C., Fox affiliate, WTTG.

✲✲ The Washington Examiner profiled Steve Madewell.

✲✲ Historian Eric Hintz published an article in The Wall Street Journal titled “Creative Financing: The rise of cash prizes for innovation is a response to changing business conditions—and a return to a winning strategy.” This article was cited in a December press release issued by the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.

✲✲ Project Curator Amanda Murray was interviewed on Boomer Radio.

✲✲ Eric Hintz was interviewed on MSNBC Live about the America COMPETES Act.

Online Statistics

✲✲ Website views: 817,264

✲✲ Newsletter subscribers: 10,293

✲✲ Podcast downloads: 99,527

✲✲ Twitter followers: 525

✲✲ Facebook fans: 295

LefT: Lemelson Center New Media Assistant Matt Ringelstetter records symposium presentations. Smithsonian photo.

John Fernandez, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic

Development. photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Commerce,

economic Development Administration, public Affairs Division.

LefT: Prototype, the Lemelson Center’s e-newsletter.

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LefT: Tony Hawk skatedeck. Smithsonian photo by Hugh Talman.

rigHT: “Robbie,” designed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as a research tool for enhancing autonomy in robots, took up residence in Spark!Lab during April and May 2011. Robbie plays games with visitors, such as a memory game similar to Simon, and stimulates discussions about how robots process information. photo by Kate wiley.

Students present their invention at the National Collegiate Inventors

and Innovators Alliance’s Open Minds event. photo by Brendan

Hoffman, courtesy of NCiiA.

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A busy and successful 2010 is leading full-speed into a packed calendar in 2011. The Lemelson Center staff is looking forward to:

✲✲ Planning the move into our new office space and closing our public spaces in preparation for the Museum’s west wing renovation.

✲✲ Continuing to expand our research, conducting additional front-end evaluation with visitors, and refining plans for the Places of Invention exhibition.

✲✲ Establishing satellite Spark!Labs in new places like Reno, Nevada, and Kiev, Ukraine.

✲✲ Offering continued exploration into the “Food for Tomorrow” theme through our podcast series.

✲✲ Participating in the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance Open Minds showcase, NanoDays, National Robotics Month, the ION Robotics Challenge, and other public programs.

✲✲ Highlighting innovations in skateboarding and skate culture during National Inventors’ Month.

✲✲ Partnering with the Division of Space History at the National Air and Space Museum for our 2011 New Perspectives on Invention and Innovation symposium on the past and future of spaceflight.

Innovation never stops at the Lemelson Center

Top rigHT: NanoDays in Spark!Lab. photo by Kate wiley.

BeLow: The Apollo 11 command module Columbia. Smithsonian photo by eric Long.

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Lemelson Center Team 2010Arthur Molella, Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Director

Aaron Alcorn, Gallery Facilitator

Joyce Bedi, Senior Historian

Jeffrey Brodie, Deputy Director

Katherine Campbell, Gallery Facilitator

Tricia Edwards, Education Specialist

Tanya Garner, Interpretive Exhibitions Manager

Annie Gilliland, Gallery Facilitator

Tawnya Hawkins, Floor Manager

Eric Hintz, Historian

Catherine Kruchten, Gallery Facilitator

Steve Madewell, Interpretive Exhibits Coordinator

Amanda Murray, Project Curator

Alison Oswald, Archivist

William Reynolds, Administrative Support Specialist

Matt Ringelstetter, New Media Assistant

Monica Smith, Exhibition Program Manager

Kimberly Tarr, Project Archivist

Trudy Trotz, Gallery Facilitator

Christopher White, Lead Gallery Facilitator

Kate Wiley, Public Affairs Specialist

Lemelson Center Volunteers 2010More than seventy volunteers work in Spark!Lab and Invention at Play.

Lemelson Center 2010 Advisory CommitteeLeslie Berlin, Project Historian, Silicon Valley Archives, Stanford University

Judy Gradwohl, Associate Director for Public Programs, National Museum of American History

Chip Lindsey, Associate Director, Don Harrington Discovery Center

Matthew MacArthur, Director, New Media Program, National Museum of American History

Jan Morrison, Executive Director, TIES—Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM

Shannon Perich, Associate Curator of Photography, National Museum of American History

Len Polizzotto, Vice President, Strategic Business Development & Marketing, Draper Laboratory

Deborra A. Richardson, Chair, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sharon Rogone, Founder, Small Beginnings, Inc.

Joshua Salcman, President and Co-Founder, Virtual Nerd, LLC

Dan Solomon, Chief Executive Officer, Virilion, Inc.

Paul Theerman, Head of Images and Archives, National Library of Medicine

Dorothy, Eric, and Robert Lemelson, honorary members

The Lemelson Foundation is dedicated to improving lives through inventionThe Lemelson Foundation recognizes and celebrates accomplished inventors. We inspire and mentor young people and grassroots inventors and entrepreneurs. We disseminate technologies that improve people’s lives and generate entrepreneurial opportunity. And we research and share information that illuminates the value of invention to society.

For more information about the Lemelson Foundation, please visit www.lemelson.org.

BeLow AND rigHT: Kids and adults learn about nanotechnology during NanoDays. photos by Kate wiley and richard Strauss.

BACK Cover: Historians Eric Hintz and Steve Velasquez display food-related objects at the “Food for Tomorrow” symposium. photo by Kate wiley.

Gyroscope activity at the Cambridge Science Festival. photo by Tricia edwards.

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Lemelson Center 2010 Places of Invention Exhibition Advisory CommitteePaul Israel, Director and General Editor, Thomas A. Edison Papers, Rutgers University

Gretchen Jennings, Editor, The Exhibitionist

John Kenny, Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder, E-Luminate Group

Stuart W. Leslie, Professor, Department of History of Science and Technology, Johns Hopkins University

Peter Liebhold, Chair, Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History

Chip Lindsey, Associate Director, Don Harrington Discovery Center

Lorraine McConaghy, Historian, Museum of History and Industry, Seattle

Hooley McLaughlin, Chief Science Officer and Vice President, Science Experience, Ontario Science Centre

Wendy Pollock, Independent Consultant

Kate Roberts, Senior Exhibit Developer, Minnesota Historical Society

Tom Simons, Director of Education and Public Programs, Omaha Children’s Museum

Jim Spadaccini, Director and Founder, IDEUM

Heather Toomey Zimmerman, Assistant Professor of Education, Department of Learning and Performance Systems, College of Education, Pennsylvania State University

Lemelson Center Visiting CommitteeJeffery L. Sturchio, President and CEO, Global Health Council

Ruth Schwartz Cowan, Janice and Julian Bers Professor, University of Pennsylvania

Daryl M. Hafter, Professor of History (Emerita), Eastern Michigan University

David J. Rhees, Executive Director, Bakken Library and Museum

Helen W. Samuels, Institute Archivist (Emerita), Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and InnovationNational Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

P.O. Box 37012 MRC 604Washington, D. C. 20013-7012Phone 202.633.3450Fax 202.357.4517E-mail lemcen@si.edu

For updates on activities at the Lemelson Center, visit invention.smithsonian.org.

© 2011 The Lemelson Center

A docent leads an experiment in Spark!Lab.

photo by Tricia edwards.

For interactive content, please visit invention.smithsonian.org

The Lemelson Centerfor the Study of Invention & Innovation

invention.smithsonian.org