Week 30 Summary Essay

           This week was different than the others; I didn’t only learn about inventions, but I also learned about an inventor. That inventor’s name was George Washington Carver. The inventions were the crystal osculator, the Yagi-Uda antenna, and penicillin. The inventors’ names (not including George Washington Carver) were Alexander M. Nicholson, Shintaro Uda and Hidetsugu Yagi, and finally, Sir Alexander Fleming.

            The first invention I learned about this week was the crystal oscillator, which was developed by several people over the late 1800s, but was first built in 1917 by Alexander M. Nicholson at Bell Telephone Laboratories. The crystal oscillator is a device that uses a piece of vibrating crystal, usually quartz, to create an electric signal that is more precise. Because the signal was more precise, the frequency it made was more stable. During that time, radio frequencies were not very good, because they would drift into other radio station frequencies. This caused the signal to not be clear. Crystal oscillators fixed this problem and made radio communication much better, especially during World War II. They are also used in items such as wristwatches, clocks, computers, and cell phones.

            This lesson isn’t about a specific invention, instead, it is about someone who invented many things, and his name is George Washington Carver. Even though he was born into slavery, he became one of the most important people in history. He attended Iowa State University, which was amazing, because it was not common for a black person to attend universities like that one. Carver was very intelligent and learned to farm in ways that did not strip all the nutrients out of the soil. He was so successful at this that he later became a professor at Iowa State University, and then moved on to the head the Agricultural Department at the Tuskegee Institute. There he taught his students all he knew about crop rotation and cash crops that would help the poor black farmers of the area be self-sufficient. He also created new ways to use many crops, like peanuts. He is still very well known today for all his work.

            The next lesson was about the Yagi-Udar antenna, also known as the Yagi antenna. It was invented in 1926 by Shintaro Uda with the help of his colleague, Hidetsugu Yagi. However, the name “Yagi” has become more familiar than the name “Uda”. This is because Yagi filed the patent for the antenna without Uda’s name on it. Yagi-Uda antennas consist of a single driven element connected to the transmitter or receiver with a cable. They were first widely used during WWII in radar systems by the British, US, German, and Japanese, and after the war, they made their way into the television industry. They are still used all the time today.

            Lastly, I learned about penicillin. Penicillin is an antibiotic that kills bacteria and cures the infections or diseases they can cause. It was discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928 by accident in his lab. There was a petri dish of Staphylococcus left uncovered overnight. Fleming was going to throw it away but saw a blue-green mold on the bacteria, and a ring around the mold where the bacteria was not growing. He tested the mold and found that it was a Penicillium fungi, which lead to the name Penicillin. Many scientists were not interested at the time, but Penicillin changed how many bacteria-caused diseases were treated, such as syphilis, tonsillitis, meningitis, pneumonia, and many others. It was first used to treat illnesses like these in World War II and is still very widely used today. Many people’s lives have been saved by Fleming’s discovery.

            Finally, my favorite invention or inventor that I learned about this week was George Washington Carver. I like him because he did so many amazing things that have changed the world, even though he was born into slavery! He influenced many powerful people including Teddy Roosevelt, which was very difficult to do for someone like him during that time. I admire George Washington Carver because he did not give up, even when people told him “No”.

Bonus Question: Explain what the “Eureka!” moment that Fleming had was, and why he was able to have it in the first place. (Hint: Could just anyone have discovered penicillin if they would have noticed the same thing at the same time in the same place that Fleming did?).

            I think that only Fleming could have noticed this and knew what was going on because of his background. Other people may have noticed the change but had not understood what was going on; Fleming did understand. That is why he was able to have his “Eureka” moment; he understood.