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Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, icons of American innovation, are white men – like nearly all the legendary figures in the pantheon of American inventors. Focusing only on their stories marginalizes the contributions of women and people of color.
But as communications professor Anjali Vats explains, this disservice to history is only part of the problem. Proportionately fewer women and people of color go into science, technology, engineering and math fields than white men, and those who do pursue those careers invent and patent at lower rates. One reason is lack of imagination. Vats argues that society needs to find new ways to tell stories about inventors.
Also, a thank you to those who have given already to our fundraising campaign. If you value the stories you read here each day, we would appreciate your support. We need just 40 more monthly donors to meet our goal of 1,000 supporters.
Also today:
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Eric Smalley
Science and Technology Editor
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Thomas Edison remains the poster child of American invention 89 years after his death.
Underwood & Underwood via the Library of Congress
Anjali Vats, Boston College
The story of the invention in America typically features larger-than-life caricatures of white men like Thomas Edison while largely ignoring the contributions of women and people of color.
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Arts + Culture
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Jenny Adams, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Ever since players tweaked the game to reflect the medieval social order, poets and writers have used chess as an allegory for love, duty, conflict and accomplishment.
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Environment + Energy
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Julie Loisel, Texas A&M University
Peat beds around the world hold huge quantities of carbon and keep it from warming the planet. But rising temperatures and over-use could turn them from a brake on climate change into an accelerant.
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Science + Technology
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Mo Ebrahimkhani, University of Pittsburgh
New strategy helps build synthetic organs from scratch. This enabled the researchers to grow functioning liver tissue in the lab that could be transplanted into mice with liver disease.
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Seth M. Weinberg, University of Pittsburgh; John R. Shaffer, University of Pittsburgh
Like it or not, the facial feature most influenced by your genes is your nose. Researchers investigate which genes are involved in sculpting the face.
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Politics/Election '20
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Samuel Fury Childs Daly, Duke University
The story of Nigeria's #EndSARS movement shows just how durable law enforcement institutions are – and why the road to reform goes straight uphill.
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Education
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Hernán Galperin, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism; Stephen Aguilar, University of Southern California
When homes become classrooms, things like a lack of technology and a quiet place to study take an even bigger toll on student achievement, new research finds.
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Economy + Business
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Hanif Sufizada, University of Nebraska Omaha
Because the Taliban's insurgency is so well financed, the Afghan government must spend enormous sums on war, too. A peace accord would free up funds for basic services, economic development and more.
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From our international editions
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Christiaan De Beukelaer, University of Melbourne
In early 2020, stranded cruise ships became a stark symbol of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Now it's seafarers stranded on cargo ships.
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Steven Lloyd Wilson, Brandeis University; Charles Shey Wiysonge, South African Medical Research Council
Combating social media disinformation regarding vaccines is critical to reversing the growth in vaccine hesitancy around the world.
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Matthew Duda, Queen's University, Ontario; John P. Smol, Queen's University, Ontario
Seabird colonies are thought to be in rapid decline. But knowing just how severe the loss is can be a challenge, so some scientists are turning to bird poop for the answer.
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