Who is the inventor?

The NYT has a story on the invention of the first sound recorder that brings out some important ideas about how difficult it is to credit an invention to a particular individual even today.

“It’s rare that you’ve got a major breakthrough that wasn’t developed by multiple people at about the same time,” said Mark Lemley, professor of intellectual property at Stanford Law School.

……

Whom we credit with an invention often has less to do with who came up with an idea, and more to do with who translated it into something usable, accessible, commercial. Garages and laboratories, workbenches and scribbled napkins are filled with brilliant ideas unmatched with determination, resources and market sensibilities, said Jack Russo, a Silicon Valley intellectual-property lawyer.

The New York Times March 30, 2008

Edison …Wasn’t He the Guy Who Invented Everything?

See also this NYT story on Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville’s recording which is now audible again

Hear also:

BBC story

Understanding the role of knowledge in human development

This blog is about trying to understand the origins, transference and use of knowledge by groups to adapt to the environment around them. I use each of these terms in their broadest possible terms, thus environment would include not just other human groups, but also the flora, fauna and inanimate world around.