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How to determine who the greatest inventors in history were is often a passionate and, at times, even a heated debate. Many men can lay claim to having invented or, at very least, perfecting someone else’s obscure invention, making such a listing problematic at best. Fortunately, I don’t maintain any personal favorites, which will hopefully [...]

A format war occurs when two incompatible versions of a similar technology begin to compete against one another in the market.  In almost every case, one of the two formats wins out in the end, either because of a better marketing strategy or a superior product, leaving groups of unlucky consumers with an obsolete technology [...]

History books will often lead you to believe that the world’s great inventions and discoveries were the work of a single person with a flash of genius, but the reality is rarely that simple. In most cases, it was only after years of work and input from countless inventors that something was finally created. Still, [...]

One of the best aspects of science has always been its readiness to admit when it got something wrong. Theories are constantly being refigured, and new research frequently renders old ideas outdated or incomplete. But this hasn’t stopped some discoveries from being hailed as important, game-changing accomplishments a bit prematurely. Even in a field as [...]