# Inventions by older people **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 1, 2005, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-by-older-people/328893 "2005-11-01T11:53:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-by-older-people/328893/1 "2005-11-01T11:53:12Z")
It has been said, rightly I believe, that most great inventions have been made by people under age 30. That seems even truer with the advent of the computer, although I realize that today’s inventions and discoveries are mostly the results of teamwork research within large companies rather than individual findings. Can you name some older people who contributed to great inventions ? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-by-older-people/328893/2 "2005-11-01T12:42:04Z")
The premise seems patently(no pun intended) false. I just went looking for inventors at random and all of the preliminary results I found contradicted it. The Wright brothers were a few years past 30 when they actually took to the air. Thomas Newcomen was in his late 40s when he developed the first practical steam engine. James Watt was ~36 when he perfected and patented the condensing steam engine. Joseph Swan was ~32 when he developed and patented the first working electric light bulb Henry Bessemer was in his early 40s when he developed his method for purifying iron. Marie Curie was (just) over 30 by the time she started to make significant discoveries in the field of radioactivity. Clive Sinclair was 32 when he developed the first pocket calculator. Barnes-Wallis was ~54 when he first thought of the bouncing bomb. Trevor Baylis was ~56 when he invented the clockwork radio John Logie Baird was ~38 when he first demonstrated a working television device. His American counterpart, Philo Farnsworth - inventor of the cathode ray television tube was… YAY! 20 years old! Result! ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-by-older-people/328893/3 "2005-11-02T00:56:49Z")
My dad is 60 and gets a couple of patents a year for his stuff. He’s a metallurgist (right now). ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-by-older-people/328893/4 "2005-11-02T11:17:54Z")
I agree with **Mangetout** that the OP’s premise is seriously flawed. I looked up the birth-years of the people behind a few important post-WWII inventions: [ul] [li]the [Transistor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor) (1949), by [John Bardeen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bardeen) (b. 1908), [Walter Brattain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Brattain) (b. 1902), and [William Shockley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shockley) (b. 1910).[/li][li]The [Integrated Circuit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit) (1959+), by [Jack Kilby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kilby) (b. 1923) and [Bob Noyce](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Noyce) (b. 1927).[/li][li]The [Laser](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser) (1957+), conceived by [Gordon Gould](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Gould) (b. 1920), also by [Charles Townes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_H._Townes) (b. 1915) and [Art Schawlow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schawlow) (b. 1921), with the first workable Ruby Laser built in 1960 by [Ted Maiman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Maiman) (b. 1927).[/li][/ul]I wasn’t cherrypicking: _every single one_ of the principle inventors of the above technology was over 30 at the time of the groundbreaking work. I’m not as familiar with the biosciences, but even **I** have heard of [Herbert Boyer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_W._Boyer) (b. 1936), whose synthesis of insulin at age 32 led to his eventual founding of [Genentech](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genentech) and the commercial applications of recombinant DNA technology. Although it may be true that _mathematicians_ do their best work at a young age, I think that the “scientific genius whizkids are smarter than adults” meme is a literary device perpetuated by Hollywood. [Note: It may be that some of the greatest _software_ has been written by those under 30; I would, however, distinguish that from _inventions_.] ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-by-older-people/328893/5 "2005-11-02T13:18:56Z")
i think Edison was still getting plenty of patents past 30. Heck, I’ve got four patents, and I was over 30 for each of them. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-by-older-people/328893/6 "2005-11-04T14:47:38Z")
Thanks for the examples. Make me feel I still have a chance 🙂 But are they the majority ? By the way, I just found this thread in GQ a minute ago: “the world’s geniuses discovered what they would by the time they were 20” ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-by-older-people/328893/7 "2005-11-04T14:52:17Z")
Sorry, in IMHO, not in GQ. :o ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-by-older-people/328893/8 "2005-11-04T17:40:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Thanks for the examples. Make me feel I still have a chance > But are they the majority ? My father has close to 30 patents so I would say that he’s a pretty good example of a reasonably prolific inventor. He has slowed down recently but that has more to do with the fact that he’s about due for retirement and his company is already making billions of dollars on all of those and it would pretty much take some sort of egregious act of misconduct for him to get fired at this point. When I was younger he was getting patents at a higher rate but that had more to do with the fact that he was making his mark at his place of employment than anything else. The older he got, the more established he became and the more obvious it was that pretty much no one could match him so he slowed down. Pity I didn’t inherit his intelligence. He has the best job in the world (got to stay home and raise us and get paid for just coming up with ideas in the shower).