# Inventors (ideas) that deserve recognition, but we don’t know who they are. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 9, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventors-ideas-that-deserve-recognition-but-we-don-t-know-who-they-are/836794 "2019-07-09T19:16:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventors-ideas-that-deserve-recognition-but-we-don-t-know-who-they-are/836794/1 "2019-07-09T19:16:16Z")
Interior dome lights in vehicles that dim to off when the door is closed are very, very cool. They have been in existence for many years. Don’t recall when they were first introduced. Probably all vehicles have them now. Don’t know who came up with the idea. But he deserves credit. Can you think of any other ideas that you appreciate, but don’t know who to applaud? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventors-ideas-that-deserve-recognition-but-we-don-t-know-who-they-are/836794/2 "2019-07-09T19:45:59Z")
Clothes. The controlled use of fire, including but not limited to the cooking of food. The wheel. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventors-ideas-that-deserve-recognition-but-we-don-t-know-who-they-are/836794/3 "2019-07-09T19:49:42Z")
I think BMW was the first to introduce that dome light that gradually dims to off, but I could be wrong. And you really highlighted the issue that if you’re an engineer working for a big company, and you come up with an idea like that as part of your job, the company owns that idea, not you. At best you might get a nice bonus if the company patents your idea. But not really any public recognition, except when you brag to your friends that you were the one who thought of that. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventors-ideas-that-deserve-recognition-but-we-don-t-know-who-they-are/836794/4 "2019-07-09T19:51:40Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I think BMW was the first to introduce… I felt sure that sentence was going to end “the wheel”. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventors-ideas-that-deserve-recognition-but-we-don-t-know-who-they-are/836794/5 "2019-07-09T20:02:56Z")
The atlatl ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventors-ideas-that-deserve-recognition-but-we-don-t-know-who-they-are/836794/6 "2019-07-09T20:52:17Z")
Bacon! More seriously, the bow and arrow ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventors-ideas-that-deserve-recognition-but-we-don-t-know-who-they-are/836794/7 "2019-07-09T21:01:34Z")
The [lego seperator](https://shop.lego.com/en-US/product/Brick-Separator-630?ef_id=Cj0KCQjw9pDpBRCkARIsAOzRzit-eYiSIdozpPLjb3aczrOx5GIxYHeWNjO4VkGaHIMwoyRRf8vLR3caAu1qEALw_wcB%3AG%3As&s_kwcid=AL%21790%213%21336132384180%21%21%21g%21296303633664%21&cmp=KAC-INI-GOOGUS-GO-US-EN-SP-BUY-SHOP-Brand-BP-SP-RN-Core). This would have saved me a bunch of legos, fingernails, and teeth in the 70s-80s. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventors-ideas-that-deserve-recognition-but-we-don-t-know-who-they-are/836794/8 "2019-07-09T21:16:28Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I think BMW was the first to introduce that dome light that gradually dims to off, but I could be wrong. And you really highlighted the issue that if you’re an engineer working for a big company, and you come up with an idea like that as part of your job, the company owns that idea, not you. At best you might get a nice bonus if the company patents your idea. But not really any public recognition, except when you brag to your friends that you were the one who thought of that. Reminds be of [Robert Kearns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kearns), inventor of intermittent windshield wipers, as portrayed in the movie _[Flash of Genius](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_of_Genius_(film))_. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventors-ideas-that-deserve-recognition-but-we-don-t-know-who-they-are/836794/9 "2019-07-09T21:45:56Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > Interior dome lights in vehicles that dim to off when the door is closed are very, very cool. They have been in existence for many years. Don’t recall when they were first introduced. Probably all vehicles have them now. Don’t know who came up with the idea. But he deserves credit. > > Can you think of any other ideas that you appreciate, but don’t know who to applaud? Perhaps related to that, my parents have a car in which the headlights can be left in auto mode, so they come on automatically and shut off shortly after you turn off the engine. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventors-ideas-that-deserve-recognition-but-we-don-t-know-who-they-are/836794/10 "2019-07-09T21:54:33Z")
In the early days of IBM [card sorters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_card_sorter), the manual told you how to sort. Set to sort by first digit, put the stacks aside into piles. Set to sort by second digits. Take each pile and sort and put those into piles. Etc. It soon gets complicated with piles of cards all over the place. Then after a while the manual said: Set to sort by last digit. Take the stacks and put them together in order. Set to sort by next to last digit, etc. Only one pile to keep track of. So much simpler (and quite efficient if the number of digits is smallish.) But the inventor of least-significant-digit first [radix sort](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix_sort) is unknown. One of the great algorithms in computer arithmetic is called [Chinese Remaindering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_remainder_theorem). It’s presumed to originate in China. But who, when, is unknown.