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April Fool’s Tribute to Thomas Edison

“A diamond is a piece of coal that stuck to the job.“

Born February 11, 1847, GE founder Thomas Alva Edison was a man driven by a need to compensate for his middle name. A need so all-consuming he would ultimately be awarded over 1000 patents, which was nearly all of them at the time.

Would you let someone else invent something for a change, Tom?

The ink was barely dry on Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone patent when Edison improved the fidelity of the device. Pretty good for a guy who was hard of hearing. Remarkably, Edison had the ability to see the positive side of his disability: he felt it insulated him from distraction, enabling him to focus better. I think Stephen Hawking has said much the same thing about his own disability. What a difference perception – and self-perception – can make.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.“

Edison famously said, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration,” which may help explain why his laundry bill was so outrageous – and why GE is still making washers and dryers. There are a lot of geniuses out there, and a lot of sweat-soaked clothes.

“The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around.“

What would we do for entertainment if it weren’t for Thomas Edison? He gave us the phonograph and the movies, which, in their evolved forms, consume an astounding amount of our time and our money. Not to mention the light bulb, without which even a book would be nearly useless after sunset. And what would Las Vegas or Times Square be without artificial lighting?

Of course, Edison didn’t invent the light bulb – but he did perfect the first practical incandescent bulb.

The light bulb was such a good idea… it actually became the symbol for having an idea. How amazing is that? I mean, what was your best idea?… and does it appear in cartoon thought bubbles over people’s heads?

Las Vegas is an almost pornographic display of electric light. If Edison saw Vegas at night, I wonder, would he be proud?… or embarrassed? It’s just a little bit over-the-top, don’tcha think? Just a little.

The light bulb – and the electric industry which Edison built – changed the face of the world more than any invention, maybe since the lever or the wheel. It turns night into day!

It also makes Edison the most hated man in astronomy. Inventor of Light Pollution. Destroyer of Dark Skies.

I guess you really can’t please everyone.

“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.“

I’ve been telling my parents that for years.

I’d like to thank GE and Edison’s Desk for inviting me to make this April Fool’s guest post. I hope you’ve enjoyed all the silly links sprinkled throughout the text. And, in keeping with the spirit of things, I’ll leave you with a few more bits and pieces from some of my favorite popularizers of science:

John Denver interviewing Carl Sagan on the Tonight Show.

Sagan protege Neil deGrasse Tyson on the importance of being scientifically literate, whether you’re a scientist or not.

And something a little different from Ray Bradbury.

“I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.“

April 1st, 2010 | Global Research

TAGS: april fools day, brian malow, comedy, guest post, holidays, humor, science

Happy April Fools Day!

We decided to just have a little fun today in honor of April Fools!

However, as you’ve made it this far, hope you enjoy the blog and leave any questions or comments behind! Happy April!

April 1st, 2010 | Biosciences

TAGS: april fools, employees, fun, having fun, holidays

What it takes to be a next generation leader

I spent an afternoon last week at GE Energy attending the GE Women’s Network 2010 kickoff event. Mark Little (SVP GE Global Research), Steve Bolze (President and CEO, Power & Water for GE Energy Infrastructure), and Tom Quick (Senior HR Manager, Power & Water) sat on panel in front of 100+ men (yes, men are always welcome!) and women from GE and answered questions about everything from their business outlook for 2010 and advice for being successful in a tough environment to their exercise routines and facebooking! Check out the video above to hear what they had to say about becoming a next generation leader.

Disclaimer: Sorry for the wiggly camera. I had been holding the FLIP for 30 minutes prior to this clip. It’s a little difficult to hear if you don’t have speakers on your computer. Here is the transcription below:

Audience member:“What are some things that would be important for young leaders, or the next generation of leaders to be exposed to early on?”

Tom Quick: “For me, it is what can we do for folks that are on the RELP program or anywhere, it is saying to yourself, “What triggers us thinking about: I going to do for someone to say, “That’s leadership.” I don’t think we do that enough.

Mark Little: “And to build on that, I see this in technology, but I think it pertains to anything. Having a core to build on is really important. You have to have a set of accomplishments or you have to be good in some area for someone to give you a chance at your first management job. And I see this over and over again, getting that first management job is the toughest thing because you have to have domain expertise for someone to take a chance on you. And they have to believe that you actually have potential. But once you show you can be a leader, you can do almost anything. People are much more ready to take a chance on you for other things. Demonstrate some skills, have some core expertise, build on that, land your first management job, and go from there. And I really believe what you said Tom too, people get sometimes narrowly focused in their functional area and they’re not looking around. If you build that core expertise that I was talking about, just be aware of other things going on. Listen and learn and engage with other people outside your own area, definitely helps a lot.

Steve Bolze: “And the only thing that I’d add to that. Let’s say you’re new to the facility here and let’s say you are in the engineering area, find a time to walk the factory. Find a time to go see the remote diagnostics center. Find a time to attend some of these other sections. Branch out. I think the sooner people branch out and understand what else is going on, it really helps you long term.

March 31st, 2010 | Biosciences

TAGS: employee activities, leadership, Mark Little, Steve Bolze, Tom Quick, Women's Network

MIT’s Technology Review hosts eMTech event in Bangalore

On March 8th and 9th MIT’s Technology Review (the world’s oldest technology publication) and CyberMedia (India’s leading technology publisher) organized the annual two-day conference, EmTech India 2010 in Bangalore. The conference gathered people from around the world and focused on technological innovations that are driving the global economy and changing the face of business.

While attending the conference, I learned that it is the first time in its history it was held outside of United States. The conference provided a unique forum for exploring next-generation technologies and their impact on business and society. The event attracted fairly top decision makers from the technology, engineering, investment and management communities from around the world.

The event also launched the 2010 TR35, Technology Review India’s annual list of young innovators under the age of 35. These young thought leaders are set to light the path for a better, smarter future. It was a great privilege for me to be part of this event. GE India Technology Centre (GEITC), was one of the innovation partners and sponsors of the event. We had a GE technology booth, where we displayed posters, demos and working models of the cutting edge research we carry out at GEITC. As well, many of our technology leaders participated in the event with speaking roles. Mano Manoharan from Global Research and Gopi Katrakadda from GE Energy talked about nanotechnology and smart grids. Oswin, senior technologist from GE Healthcare, shared his experience on developing the portable ECG machines, the MAC400, Mac600 and Maci as part of affordable healthcare initiative. And finally, T. Asokan talked about breakthrough technologies in power system distribution.

The event covered a variety of cutting edge topics ranging from green computing techniques, clean transport alternatives and smarter energy grid to the role that wireless can play in connecting India. There were special sessions on innovative diagnostics and neglected diseases that have drawn attention towards unheralded healthcare fields. And a session on the future of nanotechnology touched on the new capabilities, giving new ways to make things and heal bodies.

One of the topics I found interesting was the talk delivered by Dr. Subra Suresh, Dean of the MIT’s School of Engineering. He talked about how understanding in mechanical engineering can help to address ways of treating diseases like malaria for example. He urged the need of collaboration of the cross functional teams to find innovative solutions for some of the age-old problems. All in all, it was a very exciting event that it was a thrill to be a part of!

You can view some of the video from eMTech by visiting the Global Research YouTube account at www.youtube.com/grcblog.

March 30th, 2010 | Ceramic & Metallurgy Technologies

TAGS: Bangalore, eMTech, events, MIT, Technology Review

Advanced DNA sequencing meeting with NIH

I just returned from the annual NHGRI Advanced DNA Sequencing Technology Development Meeting. This is a closed-door meeting where everyone who has received NIH funding to develop improved DNA sequencing technologies gathers once a year to present their progress to the other grantees. Other than a few absences, every major player in DNA sequencing attends this meeting. Interestingly, in recent years NIH have included an open meeting where anyone can attend that occurs after the closed meeting. This year I presented the progress of our “Closed Complex DNA Sequencing” project at the open meeting, and Julia Karow from genomeweb has written a piece on this for her on-line In Sequence website. Briefly, I presented some of the data demonstrating the controlled, stepwise addition of individual bases to growing DNA strands, and how this technique can be used to sequence DNA in an extremely high throughput format.

Check out the link below to read an article on the event.

March 29th, 2010 | Biosciences

TAGS: DNA, DNA sequencing, meetings, NIH, symposiums