On Afghanistan's Thomas Edison

13.7BillionYears writes "The Institute for War and Peace Reporting details on the exploits of Ghulam Sediq Wardak, a 62 year old semi-literate Afghan with 341 clever inventions to his credit. His first was a radio powered by the low voltage produced by the human body. His most recent is a 1980 Volkswagen rigged to run on solar power. A handful of others are mentioned. Like many a Slashdotter, his parents were once very worried and he eschews patents. 'The main purpose of my inventing is not to earn money,' he says. 'I want to render a service to my countrymen and to all people in the world.'"

Comments

'Semi-literate' Slashdotter?

[Mordant]

Say it isn't so!

Amazing

[Ratfactor]

While there's nothing groundbreaking about the 'inventions' themselves, the fact that he has persisted with his tinkering in the midst of an Arab culture speaks of incredible curiosity, freethinking, and persistence.

I applaud this man. A kindred spirit in an alien world.

Re:get him first

[dnahelix]

Bush & Co. (aka Helliburton) aren't worried about the solar-powered VW as a terrorist threat, they're worried about it as a threat to the oil companies! I'm sure the wan't to kill the fucker.