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The Polymath: Lowell Wood Is America's New Top Inventor (bloomberg.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the can-you-invent-a-new-patent-system dept.

pacopico writes: It's taken more than 80 years, but someone has finally overtaken Thomas Edison as America's top inventor. The dude is named Lowell Wood; he was once behind the infamous 'Star Wars' space laser project, and he was a protege of Edward Teller. On July 7th, he received his 1,085th patent, breaking Edison's record. The article says he has 3,000 more inventions awaiting review at the patent office. Wood seems to be using his powers more for good these days and has become the right hand inventor for Bill Gates and his philanthropic endeavors. He's making efficient nuclear reactors, universal vaccines and anti-concussion football helmets. Quite the life.

"Wood attributes his ability to hop from subject to subject, making associations that sometimes lead to inventions, to reading—a lot. He subscribes to three dozen academic journals. 'I have a terrible deficiency of willpower once I open an electronic table of contents for Physical Review Letters or the New England Journal of Medicine,' he says. 'It's just terribly difficult to pull myself away from them. There will be these three articles that I absolutely have to read before I can turn loose of this thing. If I don't read them, I'm doomed. I'll never come back to them because there will be the next day's journals and the ones after that.'"

51 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Reduce to practice much? by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "speculative schemers who make it their
    business to watch the advancing wave of improvement, and gather its foam in the
    form of patented monopolies, which enable them to lay a heavy tax upon the
    industry of the country, without contributing anything to the real advancement of
    the arts. It embarrasses the honest pursuit of business with fears and apprehen-
    sions of concealed liens and unknown liabilities to lawsuits and vexatious ac-
    counting for profits made in good faith."

    1. Re:Reduce to practice much? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      He's just the idea man. He can't be expected to waste his time on all the details. That's somebody else's job, provided they can fork over the licensing fees for the luxury of expending obscene amounts of money and time making it actually work.

    2. Re:Reduce to practice much? by willworkforbeer · · Score: 2

      He's just the idea man. He can't be expected to waste his time on all the details. That's somebody else's job

      I had not really considered how many new jobs have been created by his creativity and new ideas, or how many future jobs may yet be created long into the future.
      That's an interesting aspect of invention, the 'jobs legacy.'

      --
      Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
    3. Re:Reduce to practice much? by Type44Q · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "Accordingly, it is a fact, as far as I am informed, that England was, until we copied her, the only country on earth which ever, by a general law, gave a legal right to the exclusive use of an idea. In some other countries it is sometimes done, in a great case, and by a special and personal act, but, generally speaking, other nations have thought that these monopolies produce more embarrassment than advantage to society; and it may be observed that the nations which refuse monopolies of invention, are as fruitful as England in new and useful devices."

      - Thomas Jefferson

    4. Re:Reduce to practice much? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And yet Thomas Jefferson was the first patent examiner, and shaped patent law more than any other American since.

      The man was a walking contradiction.

    5. Re:Reduce to practice much? by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      That's what Jerome Lemelson made a career out of. Interesting to see that he's now mostly described as a "patent holder" or "patent grantee" rather than "inventor", since he rarely truly invented anything, he just brought the use of submarine patents to an art form. OK, so there's his one truly original invention, submarine patents, but I don't think he patented those.

  2. What??? by Ancil · · Score: 5, Funny

    he was once behind the infamous 'Star Wars' space laser project

    You bastard. I had friends on Alderan.

    1. Re:What??? by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, I guess it's a good thing he blew up Alderaan instead.

      That's what you get for looking for friends in Alderaan places

  3. The most important requirement for a patent today? by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Finding someone to fund the patenting process. The rest is quite trivial.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. Number of patents... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...is a really BAD way to identify "top inventor". This doesn't mean the guy isn't brilliant, but - to use the old example - I'd rate Tesla as discoverer ("inventor" is such a misleading term) over Edison any day. Tesla was much more about quality and scholarship than rapacious exploitation of his own and others' talent for his own ego. Or, to quote T on E:

    If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.

    Overall wealth increase (as opposed to mere transfer of wealth) is about application of the mind to improve efficiency.

    1. Re:Number of patents... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I was going to say quantity != quality. Proficiency at getting something patented is like proficiency in taking tests. It takes ability and gets you somewhere. Some of you may have a patent king at your work whose wall is papered with patents. While smart, I'd wager he's not the brightest bulb in your department.

    2. Re:Number of patents... by NotDrWho · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      Man, I hate the Tesla overrating that goes on any time Edison gets brought up these days. It's almost as bad as all the Europeans with a hate-on for America who always feel the need to chime in with some "High Lord Smellyarse of Essex actually invented it first!" horseshit any time an American is credited with inventing ANYTHING.

      Tesla was a brilliant engineer, especially in his early years, no doubt. But he was also mentally unstable (especially in his later years), not-so-great at implementation, a terrible businessman, and more than a little erratic and unfocused. Edison was a much better all-around "inventor." Edison may not have been as brilliant an engineer as Tesla, but he was much more practical and pragmatic and much better at actually applying most of his ideas to practical use. The only notable exception to this was alternating current, which is Tesla's only truly enduring legacy in this modern age.

      Now go ahead and mod me down, all you adoring Tesla worshipers. How dare I question the modern "Tesla as Messiah" dogma!

      How ironic that Elon Musk, so known for his Tesla worship, is so much more like Edison than he ever was like Tesla--especially in his sense of self-promotion, business sense, and in showmanship. So you Elon Musk fanboys can mod me down too.

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    3. Re:Number of patents... by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's probably why I said "The only notable exception to this was alternating current, which is Tesla's only truly enduring legacy in this modern age."

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    4. Re:Number of patents... by Talderas · · Score: 1

      What kind of current delivers power to every single building in America?

      The only notable exception to this was alternating current, which is Tesla's only truly enduring legacy in this modern age.

      What is the point you're attempting to make?

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    5. Re:Number of patents... by justthinkit · · Score: 1

      (1) mentally unstable (especially in his later years)

      - not relevant. Getting old sucks, in one way or another.

      (2) a terrible businessman

      Edison = Jobs. Tesla = Woz.

      Since this is a thread about inventors, Edison/Jobs is irrelevant.

      Edison belongs in a best businessman thread, next to Jeff Bezos and Thomas Watson.

      (3) Tesla was a brilliant engineer...not-so-great at implementation.

      Tesla was a great inventor. BTW, I don't think you know what an engineer is.

      Edison ran a massive invention lab.
      Tesla was a lone genius.

      Edison was like Rutherford, tyrannically running a lab.
      Tesla was like Einstein, reinventing the world of mere humans.

      --
      I come here for the love
    6. Re:Number of patents... by king+neckbeard · · Score: 4, Insightful

      1) Edison worship was shoved down our throats for years, so yeah, that's going to happen out of reflex.
      2) Edison did a LOT of really fucked up, horrific things, including the things he did to Tesla.
      3) /. doesn't care about being an "all-around inventor" in the sense of Edison. It's like a Jobs and Woz comparison, and /. is going to pretty much universally side with Woz because Woz and Tesla were people more like us, and we don't see much value in the ability to be a shrewd businessman. Tesla was a real life mad scientist, and we love that shit.

      --
      This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
    7. Re:Number of patents... by rsborg · · Score: 1

      3) /. doesn't care about being an "all-around inventor" in the sense of Edison. It's like a Jobs and Woz comparison, and /. is going to pretty much universally side with Woz because Woz and Tesla were people more like us, and we don't see much value in the ability to be a shrewd businessman. Tesla was a real life mad scientist, and we love that shit.
      --

      Amusingly, there are both Jobs and Woz fanboys here - both of them were geniuses in their own right. But Nikolai Tesla is a whole 'nother ballpark, I'd say. And his unjust end does nothing to reduce his mythic/heroic status.

      --
      Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
    8. Re: Number of patents... by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      I have a first edition of Steinmetz's book on AC Phenomenon. It's really sad how little I had to pay for it, given it's probably pretty rare at this point. The showmen and boosters seem to always come off as the big heroes of society.

    9. Re:Number of patents... by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      Complex chemical processes, ingenious electronic circuits, clever mechanical devices, are the creations of a productive mind. They are inventions. "Discoveries" are what you get walking in a cow pasture.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  5. Patents mean nothing by aaaaaaargh! · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But if he has one good publication - just one real classic that everybody reads - then he deserves uttermost respect.

  6. Missile defense evil ok by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

    dude is named Lowell Wood; he was once behind the infamous 'Star Wars' space laser project, and he was a protege of Edward Teller

    Wood seems to be using his powers more for good these days

    Okalee dokalee

  7. He's building nuclear reactors? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    >> He's making efficient nuclear reactors

    He is? Where can go see one?

    1. Re:He's building nuclear reactors? by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      [...efficient nuclear reactors] Where can I go see one?

      Here.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  8. Works for Intellectual Ventures by PineHall · · Score: 5, Informative

    He works for Intellectual Ventures, so he is an idea man. Maybe he is like Edison but Edison's ideas were built into products, deserving a patent. At Intellectual Ventures the ideas, which maybe good, are patented without building the product. There is a difference IMHO.

    1. Re:Works for Intellectual Ventures by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I had my suspicions when Gates was mentioned, and now they are confirmed: he works for Intellectual Vultures. Great. I'm not doubting he's a clever guy, but damn, that puts paid to the notion of him "using his powers for good". If you want to do good, turn your ideas into products, or help others to do so. Or you can remain evil, work for IV, and continue to extort intellectual property taxes from the general public.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:Works for Intellectual Ventures by careysub · · Score: 5, Informative

      Intellectual Ventures is very well known as the worst of the patent trolls. It is not an "invention company" it is an intellectual property litigation company.

      Lowell Wood is notorious for his brazenly fraudulent claims about SDI technology (especially the X-ray laser chimera) during the 1980s.

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  9. How can anyone take him seriously? by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 2

    I see no social-media links for him in the article. No Twitter, no Facebook, not even a Slashdot ID. How can he possibly be anyone of importance?

    "That's how he preserves his mental capacity"? I don't understand. Is that a meme?

  10. What's in a patent? by larryjoe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1085 patents granted and 3000 more submitted. That's 4085 patents. Assuming that he's worked on patents for 50 years, that's an average of over 80 patents per year. That's a lot of patents. The implication of the such a large number of patents is that all the patents are equally valuable. However, I'm not sure it's humanly possible to perform the work for 80 valuable patents per year.

    This reminds me of Jan Hendrik Schön, who made waves with 60 publications over 2 years, including 15 in leading journals such as Science and Nature. It was eventually determined that he made up important data for his papers, leading to retraction of many of his papers and even his PhD degree.

    I'm not suggesting that there's any fraud in the case of Mr. Wood. Rather, there are many very common and even accepted ways to accumulate a huge number of patents. It's not unthinkable that many/most of the patents are
    (1) work mostly performed by others for which he provided guidance, review, or management,
    (2) black-box patents that describe what should be done instead of providing sufficient detail to allow someone else skilled in the art to actually utilize the idea, or
    (3) incremental ideas based on existing patents or prior art.

    It may very well be that Mr. Wood is a genius that has contributed significantly to science and technology and has made a difference in the world. However, the number of patents is not a believable metric of that contribution. To convince me that he is a genius requires only a description of his impactful ideas, as encapsulated in a few (or even one or zero) patents. The large number of patents simply invites skepticism.

    1. Re:What's in a patent? by eulernet · · Score: 1

      In fact, it's quite easy to patent new ideas.
      There are even methodologies for that: TRIZ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..., SIT, ASIT or USIT.

      The only problem is that these methods don't focus on "inventing" but on "improving" existing ideas.
      So basically, it's not a very "creative" process, so "genius" is not required.

    2. Re:What's in a patent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Well, if you won't, I will. This man is a fraud! It's highly doubtful that anybody could substantively contribute to 80 patents per year, even given how easy it is to game the patent system.

      But from an ethical point of view, it's simply _impossible_ for anybody to substantively contribute to 80 _legitimate_ patents per year, where we define legitimate as a patent that actually contributes useful knowledge and promotes the advancement of the state-of-the-art, marginally or otherwise.

      The guy is basically summarizing and synthesizing ideas published by others. There's nothing wrong with that. But there's no reasonable argument that such activity deserves monopoly rights. At best the guy simply deserves copyright. It's all creativity and zero utility. It's stuff every engineer does almost every waking hour. You don't think I get lost reading research papers and dreaming cool ideas? But unlike this guy, instead of writing patent applications, I actually write software code testing my ideas out.

      This guy is a lazy leech. Worse, he's a leech who is being glorified as an engineer and scientist. But he's nothing like an engineer or scientist. Engineers and scientists spend most of their time turning ideas into reality. That's the _hard_ part. That's the part that contributes to society. That's the part that _changes_ the world.

      Ideas are a dime a dozen, including carefully thought out and intricate ideas. There's a whole universe of sophisticated and seemingly useful ideas out there. Ours is the most advanced, learned society in the history of mankind, by any measure. The difficult part is manifesting those ideas!

    3. Re:What's in a patent? by Gr8Apes · · Score: 2

      Perhaps equating Wood with Edison is quite appropriate. After all, Edison employed 100s of workers that did the leg work for the bulk of the patents he claimed. After all "Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. Accordingly, a 'genius' is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework." and Edison outsourced his perspiration. TL;DR, but Wood appears to be in a similar position.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    4. Re:What's in a patent? by larryjoe · · Score: 1

      Actually, I miscalculated, since the bulk of the patent count has occurred in the past few years. He has 3000 patent submissions that are still under examination. If we estimate conservatively that those submissions occurred in the last 10 years (i.e., that some of the patents have take that long to receive a determination), then he has submitted an average of 300 patent applications per year over the last 10 years. Forget about the actual idea conception, the paperwork alone is daunting.

    5. Re:What's in a patent? by careysub · · Score: 2

      The different is the Edison had hundreds of workers actually doing research. That is, actually inventing things. Intellectual Ventures has hundreds of lawyers writing patent applications.

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
    6. Re:What's in a patent? by careysub · · Score: 2

      The paperwork is not Wood's responsibility. Intellectual Ventures has an army of lawyers to do that. Wood's job is to throw out plausible sounding variations of the existing patent literature, to be turned into new patents, so that IV can sue other people. Patent trolls like IV are a serious obstacle to real innovation.

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  11. Edison's patents not his own work by mschaffer · · Score: 1

    Edison did not share credit with his employees who produced the majority of his patents.

  12. "Making"? Yeah right. by Whatsisname · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He's making efficient nuclear reactors, universal vaccines and anti-concussion football helmets.

    He isn't making shit. More like playing a legally enforced game of "dibs".

  13. If number of patents is supposed to be a measure.. by mschaffer · · Score: 2

    If the number of patents is supposed to be a measure of top inventiveness, Lowell Wood has nothing on the likes of Kia Silverbrook (4,665 US utility patents) or Shunpei Yamazaki (4063 US utility patents).

  14. Re:Except the patent process is a joke by Amouth · · Score: 2

    how to use a swing is my personal favorite

    http://www.google.com/patents/...

    followed by exercising a cat with a laser pointer

    http://www.google.com/patents/...

    --
    '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
  15. How is working on SDI not working for good? by dagrichards · · Score: 1

    SDI continues today. Helping to bankrupt the USSR and avert the Warsaw Pact vs NATO blood fest seems to be a net good.

  16. Patent term by CanEHdian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wow. I guess a 20 year patent term, after which the invention joins the public domain and becomes part of our heritage, doesn't discourage inventors from inventing. Why wouldn't the same apply to creators if copyright is limited to 20 years?

    --
    When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
  17. Teller by willworkforbeer · · Score: 1

    Wasn't Edward Teller parodied by the mad scientist guy in Doctor Strangelove?

    Dunno, but Teller loves Tesla, it says so right here: http://www.teslamotors.com/cus...

    --
    Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
  18. "Wood seems to be using his powers more for good" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Wood seems to be using his powers more for good these days . . .

    A nuclear missile defense system and national defense is using his powers for good.

    Only delusional liberals would think otherwise. Apparently, pacopico couldn't help himself.

  19. what kind of crap journalism is this?! by Thud457 · · Score: 2

    Claiming he's beat Edision's record but no tally of the number of stray dogs, cats and elephants he's electrocuted?

    Before Edison's innovations, we had to hang any rogue elephants we wanted to dispose of!

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  20. 1085? Bah, that's nothing! by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    Jony Ive has 5000 to his name! Who knew there were so many non-obvious, novel ways to change the radius on the corner of a rectangle!

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  21. But, *has* he contributed to humanity? by Zeorge · · Score: 1
    I mean, looking at this company, they have a bunch of people making up ideas, goes to a staff of engineers and patent attorneys, and then they file. I wonder if they support the patent throughout the entire life of 22 years. Or, start with a provisional patent, test the waters before going forward, and then pay for the effort.

    In a way this is kinda of an abuse of the patent system.

  22. I agree... by Zeorge · · Score: 1

    It's radically different to take something from a PPT into the real world. Even for something that some might consider to be "simple". When you have to make it from the ground up, certain things come into play that you never knew.

    It's like running a business. You think it's easy until you do.

  23. I found his source by quilombodigital · · Score: 1

    I am pretty sure he gets all the good ideas from Slashdot.

  24. Edison? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Thomas was a thief. Most of what he gets credit for, his employees did for him.

  25. yeah, but... by mschaffer · · Score: 1

    Edison did invent the research equivalent of a sweatshop.

  26. Re:Football helmets that stop concussions by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

    Another option is to change the specific gravity of the fluid the brain floats in, to match the specific gravity of the brain.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  27. I bet the author didn't live through the Cold War. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    dude is named Lowell Wood; he was once behind the infamous 'Star Wars' space laser project, and he was a protege of Edward Telle
    Wood seems to be using his powers more for good these days

    Okalee dokalee

    Goes double here.

    I'm betting the author of that didn't live through the Cold War - as an aware adult or child, at least.

    A few decades of waiting for a nuclear surprise attack and going through elementary school "duck and cover" (and kiss your a** goodbye) drills can make using tech to actually try to intercept enough incoming missiles to avoid total extinction (and using the threat of being able to do so to end the saber-rattling) seem like a VERY good idea.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way