Eureka! (Hardcover)

In Hollywood biopics, inspiration strikes great inventors like a bolt of lightning. An accident, a random thought, an apparently unconnected remark - any of these things can provide the trigger that the screen hero of heroine needs to perfect an invention. The movies make it seem all too easy, of course, but a surprising number of inventions really have sprung from just such a "eureka" moment.;This title looks at the instances when some of the world's greatest inventions were conceived. It demonstrates how sheer creative genius enables a few lucky individuals to look right through the problem, and come up with a solution that has eluded rivals. Also considered are other aspects of innovative technology, such as the simultaneous and independent invention of a new device by researchers on opposite sides of the world.;Conversely, some inventions take years of struggle and endeavour and show how (in Thomas Edison's words) genius is "1 per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration". The book dedicates a section to these non-eureka moments.