Multiple Inventions in the History of Technology

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Independent inventions of a similar device or method by separate groups is a highly common phenomenon in the development of technology. Indeed, the concept of simultaneous, multiple or parallel discovery and invention, developed to examine such cases, is well known and has attracted considerable scholarly attention. Yet, most of it concentrated on discoveries. Inventions received less attention. This is unfortunate since the multiplicity of inventions allows the historian comparing the paths of the different groups involved and teaches us thereby both on the resources that the inventions required and the social, technical and other factors that motivated the research towards them. By discussing the results of pre-circulated drafts papers of close historical studies of specific duplications, we aim to surpass truisms like ‘inventions are the product of their time’ by indicating the specific factors that made these inventions feasible and desirable at particular time and place. Moreover, these studies will help to indicate conditions under which multiple inventions are more likely to appear, and thus to better understand the process of invention and technological development in general.

Our studies range from re-examining famous multiples, like that of the telephone to exploring unexamined ones like that of the dye-laser. In response to criticism about the concept of multiples, to unjustified claimed of alleged multiples in the literature and to neglect of genuine multiples in other cases, we offer a concrete and careful historical and conceptual analysis of the cases. Each invention is examined within its contemporary understanding and context, to determine what was its novelty, and to what extent was it a multiple. The degree of similarity needed and the exchange of knowledge between the groups allowed for inventions to be regarded as multiples are examined through the particular cases. To this end we suggest precise and concrete definitions of the inventions on their technical part and their function. Such a definition turns out to be crucial for understanding the process of invention.

23 July 2025 

Wednesday

13:00               Arrival

13:45               Welcome and Introduction (Shaul)

14:20               Paper 1 Rudi Seising (25 + 25  + 10)

15:20               Paper 2 Jad Kadan

16:10               Coffee break

16:40               Paper 3 (Ben Johnson)

17:40               Paper 4 (Tony Travis)

18:30               Break and transfer to dinner

24 July 2025 

Thursday

9:10                 Paper 5 (Frank Dittmann) 

10:10               Paper 6 (Luise Allendorf-Hoefer)

11:00               Coffee break

11:30               Paper 7 (Songook Hong)

12:20               Lunch break

14:00               Short museum visit / guided tour

15:00               Paper 8 (Alexei Kojevnikov + Climerio da Silva Neto)

15:50               Paper 9 (Johannes-Geert Hagmann)

16:50               Coffee break

17:20               Paper 10 (Rich Kremer)

18:00               Break and transfer to dinner

25 July 2025 

Friday

9:00                 Paper 11 (Cornelia Kemp)

10:00               Paper 12 (Klodian Coko)

10:50               Coffee break

11:20               Paper (Timo Mappes) 

12:20               Paper (wrap-up discussion)

13:00               Light lunch, concluding discussion and farewell 

Programme for Download

Luise Allendorf-Hoefer (Deutsches Museum), on the invention of the Transistor

Klodian Coko (Tel Aviv University), on the Telephone

Frank Dittmann, Deutsches Museum, on the Transformer

Sungook Hong, Seoul National University, on Tireless communication

Benjamin Johnson, independent scholar, on Ammonia synthesis

Jad Kadan, Tel Aviv University, on early Computer technologies 

Cornelia Kemp , Deutsches Museum, on Photography

Rich Kremer, Dartmouth College, on the Conical pendulum

Timo Mappes, (Universität Jena and Deutsches Optisches Museum) on Ultramicroscopy

Rudolf Seising, Deutsches Museum, on Learning machines

Climério Silva Neto, Federal University of Bahia and Alexei Kojevnikov, University of British Columbia, on Semiconductor lasers

Anthony S. Travis, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, on the Industrialization of ammonia synthesis

Organizers: Johannes-Geert Hagmann, Deutsches Museum and Shaul Katzir, Tel Aviv University