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Old 03-08-2012, 10:37 PM   #1
Daigoro
 
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Default Gadgeteer: List of Real-life Historical Gadgeteers

<<This is a sister thread to List of Fictional Gadgeteers.>>

So I was reading about this guy yesterday, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, and it struck me that he’d be a good candidate for having had the Gadgeteer advantage, at least in a more cinematic version of our history.

So let’s see how many historical figures we can come up with who, with just a little stretch of the imagination, could have had Gadgeteer. In an alternate history, they might have pursued their innovations further or even founded alternate technology paths, thus making the basis for various tech-punk settings. This can also explore some ideas for some of the stuff we might want from a GURPS Gadgeteering book.

I could start with the obvious popular candidates, like da Vinci, Edison and Tesla, the last two being ones who actually did set the foundation for our current tech-path, at least in terms of things electrical, but instead I’ll talk about Kamerlingh Onnes, who seemed like a pretty cool guy.

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes- In 1908, using equipment that looked like this or this, the Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes was able to liquefy helium by cooling it to 4.15K. Then, in 1911, he discovered superconductivity in samples of purified mercury by freezing them in liquid helium. (Minor note for an alternate history: he originally termed it supraconductivity.)

As New Scientist (subscriber only link) put it,
”Kamerlingh Onnes was one of the first people to really understand that advances in low-temperature physics critically depended on having first-rate technicians, expert glassblowers and skilled craftspeople to build and maintain the delicate equipment. It was not enough to potter around alone in a ramshackle laboratory, as many of his contemporaries did.”

This would actually suggest he didn’t have Gadgeteer, relying on equipment made by others, but it’s interesting to see he regarded science as an industry more than an art.

I don’t know if the fact that the Americans had a monopoly on helium during this period retarded cold-temperature research in Europe, but an alternate tech-path could be postulated by saying that a sizable helium deposit was discovered in or near Europe, perhaps at current-day Algerian extraction sites, eventually leading to early implementation of supraconductor technology during WWI, in Kamerlingh Onnes' lifetime, or by WWII, being slightly more conservative. German control of helium extraction sites was then the backbone of their supraconductor rail gun and high-speed maglev train technology.
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Last edited by Daigoro; 03-08-2012 at 11:05 PM. Reason: added thread link
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Old 03-09-2012, 01:05 AM   #2
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Default Re: Gadgeteer: List of Real-life Historical Gadgeteers

Gadgeteer is a cinematic advantage, so if you look too closely at any "historical gadgeteer" it will break somewhere.

That said, there are scientists and inventors where the folklore around them could (for loosely-historical campaigns) justify giving them Gadgeteer advantage. The ones that come to my mind would be;

- Archimedes
- Nikola Tesla
- Thomas Edison
- Lord Kelvin (William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin)
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Old 03-09-2012, 01:34 AM   #3
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Default Re: Gadgeteer: List of Real-life Historical Gadgeteers

Gustaf Dalen, a Swedish Nobel Prize winner, may qualify. Besides the useful things he invented for lighthouses as an adult, he had a reputation as a kid for constantly building odd gadgets. One example: "As a boy who found it difficult to get up in the mornings, Gustaf Dalén invented a 'bed roller' which both made the coffee and switched on the light."

A "company biography" of Dalen can be found here: http://www.aga.com/web/web2000/com/w...ry_GustafDalen
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Old 03-09-2012, 01:44 AM   #4
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Default Re: Gadgeteer: List of Real-life Historical Gadgeteers

A couple of other semi-realistic proposals:

Enrico Fermi
Barnes Wallis

Honorable Mention: John Moses Browning
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Old 03-09-2012, 04:44 AM   #5
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Default Re: Gadgeteer: List of Real-life Historical Gadgeteers

Leonardo da Vinci had some amazing gadeteering going on in his codex, even though some he couldn't get to work at the time due to poor material craftsmanship and others he never tried out of moral objections, most work with modern materials, and some are truly amazing when you realize they were designed over 700 years ago.
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Old 03-09-2012, 05:15 AM   #6
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Default Re: Gadgeteer: List of Real-life Historical Gadgeteers

Yoshiro NakaMats is probably the best suited candidate of all.
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Old 03-09-2012, 07:30 AM   #7
Daigoro
 
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Default Re: Gadgeteer: List of Real-life Historical Gadgeteers

Quote:
Originally Posted by trans View Post
Barnes Wallis
Honorable Mention: John Moses Browning
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan Willis View Post
- Lord Kelvin (William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin)
Quote:
Originally Posted by B9anders View Post
Yoshiro NakaMats is probably the best suited candidate of all.
While I enjoy spending time on Wikipedia myself, it might be more practical for most if you included a couple of details about their claim to Gadgeteering fame.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan Willis View Post
Gadgeteer is a cinematic advantage, so if you look too closely at any "historical gadgeteer" it will break somewhere.
But of course, which is why I suggested a "stretch of the imagination."

But on the other hand, Gadgeteering is an advantage which is better explained by example, like Illuminated. Unlike physical powers, like Flight or fire attacks, it's not so obvious what it is that qualifies someone to have the advantage.
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Old 03-09-2012, 08:36 AM   #8
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Default Re: Gadgeteer: List of Real-life Historical Gadgeteers

Isambard Kingdom Brunel?

Also wins the award for 'coolest name among historic gadgeteers', I bet.
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Old 03-09-2012, 01:28 PM   #9
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Philo Farnsworth.
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Old 03-09-2012, 01:32 PM   #10
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George Washington Carver? With a "only using peanuts" limitation? ;-)
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