The world waits on our best scientific minds and deep
corporate financial pockets to provide us with solutions to our global energy
crisis. We know that it is only a matter
of time and money before they develop cost-effective solar solutions, and
eliminate our dependence upon fossil fuels.
But the promised alternative energy Nirvana has been long in the
development, with little sign of imminent solution. So why are we waiting on our self-proclaimed
and acknowledged academic and financial geniuses? Stan Ovshinsky already has proven that these
great inventions do not have to originate from huge monetary investments or
conventional intellectuals.
Mr. “Call me Stan” Ovshinsky is the guy who invented the
battery that powers most laptop computers, and was the force behind the
invention of hydrogen fuel cells, LCD TV screen technology and electric car
systems, along with being the holder of nearly 1,000 patents. Yet, he never graduated high school.
With this apparent lack of genius, he was able to show that
the conventional theories about semi-conductors were wrong, much to the chagrin
of scientists who scoffed at this nearly uneducated man. Undeterred, Stan and his wife used their
meagre savings to start Energy Conversion Devices, and began developing and
marketing his inventions. His everyday
genius has provided us with incredible breakthroughs in the understanding of
alternative energy concepts. At the age
of 85, he started two new companies, focused upon making solar cell energy less
costly than coal. Unfortunately, he
died, just shy of his 90th birthday, with his latest dreams
unfulfilled.
It is not the intuitive brilliance of his creations that is
Mr. Ovshinsky’s legacy. Rather, it is
the lesson that each of us could learn from his example: every one of us is
capable of contributing to the solutions needed in today’s world, from social
to economic to concrete creations. The
myth that only big money and educated academics are able to solve the complex
issues confronting us has been completely disintegrated because of the
practical example set by Stan Ovchensky.
While money may be needed to bring ideas to commercial
fruition, those essential, initial steps – the dreams, ideas and concepts –
require only the application of our own unique perspectives and experiences. It is the combination of these two elements
that germinate the genius within each of us.
Rather than regarding our own meagre contributions as the uniformed
inspirations of a simple mind, we should act upon those insights as if they
were -- all of them – the seeds of the next most marvellous event to change the
world.
