Smithsonian Channel - My Million Dollar Invention Series 1 (2015) Part 2 The Vision Thing

My Million Dollar Invention

What was Edison's questionable role in the development of the electric chair? Which household utensil came from the mind of a prisoner? How was the Maclaren baby buggy inspired by a fighter plane? Behind many million-dollar inventions are priceless stories of inspiration, controversy, triumph, and tragedy. Explore inventions large and small, lifesaving and life-taking, scary and playful, and meet the men and women who dedicated, and often risked, their lives to follow their vision and ultimately change the world.

Part 2 The Vision Thing

They were four inventors who had extraordinary vision, and their innovations would change the way we looked at the world and the universe beyond it. In this episode, we show how a patent office worker's arthritis led to the photocopier, and a workplace revolution. We follow the pursuit to launch astronomer Lyman Spitzer's invention, the Hubble Space Telescope, into orbit, and the history books. We also meet the rally driver who gave us the speed camera, and tell the little-known story of the inventor of television a 14-year-old farm boy.

Smithsonian Channel

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