FermiLinux (1998)
Since programmer Linus Torvalds created Linux as a free source code in 1991, it has spread around the world as a useful, flexible operating system that serves as an alternative...
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The farm silo (1873)
It's hard to imagine the prairie farmscape without a farmyard, a red barn — and a tower silo. But until 1873, grain wasn't stored in silos; it was stored in...
The Ferris Wheel (1893)
More than a diversion, more than the first amusement park ride, the giant wheel imagined and built by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in...
Ms. Tech: Empowering entrepreneurial women
Nicole Yeary spent 10 years selling health insurance by telephone, learning to navigate the complex pathways of the health care landscape. The job didn't last after the economy tanked, but...
Deep dish pizza (1943)
Among America's eateries, Chicago cuisine is notable for its take on pizza: Thick as a stone slab, saucy and larger than life. The families behind Chicago's most famous pizza houses...
Consumer preference research (1928)
Before he was assistant secretary of state at the close of World War II, before he published the Encyclopaedia Britannica, before he was appointed to the U.S. Senate — and...
The mechanical dishwasher (1886)
The mechanical dishwasher as a practical device emerged not from convenience but from annoyance, when a wealthy woman in downstate Shelbyville got tired of servants breaking her dishes after fancy...
Scott Berkun: author, entrepreneur, innovation myth buster and no pants wearer
Business author and entrepreneur Scott Berkun is a sparkling talker, and if you want to give him hives, toss around the word “innovation” with a tone of awe. Overuse and...
Pullman sleeper car (1864)
George Pullman was one of Chicago's greatest industrialists, remembered for his luxurious rail cars and opportunistic — often demeaning — labor practices toward blacks. The onetime Colorado gold broker developed...
Ideas Week: Reaching for the stars, charging toward tomorrow
Imagine a future of phone batteries charging in seconds, digital currency immune from fluctuating exchange rates, lab-grown beef, greener energy and even more known Earth-like planets — hundreds of them....