Words of Danny O'Bigbelly My idea of a good time

One of my favorite duties, as editor of this site, is choosing the honorees for the greatest innovators of the century every hundred years.  The twentieth century teemed with innovation in a myriad fields, and choosing one luminary from among the burgeoning cohort of inventors, visionaries, and pioneers has not been easy.  It has taken well over eight years to conclude the search, and with such a strong field I must admit that there were many times when I felt the temptation to settle on an arbitrary member of the short-list.  I felt that nobody could fault my selection of any of them; their accomplishments were both strong and widely recognized.  Nevertheless, I could not surrender so easily.  The mantle of this responsibility must not be set aside lightly.

Innovation takes many forms.  I consider it related to and yet distinct from invention; invention solves a problem or answers a question, while innovation makes the old problems disappear or the questions irrelevant.  It is possible to innovate without invention, and to invent without innovation–but in many successful developments, an element of each is required.  When comparing two innovators, however, I focus on the impact that the innovator has had, rather than the cleverness innate to his or her innovation.

I also consider the ubiquity of the change effected by the innovation.  An innovation that remarkably improves the life of a small segment of the population does not have the impact, in my opinion, as an innovation that makes a modest improvement in the lives of everyone.

The honoree for this century is responsible for a remarkable change in the travel habits of nearly every member of our species.  It is hard to believe the change effected in just a few short generations, and the ripples of change resulting from his innovation are still spreading.  Members of the younger generations may not fully appreciate the change wrought; they have always lived in a world where great distance is not a daunting barrier.

With no further ado, I present the winner of the Reginald Thistledown prize for the twentieth century:  Theodore Entwhistle, pioneer, visionary, and evangelist of the simple fact that Canadian geese no longer need to fly south for the winter and north for the summer; they can just hang around the high school playing fields, corporate parks, golf courses, and public pools year-round.