[pilowsky]

When I was young(er), my Father told me that he wanted to nominate the Melbourne psychiatrist John Cade for a Nobel Prize for his discovery that lithium was a valuable compound in the treatment of depression. I am frequently stunned by the insouciance with which some people are happy to lay claim for knowledge that they lack, skills that they do not have and a level of cleverness that they certainly ought to be a bit more modest about.

Here is a list of inventions made by people that others have claimed credit for. One interesting feature of these is that so many of them required support from the government as curiosity-based research. As the hapless NIH director attempted to explain to Trump (onomatopoeic; the same sound and appearance that a wet sack of mud makes as it hits ground) who clearly wasn't comprehending anything; were it not for all of the curiosity-based research at NIH, at CSL in Australia and elsewhere around the world, we would not be anywhere near ready to tackle the current coronavirus crisis. More people died from influenza after WWI than during the war. Let's hope that disaster is never repeated.

This, in my opinion, is when you need words like urgent, crisis, terrible and disastrous. Not when describing errors in bidding in bridge. David Pakman and other commentators constantly discuss Trump's obvious ignorance as though it was comedy. I find this very difficult to understand. It terrifies me. Real people are dying.
Skepticism is essential when assessing some of the stuff that you hear. These are just a few examples that spring to mind. So when you listen to Fox 'news' another Australian invention, which is in my expert opinion as valuable as getting your information from South Park or the Simpsons remember that it may not be what it first seems.

Lithium for depression
It was Australian psychiatrist John Cade who, in 1949, published one of the first papers on the use of lithium in the treatment of acute mania. From that time on, lithium revolutionised the management of depression.
NOT
'Lithium was invented here' (as a treatment for depression) Dr Francis S. Collins, Advising DJ Trump at the NIH prior to a coronavirus briefing. It was not. Here is the link. At 4.10 into the video.

WIFI
John O'Sullivan (who I have met) an Australian government employee. Yes, taxpayers money at work.
NOT
Vic Hayes - because he chaired a committee!
But that didn't stop US companies trying to steal the IP. They lost in court.

The cochlear implant
Graeme Clarke an ENT surgeon in Melbourne. Government employee.
NOTThe guys at Stanford because just stimulating with one electrode is not helpful. Or the two guys in the Elevator that I heard telling each other at a conference that it was invented at Harvard.

Television
Just put this in because I think TV is a neurotoxin.
One of my favourites because I stopped watching in February 2019. Invented by John Logie Baird a Scottish Engineer and an actual genius.
What's the connection with Australia? Well, Our 'Emmys' are called Logie's. The other bit of trivia is that Baird died on 14 June 1946; exactly the same day that Donald Trump was born. Spooky isn't it.

Google maps
Most 'Australians' come from somewhere else including the Rasmussens that live in Sydney and invented Google maps
Well, you need to dig pretty deep to figure out that it has anything to do with Australia from this story! In fact, just not mentioning the origin (source) is a common technique for snubbing and alienating and stealing. In the workforce it is known as a form of bullying. In commerce it is infringement of IP. In academic life it is plagiarism. I have noticed that bridge teachers sometimes use material that they have taken from elsewhere yet do not attribute the source.

The cardiac pacemaker
Invented by an Australian in 1926: Dr. Mark C. Lidwill an academic clinician at the RPAH a hospital in Sydney where both I and my Father, were affiliated - much later.
YES
This one must be credited to the American Wilson Greatbatch in the USA in 1974. Interestingly, he was able to make this achievement as a result of education from the GI bill.

The black box flight recorder
Dr David Warren Also government funded. The Defence Science and Technology Organisation.
NOTThe crude early designs built in other countries: inventing the wheel is not the same as building the car: see pacemaker. Not to mention Rosalind Franklin (DNA) and the woman whose name no-one knows who invented the word vulnerable in bridge.

[Zelandakh]

pilowsky, on 2020-March-05, 05:36, said:

'Lithium was invented here' (as a treatment for depression) Dr Francis S. Collins, Advising DJ Trump at the NIH prior to a coronavirus briefing. It was not. Here is the link. At 4.10 into the video.
I assume the reference is to William Alexander Hammond, who was treating patients with lithium for mania in the 1870s.

pilowsky, on 2020-March-05, 05:36, said:

WIFI
John O'Sullivan (who I have met) an Australian government employee. Yes, taxpayers money at work.

The Americans also have a claim here through the wireless energy of Nikola Tesla.

pilowsky, on 2020-March-05, 05:36, said:

The cochlear implant
Graeme Clarke an ENT surgeon in Melbourne. Government employee.

The French have the best claim to the invention of the cochlear implant. The modern multi-channel devices were developed independently by 3 different teams, one was Clark's; the other two were from Austria (Hochmair) and the USA (Kissiah).

pilowsky, on 2020-March-05, 05:36, said:

The other bit of trivia is that Baird died on 14 June 1946; exactly the same day that Donald Trump was born. Spooky isn't it. [/size][/font]

Clearly Baird's genius transferred itself to DJT, providing absolute proof of reincarnation.

pilowsky, on 2020-March-05, 05:36, said:

Google maps
Most 'Australians' come from somewhere else including the Rasmussens that live in Sydney and invented Google maps

It is worth mentioning that although Lars and Jens Rasmussen worked for an Australian company, Where 2 Technologies, they themselves are Danish. Obviously what has since come from their original little C++ program is mostly down to the Americans after the company was bought up by Google in 2004.

pilowsky, on 2020-March-05, 05:36, said:

The cardiac pacemaker
Invented by an Australian in 1926: Dr. Mark C. Lidwill an academic clinician at the RPAH a hospital in Sydney where both I and my Father, were affiliated - much later.

The American associated with the pacemaker is not Greatbatch but rather Albert Hyman, who created and tested his device in the early 1930s. The reason he has the association is that he invented the term pacemaker and it has remained in place up to the present day.

pilowsky, on 2020-March-05, 05:36, said:

The black box flight recorder
Dr David Warren Also government funded. The Defence Science and Technology Organisation.

The first flight recorder I am aware of is French, so they certainly have a claim in this area. It was certainly crude though, being purely photo-based. The first flight recorder designed to withstand a crash was made by the British in WWII. This is widely regarded as being the forerunner of modern black box flight recorders. The first truly modern high-tech black box type of recorder was developed by a Finnish engineer, Veijo Hietala, towards the end of WWII.

The Australians did not get involved in this area to any notable effect until the 1950s. The main reason that the Australian involvement is important is that it combined the flight data recorder technology with voice recording technology that had also been developed by the Allies during WWII. By my standards putting 2 existing inventions together does not represent being credited as the sole inventor of a product but your mileage may vary. Of course, by that criteria putting the C++ program behind Google Maps together with a search engine would make Google the sole inventor of the map product you are claiming for Sydney.


In short, I think your piece here is even more misinformed than the Trump administration, which is really quite an amazing effort! That's quite aside from pushing nationalism on an international forum, which could easily be regarded as a form of trolling. Everyone here has reasons to be proud of their countries, and reasons not to be. That is the nature of the world.

[barmar]

pilowsky, on 2020-March-05, 05:36, said:

This, in my opinion, is when you need words like urgent, crisis, terrible and disastrous. Not when describing errors in bidding in bridge. David Pakman and other commentators constantly discuss Trump's obvious ignorance as though it was comedy. I find this very difficult to understand. It terrifies me. Real people are dying.
Skepticism is essential when assessing some of the stuff that you hear. These are just a few examples that spring to mind. So when you listen to Fox 'news' another Australian invention, which is in my expert opinion as valuable as getting your information from South Park or the Simpsons remember that it may not be what it first seems.

Unfortunately, there's not much we can do about Trump's ignorance. He was voted into office, he survived impeachment, we're stuck with him and his poor judgement. So what else can we do other than make jokes about it to try to feel a little better.

[pilowsky]

As an Australian who contributed Rupert Murdoch to the problem I can only offer my sincerest apologies.

[Winstonm]

Who's Ernest?

[pilowsky]

Who is Ernest you ask? Great question.

During WWI before the influenza pandemic and the invention of the vaccine (another Australian government success story) which does not work for coronavirus (sorry Don) Ernest Hemingway was an ambulance driver from America. While he was there he did not invent Bridge but might have met CEW Bean a Journalist who pipped Sir Keith Murdoch for the position of official Australian War correspondent. Sir Keith’s Father migrated from Cruden in Scotland which is why the Fox (Murdoch) family holding company is known as Cruden investments. Not a lot of people know that (as Don would say). Anyway, Keith’s dad settled in Malvern - that’s the one in Melbourne, not the one in Adelaide where I lived and Howard Florey was born (that’s another story). Keith had a speech impediment and took therapy from Lionel (Logue - not Logie, the King’s speech - one of my daughters is a Speechie).

During WWI, Murdoch began a pattern of behaviour that his family has replicated over the next 100+ years. You can imagine CEW Bean as the Tucker Carlson/ Sean Hannity/ Laura Ingraham of this story. The most effective commander during WWI was General John Monash. Originally a German Jew, a lawyer and an Engineer. He absolutely revolutionised modern warfare. Murdoch tried to have him replaced with an English dimwit. Fortunately for us, Rupert has renounced his Australian citizenship and become an American so that he does not fall foul of your media ownership laws! There is a University in Victoria (Melbourne, Australia - not Canada) named after him. Unlike Murdoch University, people actually want to study there. It has a medical school and stuff like that. So while Keith Murdoch and his family of avaricious children have been pumping up bloated authoritarian regimes for the past century, Ernest and Martha were writing excellent novels and journalism that you and I were enjoying whilst hoping fruitlessly that sense would prevail. I hope that answers your question.

I suppose we are all waiting (2♦) for better times. Things can only get better. Or can they?