The biggest myth about innovation

Once upon a time in a world filled with myths and misconceptions about innovation, a dad with a particular gripe decided to set the record straight. His name was not important, but his message was. He believed that the way we typically narrate the birth of inventions was far from the truth.

In his world, innovation was often depicted as the work of solitary geniuses, laboring in solitude, conjuring groundbreaking ideas out of thin air in a flash of inspiration. These myths, he believed, left people unprepared for the reality of how innovation truly happened.

He wanted to debunk these myths, and to do so, he chose an extraordinary example: the mRNA vaccine. This revolutionary vaccine, hailed for changing the world during a pandemic, seemed like the perfect case study.

In the face of skepticism and resistance, our storyteller embarked on a journey to reveal the messy, intricate, and interconnected web of events that led to this groundbreaking invention.

The story began in the 18th century, in a Europe where catching smallpox was as fashionable as it was deadly. The practice of smallpox inoculation involved using knives, pus, and luck, but it was a young man named Edward Jenner who set the wheels of change in motion. Jenner, motivated by his fascination with birds and a theory about diseases jumping between animals and humans, ventured into an experiment. He inoculated a young boy named James Phipps with cowpox, an idea inspired by milkmaids' immunity to smallpox.

Jenner's discovery of vaccination, a term derived from "vacca," Latin for cow, set the stage for a medical revolution. Napoleon, recognizing the potential of vaccination, protected his army from smallpox, giving him an edge in warfare. This chain of events led to better cannons, thanks to John Wilkinson's innovations in iron casting, and ultimately, the scientist Joseph Priestley's obsession with gases.

Priestley's fascination with gases took him to a brewery, where he observed the bubbling of carbon dioxide above fermentation vats. This discovery gave birth to soda water, a significant improvement over the foul-tasting mineral water of the time. It became a sensation, and a man named Johann Jacob Schweppe mass-produced it.

In Ireland, the Kildare Street Club embraced this bubbly delight and coined the term "Club Soda." One of the club members, Francis Rynd, pioneered the hypodermic syringe, a crucial tool for administering medicine.

The story took an unexpected turn when it introduced the Eiffel Tower, originally intended to stand for just 20 years. Gustave Eiffel turned it into a scientific research station, contributing to the development of wireless telegraphy, which played a vital role in World War I.

This led to Louis De Broglie's inspired work in quantum physics, Ernst Ruska's invention of the electron microscope, and Erwin Schrödinger's revolutionary ideas about the information stored in molecules within cells.

Francis Crick, influenced by Schrödinger's work, embarked on the quest to discover DNA, which eventually led to the revelation of mRNA and its role in protein synthesis.

The dad who initiated this tale wanted to convey a profound message. He wanted to debunk the myth of the lone genius and emphasize that true innovation is an intricate dance of ideas, connections, and unforeseen events. It's not a linear path but a messy, unpredictable journey where curiosity plays a pivotal role.

In the end, he urged everyone to stay curious, to be open to unexpected connections, and to understand that innovation doesn't happen in isolation but through the collaboration and collision of ideas. For in these intersections of knowledge and curiosity, the world-changing innovations of tomorrow may be waiting to be discovered.