Apple’s contribution to the digital age is a noticeable one. It’s hard to argue with virtually organised music and the contribution of a unified application ecosystem. But are these innovations sizable enough for people to think Steve Jobs was the second greatest innovator ever?
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| Source: Future Of Tech |
A recent MIT poll surveyed 16-25 year olds in an attempt to identify attitudes towards the world’s greatest innovators. Jobs scored noticeably well in second place, with 24% of those surveyed believing his contributions are worthy of the number two spot.
Jobs beat Alexander Bell, the engineer credited with creating the first practical telephone, two time Nobel-prize winner Marie Curie and internet prodigy Mark Zuckerberg.
Taking the Greatest Innovator of All Time title was Thomas Edison, who invented the motion picture camera, the first iteration of a light bulb and the phonograph. Edison nabbed more than double the number of votes Jobs received at 52%, and rightfully so.
Mark Zuckerberg received an underwhelming 3% for his contribution, despite influencing people’s social relationships through his social network.
Oddly enough, the organiser of the poll, Leigh Estabrooks, believes there should have been more contemporary innovators filling out the list, with Jobs credible enough in her opinion to win the top spot.
“Here we have this innovation role model who has changed the way we live and yet young people still go back to Thomas Edison. While he did great and wonderful things, most of his work was in the 1880s.”
The survey highlights the fact that invention and innovation are taught in history classes, and not maths or science classes. Estabrooks believes more modern innovators on the list would help inspire today’s youths to contribute to the fields of maths and science.
“The sooner we can share with kids the things they can do with science, technology, engineering and math, the better off we’ll be,” she said.
“It is awfully hard to catch up with the math once you’re in high school and almost impossible once you’re in college. And it is hard. Therefore mentors can help by encouraging students to stick with it.”
