Have you ever wondered what was in the minds of inventors when they came up with something? Well, you may want to catch PBS Digital Studios‘s biweekly series called “Inventors”, which features short videos by filmmaker and photographer David Friedman, interviewing and chronicling the work of contemporary inventors from all walks of life.
The series offers a rare glimpse into how these inventors are inspired, ranging from the first digital camera to the Long Island Iced Tea cocktail.
Here’s a look at some of those episodes:
Ralph Baer – often called the father of video games – came up with the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home console system. Here he talks about those early days of video game history and why now, at 90 years old, he’s still inventing.
Bob “Rosebud” Butt is credited with inventing the Long Island Iced Tea while he was a bartender at the Oak Beach Inn on Long Island in the 1970s. While he’s unlikely to be the first person ever to make a cocktail resembling iced tea, he’s pretty sure he’s the first to come up with this particular recipe:
And who can forget Steven Sasson, who invented the digital camera back in 1975 while working at Kodak in Rochester, NY. In this video, he shows off features of the original prototype, and describes how digital imaging has expanded beyond anything he could have imagined:
