Image by Claudio Henrique Claudio from Pixabay

In a previous Trivia Thursday, I talked about lesser known firsts. Today I want to discuss popular inventions that might be attributed to the wrong person. Have we given credit to the wrong person? I’ll let you be the judge:

• First Automobile: While Karl Benz is often credited with inventing the first automobile with his Benz Patent-Motorwagen in 1886, some argue that the honor should go to earlier inventors such as Siegfried Marcus. According to Wikipedia, he built a gas powered vehicle in 1864. 
• First Telephone: We are taught that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, receiving the first US patent for it in 1876. However, some argue that Antonio Meucci, an Italian immigrant, developed a similar device years earlier but lacked the resources to patent it.

Image by Alexander Lesnitsky from Pixabay

• First Airplane: Everybody knows that the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, achieved the first powered, controlled, and sustained flight in 1903. There are claims, however, that Gustave Whitehead, a German immigrant in the United States, flew a powered aircraft as early as 1901. This is up for debate, though, because evidence supporting this claim questioned. 

Image by Ozant Liuky from Pixabay

• First Light Bulb: Thomas Edison is often credited with inventing the first practical incandescent light bulb in 1879. However, earlier versions of the electric light bulb were developed by inventors such as Humphry Davy, Warren de la Rue, and Joseph Swan. 

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

• First Computer: In my last post, I mentioned Charles Babbage and his 19th century mechanical computer. While he is credited with the invention, some argue that the “Z1,” created by Konrad Zuse in Germany in 1938, should be recognized as the first functional programmable computer. 

Image by succo from Pixabay

• First Motion Picture: My last entry returns to the early days of film. Although the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, are often credited with creating the first motion picture with their invention of the Cinématographe in 1895, some argue that earlier experiments by inventors such as Thomas Edison and William Kennedy Laurie Dickson predate their work. 

Image by Niek Verlaan from Pixabay

These examples highlight the complexity of attributing “firsts” to singular individuals or companies, as innovation often builds upon earlier ideas and inventions.