Donges, Alexander (Author)
Selgert, Felix (Author)
In this paper, we study the social background of Prussian inventors in the mid-19th century, using biographical information for over 1,500 individuals who filed a patent in Prussia. There are four major findings. First, there is evidence for broadly based inventive activity, including a large number of inventors from middle- and lower-class backgrounds. Second, concerning the role of human capital, we argue that a combination of formal and informal education was crucial for the generation of innovation, though the importance of formal education increased over time. Third, we provide evidence that inventive activity fostered social mobility. Many inventors founded companies after they had filed a patent, suggesting that they could exploit their inventions commercially. Fourth, we show that inventors were highly mobile. Inventors migrated to the commercial centers of Prussia, in particular to Berlin and to the booming cities of the Rhine Province. In this regard, migration of highly skilled individuals may provide an explanation for the strong path-dependency that we observe when studying the geography of innovation and patenting.
...More
Article
Asuka Imaizumi;
(April 2022)
Widespread Enthusiasm: Grassroots Participation and Regional Variation in Early Japanese Patenting, 1885–99
(/isis/citation/CBB599282905/)
Article
Mercelis, Joris;
(2012)
Leo Baekeland's Transatlantic Struggle for Bakelite: Patenting Inside and Outside of America
(/isis/citation/CBB001250064/)
Book
Michael R. Cohen;
(2017)
Cotton Capitalists: American Jewish Entrepreneurship in the Reconstruction Era
(/isis/citation/CBB528649315/)
Book
Joris Mercelis;
(2020)
Beyond Bakelite: Leo Baekeland and the Business of Science and Invention
(/isis/citation/CBB912550580/)
Book
George Robb;
(2017)
Ladies of the Ticker: Women and Wall Street from the Gilded Age to the Great Depression
(/isis/citation/CBB683309034/)
Book
Werner Plumpe;
(2016)
Carl Duisberg, 1861–1935: Anatomie eines Industriellen [Carl Duisberg, 1861–1935: Anatomy of an Industrialist]
(/isis/citation/CBB209811203/)
Book
Anschutz, Philip;
Convery, William Joseph;
Noel, Thomas J.;
(2015)
Out Where the West Begins: Profiles, Visions & Strategies of Early Western Business Leaders
(/isis/citation/CBB224332085/)
Article
Kara W. Swanson;
(2017)
Rubbing Elbows and Blowing Smoke: Gender, Class, and Science in the Nineteenth-Century Patent Office
(/isis/citation/CBB667185119/)
Article
Emerson, Jason;
(Winter 2009)
Abraham Lincoln's Patent
(/isis/citation/CBB072684643/)
Article
Claire L. Jones;
(2016)
A Barrier to Medical Treatment? British Medical Practitioners, Medical Appliances and the Patent Controversy, 1870–1920
(/isis/citation/CBB826659903/)
Article
Sánchez Miñana, Jesús;
Sánchez Ruiz, Carlos;
(2011)
Sobre la difusión del teléfono de Bell en sus comienzos (1876--1877)
(/isis/citation/CBB001212079/)
Article
Firsov, Alexander;
(2013)
Hamburg Period of Invention and Design Activity of a Russian Engineer Boris Lutzky
(/isis/citation/CBB001321279/)
Book
Evenson, A. Edward;
(2000)
The Telephone Patent Conspiracy of 1876: The Elisha Gray-Alexander Bell Controversy and Its Many Players
(/isis/citation/CBB000950971/)
Book
B. Zorina Khan;
(2020)
Inventing ideas : patents, prizes, and the knowledge economy
(/isis/citation/CBB655098948/)
Book
Graeme Gooday;
Wilf, Steven Robert;
(2020)
Patent cultures : diversity and harmonization in historical perspective
(/isis/citation/CBB709019131/)
Article
Alexander Donges;
Felix Selgert;
(2019)
Technology transfer via foreign patents in Germany, 1843–77
(/isis/citation/CBB475299254/)
Book
Lichocka, Halina;
(2011)
Ignacy Mościcki
(/isis/citation/CBB001210104/)
Book
Matsuura, Jeffrey H.;
(2008)
Jefferson vs. the Patent Trolls: A Populist Vision of Intellectual Property Rights
(/isis/citation/CBB000954251/)
Article
Pursell, Carroll W.;
(1969)
Ebenezer A. Lester's pendulum steam engine
(/isis/citation/CBB001180262/)
Book
Sluby, Patricia Carter;
(2004)
Inventive Spirit of African Americans: Patented Ingenuity
(/isis/citation/CBB000470732/)
Be the first to comment!