CMU School of Drama


Monday, July 03, 2017

Rube Goldberg: The Man Behind the World's Craziest Machines

interestingengineering.com: Rube Goldberg, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist/cartoonist, engineer and sculptor is probably best known for his far-fetched gadget sketches. Rube Goldberg is the only person, ever, to have been listed in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as an adjective, nonetheless. Over his lifetime, it is estimated he penned over 50,000 cartoons, that’s frankly incredible. His distinctive style was centered on his satirism of America’s obsession with technology.

1 comment:

Marion Mongello said...

This article specifically talked about Rube Goldberg's one most popular comics. I had no idea prior to reading this article that Goldberg was even a comic creator. The “Self Operating Napkin,” the comic that this article covers, talks about a multi-step Machine with many different moving parts that makes it “easier” to use a napkin for the operator. This was perhaps the inspiration for one of the original Rube Goldberg machines. This article then goes into Rube Goldberg's early life and what may have inspired his wild ideas in creating machines. I had no idea Rube Goldberg had a job in designing sewer pipes, who would have thought. It was really interesting reading about Rubes' beginnings, and comparing it to a recent experience that my class had in creating our own machine. It really goes to show that you can put your mind to anything, and that some of the most original ideas can come from some of the most unexpected places.