History of American appropriation of Russian inventions

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Taking someone else's is not good - but scientists and inventors from the United States and many other countries, whose brainchildren are suspiciously similar to ours, apparently do not know this.

In science, the theft of innovative solutions and inventions happens quite often. It can be quite difficult to find out the truth in such situations, often a brilliant idea comes to mind to different scientists almost simultaneously. But sometimes doubts arise that this was the case. Let us recall several egregious cases when foreign scientists and inventors behaved not entirely honestly towards their Russian colleagues.

All over the world it is believed that the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison. However, in fact, he simply improved the invention of Pavel Yablochkov and Alexander Lodygin. The American achieved that the bulbs could burn for a whole hundred hours. He also invented the base, socket and rotary switch. The Russians did not promote their invention, but Edison did everything possible to make people associate the light bulb with his name.

One of the first people whose fantasies resulted in the creation of a "self-running stroller", the prototype of a car, was the serf Leonty Shamshurenkov. His invention was highly appreciated by Mikhail Lomonosov himself. Almost 20 years later, the Frenchman Cugno will show the whole world something similar - a small steam cart. His name will forever go down in history as the name of the inventor

Back in 1763, the Yekaterinburg inventor Ivan Polzunov came up with a marvelous machine, which was later equipped with wheels and called a steam locomotive. A year later, the famous Scotsman James Watt arrived in Barnaul to test this invention. He took advantage of the fact that frivolous Russians treated the official registration of their creation with negligence, and 20 years later in London received a patent for a steam engine. It is now believed that it was Watt who invented the steam locomotive.

Russian scientist Alexander Popov conducted a radio broadcast back in 1895. The inventor was, alas, an absolutely non-pragmatic person who “forgot” about obtaining a patent for an invention. And literally two years later, the sprightly enterprising Italian Guglielmo Marconi picked up Popov's idea and forever secured the invention of wireless communication.

In 1801, in Nizhny Tagil, the serf Efim Artamonov designed a metal frame and attached wheels to it. At first, this unit could be set in motion only by pushing off the ground with the feet, but then pedals were adapted to the front wheel. And again, no one took care of obtaining a patent, so the cunning German baron Karl Drais announced to the whole world that the design of the bicycle was born in his head.

The great Russian surgeon Nikolai Pirogov began using anesthesia during operations in the middle of the 19th century. His innovative solution has helped thousands of people survive without postoperative pain shock. The idea was picked up by doctors all over the world, and now no one remembers that Pirogov was the first to widely use anesthesia. In general, healers began to use anesthesia in ancient Egypt, but it only slightly eased physical suffering.

In the mid-1980s, the young professor Felix Beloyartsev gathered a group of like-minded scientists and set about developing an unprecedented drug that could replace blood plasma. The unique blood substitute was named "Perftoran". The drug began to be produced only in 2016, but its characteristics significantly surpassed the imported counterparts that appeared later. The Americans got hold of the formula of the Soviet blood substitute 30 years ago and began to actively use perftoran in their practice, hinting that it was they who invented the artificial plasma.

In the early 90s of the twentieth century, a huge amount of information about secret Soviet developments, especially in the space industry, began to flow to the United States through various channels. Many believe that thanks to these leaks, the Americans stole the idea of the orbital ship. Both the appearance of the Dream Chaser and the technical solutions resemble the project developed in the USSR back in the 60s. The original is a Soviet orbital rocket plane "BOR". However, this is not the only thing that the States "borrowed" from us in this industry.

In the early 90s, a delegation from the United States arrived at a Russian plant where ejection seats for military pilots "K-36 DM" were produced. Similar chairs were invented in the USSR back in the 70s. The Americans bought a small batch of these unique designs and very soon began to produce "their own", like two peas in a pod similar to ours. Then in our country there were hard times, so no one again took care of obtaining a patent. The Americans have not paid a dime for the stolen technology.