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Saul Griffith: inventor and environmental activist

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Essay 1,353 words

New York Times Like Profile of Saul Griffith

Over the last several years, a host of individuals began to become more concerned about the impact of climate change. In some cases, you would see various people contribute mass amounts of financial resources to addressing the underlying problem. While at other times, there are those individuals who will go beyond: traditional thinking and will work to develop ideas that many did not think was possible. Such is the case with Saul Griffith, the Australian born -American inventor, who has had a major impact upon how most people live their daily lives. A good example of this can be seen with his development of the uses of flexible surfaces and pourable resin in eyeglasses. This is important, because these two basic components would improve the durability of eyes glass, by preventing the frames from becoming damaged (where it increased the ability of the lens to withstand extreme impacts). As a result, his invention would innovate the way that everyone would live their daily lives, by using compounds that improved durability of glasses. Over the course of time, this would have an impact upon society through the use of these compounds on regular basis (which helps to save consumers money and provide them with a superior product). However, over the last few years, Griffith has been changing the overall focus of his research, with him becoming increasingly concerned about the total impact that global warming is having on the ecosystem. To fully understand how these different views have affected Griffith requires: looking at his life, the products that he has developed to address these challenges and the total impact of his efforts. Together, these different elements will provide the greatest insights, as to the underlying effects that Griffith's research is having on addressing various environmental issues. ("Saul Griffith") ("Short Bio Saul Griffith")

The Life of Saul Griffith

Saul Griffith was born and educated in Australia. Early on he had passion for research, with his parents being intellectuals that were focused on the value that education can provide. As a result, Griffith would study and graduate from the top colleges in Australia. To include: the University of New South Wales (where he received his BMETE) and University of Sydney (receiving a Masters degree in Engineering). At which point, Griffith would continue with his research by studying for his PHD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During the course of his research, he would develop a way to address various challenges affecting eye glass. Where, he used different compounds (flexible surfaces and pourable resin) to create more durable frames. These elements are important, because they are showing how Griffith would use: the basic principles of engineering and research to understand, how to address various challenges facing society. This is significant, because it shows how innovative research would give Griffith a passion for addressing various problems affecting a host of individuals. ("Saul Griffith") ("Short Bio Saul Griffith")

The Total Impact of these Efforts

The impact of these efforts is: that Griffith has been able to improve collaboration and he has been receiving notoriety for his ground breaking research. A good example of this can be seen by looking no further, than when he was recipient of the 2007 MacArthur Foundation award called Genius Grants. Commenting about the various research initiatives he has been involved in over the years the foundation called Griffith, "A prodigy of invention in service of the world community." (Dean) as they would look at his work, that he conducted and the way that he was able to help the general public. When you put these different elements together, this means that the research that is being conducted by Griffith, are helping to slowly address the underlying challenges affecting society. ("Seminars about Long-Term Thinking")

This would have an impact upon future research, by creating new ideas that will motivate other inventors to address similar kind of challenges. As a result, when you put these different elements together, it is showing how the Griffith's work would inspire and motive other researchers. With many believing that they can be able to address some of the same kinds of issues by having a similar approach. At which point, the ability of the scientific community to tackle these problems increases; because of the ground breaking research that was conducted by Griffith. ("Seminars about Long-Term Thinking")

Clearly, the various research efforts of Saul Griffith are having an impact upon how many researchers are looking at the issue of global warming. This is because he has been setting the stage, for trying to address some of the most challenging problems facing the world community. The most notable is: how to effectively reduce the total global footprint that is occurring, from increased amounts of electric production. This is problematic, because in order to effectively tackle the problem, there needs to be some kind of strategy for consumers to intelligently address energy usage. As the increasing amounts of demand, is causing the total amount of pollutants to increase, in effort to keep up with these changes. In Griffith's case, he is examining how to intelligently tackle this problem, by using his experience to find ways to reduce electric usage. At the same time, he has started his own company with focus of addressing the underlying challenges facing society. These different elements are important, because they are showing how Saul Griffith has become a new kind of inventor (who is willing to spend his time and money to tackle some of the most difficult problems). As a result, the actions that have been taken by this individual, are serving as way to address the underlying problems affecting society.

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The Products that He had Developed to Address these Challenges355 words
Griffith is motivated to address the underlying problems through: walking around and observation. These two elements are important, because they would help him to be…
Key Concepts in This Paper
Saul Griffith inventor environmental activism climate change energy consumption MacArthur Fellowship Squibb Labs
Cite This Paper
PaperDue. (2011). Saul Griffith: inventor and environmental activist. PaperDue. https://www.paperdue.com/essay/new-york-times-like-profile-4838

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