Some students go to MIT to plumb the mysteries of the atom, or of outer space, or to press the limits of computer science.
Amos Winter went another way: He’s trying to revolutionize the wheelchair. Specifically, he wants to make that most familiar aid to the disabled work in the Third World, where roads are bad, money tight, and the need immense.
Go read the entire article. It's simply amazing what a determined engineer can do. With a bin full of bicycle parts (and a sh*tload of engineering know-how), Amos Winter has created something that can make a difference literally anywhere in the world. With the advances in medical technology, people are surviving events that would have been fatal in years past, however often at the expense of broken bodies. Here in our safe little American world, we don't often think of those who might have to navigate dirt roads - or no roads at all - in a wheelchair. This device will be a godsend for anyone in a wheelchair who lives "off the beaten path".
Note to Norwegian eggheads: This is the kind of thing that SHOULD win someone a Nobel Peace Prize.
That is all
4 comments:
Simple.. basic and GREAT Idea..
Slaps forehead..Why didn't I think of that!!!
I agree about the norwegians!!
Cool idea.
While it should be the kind of thing to win the Nobel Peace Prize, unfortunately the rules basically say that that particular prize goes to the person that does the most to reduce the size of the world's armies. Yeah, that'll bring about peace.
Not that The One deserves it even under that definition or anything...
Kick-Ass! I had a friend who became an occupational therapist, and I wondered why I hadn't seen an off-road-type wheelchair for wet, soggy ground, sandy beaches, etc. She assured me that they exist, but I still haven't seen anything of the type, except for a homebuilt push-chair (made of mostly of pvc pipe, and lent free to people by Ocean Isle, NC Fire Dep't.)
This design rocks...I thought of it, but didn't set down any designs...*slaps forehead really hard*
Ah, hell...I hope he makes fifty gazillion dollars.
Gun Geek - Norman Borlaug won the Peace Prize for developing the grain hybrids that, along with nitrogen fertilizer, produced the green revolution and allowed China, India and much of the third world to avoid non-political famines. So there is a precedent for technology leading to a Nobel peace prize. Now, as to whether the current crop of judges would GIVE said award for something other than politics . . .
LittleRed1
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