Mauie Flores

One of the most common parts of automobiles are windshield wipers. Today's cars cannot do without a windshield wiper - not to mention that they now function at variable speeds. Do you know that back in the 1960s, windshield wipers function manually, meaning the driver has to click it on everytime to get rid of the pouring rain blocking his view? This was all before Bob Kearns, the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper, had his flash of genius in 1967 and came up with his "Kearns Blinking Eye Windshield Wiper".

I would never have placed so much thought on my car's windshield wiper until I came to watch this movie. "Flash of Genius" is the story about Bob Kearns (played by Greg Kinnear) and his 12-year battle with Ford Motors for the right to be known as the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper. He defended himself, with the help of his children, in court to prove that Ford Motors has used his invention and failed to give him the rightful credit. He was awarded $10 million dollars in winning the case against Ford Motors and another million dollars against Chrysler.

Let's admit it, being consumers, we oftentimes fail to appreciate the little mechanisms that make our big appliances and machines work. We fail to recognize the time and effort devoted by most unknown and underappreciated inventors who just wanted to make life better for all of us. We often just appraise the brand and never the people behind them. This movie got me think about the geniuses that we often take for granted. As a teacher, I think I should start knowing more and spreading the word about them.

As I am writing this, I look at my watch and wonder whoever started making them and find out that Hamilton watches are the first ones to run on batteries. I am now ending this post since I have to research more on who's flash of genius this might be. You better start looking around and doing your own little researches too.