Thursday, January 5, 2012

Happy Birthday Sid Parnes and George Washington Carver

What a day of creativity this is!  Two great creative souls were born on this day

Dr. Sidney J. Parnes (born 90 years ago today) is a retired professor at Buffalo State College (located in Buffalo, New York) and the co-founder of the International Center for Studies in Creativity. The Center is housed within [[Buffalo State College], one of the only places in the world that offers a Masters of Science degree in Creativity.  He is the gentle and guiding force behind CPSI, one of the most remarkable gatherings of creative souls on the planet and the longest-running international creativity conference in existence.

This video explains the creative problem solving process developed by Dr. Parnes and Alex Osborn.

George Washington Carver who was born on this day in 1864, perhaps into slavery, is acknowledged as one of the most creative and inventive minds of the scientific world.  His reputation is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanutssoybeans andsweet potatoes, which also aided nutrition for farm families. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life.  In 1941, Time magazine called him a "black Leonardo."

There is a national monument dedicated to Carver at his birthplace in Diamond, Missouri.



How fortunate we are all that these men dedicated their lives to creativity.

1 comment:

  1. How lovely to shine the spotlight on these individuals. I did not know that Carver had been so described by Time.

    I'll come back to watch the video when my mind is a bit more rested.

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