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Modern Marvels: George Washington Carver Tech

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Anyone who's watched the History Channel is familiar with Modern Marvels. Probably the History Channel's best series to date. George Washington Carver Tech is among the best in the series, along with Renewable Energy and Enviormental Tech.

GWC Tech traces Carver's steps in merging agriculture with industry. Born a slave, he practically educated himself and others. His exploits garnered the attention of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison and catapulted Tuskegee Institute to working with NASA. Tuskegee now develops plants which can be grown in space during prolonged missions and even when space colonization ramps up.

Carver's findings and inventions even aid in contemporary issues. Carver pioneered "biofuel" from soy beans. Which Henry Ford initially intended to use in his automotbiles. Now, those discoveries and inventions have come full circle as we seek to ease our enviormental footprint.

George Washington Carver Tech is not worth watching, it's worth OWNING!

This is a wonderful documentary about George Washington Carver, his biography and his inventions. From the simple peanuts, he extracted over 300 inventions (except peanut butter, which was invented by somebody else), add the sweet potato and the soybean inventions, and you got one man dynamo who vastly improved our quality of life. This documentary contains the actual film footage of the news at the time (i.e. President Roosevelt visiting Carver at the Tuskegee Institute, and Henry Ford shaking hands with Carver, among others.) A humble man, he credited all his inventions to God. Carver died on January 5, 1943, at age 78. On his grave are following words: "He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world." (GWC Wikipedia) This documentary is less than 45 minutes. Highly recommended for viewers of all ages.

The Modern Marvel series have several installments about "this" tech and "that" tech. However, this is the first time I've seen them name a tech after an individual. Perhaps this points to Dr. Carver's incredible achievements. He met and was respected by FDR and Henry Ford. He even declined a lucrative job from Thomas Edison!

This work does mention Carver's inventions, however, it focuses more upon the doors that he's opened. For example, it says a few things about his work with soybeans, but it says more about how that idea is now being used to make environmentally-friendly paints and car gas. It goes an amazing step further and talks of how Carver's legacy may have space exploration.

Most of the tech series can be unfriendly for those who don't like or understand science. This installment bucked that trend as it tried to weave Carver's scientific discoveries with his biography. Near the end of the work, the narrator says, "Carver never married." However, other sources, Notable Names DB for example, say he was a rainbow flag man. He may have been in the same ilk as Langston Hughes, E. Lynn Harris, Alain Lock, and RuPaul. If the white rainbow flag folk can claim Da Vinci and his knack for invention, perhaps Black rainbow-flaggers can claim Carver for the same reason. As British rainbow-flagger Alan Turing made an invention that helped to end WWII; Carver's sweet potato products helped the Americans in WWI.

The work said Carver was known for his unironed suits. However, it never mentioned how many who knew him were shocked by his high-pitched, non-masculine voice. You hear it later in the work. They show him in film done in color. This surprises me was he died in 1943 and I thought color film wasn't made until the early 1950s.

The installment had interviewees diverse in terms of gender, racial background, and national origin. Most were scientists, logically. Oddly, basketball player Dave Robinson is consistently interviewed. This shocked me in the same way that I was surprised to see George Will participate in a documentary about Roberto Clemente. However, the work later connects the dots and says Robinson started a school with Carver as the namesake. Robinson should truly be praised for his actions in this arena.

I still laugh when I think of "Undercover Brother" when comedian Dave Chappelle exclaims, "GWC died trying to make a computer out of a peanut!" This work emphasized that Dr. Carver worked with soybeans and other veggies too. The work also informs the viewer that Carver did not invent peanut butter as some may presume.