Young Man / Old Man


Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years.
We grow old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin,
but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
-- Samuel Ullman --

There seems to be a common myth circulating in society that all the bright ideas, inventions, and worthwhile research comes from young minds. So I decided to research this a bit to see if this were really true or not.

What I found is that, while many bright ideas come from the young, equally many come from those who are more mature. Let us arbitrarily say that ‘young’ includes ages through man’s early 30s. Just as a random sample of many achievements, I found these inventors who were ‘older’.

1. The Dialysis machine - Nils Alwall 42 years old


2. Improved Versions of Breach Loaded Gun - William George Armstrong – various versions through his 40’s and 50’s


3. Analytical Engine – Charles Babbage – First described when 47 years old and improved upon till he was 80


4. Co-inventor of Transistor - William Shockley at 41 years old


5. Telegraph – Samuel Morse – 47 years old


6. Fusor - Philo T. Farnsworth – Inventor of Television, in his 60s invented the first device to demonstrate a fusion reaction.

This is just a small representative list, out of many. What I found was that bright ideas and inventions tended to be occur throughout the lifespan on the individuals that wereinclined to such accomplishments.

That is not to say there aren’t examples of brilliant genius being shown at a very young age, some whose talent, if not bodies, burned out early, but there are as many examples of those achieving late in life.

Of course it is a very small percentage of humanity that produces anything innovative or revelatory to start with. But the small percentage that do tend to, not always, but more often than not continue to use their genius for productive purpose for most of their lifetimes it seems. Poor physical health or a deteriorating condition might hinder their production, young or old, but in current society this occurs more with age. And then there is an awful lot of agreement about ‘growing old’ in our Western Society. It is expected and most are quite mentally conditioned for the advent of a deterioration of physical and mental state.

Fortunately, for humanity, and for the individuals involved, most gifted individuals live productive lives till the end.

You are as young as your faith,as old as your doubt;
as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear;
as young as your hope, as old as your despair.
--- Douglas MacArthur --