Last week I wrote about a project I have started creating-- a window that will be installed in the Community Room of the Metuchen Public Library.  In the near future, the library will be the recipient of a grant from the Lemelson Foundation which will provide funding for STEM-centered improvements.   

Last summer when I learned about the grant, I began researching Jerome Lemelson ("Jerry" to his friends) and learned that his foundation is associated with MIT, the Smithsonian and provided funding that resulted in the Human Genome project. Lemelson himself created inventions that ranged from medical and industrial technology to gadgets and toys.  

One thing I found especially fascinating about him was that he slept with a notebook next to his bed so he could record throughout the night any ideas that popped into his head.  Cleary his mind was always working!  

In chosing the images I wanted to use for the window, I went to his patent submissions and studied the beautiful, detailed drawings he created.  I decided to use 8 images, including this one.  I love the figure in the center of the "Wheeled Action Toy" and imagined this idea coming to him at 3 am while he rushed to grab his sketch book and jot it down.  It may not have happened just like that but I feel his creative genius spark through me as I look at all his incredible inventions.