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My Notebook of Questions
My Notebook of Questions
4
My N
ote
book o
f Questio
ns
Inventio
ns
www.qa-international.com
Who was the inventor of paper?
What is the precursor of refrigerators?
What is an abacus for?
Who invented boats?
When was ice cream invented?
Professor Génius
InventionsThe objects that surround us are so much
a part of our daily lives that we often forget they have not always been around. In this notebook, good old Professor Genius has gathered many
of the questions sent to him by curious young readers who want to know all about the
great inventions. The kindly and well-informed professor provides simple answers and accompanies his explanations with notes, drawings and
personal observations.
Professor Génius
WHO INVENTED CHOCOLATE ?
WHAT IS SILK ?
WHEN WAS TOOTHPASTE INVENTED ?
Inventions
Extrait de la publication
My Notebook of Questions
Inventions
by Professor Genius
Extrait de la publication
The characters in Professor Genius’s universe are pure fantasy. Any resemblance to actual living persons
is entirely coincidental. Although the facts they contain are accurate, the newspaper articles, old letters,
books, and magazines drawn from the Professor’s personal collection are all products of the imaginations
of the creators of this notebook.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval sytem, without permission in writing by QA International.
© QA International, 2007. All rights reserved.
www.qa-international.com
Printed and bound in Singapore.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 12 11 10 09 08 07
QA Kids an imprint of QA International 329, de la Commune St. West3rd FloorMontreal, Quebec H2Y 2E1 Canada
T 514.499.3000 F 514.499.3010www.qa-international.com
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Professor Genius
Inventions
(My Notebook of Questions)
Includes an index
For readers ages 7 and up
ISBN 978-2-7644-1170-4
1. Inventions—Reference books for children. 2. Inventions—history—
Reference books for children. I. Title. II. Collection.
Inventions, My Notebook of Questions, was created and produced by:
www.geniusinfo.netExtrait de la publication
Table of ContentsWho invented fire? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
What was the first object ever invented? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Who invented words? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Who invented our alphabet? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Who invented perfume?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Who invented boats? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
How long has money been around? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Who invented ice skates? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Who invented soap? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Who invented the wheel?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
How long have skis been around?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
What is silk? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Who invented paper? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Who invented numbers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Who invented chocolate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
What did people use before refrigerators? . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
What were the first jobs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Who first had the idea of building houses?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
When were the first toys invented? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Who was the inventor of jewelry? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Who invented heating?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Why was the abacus invented? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
When was toothpaste invented? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
How did people cure before the invention of medicine? . . . . . .74
How long has postal service been around?. . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
Who invented music? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
How long has bread existed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
How long have utensils been around? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
When was ice cream invented?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Extrait de la publication
4
To all those who open this notebook,
So many inventions have changed the way we
live. Some of them have even changed the
world! Indispensable, practical, funny, serious and
occasionally tasty, each of these inventions has
a story that I find captivating! Many curious
young readers think they’re interesting, too, so
I’ve gathered all the questions about inventions
that appeared during prehistoric and ancient times
(between the time humans first appeared 5 mil lion
years ago and the year 476). Who invented the
wheel? When was ice cream invented?
How long has paper been around? I’ve answered
these questions and many others in this notebook,
with the help of simple diagrams, photos and
other il lustrations.
So keep asking questions and let your imagination
run wild. Who knows? You may be one of
tomorrow’s inventors…
Happy reading!
Professor Genius
Extrait de la publication
5
Dear Professor,
Can you tell me who invented
fire? Thank you very much.
Emily, age 7
Dear Emily,
That’s a very interesting question! As a
matter of fact, fire is not real ly an invention.
To help you understand why, Emily, let me
explain the difference between an “invention”
and a “discovery..” An invention is something
new that is created by a human being. It
is something that did not exist before. It
can be an object, a tool or material. A
discovery, on the other hand, is a thing or
a phenomenon that is seen or understood
for the first time, but that already existed
in nature. And so, dear Emily, fire is a
discovery and not an invention.
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6
On the other hand, the many different ways
to make a fire are inventions. (Think of a
lighter or matches, for example.) But let’s
get back to your question. One of the oldest
clues indicating that humans used fire was
found in a cave in South Africa. Fossilized
bones, about 1.5 mil lion years old, showed
that people at that time had cooked an
antelope. It is believed, thanks to bushfires
lit by lightning, that prehistoric humans
managed to get hold of a flame and carry
it back to their encampment. How did they
do it? No one real ly knows for sure. You
could imagine a brave member of the tribe
approaching this monstrous fire to light a
stick of wood. The tribe probably watched
over the flame, day and night. It was
important that the fire not go out because
they did not yet know how to make
it themselves! It was only a mil lion
years later that humans invented the
7
first ways of making fire. Without a doubt,
Emily, this discovery changed people’s lives.
From this moment on, they could use fire to
frighten off wild animals and to cook the
meat and vegetables they ate. Also, thanks
to the light from the flame, they could make
homes in caves that had once been too dark
to live in. It isn’t a big thing for us, who
are used to our comforts, but at
the time, it was quite a revolution!
Best regards,
Professor Genius
Extrait de la publication
8
Subject: First inventionDate: September 15, 2006To: Professor Genius
Dear Professor Genius, Do you know what the first thing ever to be invented was? If you do, please tell me :-)Take care,Raymond, age 7
My dear Raymond,
The oldest known object to have been invented
is a tool. As a matter of fact, it was a
chopper—a stone carved with the help of
another stone to make it sharp. Its inventor
was one of the first humans, called ”Homo
habilis.” The chopper was very practical!
It was used to cut up the meat of animals
(perhaps antelopes or elephants), carve wood
or crack nutshells. The oldest of
these carved stones were found
in Tanzania, a country in East
Africa. They are more than
2.5 million years old! Over time,
improvements were made to this
tool. After choppers, people made Chopper
9
bifaces. These stone tools, often made
of a rock called flint, were carved
on two sides. The result was a
narrow and very pointy tool as
sharp as glass! Little by little, new
tools were invented to accomplish
particular tasks. People carved stones
in pointy shapes to make spears and
arrows for hunting. They used small bones to
make sewing needles and fishhooks.
I must tell you, Raymond, that huge progress
was made thanks to these tools. They made
it possible for people to clothe themselves,
hunt, build houses and… invent more tools!
Affectionately ,
Professor Genius
Biface
Arrows and spear
10
Dear Professor Genius,
Can you tell me who invented words?
Thanks a lot.Anna, age 6
Dear Anna,
Words are, without a doubt, the biggest and
most ingenious human invention. Thanks to
words, we can discuss, write and sing. It’s
hard to imagine life without words, isn’t it?
It al l started with the earliest humans, who
quickly felt the need to exchange information,
thoughts and to talk about their daily lives.
Words were created because of these needs.
The first words were written more than
5,000 years ago by the Sumerians, a
people who lived on the banks of the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq.
Each word was represented by a different
Extrait de la publication
11
little drawing. This early writing consisted
of about 2,000 signs! Over the centuries,
it evolved quite a lot. The drawings that
represented objects became simple nail-
shaped strokes. We call them “cuneiform
writing,” which means “wedge-shaped.” I’l l let
you see for yourself the impressive way that
the word ‘’bird’’ evolved.
Little by little, each ancient civilization
invented its own system of writing. Thus
the Greek, Chinese or Egyptians writing
were born!
1 2 3
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12
Of course, each form of writing evolved a
lot on its own. Some forms appeared, while
others died out. That is perhaps why there
are so many different kinds of writing today..
Take care,
Professor Genius
Dear Professor,
Who invented the Latin
alphabet? Thank you for
your answer!
Stephen,age 8 and a half
Extrait de la publication
13
Dear Stephen,
“ABCDEFG… HIJKLMNOP…
QRSTUVWXYZ… now I know my
ABC’s, next time won’t you sing with me…”
Do you know this song? It’s a fun way to
memorize the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet!
To find out who invented this alphabet, go back
to Sumerian writing (which I talked about
earlier to Anna). With its 2,000 different little
drawings, this writing was difficult to learn
and memorize! Imagine for a moment that,
to write correctly, you had to know all these
little signs. It wouldn’t be easy! To solve this
problem, the Phoenicians (a people who lived
on the east coast of the Mediterranean)
invented the ancestor of our alphabet.
This was about 3,300 years ago! Their
alphabet was made up of 22 consonants
that represented al l possible sounds in the
Phoenician language.
Extrait de la publication
14
Five hundred years later, the
Greeks perfected
the invention by making
up vowels as well as the
ancestors of punctuation.
But that was not al l, Stephen!
They also cal led this series of letters the
“alphabet.” The word is a combination of
the first two letters in the Greek alphabet:
“alpha” and “beta.” Four hundred years later,
the Romans were inspired by this alphabet
to make their own: they kept 19 of the
Greek letters and soon after invented 7
others. The Latin alphabet was born, with
its 6 vowels and 20 consonants!
Best regards,
Professor Genius
Extrait de la publication
1515
Dear Professor Genius,
When I hug my mother, I smell the scent of
her perfume. It reminds me of the scent of the
flowers in the field near where I live. Can you
tell me who invented perfume?
Thank you.Sophie, age 9
My dear Sophie,
Your question brings back wonderful memories.
I remember the scent of the jasmine perfume
my grandmother wore when I snuggled in
her arms—and of my father’s cologne when
he picked me up to give me a kiss. Ever since,
when I smell these scents, I remember them
both with great tenderness. To get back to
your question, Sophie, no one really knows
who invented perfume. We do know,
however, that it has been around a
really long time. The Sumerians were
using it about 5,000 years ago. It
was the inhabitants of ancient Egypt,
Extrait de la publication
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however, who perfected it and made it an
object of great importance. The Egyptians
considered perfume to be sacred. They burned
incense al l day long to honor their gods. It
was fashionable for them to rub perfumed
grease on themselves. Queen Cleopatra,
who ruled Egypt more than 2,000 years
ago, adored perfume. Besides perfuming
herself, she had the fabrics around her
soaked with it—even the sails on her boats!
It is said that this was how she charmed
the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. Amusing,
isn’t it? The Egyptians passed their love of
perfume on to the Romans and the Greeks.
It was the Romans, by the way, who were
the first to capture all these different scents
in glass bottles. Perfume in ancient times
was made from flowers, aromatic plants
(like rosemary, verbena and coriander),
resins or scented wood (like cinnamon, cedar
and sandalwood). These scented plants were
Incense
94
ABCDE
abacus 68, 69, 70
alphabet 12, 13, 14
barter 21, 22
bicycle 32
biface 9
boat 18, 19, 20
bread 83, 84, 85, 86
bus 32
calculator 68, 69
car 32
chocolate 47, 48, 49
chopper 8, 9
coins 21, 23, 24
crossbar 34
dice 59
digit 46
discovery 5
doll 59
FGHIJ
farmers 54
fire 5, 6, 7
fork 87, 89, 90
heating 64, 65
hoop 59
houses 55, 56, 57, 65
hypocaust 65, 66, 67
ice cream 91, 92, 93
icehouse 50, 51, 52
ice skates 25, 26, 27
invention 5
jewelry 61, 62, 63
jobs 53, 55
KLMNO
kite 59
knife 87, 88
lighter 6
mail 77, 78, 79
match 6
medicines 74, 75, 76
money 21, 23
music 80, 81, 82
numerals 44, 45, 46
numerals, Brahmi 46
numerals, Roman 45, 46
oars 19
PQRST
paper 41, 42, 43
papyrus 41
parchment 42
perfume 15, 16, 17
postal service 77, 78, 79
refrigerator 50, 52
remedies 75, 76
sailboat 18, 19, 20
sherbet 92
silk 38, 39, 40
silk, spider 40
skis 36, 37
soap 28, 29, 30
spokes 34
spoon 87, 88, 89
steamboat 19, 20
swing 59
toothpaste 71, 72, 73
top 59
toys 58, 59, 60
trades 53, 55
UVWXYZ
utensils, eating 87
wheel 20, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 59
writing 10, 11, 12, 13
yo-yo 59
94
Index
95
Many thanks…
To Martine Podesto, for her support and confidence in me.
To Claire de Guil lebon, for the right words.
To Anouk Noël, for her drawing advice and marvelous
work with a pencil. To Jocelyn Gardner and Alain Lemire,
for lending an efficient helping hand.
To Josée Noiseux, for beautiful ly organizing this notebook.
To Émilie Corriveau, Daniel le Quinty, and Mathieu Douvil le
for their able assistance. To Anne Tremblay, for her
sharp eye.
To Odile Perpil lou and Nathalie Fréchette, for perfect
management of the production of this notebook.
To Gil les Vézina, for helping me find such beautiful
photographs.
To Donna Vekteris, for her translation of the text.
To Veronica Schami, for proofreading the English text.
To Stéphanie Lanctôt, for validating the scientific content of
this notebook.
A special thanks to Caroline Fortin, François Fortin and
Jacques Fortin, who, as always, lend me their support.
And, saving the best for last, a big thanks to al l the
curious young readers who sent me their questions.
I can’t wait for the next ones to arrive!
Until we meet again for the next notebook!
Professor Genius
Extrait de la publication
96
p. 48: Cacao tree © Vic Aboudara/iStockPhoto.com / p. 60: Boy on swing © Josée Noiseux / p. 69: Chinese abacus © Hélène Brion.
Photo Credits
Extrait de la publication
My Notebook of Questions
My Notebook of Questions
4
My N
ote
book o
f Questio
ns
Inventio
ns
www.qa-international.com
Who was the inventor of paper?
What is the precursor of refrigerators?
What is an abacus for?
Who invented boats?
When was ice cream invented?
Professor Génius
InventionsThe objects that surround us are so much
a part of our daily lives that we often forget they have not always been around. In this notebook, good old Professor Genius has gathered many
of the questions sent to him by curious young readers who want to know all about the
great inventions. The kindly and well-informed professor provides simple answers and accompanies his explanations with notes, drawings and
personal observations.
Professor Génius
WHO INVENTED CHOCOLATE ?
WHAT IS SILK ?
WHEN WAS TOOTHPASTE INVENTED ?
Inventions
Extrait de la publication
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