Dean Kamen and Perseverance in the Face of Failure

Imagine working your whole life on numerous groundbreaking inventions in multiple fields, being responsible for real accomplishments in science, but everyone knowing your name for one thing that didn't work out. That guy is Dean Kamen.

You see, Dean is most famous for inventing the segway, which is an invention that produced a lot of backlash. It was supposed to be a revolutionary piece of technology that would transform everyone's lives when it was unveiled in 2001. But as people realized immediately, it was just a big scooter that people only remember because it was in the Paul Blart: Mall Cop movies. 

Dean exemplifies how failure is integral to science and the scientific method. As Stuart Firestein articulated in his TED Talk, often the greatest successes in their fields failed . . . and failed a lot. Stuart specifically brings up how Joe DiMaggio is one of the best baseball players to ever live, but his career statistics demonstrate that he had a 67.5% "failure rate."

Dean's one failure has made people not realize that he actually contributed so much to the world, especially in the field of medicine. Dean's inventions include the at-home dialysis machine, which is crucial for people with kidney problems to filter their blood without having to go to painful appointments.

What's most interesting about Dean is that he's just a genius who looks to solve problems; there's not much I know what to say regarding his creative process. However, it is clear that Dean embraced what is essential to all creatives—never giving into public perception and failure. I think it's a topic we could talk more about.

Source: https://loyolauniversitychicago-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/rmorrison_luc_edu/EeJcsk0vz45BhFMd6dUCMgsBZtqCW21Y1yADapTQ-kJSvg?e=MU6rOn