King Of The Inventors
He's invented well over three thousand different devices. He's not after money, just love. He's going to live until he's 144. What's not to like about Dr Nakamats? Claire Chmarny finds out all about a living legend.Please be upstanding for one of the most insane, yet lovable characters to cross the Null’s path, Yoshiro Nakamatsu, better known as Dr NakaMats. The good doctor is the brains behind such innovations as the floppy disc, the CD, the digital watch and the fax machine, but he’s also so much more
Dubbed the ‘Edison of Japan’, Dr NakaMats is possibly the most prolific inventor in history. Whilst Thomas Edison – commonly regarded as the king tinkerer – invented some 1,093 gizmos and gadgets, Yoshiro Nakamatsu has well over 3,000 innovations to his name.
He even received the IgNobel Prize for Nutrition in 2005. This was after he took photos of everything he ate for 34 years to analyse what made a healthy meal. Dr. NakaMats has also invented his own range of ‘Nutri-Brain’ health foods which, despite tasting like seaweed, he claims contain up to 55 essential ingredients that prolong life. This strange Japanese fellow is currently at the ripe old age of 79, but that’s not slowing him down. He plans to live until he’s 144, and who’s to say he won’t?
The inventor built his first creation at the age of five. It was an ‘automatic gravity adjuster’ which enabled his model planes to fly better. He described this achievement as ‘basically inventing how aeroplanes fly now’. He says that his mother taught him everything he needed to know - physics, chemistry, English, Japanese, history and, of course, humour.
Dr NakaMats is the only person who has licensed 16 patents to IBM. He claims that he licensed these patents to IBM Corp. in 1979 for his designs of the floppy disc. A spokesman from IBM will say only that the company has ”an ongoing relationship” with him.
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In order to get his mind focused on new inventions NakaMats likes to go for a little dip, but it’s not as innocent as it sounds. NakaMats believes he gets his best ideas through a "lack of oxygen", yes that’s right - a lack. He holds his breath under the water until he is ”0.5 seconds away from death” gets an idea and quickly jots it down on his Plexiglas writing pad – which of course, he also invented.
On top of all this Dr NakaMats teaches philosophy at the University of Tokyo. He also ran as a candidate in the Tokyo gubernatorial election last year, where one of his promises (only if he got elected) was to build a missile shield for Tokyo which would make incoming missiles turn around.
Among all these other inventions, designed to help people with their everyday lives, Dr NakaMats has also invented the ‘Love Jet 200’, a spray designed to combat male impotency. NakaMats claims that this invention is a bid to try and boost Japan’s birth rate. Oh and the spray is also anti-aging.
All in all this patent creating, inventing machine of a man has proven that Japan is still able to produce some of the most unique people in the world. And, if you believe his own hype, we still have 65 years left to find out what other inventions he is going to come up with.
Top Quotes from Dr Nakamats
"That is the core of my inventions: not money, but the spirit of my inventions is LOVE!"On having a bright idea:
"use a completely calm room - that could even be my toilet which shuts out every noise and every magnetic and electronic field. Such a calm room erases all noise from your brain, you can concentrate and think."
"Every month I give a lecture where I teach spirit, creativity and many other things. We also sing a song about the spirit of invention being LOVE." (hear the song)
"For me, Beethoven's Fifth is good music for conclusions."
More unsung heroes:
- Rachel Maines - The voice of the vibrator
- Dennis Kunkel - Making small beautiful
- Nikola Tesla - All round genius
- Yuri Gagarin - Gagarin but not forgotten
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