I will never see everything. That’s what was running through my mind as I passed through parts of Geneva I had never seen before. Even over a whole semester, it is impossible to experience everything that Geneva, Switzerland has to offer.
But I can try.
I was riding the tram through parts unknown on my way to the 44e Salon International des Inventions de Genève (44th International Inventions Exhibition of Geneva).
Fourteen euros later, I found myself in a huge arena that had been divided up into hundreds of booths, each representing an invention. Above each booth, a flag representing the inventor’s country was posted. It was my instinct to search for American flags. I could finally talk with people who share my accent, I could marvel at the innovations of my countrymen, I could be proud of my homeland! I made my way through the maze of booths quickly, scanning for the stars and stripes. On the last row, I found the one and only American booth.
Slightly disappointed in my country, I redid my rounds of the hall, slower and more attentive than my previous patriotic dash. There were plenty of really creative ideas (most of which were beyond my comprehension), but two stood out as my absolute favorites.
The first invention that I will share with you hails back to my high school days in art history class. It’s called the Golden Divider and the pamphlet I took from the booth displays Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring, gridded out based on the Golden Ratio. This invention practically screams, “daVinci did it, and you can, too!” The device itself is a group of overlapping metal panels, designed to help anyone draw proportionate figures. As a proficient transparent cube doodler, I’d be interested to see if this thing could turn me into Botticelli.
Read more about it here.
The other invention I really loved is called BreastCaring. It’s a device connected with an app designed to help women with self-examinations for breast cancer. At first, I thought “They taught us how to do this ourselves in middle school. Why would I pay money to do something my God-given hand can already take care of?” And then, as if my own brain was countering me, an onslaught of “is-this-a-bump-or-am-I-a-hypochondriac” memories popped into my head. BreastCaring works by putting a disposable carbon marker on the handle which you then run over the breast. The device produces an image analysis which you then take a picture of through the app. The app will respond to your photo and advise that you see a doctor (or not) based on the image. So many women don’t do self-exams because they don’t know what they’re looking for, or (like me) know what to look for, but freak out over the fear of cancer and overanalyze every nook and cranny. BreastCaring isn’t a substitute for a doctor, but it certainly is a nifty innovation.
Kurt Vonnegut wrote, "We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down." Today, I passed by hundreds of wing-developers standing bravely by their ideas to better our world. It has reminded me to create with purpose and to not be afraid of seeking solutions to our planet's problems.