Fred Rogers and Julia Child
Dr. Willem Johan Kolff, estimated to have saved over 1 million people. Invented the dialysis machine and refused to patent it; instead sharing his invention freely with hospitals and researchers all over the world. Born in Netherlands, he migrated to the US in the 1940s and lived in PA until he passed in 2009.
If saving over 1 million people does not rate having USPS honor them on a stamp, what does?
Don
Neil Armstrong
For some reason 1 million people saved by dialysis world wide seems low. I would have thought the number would be much higher.
Norman Borlaug, Harper Lee, John Kenneth Galbraith, Isaac Asimov, Benjamin Stickney, Clair Aubrey Houston.
I'm dumbfounded that Borlaug hasn't been honored.
Speaking of Dr. Willem Kolff. He already has been honoured with a stamp in the Netherlands.
interesting trivia: Dr. Kolff built his first dialysis machine (or artificial kidney as it is commonly known here in the Netherlands) during World War 2, while working in a hospital in Kampen, a small provincial town in the eastern part of the Netherlands. He used parts from a crashed German bomber, the water pump from a T-ford and cellophane packing material acquired from a local butcher for the first machine.
The Dutch Kidney Foundation estimates around 20 million people owe their lives to Dr. Kolff's invention.
He also invented the heart-lung machine that enables cardiac surgery.
This stamp was issued because of the centenary of the Dutch patent law, so I doubt the widespread story about Kolff not patenting his invention is entirely true. He did donate a couple of his first machines to hospitals all over the world. Perhaps that's where the confusion stems from?
Here was a post I made as while back...
https://www.stampcommunity.org/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=52988
"...so I doubt the widespread story about Kolff not patenting his invention is entirely true..."
It would be a major goof to include a product that was not patented in a series of stamps commemorating the law that regulated patents.
I have done some research in the archives and could not find any reference either, so it looks like artistic liberty (or inaccurate research) from the designers of the stamps.
Anglophile's points about the politics of a Borlaug stamp are well taken. But if we can include cartoon characters, specific brands of candy, and folks who engaged in armed insurrection against the United States, we can include Borlaug. I don't know how credible the oft-seen claim of a billion lives saved might be, but there's no denying his role in reducing the hunger of many, many people.
Thanks Chris for the interesting additional info.
You are right, it is pretty difficult to find evidence that Kolff did or did not patent his invention in 1943. A few remarks though: the Patent Office did function during the Occupation. The Germans had every reason not to close it, already before the start of the war several patent attorney companies were set up in the Netherlands by German intelligence posing as independent offices, but in reality functioning as industrial espionage cover-ups. Their only job was to single out interesting patents, translate them into German and send them to the Fatherland.
You are right, older patents are not very easy to track down through for instance espacenet or Google patents. For Dutch patents you would probably need to visit the National Archives.
For Willem Kolff, the oldest patents one can find through Google Patents are from 1969.
Pam Anderson and David Hasselhoff, I always watch Baywatch when doing work out and it keeps me fit.
So they deserve a stamp for that?
Wow, if that's the criteria then I'd rather see stamps for Redd Fox and Demond Williams.
...or maybe Cheech and Chong?
WB
Cheech ... sure. Tommy's Canadian though. Maybe a joint issue?
"Pam Anderson and David Hasselhoff, I always watch Baywatch when doing work out and it keeps me fit."
"Maybe a joint issue?"
Rocky and Bullwinkle!
Hi stampers;
I vote for Vincent Price. Why? Gee, I'm so glad you asked that!
He was a gourmet chef and had his own cooking show at one time, on PBS I think. I guess that was in between digging up corpses and sowing body parts together?
It makes me wonder where he got his ingredients from? Anyway he was a great actor and was more interesting than Elvis Presley.
Just sortin'....
TuskenRaider
mentioning David Hasselhoff and Jimi Hendrix in the same message is blasphemy!
Please do not give the USPS any more ideas. Harry Potter was the real crime to me.
Opera singer Beverley Sills. She is my wife's 1st cousin twice removed.
I think Neil Armstrong and John Glenn should get a stamp.
I'm with John (Macco) -
2 men who should be seriously considered for their own stamps.
Both heroes in my book.
ROBERTO GOIZUETA, A Cuban-American exile, CEO, and President of CocaCola
DESIDERIO ARNAZ, "Desi Arnaz": Television visionary. Another Cuban-American exile.
CELIA CRUZ: Singer, songwriter--International Salsa Queen: another Cuban-American exile.
"I think Neil Armstrong and John Glenn should get a stamp."
Paul Poberezny. . . Founder of the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Any aviation geek or pilot knows the importance of this organization.
Just my 2cents.
Sir Philip I Bruno. ESQ
Alfred E. Neuman. What me worry?
I second Vincent Price for sure.
"It would be a major goof to include a product that was not patented in a series of stamps commemorating the law that regulated patents. "
That's wild. Hope Dr. Kolff and his family were ok financially. My father had his life extended several years as a result of Dr. Kolff's (and other's) work. He and I had a couple breakthrough moments during that time.
That guy should be featured on two stamps!
the Donald!
I just saw this topic and decided to put in my two cents. I vote for :
President Chester A.Arthur,the 21st President of the United States, long neglected and ignored by most historians.
He did away with corruption and the bribery which was the standard method of obtaining government jobs.
He created the Civil Service, which today is the world standard for honest employment.
Here's a question;
famous stamp collectors on stamps - has there ever been one that was just famous
for that alone??
-FDR
-KGV
-QEII
-PRIII
-Nicolas Sarkozy
-Ayn Rand
...and I'm sure I've missed others - all known for things other than
stamp collecting.
Has there ever been one who was known/famous for JUST being a Philatelist???
Philipp von Ferrary is the only one that comes to mind. Well, Stanley Gibbons as well.
Liechtenstein, yes....good!
Was Edward Stanley Gibbons on a postage stamp?
Oh! Isle Of Man! Excellent!
...any more??
Mr Scott, perhaps
David,
I assume you refer to John Walter Scott of Scott catalog fame, and not 'Scotty' -
or Mr. Scott; from the great Sci-Fi TV show Star Trek.
(Montgomery Christopher Jorgensen "Scotty" Scott.....what a handle!)
Maybe George W. Linn should be on a stamp....?
indeed, Randy, that's my guy
I agree with many of the individuals named in this thread, and I would add...
Grace Murray Hopper, a United States Navy rear admiral and computer scientist who was the "grandmother" of COBOL and the compiler.
Billy Graham, an American evangelist, who was among the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th century.
John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry of Iowa State College where the first "automatic electronic digital computer" was built in Ames, Iowa, USA in 1942.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atanasoff%E2%80%93Berry_computer
Linus
Please forgive me if this is an old topic that I'm just recycling. But my insomnia has kicked in tonight, and I started thinking about people who seemed like perfectly logical choices to be featured on a stamp from the USPS -- who have not yet been so honored. It occurred to me that others might have their own suggestions.
Here are mine:
Fred Rogers (my son's violin teacher gave him a book of Mr. Rogers' advice this afternoon...)
Stephen Crane (ground-breaking author in the naturalist school of American lit: Red Badge of Courage; Maggie: A Girl of the Streets; in addition to some classic short stories...2021 will mark the 150th anniversary of his birth)
Other folks you think deserve to be on a stamp from the USPS?
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Fred Rogers and Julia Child
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Dr. Willem Johan Kolff, estimated to have saved over 1 million people. Invented the dialysis machine and refused to patent it; instead sharing his invention freely with hospitals and researchers all over the world. Born in Netherlands, he migrated to the US in the 1940s and lived in PA until he passed in 2009.
If saving over 1 million people does not rate having USPS honor them on a stamp, what does?
Don
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Neil Armstrong
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
For some reason 1 million people saved by dialysis world wide seems low. I would have thought the number would be much higher.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Norman Borlaug, Harper Lee, John Kenneth Galbraith, Isaac Asimov, Benjamin Stickney, Clair Aubrey Houston.
I'm dumbfounded that Borlaug hasn't been honored.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Speaking of Dr. Willem Kolff. He already has been honoured with a stamp in the Netherlands.
interesting trivia: Dr. Kolff built his first dialysis machine (or artificial kidney as it is commonly known here in the Netherlands) during World War 2, while working in a hospital in Kampen, a small provincial town in the eastern part of the Netherlands. He used parts from a crashed German bomber, the water pump from a T-ford and cellophane packing material acquired from a local butcher for the first machine.
The Dutch Kidney Foundation estimates around 20 million people owe their lives to Dr. Kolff's invention.
He also invented the heart-lung machine that enables cardiac surgery.
This stamp was issued because of the centenary of the Dutch patent law, so I doubt the widespread story about Kolff not patenting his invention is entirely true. He did donate a couple of his first machines to hospitals all over the world. Perhaps that's where the confusion stems from?
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Here was a post I made as while back...
https://www.stampcommunity.org/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=52988
"...so I doubt the widespread story about Kolff not patenting his invention is entirely true..."
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
It would be a major goof to include a product that was not patented in a series of stamps commemorating the law that regulated patents.
I have done some research in the archives and could not find any reference either, so it looks like artistic liberty (or inaccurate research) from the designers of the stamps.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Anglophile's points about the politics of a Borlaug stamp are well taken. But if we can include cartoon characters, specific brands of candy, and folks who engaged in armed insurrection against the United States, we can include Borlaug. I don't know how credible the oft-seen claim of a billion lives saved might be, but there's no denying his role in reducing the hunger of many, many people.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Thanks Chris for the interesting additional info.
You are right, it is pretty difficult to find evidence that Kolff did or did not patent his invention in 1943. A few remarks though: the Patent Office did function during the Occupation. The Germans had every reason not to close it, already before the start of the war several patent attorney companies were set up in the Netherlands by German intelligence posing as independent offices, but in reality functioning as industrial espionage cover-ups. Their only job was to single out interesting patents, translate them into German and send them to the Fatherland.
You are right, older patents are not very easy to track down through for instance espacenet or Google patents. For Dutch patents you would probably need to visit the National Archives.
For Willem Kolff, the oldest patents one can find through Google Patents are from 1969.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Pam Anderson and David Hasselhoff, I always watch Baywatch when doing work out and it keeps me fit.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
So they deserve a stamp for that?
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Wow, if that's the criteria then I'd rather see stamps for Redd Fox and Demond Williams.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
...or maybe Cheech and Chong?
WB
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Cheech ... sure. Tommy's Canadian though. Maybe a joint issue?
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
"Pam Anderson and David Hasselhoff, I always watch Baywatch when doing work out and it keeps me fit."
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
"Maybe a joint issue?"
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Rocky and Bullwinkle!
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Hi stampers;
I vote for Vincent Price. Why? Gee, I'm so glad you asked that!
He was a gourmet chef and had his own cooking show at one time, on PBS I think. I guess that was in between digging up corpses and sowing body parts together?
It makes me wonder where he got his ingredients from? Anyway he was a great actor and was more interesting than Elvis Presley.
Just sortin'....
TuskenRaider
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
mentioning David Hasselhoff and Jimi Hendrix in the same message is blasphemy!
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Please do not give the USPS any more ideas. Harry Potter was the real crime to me.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Opera singer Beverley Sills. She is my wife's 1st cousin twice removed.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
I think Neil Armstrong and John Glenn should get a stamp.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
I'm with John (Macco) -
2 men who should be seriously considered for their own stamps.
Both heroes in my book.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
ROBERTO GOIZUETA, A Cuban-American exile, CEO, and President of CocaCola
DESIDERIO ARNAZ, "Desi Arnaz": Television visionary. Another Cuban-American exile.
CELIA CRUZ: Singer, songwriter--International Salsa Queen: another Cuban-American exile.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
"I think Neil Armstrong and John Glenn should get a stamp."
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Paul Poberezny. . . Founder of the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Any aviation geek or pilot knows the importance of this organization.
Just my 2cents.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Sir Philip I Bruno. ESQ
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Alfred E. Neuman. What me worry?
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
I second Vincent Price for sure.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
"It would be a major goof to include a product that was not patented in a series of stamps commemorating the law that regulated patents. "
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
That's wild. Hope Dr. Kolff and his family were ok financially. My father had his life extended several years as a result of Dr. Kolff's (and other's) work. He and I had a couple breakthrough moments during that time.
That guy should be featured on two stamps!
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
the Donald!
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
I just saw this topic and decided to put in my two cents. I vote for :
President Chester A.Arthur,the 21st President of the United States, long neglected and ignored by most historians.
He did away with corruption and the bribery which was the standard method of obtaining government jobs.
He created the Civil Service, which today is the world standard for honest employment.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Here's a question;
famous stamp collectors on stamps - has there ever been one that was just famous
for that alone??
-FDR
-KGV
-QEII
-PRIII
-Nicolas Sarkozy
-Ayn Rand
...and I'm sure I've missed others - all known for things other than
stamp collecting.
Has there ever been one who was known/famous for JUST being a Philatelist???
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Philipp von Ferrary is the only one that comes to mind. Well, Stanley Gibbons as well.
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Liechtenstein, yes....good!
Was Edward Stanley Gibbons on a postage stamp?
Oh! Isle Of Man! Excellent!
...any more??
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
Mr Scott, perhaps
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
David,
I assume you refer to John Walter Scott of Scott catalog fame, and not 'Scotty' -
or Mr. Scott; from the great Sci-Fi TV show Star Trek.
(Montgomery Christopher Jorgensen "Scotty" Scott.....what a handle!)
Maybe George W. Linn should be on a stamp....?
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
indeed, Randy, that's my guy
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
re: Individuals who should be honored with a U.S. Stamp
I agree with many of the individuals named in this thread, and I would add...
Grace Murray Hopper, a United States Navy rear admiral and computer scientist who was the "grandmother" of COBOL and the compiler.
Billy Graham, an American evangelist, who was among the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th century.
John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry of Iowa State College where the first "automatic electronic digital computer" was built in Ames, Iowa, USA in 1942.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atanasoff%E2%80%93Berry_computer
Linus