{"id":39932,"date":"2016-07-16T14:26:17","date_gmt":"2016-07-16T18:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/?p=39932"},"modified":"2016-07-17T03:01:55","modified_gmt":"2016-07-17T07:01:55","slug":"10-great-inventors-you-never-knew-were-freemasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/10-great-inventors-you-never-knew-were-freemasons\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Great Inventors You Never Knew Were Freemasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The history of the international fraternity of Freemasonry is riddled with secrets. Attempting to make a definitive account of its beliefs, rituals and influence would prove to be an extremely difficult, if not impossible, task.<\/p>\n

By their very nature, the Freemasons are a mysterious group, and although in the 21st century they claim to be \u201cless a secret society and more a society with many secrets,” they do not relinquish covert information to non-members readily.<\/p>\n

What is known about the Freemasons is that a phenomenal number of great innovators, thinkers, and influential individuals have been, upon closer inspection, members of this shadowy organization.<\/p>\n

The following inventive and original minds all, in their own ways, changed the world \u2014 and they were also all members of the Freemasons.<\/p>\n

10. Vannevar Bush (1890 \u2013 1974)<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

American engineer, scientist and developer of the first electronic analogue computer Vannevar Bush is perhaps best remembered as the author of the revolutionary essay \u201cAs We May Think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Published in 1945, it envisaged much of the technology we take for granted today, including personal computers, the Internet, hypertext, online encyclopedias, and speech recognition software.<\/p>\n

In 1939, Bush \u2014 a Worshipful Master in Massachusetts\u2019s Richard C. Maclaurin Lodge \u2014 was appointed president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington; as such he assumed considerable influence with the US Government in military and scientific research.<\/p>\n

Bush was involved in the development and proposed use of the atomic bomb. And, as the alleged head of the \u201cMajestic 12\u201d \u2014 the purported code name of a secret committee of scientists, leaders and officials formed by President Harry Truman.<\/p>\n

Bush is rumored to have investigated UFO activity in the wake of the Roswell incident, the supposed crash of an alien aircraft in New Mexico in 1947.<\/p>\n

The secrets his fellow Lodge members may have heard are almost too immense to contemplate.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

9. Sandford Fleming (1827 \u2013 1915)<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sir Sandford Fleming was a Scottish-born Canadian inventor and engineer.<\/p>\n

Perhaps best known as the man who,\u00a0in 1851, designed the first Canadian postage stamp, Fleming is also often credited with the invention of standard time zones.<\/p>\n

Amongst his many achievements, Fleming was chief engineer of the cross-continental Canadian Pacific Railway.<\/p>\n

Knighted by Queen Victoria in 1897, Fleming was also a Freemason. Freemasonry helped Fleming in no small way, providing him with links to many influential members across the international fraternity.<\/p>\n

His proposal of world time zones was supported by many powerful masons, most notably the fourth Governor General of Canada, 9th Duke of Argyll John Campbell.<\/p>\n

Fleming\u2019s engineering genius also helped to bring about the trans-Pacific submarine telegraph cable, which some have dubbed the \u201cVictorian Internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

8. John Theophilus Desaguliers (1683 \u2013 1744)<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The French-born astronomer, scientist, natural philosopher and priest Rev. John Theophilus Desaguliers has been credited with the invention of the planetarium and is also remembered as the man who took steam engine design a step further though the addition of a safety valve.<\/p>\n

Influenced by Sir Isaac Newton, whom he was an assistant to, the Oxford-educated Desaguliers chose to settle in England.<\/p>\n

Desaguliers was also an extremely prominent Freemason and a major force both in collating the early history of the society and in attracting noblemen to the world\u2019s first known Grand Lodge \u2014 the Premier Grand Lodge of England.<\/p>\n

Mystery shrouds his connection with Freemasonry up to 1719, but in that year he was elected the third Grand Master, and after serving in this post he subsequently held various prestigious positions within the Fraternity \u2014 in his adopted home as well as in Europe.<\/p>\n

Desaguliers, who appears to have invested far more time in science and Freemasonry than he did in the Church of England, has been called the \u201cFather of Modern speculative Freemasonry.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

7. King Camp Gillette (1855 \u2013 1932)<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It can be reasonably claimed that the American innovator King Camp Gillette changed the world when he launched the cheap, disposable safety razor to a grateful public in 1901.<\/p>\n

Yet the founder of the world famous Gillette brand (now a business unit of Procter & Gamble), who was known for his business acumen and innovative marketing strategies, was also a Freemason.<\/p>\n

Little is known of Gillette\u2019s personal experience within the Fraternity, but his political ideas are well documented and must surely have been shared among other members.<\/p>\n

Gillette was a \u201cUtopian Socialist,\u201d and envisioned a single public-owned corporation that controlled the entire world\u2019s industry. He also imagined a giant US-wide city named Metropolis that would be powered exclusively by Niagara Falls. King Camp Gillette: dreamer; inventor; Freemason.<\/p>\n

6. Traian Vuia (1872 \u2013 1950)<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Romanian inventor, engineer and aviation pioneer Traian Vuia was one of the earliest innovators in flight technology.<\/p>\n

In 1906, his self-propelled, fixed-wing aircraft \u2013 complete with landing wheels \u2013 managed to fly 39 feet, approximately 3 feet off the ground.<\/p>\n

What is less well known is that the aeronautics genius was a member of Romania\u2019s Masonic Order, which had grown steadily more organized following the unification of its lodges in 1880.<\/p>\n

It has been reported that, in the wake of World War I, Vuia was part of a small group of Freemasons who traveled to the Peace Conference in Paris to facilitate links with the Paris Ernest Renan Lodge \u2014 and in turn, between the governments of the two countries.<\/p>\n

As a world famous innovator and designer, Vuia\u2019s value to Romania and his lodge was priceless while journalists who were part of the French fraternity ensured Romania got good press at the conference.<\/p>\n

5. Antonio Meucci (1808 \u2013 1889)<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It is widely held that Alexander Graham Bell was the inventor of the telephone.<\/p>\n

However, it is also claimed that inventor, revolutionary thinker and unconfirmed Freemason Antonio Meucci had devised the principles of the telephone when Bell was still an infant, and had a working model by 1859 \u2014 long before Bell and others.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the Italian, due to technical omissions relating to vocal sounds in his patent \u2014 which was filed five years before Bell\u2019s \u2014 he never gained the credit for his work; until recently, that is.<\/p>\n

In 2002, the US Congress officially recognized Meucci\u2019s work in the development of the telephone.<\/p>\n

The rumors of Meucci\u2019s involvement with the Freemasons appear to be largely down to his close friendship with the great military hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, the unifier of Italy.<\/p>\n

Garibaldi was an active Mason and arrived in New York around the same time as Meucci.<\/p>\n

The two shared ideas, and it seems likely that Freemasonry played some part in this exchange.<\/p>\n

4. James Bowie (1796 \u2013 1836)<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

James \u201cJim\u201d Bowie, legendary frontiersman, pioneer, battle hero and reputed joint designer of the Bowie knife (with a little help from his brother, Rezin), is something of a folk hero in American cultural history.<\/p>\n

Bowie\u2019s fame was born of violent circumstances. Having been shot and stabbed in the famous brawl known as the Sandbar Fight, Bowie killed the sheriff of Rapides Parish, Norris Wright, with an unusually long knife.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s said that this became the basis for the design of the now-famous hunting knife. While many different manufacturers have produced their own versions of the blade, Bowie can lay claim to being the original inspiration for the design.<\/p>\n

Among his many other roles \u2014 including a slave trader and land speculator \u2014 Bowie was an esteemed member of L’Humble Chaumiere Lodge No. 19 at Opelousas, Louisiana.<\/p>\n

Yet just as his life appeared to be at its most settled and comfortable, his wife and children were killed in a cholera outbreak.<\/p>\n

He then fought and died alongside fellow national icons Davy Crockett and William Travis at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3. Samuel Colt (1814 \u2013 1862)<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The American industrialist and inventor Samuel Colt is best known for popularizing the revolver that eventually led to the Colt Single Action Army, otherwise known as the Colt .45.<\/p>\n

He applied for his first patent at the age of 18, and his dream of perfecting the \u2018impossible gun’ never faded.<\/p>\n

An engaging and pioneering character in the world of munitions and other fields, Colt once made a living as \u201cthe celebrated Dr. Coult,\u201d lecturing on chemistry and performing demonstrations of the effects of Nitrous Oxide on willing audience members.<\/p>\n

Like his manufacturing rival Daniel Leavitt \u2014 who patented the first revolver after his own \u2014 and another great firearms exponent, Richard Gatling, Colt was also an active Freemason.<\/p>\n

Colt\u2019s name will forever be associated with the gun, and interestingly his products were of great use to fellow Masons Benito Ju\u00e1rez, Simon Bolivar, Giuseppe Garibaldi and Sam Houston in their various violent revolutionary activities.<\/p>\n

2. The Montgolfier Brothers (Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (1740 \u2013 1810) and Jacque-\u00c9tienne Montgolfier (1745 \u2013 1799))<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The celebrated French inventors the Montgolfier Brothers \u2014 arguably the earliest important names in the history of aviation \u2014 performed the first manned ascent of a hot air balloon in 1783.<\/p>\n

Based on experiments with bags made of paper and fabric and a naked flame, their paper-lined silk balloon was lifted 6,562 feet in the air.<\/p>\n

In the same year they successfully transported first animals (a sheep, a rooster and a duck) and then later human passengers, the first one being Jacque-\u00c9tienne himself.<\/p>\n

Less is known about the brothers\u2019 lives as Freemasons, but like Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Pil\u00e2tre de Rozier \u2014 who made the first untethered manned flight in a Montgolfier balloon \u2014 they were active members of the Fraternity.<\/p>\n

1. Benjamin Franklin (1706 \u2013 1790)<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Benjamin Franklin, the great statesman, scientist, political theorist and philosopher, is without doubt one of the most important inventors and public figures in American history.<\/p>\n

The creator of the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and the glass harmonica also believed in generously donating his genius and never patented his work.<\/p>\n

He was a true Renaissance man, and possibly his greatest gift to civilization was the lightning rod, which led to a greater understanding of the nature of electricity.<\/p>\n

Franklin was active as a Freemason from at least as early as 1731, when he was initiated into St. John\u2019s Lodge in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Appointed Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in 1934, he was heavily involved in Masonic work his entire life, and edited and reprinted Scotland\u2019s Rev. James Anderson\u2019s Constitutions of the Free-Masons in the same year as his high appointment.<\/p>\n

This was the first Masonic book in America and effectively linked the \u201cAntient\u201d and the \u201cModern\u201d world.<\/p>\n

Franklin, known as the \u201cFirst American,\u201d was instrumental in the creation of modern America and, in doing so, brought the secrets of Freemasonry to a new nation. Or at least to its chosen few.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The history of the international fraternity of Freemasonry is riddled with secrets. Attempting to make a definitive account of its beliefs, rituals and influence would prove to be an extremely difficult, if not impossible, task. By their very nature, the Freemasons are a mysterious group, and although in the 21st century they claim to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":39938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[9948,5305],"class_list":{"0":"post-39932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-lists","9":"tag-toparticles"},"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68717,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39932\/revisions\/68717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}