834 Lake Street
Oak Park, IL 60301
United States
Illinois Bicentennial Event presented by the Oak Park Public Library and the Oak Park River Forest Museum.
Oak Park Public Library Veterans Room
Ripples generated by technological innovations that have occurred in Illinois have traversed the globe. It was here that John Deere invented the self-scouring plow and Cyrus McCormick perfected and manufactured his mechanical reaper, dramatically increasing the efficiency and productivity of American agriculture. Here, too, is where the first steel-framed skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, was constructed. By championing land-grant universities during his presidency, Illinoisan Abraham Lincoln helped to create an infrastructure that has supported momentous research, development, and creativity. The World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 introduced many significant technological developments to the world, prominently featuring Nikola Tesla’s alternating current system.
Author John Wasik will discuss how and why Illinois became such a hub of innovation. He will invite audiences to contemplate what must be done to ensure that our state can thrive in a global economy in which automation and digital technology are increasingly prevalent.
John Wasik is the award-winning author of Lightning Strikes: Timeless Lessons in Creativity from the Life and Work of Nikola Tesla (Sterling, 2016), The Merchant of Power (Palgrave, 2015), and fifteen other books. He has contributed to The New York Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, and Reuters. He has spoken across North America and appeared on CNN, Fox, PBS, NPR, NBC, and radio stations from Australia to Israel.
This presentation is in collaboration with the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest and the Oak Park Public Library.