Hiram Stevens Maxim belongs to the record of technology as a figure whose work outlasted the moment that produced it.
The record lists Hiram Stevens Maxim as American-born inventor (1840-1916).
Hiram Stevens Maxim was born at Sangerville in 1840. His recorded nationality is the United States.
The nineteenth century professionalised nearly everything: salaried posts, formal training, and audiences large enough to sustain a career.
He worked as inventor, businessperson and gunsmith.
Technology is judged by adoption: an invention nobody uses is a curiosity.
His recorded fields of work are invention.
Recognition followed: National Inventors Hall of Fame (2006) and Knight Bachelor.
That the work was done from the United States matters. Opportunity has never been evenly distributed, and where a person is based shapes which doors open and whose work gets seen.
Hiram Stevens Maxim died in 1916, aged 76. What survives is the work, which is the only durable form of a reputation.
Achievements
- National Inventors Hall of Fame — 2006
- Knight Bachelor
- Worked as inventor, businessperson and gunsmith
