“Let’s get Crumped!” That’s a phrase I’m trying to coin. It means, “Let’s get inducted into the Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame (MIHF) like Chairman of Stratasys, Scott Crump” because Crump, who co-founded the company with his wife Lisa in 1989, got Crumped this past Friday at the 57th annual Minnesota Inventors Congress in Minneapolis.
Crump, as most of our readers know, is the inventor of fused deposition modeling (FDM), the 3D printing process on which most desktop 3D printers rely. Some 25 years ago, while the inventor was working on a project for his daughter, he realized that he could use a hot glue gun to mold 3D objects and that, if that glue gun were attached to a robotic XYZ gantry system, the modeling process could be done automatically. Now, the company has become a world leader in 3D printing technology. Crump has acted as the Chairman and CEO of the company, then Stratasys Inc., until December of 2012, when the company merged with Objet Geometries, at which point, he became the Chief Innovation Officer and Chairman of the newly formed Stratasys Ltd.
Those inducted into the MIHF are chosen for the impact that their inventions have on the economy, communities, and society of Minnesota. This year, Crump was the only inductee chosen to join such Minnesotan greats as Seymour Cray, inventor of the supercomputer and founder of Cray Research, who was inducted last year. Raymond Walz, Secretary and Custodian of Records for the MIHF had this to say about the inductee, “It is fitting that such an innovative and highly successful inventor was nominated and selected to be inducted into the Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame. We are honored to welcome Mr. Crump.”
So, I reiterate for all of you would-be inventors out there: Let us all be inducted into the halls of fame of our respective states of origins for ideas that will change the world for the better. Let us all be kings and queens among mortals. Let us all get Crumped!
Source: WSJ
