American cartoonist (1883-1970). Born in
San Francisco, his father insisted that he become an
engineer. After graduating from the
University of California with an
engineering degree, he went to work as an engineer for San Francisco's
Water and Sewers Department. He was finally able to convince his father that he needed to work as an
artist, and he began submitting
cartoons to a San Francisco
newspaper. When his cartoons were published, they were extremely
successful, and he was able to move to
New York City, where he drew daily
cartoons for the
New York Evening Mail.
Goldberg's
Pulitzer-winning cartoons featured
fanciful and
absurdly
complex homemade inventions that performed very
simple tasks. For example, a Rube Goldberg cartoon depicting a
garage door opener could begin with a
car bumper knocking a
bowling ball off of a
table. The
bowling ball would land on a
bellows, shooting a
pin from the bellows into a
balloon. The
popping
balloon would
startle a
chicken in her
nest, causing her to lay an
egg, which would roll down a
chute and land in a small
basket, providing a
counterweight which triggered a series of
pulleys, which caused a large
boot to
stomp on a tethered
cat's
tail.
Yowling, the cat would begin running on a stationary
treadmill, turning a
crank that pulled the
garage door open.
Voila!Creations based on Goldberg's ideas have been seen in everything from
TV shows and
movies to
art projects to
board games (like the
goofy game "
Mousetrap"). Last time I checked,
Purdue University sponsored an annual
Rube Goldberg Machine contest, which challenges participants to create their own versions of Goldberg's
funny inventions.