American Ingenuity

[Ginaki]

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, on almost any surface including glass, and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300C.

The Russians used a pencil.

[Medb48]

The Russians probably had female scientists! ;)

[Mrs Peterson]

The genious of simplicity, indeed.