The Dutch rose to defeat the Hapsburg Empire and become superbly educated. They became so inventive that they came up with a quarter of all major inventions in the world. The most important of which was the invention of ships that could travel around the world to collect great riches and the invention of capitalism as we know it today to finance those voyages.They like all leading empires enhance their thinking by being open to the best thinking in the world. As a result, the people in the country become mo ...

Good afternoon. My name is Katie Russell and I've been asked to share some of my journey over three years time competing in a nationwide contest called the National Invention Convention. The National Invention Convention is a national contest for public school kids that begins each year at the local level.The contests roll up to the state championships which in turn roll up to the national championships held each year at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. My journey began in middle school. I was d ...