EARLY ADOPTER: Portrait of Gustave Trouvé from Histoire d’un Inventeur by Georges Barral, one of several original texts at The Bakken Library and Museum of Electricity in Life, in Minneapolis.

Trouvé Magic

and revolutionized medicine, and theatrical effects that

wowed international audiences.

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Photography by Bruce Challgren. Courtesy of The Bakken Library, Minneapolis, Elizabeth Ihrig, librarian. thebakken.org

Gustave Trouvé was like Thomas

Edison, Alexander Graham Bell,

and Igor Sikorsky rolled into one.

By Karen K. Hansen

Talking with makers in the 21st century, you might find

the conversation turning to alternative energy, electric

vehicles, medical breakthroughs, and special effects.

These subjects would be déjà vu to Gustave Trouvé, a

French inventor born in 1839, who created the first elec-

tric vehicle and outboard boat motor, the most-used

military telegraph, endoscopes that stirred controversy

30 Make: Volume 17