“If nobody else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I’ll do it myself,” were the renowned words of an Illinois woman whose invention impacted domestic living for generations across the U.S. Josephine Cochran is the original inventor of the first practical dishwasher and established the Garis-Cochran Dish-Washing Company in 1897 to manufacture the new, innovative device. After moving to Illinois from Ohio, Cochran built her prototype in a shed behind her house in Shelbyville. It could fit plates, cups and saucers inside a set of wire compartments and pumped hot soapy water onto the dishes, avoiding common issues like chipping and unwanted wear.

In 1886, Cochran secured a patent for her dishwasher design with the assistance of mechanic George Butters. Her design featured a motor, water wheel, a boiler to heat the water, and a rack system to hold the dishes neatly in place as they were sprayed with the soapy water. While Cochran’s dishwasher was the first to be commercialized, she initially sold them to hotels and restaurants to demonstrate its value in multiple settings. The large-size model of the dishwasher could wash and dry 240 dishes in two minutes. The success of her dishwasher enticed hospitals and colleges to purchase the machine for its effortless sanitizing effects.

Cochran’s dishwasher gained support and recognition from businesses, hospitals and schools, but it was not until the 1950s when dishwashers became popular and successful in American households. She was posthumously inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006. Thanks to her persistence in seeing her invention succeed, Cochran formed a legacy for herself and changed the domestic experience for all Americans.

May 14 is Illinois Innovation Day! Illinois is a complex Midwestern hub rich in innovation, economic development and tech growth. Illinois Innovation Day serves as a recognition of the triumphs of creativity and innovation for the overall development and evolution of humankind. In celebrating this significant day, let’s recognize some of the unique and popular innovations created in Illinois:

• The first mobile cell phone: Developed by Martin Cooper in Schaumburg and launched in 1973, the cell phone changed history and further evolved the way we communicate. Cooper’s innovation opened the doors for other grand inventors.
• Plasma TV: In 1964, University of Illinois professors Donald Bitzer and Gene Slottow built the first plasma prototype display using technology that led to the creation of the plasma TV.
• Web browser: Mosaic, the first popular web browser, was built in 1992 at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina created Mosaic and helped popularize the World Wide Web. Mosaic was credited with leading the internet boom of the 1990s.
• Prostate and breast cancer breakthrough: In 1951, University of Chicago physiologist Charles Huggins discovered that breast and prostate cancer cells are dependent on hormones, paving the way for the development of hormone therapy treatment for cancer patients.
• McDonald’s: Ray Kroc revolutionized the franchise fast food industry when he opened the nation’s first McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines in 1955, complete with the golden arches.
• GrubHub: The online restaurant delivery business GrubHub was formed in Chicago in 2004, eventually expanding to more than 13,000 restaurant listings.

When it comes to leading in clean energy, Illinois has countless examples of new and exciting companies dedicated to reducing our carbon footprint – including Rivian in Normal and Lion Electric in Channahon.

The transition to electric vehicles has been a long process in the making. Illinois has been dedicated toward the evolution of electric vehicles through the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act to oversee the phase-out of fossil fuel-fired electrical generation units since late 2021.

“Everything begins with an idea,” said Earl Nightingale. Ideas have the power to change the world. University of Chicago has played host to some of the most powerful ideas in the world. A new series of video shorts from University of Chicago aim to highlight the role the researchers and scientists of the University have played in changing the universe and our understanding of it. The series is called “The Day Tomorrow Began” and portrays compelling stories in video, podcast and written formats. Every story details a groundbreaking and gripping idea or discovery.

Could you ever imagine a star collapsing in on itself? A light, once shining so bright, suddenly turning into the darkest void you have ever seen. Indian-American scientist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar could imagine it. He is the first story topic covered, for his role in discovering black holes. In 1931, at only the age of 19, Chandrasekhar was the first person to calculate that stars would ultimately collapse in on themselves at the end of their lives. And if the star had enough mass, it would create a black hole. This is only one of the fascinating stories the series has to tell.  

Thinkers and scholars of the world have always advanced our way of life. Today, higher education and its researchers are facing challenges when it comes to lack of funding. The series was created, in part, as a hope to reinvigorate people’s passion for research and new ideas. “There’s a tremendous belief that universities need to play, and do play, a role in helping drive innovations and breakthroughs that really reshape our world,” said Paul Rand, vice president for communications at the University of Chicago.

 To watch or listen to the captivating series “The Day Tomorrow Began”, you can visit here.

The Clark Bridge, linking Illinois to Missouri in Alton, is a cable-stay bridge, unique in its structure in the United States. The bridge is named for explorer William Clark, who helped lead the Lewis & Clark expedition from 1804 to 1806. The bridge is a 4,620 foot gateway inviting visitors to discover the region.

Requiring 8,100 tons of structural steel, 44,100 cubic yards of concrete and more than 160 miles of cable wrapped with four acres of yellow plastic piping, the Clark Bridge is expected to be a part of the area's scenery well into the next century. The bridge is supported by 44 steel cables looped over saddles and perched on top of a pair of ten foot wide concrete pylons 250 feet above the Mississippi River.

Design work on the bridge began in 1985, with construction starting in June 1990. Designed by Hanson Engineers under contract to Illinois Department of Transportation, the Clark Bridge was the first in the United States in which a light steel-framed cable-stayed design was combined with a cable saddle type of pylon. The bridge used 8,100 tons of structural steel, 44,100 cubic yards of concrete, and more than 160 miles of cable wrapped with four acres of yellow plastic piping. The span carries four lanes of traffic and two additional paths for bicycles and pedestrians. It is the northernmost river crossing in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

The new Clark Bridge was built to replace the Old Clark Bridge, which was built by the Alton-St. Louis Bridge Company in 1927 and demolished after the completion of the new bridge in the 1990s. The old bridge was a toll bridge while the new one is not.

The new Clark Bridge is sometimes referred to as the “Super Bridge.” Its construction was featured in a NOVA documentary entitled Super Bridge, which highlighted the challenges of building the bridge, especially during the Great Flood of 1993.