2. A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius “ Rube “ Goldberg was an American cartoonist,
sculptor, author, engineer and an inventor
Born- July 4, 1883, San Francisco, California, United States
Died- December 7 at the age of 98, 1970, New York, United States
Children- George and Thomas
Movies that he has been in- Soup to Nuts
Education- Lowell high School (1900), University of California,
Berkeley
He is best known for a series of popular cartoons showing
complicated gadgets that perform simple tasks in difficult ways.
3. HIS EARLY LIFE
From the age of four Rube Goldberg spent a lot of time tracing
drawings from tons of books. He worked for his friend delivering
magazines and loved smelling the ink on the pages. Rube once said
“The pungent aroma gave me a greater thrill inhaling the fragrance of
the most exquisite perfume.”
As a young boy Rube knew he wanted art to be his life. But His
parents were not happy with this and did not want their son to be a
“struggling artist” instead they wanted Rube to study engineering. His
parents were not trying to be bossy so they let him take art lessons
when he was eleven years old.
When he was studying for engineering he remembered his interest for
art and he made cartoons for the school paper.
In 1904 he got his engineering degree and it was interesting to Rube
that lots of great artists, like da Vinci, were also engineers.
4. WHAT HE WAS FAMOUS FOR
Rube Goldberg was known as a sculptor, journalist, engineer and a
comedian but was famous for his cartoon illustrations of inventions
that later became known as the “Rube Goldberg Machine”.
A “Rube Goldberg Machine” is a very complicated device that
performs a very simple task in a complex and indirect way. His
inventions were interesting as he did the complete opposite of what
most machines do and this made them funny.
As an artist he paid close attention to the detail of the line work. He
would spend over thirty hours on each machine.
5. WHAT HE LIKED
Rube was very interested in art and drawing and that is why he
became a cartoonist. He also loved the advancement in
technology. This is what made him think creatively to want to
invent things. He also liked it when other people laughed and he
personally believed people preferred choosing a more difficult
route instead of completing a goal simply and directly.
His whole life was spent creating, thinking and inventing. As Rube
Goldberg himself once said, “I do not count the years. Tomorrow
is just another day to create something I hope will be worthwhile.”
6. HIS INVENTIONS
Rube was very famous for his inventions as he did the complete
opposite of what most machines do –instead of making difficult
things easy, he made easy things difficult. On his “ Rube
Goldberg Machine” work, he would spend over 30 hours on each
piece with close attention to precision regarding the lines and
details.
A Rube Goldberg invention was deliberately over-engineered or
overdone to perform a very simple task in a very complicated
fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is
named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg
(1883–1970).
7. HIS JOBS
After graduating Rube worked as an engineer for a while but he did
not like his job. In fact it made him realize that he really wanted to be
involved in the arts for the rest of his life instead. He returned to his
love of drawing.
As a young cartoonist Rube had to supplement his few drawing
opportunities with cleaning floors and pictures.
Rube’s breakthrough came in 1906 from his illustrations of sports
stars. This work led to a job in 1907 in New York where he also
begun his popular comic ‘Foolish Questions’ which ran for 22 years
and resulted in spin-offs across many media.
Rube’s father Max became his agent as he begun using his
engineering background to create his work on ‘The Inventions’ in
1914. The inventions series was his most successful endeavor and he
along with his work became iconic as it spoke to the emerging age of
US discoveries in technology.
8. HIS ACHIEVEMENTS
•Pulitzer Prize – a newspaper journalism award for excellence 1948
•Gold T square award – 50+ years as an artist 1955
•The Banshee’s silver lady award – for fresh and original art 1959
•The first president of the National Cartoonist Society
•The Gold key award – which he received after his death in 1970
•Included into the National Cartoonist Society Hall of Fame 1967
9. HIS FAMILY
Rube Goldberg’s parents, Max and Hannah were both German and
Jewish.
Rube was a middle child, having been the second of the four Goldberg
children behind his older brother Garret and two younger siblings
Walter and Lillian.
Rube married Irma Seeman in 1916 and they had two children,
Thomas and George. One son became a painter, the other was a
Hollywood writer and producer.
