Rube Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor known for creating overly complex machines to perform simple tasks. He is most famous for inventing the "Rube Goldberg machine" which uses a chain reaction of simple tasks to complete a basic goal in an unnecessarily complicated way, such as using many steps to turn a page in a book. Goldberg was born on July 4, 1883 and died on December 7, 1970, leaving behind a legacy of humorously complex inventions.