Genrich Altshuller, the man behind the TRIZ

To situate the history of TRIZ, where it all began, the exercise of synthetically depicting the context in which this extraordinary man developed his theory, is necessary. According to those who knew him, Altshuller was one of those self-taught, vindictive characters with a keen eye and a mind constantly on the lookout for the new, both unifying and authoritative, generous and persevering.

How, in the space of almost half a century, did the man nicknamed "Azerbaijan's budding genius", who at the age of 12 prototyped an engine to propel a boat using carbide, manage to trigger a mini-revolution in international industrial practices, on which so many companies around the world are now surfing? The first step was undoubtedly his employment, at the age of 20, as a patent expert in the Russian navy (he was then based on the Caspian fleet). To him converged inventors and...