Returning to a reader favourite we have another alleged ‘jewish invention’ myth to debunk this time in the form of that famous staple of 1960s and 1970s homes: the lava lamp.
Now it is claimed by Michelle Delgado writing for ‘Smithsonian Mag’ that this was first invented by a jew from Lithuania named Irving Nachumsohn – who later changed his name Irving Naxon – (1) writing that:
‘Nachumsohn’s inventions—such as his electric frying pan and his early version of the modern lava lamp—found traction in stores and homes.’ (2)
This is incredibly misleading since – as Alix Wall qualifies in ‘The Jewish News of Northern California’ – what Nachumsohn is claimed to have invented is the Hula Lamp not the Lava Lamp. (3)
They are very different things.
For the record this is a Hula Lamp:
And this is a Lava Lamp:
Now Hula Lamps are cast out of metal – usually bronze – and use a small electric motor to generate a charge which then causes the cast hula girl’s skirt to sway (as if she were dancing the hula), (4) while a Lava Lamp works by using a mix of water and a translucent material - like paraffin wax - in a sealed container, which is then heated by a mechanism at the bottom of the lamp and then when the translucent material his the bottom of the lamp a wire – or series of wires – break the surface tension of the translucent material thus creating its unique and famous appearance. (5)
Further the Hula Lamp was first invented and manufactured by the Dodge Brothers – who contrary to myth weren’t jewish – (6) in the 1940s not by Irving Nachumsohn. (7)
The Lava Lamp by contrast was actually invented by the British pilot Edward Craven Walker in 1963 and originally called the ‘Astro Lamp’ not by Nachumsohn. (8)
So no, the Lava Lamp was invented by the British not by the jews!
References
(1) https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/food/articles/jewish-inventor-of-slow-cooker-irving-naxon
(2) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/brief-history-crock-pot-180973643/
(3) https://jweekly.com/2013/05/24/the-organic-epicure-its-no-crock-s-f-womans-father-was-an-inventor-extraor/
(4) https://jpmoeller.com/2017/01/01/dodge-hula-girl-lamp-repair/
(5) https://patents.google.com/patent/US3387396
(6) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/were-the-dodge-brothers-jewish
(7) https://www.hulagirllamps.com/
(8) http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/The-History-of-the-Lava-Lamp-191900581.html