Rube Goldberg
He turned the simple act of completing a task into an art form of hilarious, absurdly complex chain reactions.
1883–1970 (age 87)·American cartoonist·Birthday: July 4·The Lost Generation
Biography
Rube Goldberg was a man who saw complication where others sought simplicity. A trained engineer who became a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, he spent decades lampooning America's obsession with technology through his "inventions." His drawings depicted fantastical machines—a web of pulleys, birds, bowling balls, and rockets—all orchestrated to perform a trivial task like wiping one's mouth. These contractions were a witty critique of bureaucratic inefficiency and over-engineering, but they also tapped into a universal love of cause and effect. The term "Rube Goldberg machine" entered the lexicon as shorthand for any delightfully convoluted process. His legacy is a paradoxical one: he celebrated human ingenuity by mocking its excesses, finding profound humor in our desire to make things harder than they need to be.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Rube was born in 1883, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Rube Was Born
The biggest hits of 1883
Rube's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1883Born
President: Chester A. Arthur
1888Started school
President: Grover Cleveland
1896Became a teenager
First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
President: Grover Cleveland
1899Could drive
President: William McKinley
1901Could vote
Queen Victoria dies, ending the Victorian era
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1904Turned 21
New York City opens its first subway line
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1913Turned 30
The Federal Reserve is established
President: Woodrow Wilson
1923Turned 40
The Great Kanto earthquake devastates Tokyo
President: Calvin Coolidge"Yes! We Have No Bananas" — Billy Jones
1933Turned 50
FDR's New Deal launches; Prohibition ends
Gas: $0.18/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Stormy Weather" — Ethel WatersBest Picture: Cavalcade
1943Turned 60
Allies invade Sicily; Battle of Stalingrad ends
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,290Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"I've Heard That Song Before" — Harry JamesBest Picture: Casablanca
1953Turned 70
DNA structure discovered by Watson and Crick
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $8,750Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Song from Moulin Rouge" — Percy FaithBest Picture: From Here to Eternity
1963Turned 80
JFK assassinated in Dallas; Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,100Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Sugar Shack" — Jimmy Gilmer & The FireballsBest Picture: Tom Jones
1970Died at 87
First Earth Day; The Beatles break up
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $17,000Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Bridge over Troubled Water" — Simon & GarfunkelBest Picture: Patton
Key Achievements
- Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for his political cartooning.
- Created the enduring comic strip character Professor Lucifer G. Butts, inventor of the absurd machines.
- Co-founded the National Cartoonists Society and served as its first president.
- Had his name enter the dictionary as an adjective for a complex device that performs a simple task.
Did You Know?
He graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in engineering.
The annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest for students has been held since 1949.
He was also a successful sculptor, with works displayed in museums.
He wrote a feature film screenplay for the Three Stooges titled 'Soup to Nuts.'
“The machines are a symbol of man's capacity for exerting maximum effort to accomplish minimal results.”
