Gavin Petrone , 90.5 WESA; Pittsburgh has big ideas. One professor is documenting them.
"Heinz ketchup. Mister Rogers’ “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Smiley cookies.
Pittsburgh professor and author Mike Madison has chronicled these unmistakably Pittsburgh things as part of his Intellectual Property Hall of Fame. He began the project in 2020 during the pandemic — just for fun.
“I really wanted to dig into Pittsburgh history, and make sure that people who might have been more celebrated at an earlier point in time get brought forward, and identified, and celebrated for their careers and their contributions,” he said.
“We've got the boatloads of amazingly creative people in Pittsburgh going back a hundred years. And if my little website can bring just a smidgen of attention to some of that, then I'm happy.”
A University of Pittsburgh professor, Madison focuses on the ways that institutions create and distribute information. In the classroom, topics include intellectual property law and commercial law. He’s the author of more than 60 journal articles and book chapters, and a co-editor of several books.
Tradition is deeply rooted in Pittsburgh’s culture — and that’s evident through the enduring popularity in uniquely Pittsburgh ideas, he said."
