8 inventions you’ve probably used that were inspired by love

From Greek mythology to romance novels, movies, and viral videos on social media, stories of love capture the imagination. Love is the “greatest vehicle for change and motivating,” says New

York City psychotherapist Gabrielle Kann. “The simplest and the single greatest act a person can do is to love. It’s the reason for being here.” Love has motivated people across centuries to

make the world a better place. In fact, it has served as the inspiration for some of the greatest inventions in history. From the modern wheelchair to Band-Aids to the word game Wordle,

here are the stories of eight inventions created out of love. SURGICAL GLOVES It’s unthinkable today to imagine a surgeon performing an operation without surgical gloves, but in the 19th

century that was the norm. Surprisingly, though, the invention of surgical gloves had less to do with hygiene than it did with love. In 1889, famed John Hopkins Hospital surgeon William

Stewart Halsted invented rubber surgical gloves to court a nurse who suffered from contact dermatitis from the chemicals used in the operating theater. He gave her the gloves as a gift

shortly after their wedding. “On trial these proved to be so satisfactory that additional gloves were ordered,” Halsted recounted in 1913. The added benefit of preventing surgical infections

led to their widespread adoption. BAND-AIDS Likewise, Band-Aids, now a common household item, were invented by a husband out of the love he had for his wife. In 1920, Earle Dickson, a

cotton buyer for Johnson & Johnson, noticed that his wife would frequently get cuts and burns in the kitchen and have nothing to put on them but strips of fabric. Dickinson combined two

Johnson & Johnson products — adhesive tape and gauze — to create a bandage his wife could easily apply to these wounds. In 1921, Johnson & Johnson brought the first adhesive Band-Aid

strips to market. The rest is history.  THE TELEPHONE Alexander Graham Bell is largely credited with inventing the telephone, but an Italian inventor living on Staten Island actually

created the first telephonic device.