Rube Goldberg

Guide Note

American cartoonist Rube Goldberg used his knowledge of engineering and love of drawing to create a series of comic strips depicting absurdly complicated machines designed to complete simple tasks. His cartoons have had such a lasting effect on American culture that overly elaborate machinery of any kind is called a "Rube Goldberg device."

Fast Facts

1. Born: July 4, 1883
2. Died: December 7, 1973
3. Full name: Reuben Garret Lucius Goldberg
4. Education: Engineering degree from the University of California, Berkeley
5. Goldberg device: An overly elaborate machine designed to complete a simple task
6. First Goldberg device comic: 1914
7. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for political cartooning in 1948
8. Commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp in 1995
9. The National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award was named for him
10. Won the Reuben Award in 1967 for humor in sculpture
11. Inspired numerous Rube Goldberg contests where students compete to create Goldberg devices
12. Married Irma Seeman in 1916
13. Father of film producer George W. George

Career

Goldberg's first popular comic was Foolish Questions in 1908, a series of sarcastic answers to the ridiculously obvious questions people sometimes ask. Goldberg started the inventions series in 1914, then went on to political cartooning in 1938, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. He retired from cartooning to become a sculptor at the age of 80, winning the Reuben Award for humor in sculpture in 1967.

Quotes

1. "When I was taking a course in analytic mechanics, the professor had a big machine that each student had to experiment with and get an answer. You had to find the weight of the earth with this contraption... I did that, and there was nothing more ridiculous to me than finding the weight of the earth because I didn't care how much the earth weighed."—Rube Goldberg
2. "My name is in the dictionary, and I'm very pleased."—Rube Goldberg