The little cube that changed the world
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The cube in numbers
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Erno Rubik invented the cube that bears his name as a teaching aid for his class of students
- The colorful puzzle has gone on to become the world's biggest selling toy -- with 350 million sold
- Hungarian-born Rubik retraces the moment of inspiration that led him to his iconic invention
The colorful puzzle,
consisting of small blocks rotating on a central axis, has sold an
estimated 350 million units since its conception nearly 40 years ago.
And yet the man whose name it bears -- Erno Rubik -- only ever intended
it to be a teaching aid for his small class of design students.
The son of a poet mother
and a father who manufactured glider planes, Rubik grew up in Soviet-era
Hungary, studying both sculpture and architecture.
Read: Rubik's Cube in numbers
His life-changing idea arrived when he was in his late 20s, a young professor still living at home with his parents.
"I think, probably, that's part of the key to the success of the
cube -- you are able to have a connection with this order and chaos
Erno Rubik
Erno Rubik
Starting off with just
chunks of wood and rubber bands, Rubik set about trying to create a
structure that would permit individual blocks to move independently of
one another without the whole thing falling apart.
It took six years to go
from prototype to market, but when it finally hit the shelves at the
start of the 1980s, it became the fastest selling puzzle of all time.
It stills retains its
appeal to this day. Last year alone it sold seven million units and
so-called "speed cubing" competitions -- where contestants attempt to
solve the puzzle against the clock -- are as popular as ever.
In a rare interview, the publicity-shy Rubik retraces the journey of his iconic toy.
The enduring cult of the Rubik's Cube
CNN: What do you think it is about the cube that continues to capture the public imagination?
Erno Rubik: I believe
probably the most characteristic part of the cube is the contradiction
between simplicity and complexity. I love the simplicity of the cube
because it's a very clear geometrical shape and I love geometry because
it's the study of how the whole universe is structured.
I think probably that's
part of the key to the success of the cube -- you are able to have a
connection with this order and chaos.
CNN: You had the idea in 1974 and at the time you were a lecturer in interior design, what set you off on this invention?
ER: I was searching to find a good task for my students.
When you are studying
from a book, lots of people go straight to the end to look for the
answers. But that's not my style. For me, the most enjoyable part is the
puzzle, the process of solving, not the solution itself.
Also, we were playing with geometry, which is not a static subject. It's a very mobile thing, it's changeable.
So, I was looking for a
mobile structure and I found the geometry of a cube very exciting
because of the high level of symmetries it has and the fact that you can
do a lot of things with it.
CNN: What was the puzzle you were trying to pose?
ER: Usually structures
are pieces that are connected in some way or another and usually these
connections are stable things. So all the time "A" is connected to "B".
But with the structure of the Rubik's Cube, you realize these elements
are moving very freely, but you don't understand what keeps the whole
thing together, so that was a very interesting part of it.
CNN: How did you go about building the prototype?
ER: Nowadays you've got
three-dimensional printing and CAD [computer-aided design] programs on
computers, but I was working at a very different time.
"Usually people are surprised by how simple it is, but it is also
very difficult to explain. So the best way to discover it is to take it
apart!
Erno Rubik
Erno Rubik
There was a workshop in
the school, and I just used wood as a material because it is very simple
to use and you don't need any sophisticated machines.
So I made it just by
using my hands -- cutting the wood, drilling holes, using elastic bands
and those kind of very simple things.
CNN: How does the internal mechanism actually work?
ER: Usually people are
surprised by how simple it is, but it is also very difficult to explain.
So the best way to discover it is to take it apart!
CNN: How long did it take you to solve the cube once you'd created the prototype?
ER: It took more than a
month of research, facing the problem, trying to understand it, building
up theories, testing them, thinking to myself things like: "I have one
side and one turn is 90 degrees and if you turn it four times I'll be
back where I was," and so on. You have to find rules and then you find
the law of symmetry, the law of movements.
CNN: Do you remember the moment when you solved it?
ER: I remember it was
very emotional, but I don't remember what time it was exactly. I don't
make notes on that and I have no diary about it, but I remember it was a
very emotional feeling.
But then it's not
something like a jigsaw puzzle where you start to work on it, spend some
time on it and in the end it's solved, it's finished. If you find a
solution with the cube, it doesn't mean you find everything, it's only a
starting point. You can work on and find something else, you can
improve your solution, you can make it shorter, you can go deeper and
deeper and collect knowledge and many other things.
CNN: What did you do next?
ER: I showed it to the people in the school and my students liked it very much.
And I had the feeling
that because it has very simple structure, it can be manufactured easily
and it can be a product that is available for others. And so I applied
for a patent because I had some experience of my father's work and he
has got several patents.
"I am really not a speedcuber. My best time when I was practicing was about a minute.
Erno Rubik
Erno Rubik
After that I was
searching to find a manufacturer here in Hungary. But the country was a
very different place from how it is today. We were behind the Iron
Curtain, we had different social circumstances -- so it was not an easy
task.
But I found a small
company who was working with plastic - their main line was manufacturing
chess sets -- and we started to negotiate.
CNN: Did you make any mistakes with the patent application, would you do it differently given what you know now?
ER: You know, there is a Hungarian saying that it's easy to be clever after the event.
One problem was the
speed of the process because from the beginning to the real marketing
[point] was six years. Six years is too long because there is a rule on
how you can patent: when you start the process, you need to make the
next step within a year, because otherwise you lose the patent.
But, in the end we
partly solved the problem because we used my name as a trademark and
this too is a good tool for protection. I was lucky because in the New
York phone book there is less than five people who have the same name!
CNN: What would you advise an inventor now to do to protect themselves?
ER: That's a very
difficult question. There are many more protection possibilities than in
that time. One thing is, you need to find partners, you can't do it
alone. You need professionals; you need advisors and you need partners
who are capable of helping you both on the legal part and also the
financial part as well.
And naturally it is very
important to realise you product. You can protect your patent but if
you don't develop the product it's meaningless.
CNN: In a couple of years, it'll be 40 years old, how do you feel about it? Are you still discovering things about it?
ER: Yeah, nowadays my
discoveries come from watching the impact of the cube. I'm wondering how
people are so creative and how many things were born out of and
inspired by the cube. That's a very interesting thing.
CNN: The final question: Are you a good Rubik's Cube player?
ER: I am really not a speedcuber. My best time when I was practicing was about a minute.
Usually people say if
you can create a piano, you must be a good piano player, but it is not
true. They are different type of human activities and need different
capabilities.
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