There were several individuals of distinction in the Era of Intellectual Investment of the ancient Yoruba civilisation (ie between 1000 BC and 1000AD). Ifa invented the Awo, the world’s first probability computer and memory machine. Obatala was the philosopher who conceptualised the creation story and the calabash relationship between earth and firmament. Oduduwa was the archivist who invented the Odu, the Encyclopaedia Yorubanica. Ogun invented processes for manufacturing pure and alloyed metal products. Olorun was the astronomer who studied and named celestial bodies and associated optical phenomenon. Orunimila was an astrologer, who claimed insight into human affairs from the behaviour of the celestial bodies. Osanyi introduced into medical practice the technique of transdermal application of therapeutic agents (Igbere) including vaccination, which averted potentially devastating smallpox epidemic in Boston in the early 1700s. Sango invented an electrical battery system for capturing and harnessing of electricity from the lightenings that regularly and repeatedly struck the Yorubaland.