After all, Kamen has with a resume peppered with successful inventions (the first portable pump for insulin and other drugs; a portable dialysis machine; a six-wheeled wheelchair that climbs stairs), awards (Design News engineer of the year; the Hoover Medal; the National Medal of Technology) and startups (AutoSyringe Inc.; his current business, Deka Research & Development Corp.).

But Kamen, who never graduated from college but has been appointed senior lecturer at M.I.T., has never touched off a firestorm of publicity to match last week's scuttlebutt surrounding his still-secret Ginger project.

Now Kamen, a millionaire who commutes to work at Deka's Manchester, N.H., offices in one of his two helicopters, has released a statement to downplay talk of Ginger -- a new invention that, if technology heavyweights like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and venture capitalist John Doerr are to be believed, will be, in Doerr's words, "more significant than the World Wide Web."

Those who have seen prototypes of Ginger have been sworn to secrecy, and no details are known.

But Internet chat boards are alive with theories, based on some cryptic comments from people like Apple Corp.'s Jobs ("If enough people see the machine, you won't have to convince them to architect cities around it") and Ethernet inventor Bob Metcalfe ("If it pans out, it's gonna be big, like Doerr et al. say. Now, if I invented metal, and came out with the first spoon, which would be the big invention, the spoon or metal? This is the current complication in solving the IT mystery").

"IT" is another name for the Ginger project.

The story leaked out last week when Inside.com reported that Harvard Business School Press has paid $250,000 to journalist Steve Kemper to write an insider's book about the creation of Ginger, though neither the Press nor Kemper's agent know what Ginger is.

Consensus speculation at techie chat sites like Slashdot.org seems to be that Ginger is a transportation device. Some say that "IT" could stand for "individual transport." Others posit that "Ginger" could be based on a character from the animated movie "Chicken Run," a chicken who desperately wants to escape her prison-camp-like pen by learning to fly, or inventing a flying machine.

LATEST NEWS

UCSD Plans First Flash-Based Supercomputer
Digging Into N.Y.'s Antitrust Suit Against Intel
Analyst: Sony-Ericsson's Android Bid Is Late
Coupon Site Targets Black Friday, Cyber Monday
Microsoft Sites Up Big in Time Spent Online

Speculators have come up with some compelling possibilities, including a frictionless skateboard or scooter, or a personal Hovercraft or jet pack. But with facts scarce, and most theories based on little more than Kamen's most recent invention (the climbing wheelchair), all musings remain virtually groundless.

What is known is that Kamen has described the invention as a consumer device unrelated to health care, requiring $100 million in financing and the building of the Granite State's largest company to develop.

Doerr of the v.c. firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is among the early investors.

Kamen released a statement Friday evening saying, "The leaked proposal quoted several prominent technology leaders out of context, without their doubts, risks and maybes included. This, together with spirited speculation about the unknown, has lead to expectations that are beyond whimsical. We have a promising project, but nothing of the Earth-shattering nature that people are conjuring up."

Kamen referred to another of his pet projects, called FIRST, a non-profit that seeks to boost the profile of science and technology among young people: "Please let me focus my public efforts on being an evangelist for FIRST, a cause which truly could have an Earth-shattering impact."