Showing 76 - 100 of 232 results
Karl Bacon
Tubular Steel Track Roller Coaster
Karl Bacon and Ed Morgan engineered the world’s first tubular steel track roller coaster. Matterhorn Bobsleds debuted in 1959 at Disneyland in…
Irwin M. Lachman
Ceramic Substrate in Catalytic Converters
Working at Corning, Irwin Lachman co-invented the ceramic substrate found in virtually all catalytic converters. Catalytic converters provide cleaner…
Thomas Seavey Hall
Improvement in Electrical Signals
The 1860s and 1870s were pivotal decades for improving safety in the railroad industry. Many of these innovations were invented by Thomas Seavey Hall…
Rebecca Richards-Kortum
Medical Devices for Low-Resource Settings
Rebecca Richards-Kortum develops low-cost, high-performance medical technologies for poor communities where standard medical equipment isn't an…
Samuel Alderson
Crash Test Dummy
Physicist, inventor, and engineer Samuel W. Alderson was a pioneer in developing the automotive crash-test dummy. Formally known as an ATD for…
Nicolaus August Otto
Gas-Motor Engine
Engineer Nicolaus August Otto invented the first practical alternative to the steam engine. Born in Holzhausen, Germany, Otto built his first gas…
Henry Ford
Transmission Mechanism
Pioneering automotive engineer Henry Ford held many patents on automotive mechanisms. He is best remembered, however, for helping devise the factory…
Ed Morgan
Tubular Steel Track Roller Coaster
Ed Morgan and Karl Bacon set the standard for roller coaster design technology when they engineered the world’s first tubular steel track roller…
Charles Stark Draper
Stabilizing Gyroscope
Aeronautical engineer and university professor Charles Stark Draper developed gyroscope systems that stabilized and balanced gunsights and bombsights…
Rodney D. Bagley
Ceramic Substrate in Catalytic Converters
Rodney Bagley was on the Corning team that created the ceramic substrate inside catalytic converters. His work was instrumental in allowing the…
Bradford Parkinson
Global Positioning System
Bradford Parkinson developed the Global Positioning System, a locational and navigational system that allows users to determine their location with…
Valdemar Poulsen
Magnetic Wire Recorder
Danish engineer Valdemar Poulsen demonstrated magnetic recording in 1898. While working at the Copenhagen Telephone Company, Poulsen began…
Robert A. Moog
Moog Synthesizer
In 1964, inventor Bob Moog introduced the first complete voltage controlled modular synthesizer, an instrument capable of producing a wide variety of…
Charles W. Tyson
Fluid Catalytic Cracking
Charles "Wes" Tyson and his three co-inventors at Exxon Research & Engineering Co. (ER&E), called the Four Horsemen, were part of the team…
Victor B. Lawrence
Signal Processing in Telecommunications
Victor Lawrence has improved transmission for the modern Internet, made high-speed connections more available, and stimulated the growth of the…
Amos Joel, Jr.
Mobile Communication System
Amos Joel pioneered the system for cell phones of switching communication links from one cell region to another in response to movement, while…
George de Mestral
VELCRO® Fasteners
In 1955, George de Mestral patented VELCRO® hook and loop fasteners, an efficient way to fasten fabrics and other materials. The idea came to him…
James E. West
Electret Microphone
James West and Gerhard Sessler invented the electret microphone, which has advanced the sound industry and become the standard microphone used in…
John Roebling
Suspension Bridge
In 1841, John Roebling invented a wire rope in order to improve upon the bulkier and weaker hemp fiber rope being used to haul canal boats along the…
Ambrose Swasey
Telescope
Ambrose Swasey, inventor of precise astronomical instruments, designed some of the most powerful and accurate telescopes of his day.Swasey was born…
Maria Telkes
Solar Thermal Storage Systems
Maria Telkes was a highly respected innovator in solar energy. Throughout her career, she published widely on the topics of solar heating,…
Peter Wurman
Mobile Robotic Material Handling for Order Fulfillment
Peter Wurman, Mick Mountz and Raffaello D’Andrea created the Kiva system, a mobile robotic system for material handling in distribution centers that…
George Heilmeier
Electro-Optic Liquid Crystal Device
George Heilmeier discovered four new electro-optic effects in liquid crystals in the 1960s and pioneered the first liquid crystal displays (LCDs)…
Marshall Jones
Industrial Lasers
Marshall Jones, a mechanical engineer at General Electric (GE), pioneered the use of lasers for industrial materials processing. He invented novel…
Howard Head
Laminate Ski; Oversized Tennis Racket
Technical revolutions by Howard Head impacted the playing, performance and economics of two major sports industries: skiing and tennis. Head's…