Showing 1 - 25 of 90 results
Frances Ligler
Portable Optical Biosensors
Frances Ligler invented portable optical biosensors, benefiting fields from health care to food production to military operations.
Ligler’s lifelong…
John E. Franz
Glyphosate Herbicide
In 1970, chemist John Franz discovered the glyphosate class of herbicides. The broad-spectrum, post-emergence, glyphosate-containing herbicide…
Edward W. Bullard
Hard Hat
Edward W. Bullard invented the hard hat, the first commercially available industrial head protection device. Bullard’s lightweight, non-conducting…
Frank Zybach
Center-Pivot Irrigation
In the mid-20th century, Nebraska farmer Frank Zybach invented center-pivot irrigation and transformed agricultural production worldwide. Using…
Frank J. Sprague
Electric Street Car
Hailed during his lifetime as the "Father of Electric Traction," Frank Sprague's achievements in horizontal transportation were paralleled by equally…
Frank J. Cepollina
Satellite Servicing Techniques
The success of the Hubble Space Telescope is due to NASA's ability to repair and upgrade Earth-orbiting spacecraft via the space shuttle. Since its…
Francis Hamilton
Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (Mark I)
Frank Hamilton, along with Benjamin Durfee, assisted IBM's Clair Lake in developing the large-scale calculator conceived by Harvard's Howard Aiken.…
Frank J. Zamboni
Ice Rink Resurfacing Machine
Frank Zamboni invented the ice-resurfacing machine that bears his name to this day.
Working in California, Zamboni and his brothers were partners in…
Frances Arnold
Directed Evolution of Enzymes
Frances Arnold is a pioneer of directed evolution, a process for "breeding" scientifically interesting or technologically useful proteins by mutating…
Charles Franklin Kettering
Electrical Ignition System
Charles Franklin Kettering invented the first electrical ignition system and the self-starter for automobile engines and the first practical engine-…
J. Franklin Hyde
Transparent Silica
J. Franklin Hyde was with Corning Glass when he discovered a way to create a pure glass called fused silica. He was also a forerunner in developing…
Francois Hennebique
Reinforced-Concrete Construction
Francois Hennebique devised the pioneering technique of construction with reinforced concrete. Hennebique worked first as a stonemason, with a…
Frank Whittle
Jet Engine
By 1929, Frank Whittle had conceptualized the turbojet engine. The 1930s, however, proved challenging as he sought financial support and interest…
Francis P. Bundy
Diamond Synthesis
Francis Bundy, along with Tracy Hall, Robert Wentorf, and Herbert Strong, synthesized diamonds as part of Project Superpressure, as announced by the…
Frank Wanlass
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)
Frank Wanlass invented the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), the technology employed in most modern microchips.
Wanlass joined…
Frank B. Colton
Oral Contraceptives
Frank B. Colton developed Enovid, the first oral contraceptive. Born in Poland, Colton immigrated to the United States in 1934. He obtained his B.S.…
Louis Renault
Automobiles
Louis Renault, a Paris native, became one of France's most well known automobile manufacturers, building his first automobile in 1898 and…
Louis Marius Moyroud
Photo Composing Machine
Louis Marius Moyroud and Rene Higonnet developed the first practical phototypesetting machine. This, along with Merganthaler's Linotype machine, is…
Andrew Smith Hallidie
Cable Car
Andrew Hallidie left his mark on San Francisco as the inventor of the first cable railway, which enabled the widespread use of cable cars throughout…
Philippe Horvath
CRISPR-Enhanced Food Products
Molecular biologists Philippe Horvath and Rodolphe Barrangou discovered that CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) and…
Ming-Jun Li
Bend-Insensitive Optical Fiber
Ming-Jun Li, Dana Bookbinder and Pushkar Tandon invented bend-insensitive optical fiber. This technology can bend without causing significant signal…
John Francis Burke
Regenerated Skin
Surgeon John Burke and chemistry and engineering professor Ioannis Yannas together developed the first commercially successful artificial skin.
As…
Eugene Houdry
Catalytic Cracking
Eugene Houdry discovered a method for cracking low-grade crude oil into high-test gasoline, developed a process for producing synthetic rubber in…
Charles P. Ginsburg
Video Tape Recording
Charles Ginsburg led the research team at Ampex Corporation in developing the first practical videotape recorder (VTR). The system used a rapidly…
William Sellers
Improvement in Boring Mills
William Sellers built machines that helped facilitate the American Industrial Revolution.
Born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, Sellers received a…