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Learn About Famous Inventors Who Have Changed the World

Browse List of Inductees
Browse List of Inductees
Showing 1 - 14 of 14 results
Wilbur Wright

Wilbur Wright

Airplane

Orville and Wilbur Wright, American inventors and aviation pioneers, achieved the first powered, sustained, and controlled flight of an airplane. The…
Inducted in: 1975
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 821,393
Died:
Orville Wright

Orville Wright

Airplane

Orville and Wilbur Wright, American inventors and aviation pioneers, achieved the first powered, sustained and controlled flight of an airplane. The…
Inducted in: 1975
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 821,393
Died:

Hans J.P. von Ohain

Turbojet Engine

On the brink of World War II, Hans von Ohain developed a working turbojet engine in Germany, helping to catapult the aeronautical world into the next…
Inducted in: 2003
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 2,911,189
Died:
George Carruthers

George R. Carruthers

Far Ultraviolet Electrographic Camera

George Carruthers invented the far ultraviolet electrographic camera, or spectrograph, using ultraviolet light to make significant advances in…
Inducted in: 2003
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 3,478,216
Died:

Lester A. Pelton

Water Wheel
One of the fathers of hydroelectric power, Lester Pelton invented the first water wheel to take advantage of the kinetic energy of water rather than…
Inducted in: 2006
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 233,692
Died:

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,…
Inducted in: 2012
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 3,986,969
Died:
Sam B. Williams headshot

Sam B. Williams

Small Fan-Jet Engine

Sam Williams, born in Seattle, Washington, became a pioneer toward the end of World War II by designing an early turboprop engine for the Navy and…
Inducted in: 2003
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 3,357,176
Died:
Richard Whitcomb headshot

Richard Whitcomb

Supercritical Wing

Richard Whitcomb, an aerodynamicist working for NASA, studied the causes of high airplane drag near the speed of sound and invented shapes reducing…
Inducted in: 2003
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 3,952,971
Died:

Oliver Evans

High-Pressure Steam Engine

Oliver Evans, one of America's pioneering inventors, created the high-pressure steam engine and advanced the milling industry by automating flour…
Inducted in: 2001
Born:
Died:
Paul B. MacCready headshot

Paul B. MacCready

Gossamer Condor

Paul MacCready was an aeronautical engineer known as the "Father of Human Powered Flight" and is often seen as an "inventor's inventor" because of…
Inducted in: 2015
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 4,206,892
Died:
Military Service: U.S. Navy

Glenn Hammond Curtiss

Hydroaeroplane

Glenn Curtiss influenced every field of aeronautics. He holds 72 patents, including designs for dirigibles, aeroplanes, flying boats, commercial…
Inducted in: 2003
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 1,170,965
Died:

John Charnley

Acetabular Sockets

Sir John Charnley invented low-frictional torque arthroplasty, or LFA, the hip replacement surgery that has relieved the pain and restored the…
Inducted in: 2008
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 3,722,002
Died:
Military Service: Royal Army Medical Corps

Theodore von Karman

Aerodynamic Structure for Planes and Wings

Theodore von Karman greatly influenced the development of high speed aircraft by applying his theory of the Vortex Trail, the first theory of…
Inducted in: 2003
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 1,962,794
Died:

Charles H. Kaman

Rotor Control Mechanism for Helicopter

Aviation pioneer, entrepreneur, visionary, and humanitarian are all words that have been used to describe Charles H. Kaman. Born in Washington, D.C…
Inducted in: 2003
Born:
U.S. Patent No.: 2,668,595
Died: