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Inductees Search

Learn About Famous Inventors Who Have Changed the World

Browse List of Inductees
Browse List of Inductees
Showing 1 - 25 of 27 results

James Abercrombie

Blowout Preventer (BOP)

James Abercrombie, a Texas oil driller, and Harry Cameron, a machinist, designed the world’s first reliable blowout preventer (BOP) to successfully…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 1,569,247
Died:
Harry Cameron headshot

Harry Cameron

Blowout Preventer (BOP)

Until Harry Cameron, a machinist, and James Abercrombie, a Texas oil driller, designed the world’s first reliable blowout preventer (BOP), oil wells…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 1,569,247
Died:

Stewart Adams

Ibuprofen

In the early 1950s, Stewart Adams, a pharmacologist at Boots Pure Drug Co. in England, was tasked with finding new treatments for rheumatoid…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 3,228,831
Died:

John Nicholson

Ibuprofen

Chemist John Nicholson and pharmacologist Stewart Adams developed ibuprofen during the 1950s and 1960s at Boots Pure Drug Co. in England. Today,…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 3,228,831
Died:
Evelyn Berezin headshot

Evelyn Berezin

Computer Systems for Business Use

Evelyn Berezin was an expert in logic design and data transmission. She designed one of the earliest computer reservations systems for airlines and…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 3,253,262
Died:

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…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 1,699,133
Died:
Military Service: United States Army

Floyd Smith

Modern Parachute

The first working modern parachute was developed by trapeze artist turned aviator Floyd Smith. He became interested in parachutes after having…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent Nos.: 1,340,423, 1,462,456
Died:

Frank Zybach

Center-Pivot Irrigation

In the mid-20th century, Nebraska farmer Frank Zybach invented center-pivot irrigation and transformed agricultural production worldwide. Using…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 2,604,359
Died:

Sylvia Blankenship

1-MCP for Fruit, Vegetable and Flower Freshness

Horticulturalist Sylvia Blankenship and biochemist Edward Sisler identified 1-methylcyclopropene (1- MCP), a novel compound that significantly…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 5,518,988
Edward Sisler headshot

Edward Sisler

1-MCP for Fruit, Vegetable and Flower Freshness

Edward Sisler, a biochemist at North Carolina State University (NCSU), had been studying the various aspects of ethylene physiology and biochemistry…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 5,518,988
Died:

Dana Bookbinder

Bend-Insensitive Optical Fiber

Corning Incorporated researchers Dana Bookbinder, Ming-Jun Li and Pushkar Tandon invented and developed the bend-insensitive ClearCurve® optical…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent Nos.: 7,450,806, 7,903,917, 8,385,701

Ming-Jun Li

Bend-Insensitive Optical Fiber

In 2004, experiments with new types of optical fiber led Corning Incorporated researchers Ming-Jun Li, Dana Bookbinder and Pushkar Tandon to develop…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent Nos.: 7,450,806, 7,903,917, 8,385,701

Pushkar Tandon

Bend-Insensitive Optical Fiber

Chemical engineer Pushkar Tandon is one-third of the Corning Incorporated research team that developed ClearCurve® optical fiber, a bend-insensitive…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent Nos.: 7,450,806, 7,903,917, 8,385,701

Raffaello D’Andrea

Mobile Robotic Material Handling for Order Fulfillment

Raffaello D’Andrea, Mick Mountz and Peter Wurman created the Kiva system, which has dramatically advanced warehouse order fulfillment for e-commerce…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 8,649,899

Mick Mountz

Mobile Robotic Material Handling for Order Fulfillment

While e-commerce grew rapidly at the beginning of the 21st century, material handling within distribution centers still relied on decades-old…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 8,649,899

Peter Wurman

Mobile Robotic Material Handling for Order Fulfillment

In the early 2000s, Peter Wurman, Mick Mountz and Raffaello D’Andrea created the Kiva system, an entirely new approach for material handling in…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 8,649,899

Lisa Lindahl

Sports Bra

Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller and Polly Smith created the Jogbra®, the first sports bra. Their groundbreaking invention removed a barrier to women’s…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 4,174,717

Hinda Miller

Sports Bra

Hinda Miller, Lisa Lindahl and Polly Smith developed the first sports bra. Patented in 1979, the undergarment enabled women to comfortably…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 4,174,717

Polly Smith

Sports Bra

Polly Smith, Lisa Lindahl and Hinda Miller created the Jogbra® — the first sports bra. With its compressing front panel, smooth exterior seams,…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 4,174,717

James McEwen

Automatic Surgical Tourniquet

Canadian biomedical engineer James McEwen invented the first microprocessor-controlled automatic surgical tourniquet system. Devices based on his…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 4,469,099

Margaret Wu

Synthetic Lubricants

Industrial chemist Margaret Wu revolutionized the field of synthetic lubricants. Her work has changed how automobile and industrial lubricants are…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent Nos.: 4,827,064, 4,827,073

R. Rox Anderson

Laser Dermatology

Physician Rox Anderson, currently the Lancer Endowed Chair in Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital, developed laser-based treatments and…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 5,595,568
Marian Croak Headshot

Marian Croak

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Technology

Engineer Marian Croak has worked on advancing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies, converting voice data into digital signals that can…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 7,599,359
James Buchanan Eads

James Buchanan Eads

American Infrastructure and Defense

James Buchanan Eads created a series of inventions during the 1800s that improved transportation, commerce and the military defense of the…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent Nos.: 83,942, 170,832
Died:
Carl Benz Headshot

Carl Benz

Modern Automobile

German engineer Carl Benz was the first to design a car around the internal combustion engine rather than adding an engine to an existing wagon or…
Inducted in: 2022
Born:
US Patent No.: 385,087
Died:

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