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…
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…
R. Rox Anderson
Laser Dermatology
Physician Rox Anderson developed laser-based treatments and procedures now commonly used in medical care to remove birthmarks, scars and other skin…
Patricia Bath
Laserphaco Cataract Surgery
Dr. Patricia Bath invented laserphaco, a new device and technique to remove cataracts. It performed all steps of cataract removal: making the…
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…
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…
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…
Dana Bookbinder
Bend-Insensitive Optical Fiber
Dana Bookbinder, Ming-Jun Li and Pushkar Tandon invented bend-insensitive ClearCurve® optical fiber. Because this breakthrough technology can bend…
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…
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…
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…
Raffaello D’Andrea
Mobile Robotic Material Handling for Order Fulfillment
Raffaello D’Andrea, Mick Mountz and Peter Wurman dramatically advanced warehouse order fulfillment for e-commerce by creating the Kiva system, which…
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…
Lonnie Johnson
Super Soaker®
Engineer and entrepreneur Lonnie Johnson is the inventor of the Super Soaker®, a bestselling toy generating well over $1 billion in sales over its…
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…
Lisa Lindahl
Sports Bra
Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller and Polly Smith invented the first sports bra: the Jogbra®. This groundbreaking invention removed a barrier to…
James McEwen
Automatic Surgical Tourniquet
Biomedical engineer James McEwen invented the first microprocessor-controlled automatic surgical tourniquet system. Devices based on his innovations…
Hinda Miller
Sports Bra
Hinda Miller, Lisa Lindahl and Polly Smith invented the sports bra, launching a global industry. The revolutionary Jogbra® advanced the health of…
Mick Mountz
Mobile Robotic Material Handling for Order Fulfillment
Mick Mountz, Peter Wurman and Raffaello D’Andrea invented the Kiva system, a mobile robotic material handling system that has revolutionized order…
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,…
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…
Polly Smith
Sports Bra
Polly Smith, Lisa Lindahl and Hinda Miller invented the sports bra. Commercialized as the Jogbra®, their invention enabled greater participation in…
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…
Pushkar Tandon
Bend-Insensitive Optical Fiber
Pushkar Tandon, Dana Bookbinder and Ming-Jun Li invented ClearCurve® optical fiber, a bend-insensitive optical fiber capable of bending without…
Margaret Wu
Synthetic Lubricants
Industrial chemist Margaret Wu revolutionized the field of synthetic lubricants. Her work has changed how automobile and industrial lubricants are…