Famous inventors

A

Nils Alwall, (1904-1986), Sweden - the dialysis machine

Archimedes, (circa 287 BC-212 BC), Greece

Manfred von Ardenne, (1907-1997), Germany

William George Armstrong, (1810-1900), England - hydraulic crane

Joseph Aspdin, (1788-1855), England - artificial cement

John Vincent Atanasoff, (1903-1995), Bulgaria - modern computer


B

Charles Babbage, (1791-1871), England - Analytical engine

Leo Baekeland (1863-1944), Belgian-American - Velox photographic paper and Bakelite

Ralph Baer, (1922-), German born American - the home video game console

John Logie Baird, (1888-1946), Scotland - a working television

John Bardeen, (1908-1991), USA - co-inventor of the transistor

Trevor Baylis, (1937- ) - a wind-up radio

Arnold O. Beckman, (1900-2004), USA - pH meter

Alexander Graham Bell, (1847-1922), USA - telephone

Karl Benz, (1844-1929), Germany - the petrol-powered automobile

Emile Berliner, (1851-1929), Germany and USA - the disc record gramophone

Tim Berners-Lee, (1955-), England - with Robert Cailliau, the World Wide Web

Bi Sheng, (?-1052), China - primitive movable printing types

Katherine Blodgett, (1898-1979), England - nonreflective glass

Claudio Artemio Blotta, b. 1936 argentinian, cutting circle device for pastry.

Nils Bohlin, (1920-2002), Sweden - the three-point seat belt

Joseph-Armand Bombardier, (1907-1964), Canada - snowmobile

Seth Boyden, (1788-1870), USA - invented a nail-making machine

Walter Houser Brattain, (1902-1987), USA - co-inventor of the transistor

Louis Braille, (1809-1852), France - the Braille writing system

Karl Ferdinand Braun, (1850-1918), Germany - cathode-ray tube oscilloscope

Edwin Beard Budding, (1795-1846) England - lawnmower

Roger Bacon, (1214-1292) England - magnifying glass


C

Ci Ln, (c. AD 50-121), China - paper

Marvin Camras, (1916 - 1995), USA - magnetic recording

Chester Carlson, (1906-1968) USA - electrophotography

Wallace Carothers, (1896-1937), USA - Nylon

Samuel Hunter Christie, (1784-1865), England - Wheatstone bridge

Christopher Cockerell, (1910-1999), England - Hovercraft

Jacques Cousteau, (1910-1997), France - co-inventor of the aqualung

Holger Crafoord, (1908-1982), Sweden - inventor of the artificial kidney

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, (1725-1804), France - automobile

Juan de la Cierva, (1895--1936), Spain - the autogyro

Richard Cinque, (1960-Current), USA - Sock Clip, Plate Caddy

William Cullen, (1710-1790), Scotland - first artificial refrigerator


D

Gustaf Daln, (1869-1937), Sweden - invented the AGA Lighthouse

Salvino D'Armate - credited for inventing eyeglasses in 1284

Lee DeForest, (1873-1961), USA - triode, amongst others

Sir James Dewar, (1842-1923), Scotland - Thermos flask

William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, (1860-1935), Scotland - motion picture camera

Rudolf Diesel, (1858-1913), Germany - Diesel engine

Karl Drais, (1785-1851), Germany - bicycle (Draisine)

Cornelius Drebbel, (1572-1633), The Netherlands - first navigable submarine

Richard Drew, USA - Scotch (or cellophane) tape


E

George Eastman, (1854-1932), USA - roll film

Thomas Edison, (1847-1931), USA - phonograph, commercially practical light bulb, amongst others

Willem Einthoven, (1860-1927), Netherlands - the electrocardiogram

Douglas Engelbart, (1925-), USA - the computer mouse [1]

Rune Elmqvist (1857-1924), Sweden - implantable pacemaker

John Ericsson (1803-1889), Sweden - the two screw-propeller

Lars Magnus Ericsson (1846-1926), Sweden - the handheld micro telephone


F

Philo Farnsworth, (1906-1971), USA - vacuum tube television display

James Fergason, (1934-), USA - improved liquid crystal display

Reginald Fessenden, (1866-1932), Canada - two-way radio

Adolf Eugen Fick, (1829-1901), Germany - contact lens

Alexander Fleming (August 6, 1881 - March 11, 1955) England - penicillin

John Ambrose Fleming, (1848-1945), England - vacuum diode

Benjamin Franklin, (1706-1790), USA - the pointed lightning rod conductor, bifocals

William Friese-Greene, (1855-1921), England - cinematography

Buckminster Fuller, (1895-1983), USA - geodesic dome


G

Robert Goddard, (1882-1945), USA - liquid fuel rocket

Heinrich Gbel, (1818-1893), Germany - first functional incandescent lamp

Gordon Gould, (1920-2005), USA - laser

Richard Hall Gower, (1768-1833), United Kingdom - ship's hull and rigging

Bette Nesmith Graham, (1924-1980), USA - Liquid Paper

Chester Greenwood, (1858-1937), USA - thermal earmuffs

James Gregory, (1638-1675), Scotland - reflecting telescope

William Robert Grove, (1811-1896), Wales - fuel cell

Otto von Guericke, (1602-1686), Germany - vacuum pump

Johann Gutenberg, (circa 1390s-1468), Germany - modern movable type printing press


H

John Hadley, (1682-1744) - the sextant

James Hargreaves, (1720-1778) England - invented the spinning jenny

John Harrison, (1693-1776) England - marine chronometer

Victor Hasselblad, (1906-1978), Sweden - invented the 6 x 6 cm single-lens reflex camera

Rudolf Hell, (1901-2002), Germany - the Hellschreiber

Jozef Karol Hell, (1713-1789) Slovakia -the water pillar

Joseph Henry, (1797-1898), USA - electromagnetic relay

Erna Schneider Hoover, USA - computerized telephone switching system

Frank Hornby, (1863-1936) England - invented Meccano




J

Jan Jansk, (1873-1921), Czechoslovakia - discoverer of blood types

Karl Jatho, (1873-1933), Germany - airplane

Carl Edvard Johansson, (1864-1943), Sweden - gage block sets

Johan Petter Johansson, (1853-1943), Sweden - the pipe wrench and the modern adjustable spanner

Nancy Johnson - American version of the hand cranked ice cream machine in (1843)


K

Charles F. Kettering (1876-1958) USA - invented automobile self-starter ignition, Freon ethyl gasoline and more

Jack Kilby, (1923-2005) USA - patented the first integrated circuit

Fritz Klatte, (1880-1934), Germany - vinyl chloride, forerunner to polyvinyl chloride

Margaret Knight, (1838-1914), USA - machine that completely constructs box-bottom brown paper bags

Ivan Knunyants - (1906-1990) Ukraine invented Nylon-6

Gleb Kotelnikov, (1872-1944), Russia - knapsack parachute

Stephanie Kwolek, (1923-), USA - Kevlar


L

Hedy Lamarr, (1913-2000), Austria and USA - Spread spectrum

Edwin H. Land, (1909-1991), USA - Polaroid polarizing filters and the Land Camera

Hkan Lans, (1942-), Sweden - STDMA datalink (Self organising Time Division Multiple Access), colour computer graphics

Irving Langmuir, (1851-1957), USA - gas filled incandescent lamp, hydrogen welding

Lewis Latimer - worked with Thomas Edison and patented an improved lightbulb manufacturing process

Gustav de Laval (1845-1913), Sweden - invented the milk separator and the milking machine

Sergei Vasiljevich Lebedev, (1874-1934), Russia - synthetic rubber

Tim Berners-Lee, ((June 8, 1955-)) England - world wide web

Leonardo da Vinci, (1452-1519), Italy

Justus von Liebig, (1803-1873), Germany - nitrogen-based fertilizer

Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist, (1862-1931), Sweden - Kerosene stove operated by compressed air

Ivan Lupis-Vukic', (1813-1875), Croatia - self-propelled torpedo


M

Guglielmo Marconi, (1874-1937), Italy - radio

Elijah McCoy, (1844-1929), USA - automatic lubricator for oiling steam engines

Jeremy McGowan, (1971-?), USA - Wound Dressing Impervious To Chemical And Biological Warfare Agents

Antonio Meucci, (1808-1896), Italy - the telephone

Narcis Monturiol i Estarriol, (1819-1885), Spain - steam powered submarine

Robert Moog, (1934-2005), USA - the Moog synthesizer

Montgolfier brothers, (1740-1810) and (1745-1799), France - hot-air balloon

Samuel Morey, (1762-1843), USA - internal combustion engine

Garrett A. Morgan, (1877-1963), USA - inventor of the gas mask, and traffic signal.

Samuel Morse, (1791-1872), USA - telegraph

Jozef Murgas (1864-1929), Slovakia - inventor of the wireless telegraph (forerunner of the radio).


N

Alfred Nobel, (1833-1896), Sweden - dynamite

Isaac Newton,(1642-1727), England - reflecting telescope (which reduces chromatic aberration)

Carl Rickard Nyberg, (1858-1939), Sweden - the blowtorch


O

Theophil Wilgodt Odhner, (1845-1903), Sweden - the Odhner Arithmometer, a mechanical calculator

Elisha Otis, (1811-1861), USA - passenger elevator and concommitant safety device


P

Helge Palmcrantz, (1842-1880), Sweden - the multi-barrel, lever-actuated, machine gun

Spede Pasanen, (1930-2001), Finland - The ski jumping sling

Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, (1871-1922), Croatia - ball point pen

Gustaf Erik Pasch, (1788-1862), Sweden - the safety match

Henry Perky, (1843-1906), USA - Shredded wheat

Peter Petroff, (1919-2004), Bulgaria - digital wrist watch, heart monitor, weather instruments

Christopher Polhem, (1661-1751), Sweden - the modern padlock

Olivia Poole, (1889-1975), USA, White Earth Indian Reserve - the Jolly Jumper baby harness

Baltzar von Platen (1898-1984) Sweden - refrigerator

Mihajlo Pupin (1858-1935) Serbia - pupinisation, tunable oscillator, Pupin coil


R

Wilhelm Conrad Rntgen, (1845-1923), Germany - the x-ray machine

Josef Ressel, (1793-1857) Czechoslovakia - ship propeller


S

Augustus Siebe,(1788-1872) Saxony&England Inventor of the standard diving dress

Alberto Santos-Dumont, (1873-1932), Brazil - non-rigid airship and airplane

Adolphe Sax, (1814-1894), Belgium - saxophone

August Schrader, USA - Schrader valve for Pneumatic tire

David Schwarz, (1852-1897), Croatia, - rigid ship, later called Zeppelin

William Bradford Shockley, (1910-1989), USA - co-inventor of transistor

Werner von Siemens, (1816-1892), Germany - an electromechanical "dynamic"

Sir William Siemens (1823-1883), Germany - regenerative furnace

Igor Sikorsky, (1889-1972), Ukraine - helicopter

Aurel Stodola, (1859-1942), Slovakia - gas turbines

Elmer Ambrose Sperry (1860-1930), USA - gyroscope-guided automatic pilot

Levi Strauss, (1829-1902), USA - blue jeans

John Stringfellow, (1799-1883), England - airplane

Simon Sunatori, (1959-), Canada - inventor of Sunatori Pen

Joseph Swan, (1828-1914), England - inventor, physicist


T

Nikola Tesla, (1856-1943), Serbian-Croatian-American - inventor of the induction motor, alternating current polyphase power distribution system, wireless communication, robotics, logic gates, the bladeless turbine, radio and VTOL aircraft (among others).

Benjamin Chew Tilghman, (1821-), USA - sandblasting

Leonardo Torres y Quevedo, (1852-1936), Spain

Alfred Traeger, (1895-1980), Australia - the pedal radio

Franc Trkman, (1903-1978), Slovenia - electrical switches, accessories for opening windows

Alan Turing, (1912-1954), England - the Turing machine


U

Lewis Urry, (1927-2004), Canada - long-lasting alkaline battery


V

Alessandro Volta, (1745-1827), Italy - battery

Faust Vranc(ic' (1551-1617), Croatia, parachute


W

Erik Wallenberg, (1915-1999), Sweden - invented the Tetra Pak

Barnes Wallis, (1887-1979), England - bouncing bomb

Ghulam Sediq Wardak, (1942-), Afghanistan - 341 unpatented inventions

Robert Watson-Watt, (1892-1973), Scotland - microwave radar

Jonas Wenstrm, (1855-93), Sweden - the three-phase electrical system

George Westinghouse, (1846-1914), USA - Air brake

Charles Wheatstone, (1802-1875), England - concertina, stereoscope, microphone, Playfair cipher

Eli Whitney, (1765-1825), USA - the cotton gin

Frank Whittle, (1907-1996) - co-inventor of the jet engine

Otto Wichterle, (1913-1989) Czechoslovakia - invented modern contact lenses

Paul Winchell, (1922-2005) - the artificial heart

Sven Wingquist, (1876-1953), Sweden - Self-aligning ball bearing

A. Baldwin Wood, (1879-1956), US inventor & engineer

Granville Woods, (1856-1910), USA - the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph

The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (1871-1948) and Wilbur Wright, (1867-1912), USA - aeroplane

Arthur Wynne, (1862 - 1945), England - crossword puzzle


Y

Hidetsugu Yagi, (1886-1976), Japan - Yagi antenna

Asen Yordanoff (1886-1967) Bulgaria - Douglas DC-3

Arthur M. Young, (1905-1995), USA - the Bell Helicopter


Z

Ferdinand von Zeppelin, (1838-1917), Germany - rigid airship

Konrad Zuse, (1910-1995), Germany - first functional tape-stored-program-controlled computer

Vladimir Zworykin, (1889-1982), Russia - the iconoscope and the kinescope