National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum

Location

The museum is in Alexandria, Virginia at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
It is located in the atrium of the Madison Building, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, VA, and easily accessible from the King Street and Eisenhower Avenue Metro stations (Blue Line and Yellow Line).

Museum Info: (571) 272-0095

Hours

The museum and store are open to the public:
   Monday through Friday 9 am to 5 pm
   Saturday Noon to 5:00 p.m.
   (closed on Sundays and federal holidays)

FREE ADMISSION

Michael Jackson Display at the National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum

The National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum is presenting a special display that will include materials from the United States Patent and Trademark Office files of Michael Jackson’s patent and trademark applications.  Mr. Jackson is the co-inventor of a “system for allowing a shoe wearer to lean forwardly beyond his center of gravity by virtue of wearing a specially designed pair of shoes which will engage with a hitch member movably projectable through a stage surface.”  Included in the application is an original sample of Michael Joseph Jackson’s signature and drawings of his invention.
 
The display also features various examples of Mr. Jackson’s trademarks, including United States Registration No. 1,908,209, MICHAEL JACKSON for, “sound recordings; namely, pre-recorded phonograph records, audio tapes, compact discs, videotapes, and motion picture films featuring music and entertainment.”   The exhibit is free and open to the public starting Wednesday, July 15 and runs through Labor Day.  

Inventive Links

The latest exhibit at the museum, Inventive Links (inspired by the James Burke television series “Connections”), illustrates a new and unexpected way in which modern technology is interlinked. The visitor to the museum is invited on a journey along the exhibit wall where they will visit six unique sections. With a little inventiveness and some detective work they will see how each of the paths link the innovations of a variety of inventors inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame to one another. The links that connect these inventors are drawn from the inductee inventions: the patents and trademarks they hold and the interconnecting events and circumstances of their lives. Through these many and varied links the museum visitors will discover how seemingly unrelated inventions have led to many major technological achievements!

Hall of Fame Inductees on Display

Also new to the museum is a display of the inductees of the Hall of Fame. Large panels prominently feature the names of all the inductees, and an interactive kiosk allows visitors to learn more about each inductee. The exhibit is an ideal way to impress upon visitors the importance of the inductees’ life-changing work and also of their induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Portrait Gallery

The new “Portrait Gallery” exhibit features digital electronic portraits of United States Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison; famous inventor Thomas Edison; National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees Helen Free, who developed home testing for diabetes, and Steve Wozniak, the inventor and co-founder of Apple Computer; and Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the USPTO David Kappos.

The gallery portraits, through the magic of computer-generated special effects and exclusive control software, spontaneously come to life, interactively engaging in humorous banter that highlights the history and growth of America's intellectual property system.

The high-definition video exhibit was produced for the USPTO by the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation’s Invent Now Studio and Aperture Films.

Isaac Fleischmann Theatre

Now Playing at the museum in the Isaac Fleischmann Theatre is a 7-minute film entitled Extraordinary Innovations. This film gives museum visitors a look at the range of creative inventions submitted to the USPTO.

The National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum and Store are designed and managed by Invent Now Studio.

Museum Store

The store offers a large selection of unique merchandise. Many items feature the official USPTO seal.

Apparel - Books - Invention Kits - Glassware - Jewelry - Desk Accessories

Visit the Museum Store at www.usptomuseumstore.org

National Inventors Hall of Fame School…Center for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Learning
For More Information, Click Here.

The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) Museum is looking forward to the new NIHF science, math, and technology middle school that is projected to open on-site in 2010. 

Because of construction related to the project, the museum in Akron is currently closed.  The offices of the NIHF Foundation, its parent organization, have relocated to new space in Akron to continue operations of its many other programs.

The ongoing programs of the NIHF Foundation reach a wide variety of constituents across the country. 

Keep up with the NIHF Foundation by returning to our web site to learn about our latest activities.