Showing 26 - 46 of 46 results
Charles Hard Townes
Maser
Charles Townes' invention of the maser, a device that amplifies electromagnetic waves, created a means for the sensitive reception of communications…
Jay W. Forrester
Random Access Memory
Jay W. Forrester was a pioneer in early digital computer development and invented random-access, coincident-current magnetic storage, which became…
Charles Proteus Steinmetz
Alternating Current
Without Charles Steinmetz's theories of alternating current, the expansion of the electric power industry in the United States in the early 20th…
George Devol
Industrial Robot
In the 1930s, George Devol began realizing the value of factory automation while working on magnetic recording technology. In 1954, he filed a patent…
Carl Djerassi
Oral Contraceptives
Carl Djerassi is recognized for his breakthroughs in chemistry and for his effective translation of theory into practice. His achievements include…
Edwin Howard Armstrong
FM Radio
The inventions of engineer Edwin Howard Armstrong were so important that to this day every radio or television set makes use of one or more of his…
Oliver Joseph Lodge
Electric Telegraphy
Physicist Oliver Lodge made several important technological contributions, most notably his advancement of wireless telegraphy.
Lodge's invention of…
William D. Coolidge
X-Ray
William D. Coolidge's name is inseparably linked with the X-ray tube -- popularly called the "Coolidge tube." This invention completely…
Robert S. Langer, Jr.
Controlled Drug Delivery
Robert Langer revolutionized biomedical technology through the development of a controlled drug delivery system.
Langer was born in Albany, New York…
Arthur Leonard Schawlow
Laser
Arthur L. Schawlow was co-inventor of the laser. He worked with Charles H. Townes, who was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1976…
Gerd Karl Binnig
Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Gerd Karl Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer based their scanning tunneling microscope (STM) on a principle of quantum mechanics which allows the surface of…
Francis Hamilton
Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (Mark I)
Frank Hamilton, along with Benjamin Durfee, assisted IBM's Clair Lake in developing the large-scale calculator conceived by Harvard's Howard Aiken.…
Kenneth H. Olsen
Magnetic Core Memory
Kenneth H. Olsen, described by Fortune magazine in 1986 as the "most successful entrepreneur in the history of American business," invented vital…
Grote Reber
Radio Telescope
Grote Reber, inventor and pioneering radio astronomer, built the first substantial radio telescope dedicated to astronomy. Radio astronomy allows for…
Edmund O. Schweitzer III
Digital Protective Relay
Edmund O. Schweitzer III invented the first microprocessor-based digital protective relay, revolutionizing the performance of electric power systems…
Harald Hess
Photoactivated Localization Microscopy (PALM)
Harald Hess and Eric Betzig co-invented photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM), a super-resolution imaging technology that enables imaging at…
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…
Elisha Gray
Telegraphic Instruments
Elisha Gray made many contributions to the telegraph and telephone industries, including his invention of the telautograph, a forerunner of the…
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…
Granville Woods
Railway Telegraphy
Granville Woods invented railroad telegraphy, allowing moving trains to communicate with rail stations and with each other using static electricity…
Virginia Norwood
Multispectral Scanner
Virginia Norwood invented the Multispectral Scanner (MSS), the first in a series of satellite-based instruments that have been continuously imaging…