Founded 1973 by the USPTO and the National Council of Intellectual Property Law Associations. Their museum is in Akron, Ohio.
| Name | Occupation | Birth | Death | Known for |
|---|
| Edward G. Acheson |
Inventor |
9-Mar-1856 |
6-Jul-1931 |
Discovered silicon carbide |
| Ernst F. W. Alexanderson |
Inventor |
25-Jan-1878 |
14-May-1975 |
Developed radio and television at GE and RCA |
| Luis W. Alvarez |
Physicist |
13-Jun-1911 |
1-Sep-1988 |
Particle accelerator, extinction of dinosaurs |
| Edwin H. Armstrong |
Inventor |
18-Dec-1890 |
31-Jan-1954 |
Inventor of FM radio |
| Leo Baekeland |
Scientist |
14-Nov-1863 |
23-Feb-1944 |
Father of plastics |
| Ralph Baer |
Inventor |
8-Mar-1922 |
|
Inventor of the home video game console |
| Frederick G. Banting |
Scientist |
14-Nov-1891 |
21-Feb-1941 |
Discovered insulin |
| Paul Baran |
Engineer |
29-Apr-1926 |
26-Mar-2011 |
Packet-sharing in computer communications |
| John Bardeen |
Physicist |
23-May-1908 |
30-Jan-1991 |
Co-Inventor of the transistor |
| Arnold Beckman |
Inventor |
10-Apr-1900 |
18-May-2004 |
Philanthropist who invented pH meter |
| Alexander Graham Bell |
Inventor |
3-Mar-1847 |
2-Aug-1922 |
Inventor of the telephone |
| Henry Bessemer |
Inventor |
19-Jan-1813 |
15-Mar-1898 |
Bessemer process to manufacture steel |
| Gerd Binnig |
Physicist |
20-Jul-1947 |
|
Co-Inventor, scanning tunneling microscope |
| Forrest Bird |
Inventor |
9-Jun-1921 |
|
Bird Universal Medical Respirator |
| Clarence Birdseye |
Scientist |
9-Dec-1886 |
7-Oct-1956 |
Frozen and dried food, wrapped in cellophane |
| László Bíró |
Inventor |
29-Sep-1899 |
24-Oct-1985 |
Ballpoint pen |
| Baruch S. Blumberg |
Scientist |
28-Jul-1925 |
5-Apr-2011 |
Hepatitis B vaccine |
| Nils Bohlin |
Engineer |
17-Jul-1920 |
26-Sep-2002 |
Three-point safety belt |
| Amar Bose |
Inventor |
2-Nov-1929 |
|
Inventor of Bose speakers |
| Willard S. Boyle |
Physicist |
19-Aug-1924 |
7-May-2011 |
Digital photography |
| Jacques E. Brandenberger |
Chemist |
19-Oct-1872 |
13-Jul-1954 |
Cellophane |
| Walter H. Brattain |
Physicist |
10-Feb-1902 |
13-Oct-1987 |
Co-Inventor of the transistor |
| Luther Burbank |
Botanist |
7-Mar-1849 |
11-Apr-1926 |
Botanist and plant breeder |
| Vannevar Bush |
Scientist |
11-Mar-1890 |
30-Jun-1974 |
Pre-internet visionary |
| Chester Carlson |
Inventor |
8-Feb-1906 |
19-Sep-1968 |
Invented Xerography |
| Wallace Hume Carothers |
Chemist |
27-Apr-1896 |
29-Apr-1937 |
Inventor of Nylon |
| Willis Carrier |
Inventor |
26-Nov-1876 |
7-Oct-1950 |
Created the first air conditioning |
| George Washington Carver |
Botanist |
c. 1860 |
5-Jan-1943 |
Crop rotation and peanut butter |
| Vint Cerf |
Scientist |
23-Jun-1943 |
|
Co-Designed Internet's TCP-IP protocol |
| Georges Claude |
Chemist |
24-Sep-1870 |
23-May-1960 |
Neon lighting |
| Josephine Cochrane |
Inventor |
8-Mar-1839 |
3-Aug-1913 |
Invented the dishwasher |
| Stanley N. Cohen |
Biologist |
17-Feb-1935 |
|
Recombinant DNA |
| William D. Coolidge |
Physicist |
23-Oct-1873 |
4-Feb-1975 |
Tungsten filaments and Coolidge tubes |
| Harry Coover |
Chemist |
6-Mar-1919 |
19-Mar-2011 |
Invented Super Glue |
| Frederick G. Cottrell |
Inventor |
10-Jan-1877 |
16-Nov-1948 |
Smokestack filters to fight pollution |
| Seymour Cray |
Inventor |
28-Sep-1925 |
5-Oct-1996 |
Inventor of Cray supercomputers |
| Glenn Curtiss |
Aviator |
21-May-1878 |
23-Jul-1930 |
American aviation pioneer |
| Mark Dean |
Engineer |
2-Mar-1957 |
|
Computer architecture |
| Rudolf Diesel |
Inventor |
18-Mar-1858 |
30-Sep-1913 |
Inventor of the diesel engine |
| Walt Disney |
Business |
5-Dec-1901 |
15-Dec-1966 |
Founder of Disney empire |
| Ray Milton Dolby |
Inventor |
18-Jan-1933 |
|
Inventor of Dolby stereo |
| Herbert Dow |
Business |
26-Feb-1866 |
15-Oct-1930 |
Founder of Dow Chemical |
| George Eastman |
Inventor |
12-Jul-1854 |
14-Mar-1932 |
Inventor of the Kodak camera |
| John Presper Eckert |
Computer Programmer |
9-Apr-1919 |
3-Jun-1995 |
ENIAC, BINAC, and UNIVAC I computers |
| Thomas Edison |
Inventor |
11-Feb-1847 |
18-Oct-1931 |
Invented the light bulb |
| Gertrude B. Elion |
Scientist |
23-Jan-1918 |
21-Feb-1999 |
Developed medicines for leukemia, herpes, AIDS |
| Doug Engelbart |
Computer Programmer |
30-Jan-1925 |
|
Pioneer of human-computer interaction |
| Max Faget |
Scientist |
26-Aug-1921 |
9-Oct-2004 |
Designer of NASA spacecraft |
| Moses Farmer |
Inventor |
9-Feb-1820 |
25-May-1893 |
Invented the fire alarm, electric trolley |
| Philo Farnsworth |
Inventor |
19-Aug-1906 |
11-Mar-1971 |
Inventor of electronic television |
| Enrico Fermi |
Physicist |
29-Sep-1901 |
29-Nov-1954 |
First controlled nuclear chain reaction |
| Henry Ford |
Business |
30-Jul-1863 |
7-Apr-1947 |
Founder of Ford Motors |
| Lee De Forest |
Inventor |
26-Aug-1873 |
30-Jun-1961 |
Inventor of the Audion vacuum tube |
| Robert C. Gallo |
Doctor |
23-Mar-1937 |
|
Identified first retroviruses in humans |
| Ivan Getting |
Inventor |
18-Jan-1912 |
11-Oct-2003 |
Global Positioning System |
| John H. Gibbon, Jr. |
Doctor |
29-Sep-1903 |
5-Feb-1973 |
Open-heart surgery |
| King Gillette |
Inventor |
5-Jan-1855 |
9-Jul-1932 |
Safety razor |
| Robert Goddard |
Scientist |
5-Oct-1882 |
10-Aug-1945 |
Father of modern rocketry |
| Charles Goodyear |
Inventor |
29-Dec-1800 |
1-Jul-1860 |
Invented rubber vulcanization process |
| Robert Gore |
Chemist |
15-Apr-1937 |
|
Co-inventor of Gore-Tex |
| Gordon Gould |
Physicist |
17-Jul-1920 |
16-Sep-2005 |
Invented the laser, arguably |
| Wilson Greatbatch |
Inventor |
6-Sep-1919 |
27-Sep-2011 |
Implantable pacemaker |
| William Hewlett |
Business |
20-May-1913 |
12-Jan-2001 |
Co-Founder of Hewlett-Packard |
| James Hillier |
Physicist |
22-Aug-1915 |
15-Jan-2007 |
Electron microscope |
| Felix Hoffmann |
Chemist |
21-Jan-1868 |
8-Feb-1946 |
Aspirin and heroin |
| Herman Hollerith |
Inventor |
29-Feb-1860 |
17-Nov-1929 |
Invented the punchcard |
| Alexander Lyman Holley |
Business |
20-Jul-1832 |
29-Jan-1882 |
Designed steel foundries |
| Nick Holonyak |
Physicist |
3-Nov-1928 |
|
Light-emitting diodes |
| Leroy Hood |
Biologist |
10-Oct-1938 |
|
Systems biology and Human Genome Project |
| Elias Howe |
Inventor |
9-Jul-1819 |
3-Oct-1867 |
Inventor of the sewing machine |
| Percy Julian |
Chemist |
11-Apr-1899 |
19-Apr-1975 |
Physostigmine and cortisone |
| Robert E. Kahn |
Scientist |
23-Dec-1938 |
|
Co-Inventor, Internet's TCP-IP protocol |
| Dean Kamen |
Inventor |
5-Apr-1951 |
|
Segway pedestrian vehicle |
| Theophilus Van Kannel |
Inventor |
1841 |
24-Dec-1919 |
Revolving door |
| Theodore von Kármán |
Mathematician |
11-May-1881 |
7-May-1963 |
Kármán vortices |
| Charles F. Kettering |
Engineer |
29-Aug-1876 |
25-Nov-1958 |
Invented the electric starter |
| Jack S. Kilby |
Inventor |
8-Nov-1923 |
20-Jun-2005 |
Electrical engineering pioneer |
| Albert Kingsbury |
Engineer |
23-Dec-1863 |
28-Jul-1943 |
Kingsbury thrust bearing |
| Paul Kollsman |
Inventor |
22-Feb-1900 |
17-Mar-1982 |
Barometric altimeter |
| Ray Kurzweil |
Inventor |
12-Feb-1948 |
|
Age of Spiritual Machines |
| Stephanie Kwolek |
Chemist |
31-Jul-1923 |
|
Invented Kevlar |
| Edwin H. Land |
Inventor |
7-May-1909 |
1-Mar-1991 |
Polaroid Land Camera |
| Irving Langmuir |
Chemist |
31-Jan-1881 |
16-Aug-1957 |
Inventor of the high-vacuum tube |
| Paul C. Lauterbur |
Scientist |
6-May-1929 |
27-Mar-2007 |
Magnetic resonance imaging |
| Theodore Maiman |
Physicist |
11-Jul-1927 |
5-May-2007 |
Built the first working laser |
| Guglielmo Marconi |
Scientist |
25-Apr-1874 |
20-Jul-1937 |
Inventor of radio |
| John L. Mason |
Inventor |
1832 |
26-Feb-1902 |
Invented the screw-neck jar |
| John William Mauchly |
Physicist |
30-Aug-1907 |
8-Jan-1980 |
ENIAC, BINAC, and UNIVAC I computers |
| Ottmar Mergenthaler |
Inventor |
11-May-1854 |
28-Oct-1899 |
Automated typesetting |
| Thomas Midgley |
Chemist |
18-May-1889 |
2-Nov-1944 |
Ethyl gasoline, Freon |
| Luc Montagnier |
Scientist |
18-Aug-1932 |
|
Co-Discoverer of HIV |
| Gordon Moore |
Business |
3-Jan-1929 |
|
Co-founder of Intel, laid down Moore's Law |
| Samuel F. B. Morse |
Inventor |
27-Apr-1791 |
2-Apr-1872 |
Telegraph inventor and publicist |
| Alfred Nobel |
Inventor |
21-Oct-1833 |
10-Dec-1896 |
Dynamite inventor, established Nobel Prize |
| Robert Noyce |
Inventor |
12-Dec-1927 |
3-Jun-1990 |
Co-Inventor, integrated circuit |
| Barney Oliver |
Astronomer |
27-May-1916 |
23-Nov-1995 |
SETI researcher |
| Ken Olsen |
Business |
20-Feb-1925 |
6-Feb-2011 |
Founder of Digital Equipment Corporation |
| Elisha Otis |
Inventor |
3-Aug-1811 |
8-Apr-1861 |
Invented the safety elevator |
| Bradford W. Parkinson |
Engineer |
16-Feb-1935 |
|
Global Positioning System |
| Louis Pasteur |
Chemist |
27-Dec-1822 |
28-Sep-1895 |
Discovered process of pasteurization |
| Les Paul |
Guitarist |
9-Jun-1915 |
13-Aug-2009 |
Electric guitar/multitrack recording pioneer |
| Gregory Pincus |
Scientist |
9-Apr-1903 |
22-Aug-1967 |
Inventor of oral contraceptives |
| Roy Plunkett |
Chemist |
26-Jun-1910 |
12-May-1994 |
Accidentally discovered Teflon |
| Jesse W. Reno |
Inventor |
4-Aug-1861 |
2-Jun-1947 |
Invented the escalator |
| Heinrich Rohrer |
Physicist |
6-Jun-1933 |
|
Co-Inventor, scanning tunneling microscope |
| Arthur L. Schawlow |
Physicist |
5-May-1921 |
28-Apr-1999 |
Laser spectroscopy |
| Claude Shannon |
Scientist |
30-Apr-1916 |
24-Feb-2001 |
Pioneer in information theory |
| William Shockley |
Physicist |
13-Feb-1910 |
12-Aug-1989 |
Co-Inventor of the transistor |
| Christopher Sholes |
Inventor |
14-Feb-1819 |
17-Feb-1890 |
Typewriter inventor, QWERTY keyboard |
| Igor Sikorsky |
Business |
25-May-1889 |
26-Oct-1972 |
Helicopter magnate |
| George E. Smith |
Scientist |
10-May-1930 |
|
Digital photography |
| James Murray Spangler |
Inventor |
20-Nov-1848 |
22-Jan-1915 |
Invented the upright vacuum cleaner |
| Percy Spencer |
Scientist |
19-Jul-1894 |
8-Sep-1970 |
Invented the microwave oven |
| Elmer Sperry |
Inventor |
12-Oct-1860 |
10-Jun-1930 |
Gyroscopic compass |
| Ambrose Swasey |
Business |
19-Dec-1846 |
15-Jun-1937 |
Warner and Swasey Company and Observatory |
| Leo Szilard |
Physicist |
11-Feb-1898 |
30-May-1964 |
Nuclear chain reaction |
| Nikola Tesla |
Inventor |
10-Jul-1856 |
7-Jan-1943 |
Invented alternating current |
| Charles H. Townes |
Physicist |
28-Jul-1915 |
|
Invention of the maser and laser |
| George Westinghouse |
Inventor |
6-Oct-1846 |
12-Mar-1914 |
Air brake and A/C power |
| Eli Whitney |
Inventor |
8-Dec-1765 |
8-Jan-1825 |
Inventor of the cotton gin |
| Otto Wichterle |
Chemist |
27-Oct-1913 |
18-Aug-1998 |
Invented soft contact lenses |
| Steve Wozniak |
Computer Programmer |
11-Aug-1950 |
|
Co-Founder of Apple Computer |
| Orville Wright |
Aviator |
19-Aug-1871 |
30-Jan-1948 |
Co-Inventor of the airplane |
| Wilbur Wright |
Aviator |
16-Apr-1867 |
30-May-1912 |
Co-Inventor of the airplane |
