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), Scotland — 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
• 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

• Cài Lún, (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
• Henri Coanda, (1886-1972), Romania — jet
• 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 Dalén, (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
• Douglas Engelbart, (1925-), USA — the computer mouse
• 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
• Reginald Fessenden, (1866-1932), Canada — two-way radio
• Adolf Eugen Fick, (1829-1901), Germany — contact lens
• 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

• Bengt Gadefelt, (1924-2001), Sweden — the turbo engine for cars
• Robert Goddard, (1882-1945), USA — liquid fuel rocket
• Heinrich Göbel, (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) — invented the spinning jenny
• John Harrison, (1693-1776) — marine chronometer
• Victor Hasselblad, (1906-1978), Sweden — invented the 6 x 6cm 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

• 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)
• Aleksandar Just — Croatia, electric bulb

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
• Håkan 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
• 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-Vukić, (1813-1875), Croatia — self-propelled torpedo

M

• Guglielmo Marconi, (1874-1937), Italy — radio
• Elijah McCoy, (1844-1929), USA — automatic lubricator for oiling steam engines
• 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

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 Röntgen, (1845-1923), Germany — the x-ray machine

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
• 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 Vrančić (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 Wenström, (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
• 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), USA — 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