Famous Inventors a to z

Howard H. Aiken was a 20th century mathematician and engineer who came up with the idea behind the Mark I, a forerunner to modern computing devices.

Momofuku Ando was the founder of Nissin Food Products Company and the inventor of instant noodles.

Charles Babbage was known for his contributions to the first mechanical computers, which laid the groundwork for more complex future designs.

Scottish engineer John Logie Baird was the first man to televise pictures of objects in motion. He also demonstrated color television, in 1928.

Sir Frederick Grant Banting was a Canadian scientist and doctor, whose research led to the discovery of insulin to treat diabetic patients.

Patricia Bath is the first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology. She invented the Laserphaco Probe for cataract treatment in 1986.

Alexander Graham Bell was one of the primary inventors of the telephone, did important work in communication for the deaf and held more than 18 patents.

Naturalist, inventor and businessman Clarence Birdseye pioneered the process of flash freezing in the United States. His company was bought by General Foods.

Jean-Pierre Blancard was a French balloonist who crossed the English Channel by balloon in 1785. He spurred interest in ballooning in Europe and the United States.

Thomas Blanchard was an American inventor whose patents contributed to the development of the mass production system.

Louis Braille was a French educator who developed the Braille system of printing and writing for the blind.

George Washington Carver was a prominent African-American scientist and inventor. Carver is best known for the many uses he devised for the peanut.

Jacques Alexandre César Charles was a French scientist and inventor who, along with Nicholas Robert, was the first to take flight in a hydrogen balloon.

Samuel Colt was an inventor and industrialist who created the revolver—most notably the .45-calibre Peacemaker model, which was introduced in 1873—and paved the way for the interchangeable parts system of manufacturing.

Jacques Cousteau was a French undersea explorer, researcher, photographer and documentary host who invented diving and scuba devices, including the Aqua-Lung. He also conducted underwater expeditions and produced films and television series, including the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. 

David Nelson Crosthwait, Jr. was an African American pioneer in the field of heating and air conditioning, best known for heating up Radio City Music Hall.

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter and a genius in many realms of science. He is best known for two paintings: the "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper."

German inventor Gottlieb Daimler patented one of the first successful internal-combustion engines and later founded the Daimler company, which produced the first Mercedes car in 1899.

Humphry Davy was a British chemist best known for his contributions to the discoveries of chlorine and iodine. He is noted for suggesting the anesthetic use of nitrous oxide in human surgery.

Intrigued by burrs that stuck to his clothing, in 1956, Swiss engineer George de Mestral invented the popular fastener now known as Velcro®.

Computer scientist and engineer Mark Dean is credited with helping develop a number of landmark technologies, including the color PC monitor, the Industry Standard Architecture system bus and the first gigahertz chip.

Michael DeBakey was an American cardiovascular surgeon and surgical pioneer.

John Deere was an American inventor and manufacturer of agricultural equipment. In 1837, Deere started an eponymous company that went on to become an international powerhouse.

Jack Dorsey is an American businessman best known as the founder of the social networking site Twitter.

Eadweard Muybridge's photography of moving animals captured movement in a way that had never been done before. His work was used by both scientists and artists.

Inventor Thomas Edison created such great innovations as the electric light bulb, the telephone and the phonograph. A savvy businessman, he held more than a 1,000 patents for his inventions.

Douglas C Engelbart is a pioneer in the design of interactive computer environments and the inventor of the mouse.

Philo T. Farnsworth was an American inventor best known as a pioneer of television technology.

Benjamin Franklin is best known as one of the Founding Fathers who drafted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

Francis Galton was an English explorer and anthropologist best known for his research in eugenics and human intelligence. He was the first to study the effects of human selective mating.

Entrepreneur and inventor Sarah E. Goode was the first African-American woman to receive a United States patent.

American inventor Charles Goodyear discovered the process of vulcanizing rubber. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was posthumously named after him.

Jim Henson was an American puppeteer best known for creating TV characters, including the Muppets, and for his work on the popular children's show Sesame Street.

British inventor Jonathan Carter worked for James Watt. Seeking to improve on Watt's design, he devised the first reciprocating compound steam engine.

Inventor Elias Howe patented his plans for the first practical sewing machine in 1846, and successfully sued Isaac Singer for the rights in 1854.

Lonnie G. Johnson is an engineer and inventor who worked on the Cassini mission to Jupiter and invented the Super Soaker.

Jack Kilby was an American physicist and electrical engineer who co-created the integrated circuit.

The "godfather of fitness," Jack LaLanne, is known for his 1950s TV fitness program and for his endorsement of a power juicer in 2002.

Edwin Land is best known as the inventor of the Polaroid camera and film, and as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation.

Lewis Howard Latimer was an inventor and draftsman best known for his contributions to the patenting of the light bulb and the telephone.

Aviator Charles Lindbergh became famous for making the first solo transatlantic airplane flight in 1927.

Kirkpatrick Macmillan is best known for inventing the first pedal bicycle.

Often referred to as the "forgotten" Marx brother, Gummo Marx was the first to leave the act to enlist in World War I and become a businessman.

The youngest of the Marx Brothers, Zeppo Marx was the handsomest sibling, but often underappreciated as the straight man and young romantic lead. He left the famous comedic team to become a millionaire inventor.

Elijah McCoy was a 19th century African-American inventor best known for inventing lubrication devices used to make train travel more efficient.

Garrett Morgan blazed a trail for African-American inventors with his many patents, including those for a hair-straightening product, a breathing device, and an improved sewing machine and traffic signal.

Elon Musk is an entrepreneur known for co-founding Tesla Motors, X.com—which later became PayPal—and SpaceX, the last of which launched a landmark commercial spacecraft on May 22, 2012.

James Naismith invented tha game of basketball in 1891.

African-American hairdresser and inventor Lyda Newman patented an improved hairbrush design in New York City in 1898.

Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and other explosives. He used his enormous fortune from 355 patents to institute the Nobel Prizes.

Thomas Paine was an English American writer and pamphleteer whose "Common Sense" and other writings influenced the American Revolution, and helped pave the way for the Declaration of Independence.

Scientist Louis Pasteur came up with the food preparing process known as pasteurization; he also developed a vaccination for anthrax and rabies.

Les Paul was a musician who designed a solid-body guitar in 1941, which then was a new type of instrument.

Inventor Ron Popeil pioneered the TV sales pitch with products like the Ronco Chop-O-Matic and phrases like "But wait, there's more."

Ferdinand Porsche founded the Porsche car company in 1931. In the early 1920s, he oversaw the development of the Mercedes compressor car, and later developed the first designs of the Volkswagen car with his son, Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche.

Sequoyah was a half-Cherokee silversmith who invented a simple form of writing consisting of 86 symbols. He is also the namesake of Sequoia redwood trees.

Igor Sikorsky was a Russian aeronautics engineer and inventor known for crafting the first four-engine plane and the first working helicopter.

Isaac Singer founded the Singer Sewing Machine Company, the first company to make sewing machines practical and easy to use at home.

James West is an American inventor who developed the foil electret microphone, now used in 90 percent of all contemporary microphones, in 1962.

Eli Whitney was an American inventor who created the cotton gin and pushed the “interchangeable parts” mode of production.

Known as "Black Edison," Granville Woods was an African-American inventor who made key contributions to the development of the telephone, street car and more.

Steve Wozniak is an American computer scientist best known as one of the founders of Apple and the inventor of the Apple II computer.

Orville Wright is best known for inventing the airplane with his brother, Wilbur.