National Inventors Hall of Fame
The National Inventors Hall of Fame is a U.S. organization founded in 1973 to honor successful inventors. Members
are chosen by the selection committee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, which is composed of
representatives from national scientific and technical organizations.
Date of selection Inventor Notable innovations
1973 Thomas Alva Edison
electric lamp
1974 John Bardeen, Walter Brattain,
William Shockley
transistor
Alexander Graham Bell
telegraphy and telephone
Eli Whitney
cotton gin
1975 William Coolidge
vacuum tube
Guglielmo Marconi
transmitting electric signals
Samuel Morse
telegraph signals
Nikola Tesla
electromagnetic motor
Orville Wright, Wilbur Wright
flying machine
1976 Rudolf Diesel
internal combustion engine
Enrico Fermi
neutronic reactor
Charles Goodyear
improvement in India-rubber fabrics, vulcanization of rubber
Charles Hall
manufacture of aluminum
Cyrus McCormick
mechanical reaper
Charles Townes
maser
1977 Lee De Forest
audio amplifier
George Eastman
coating plates for use in photography
Edwin Land
instant processing photography
Charles Steinmetz
system of electrical distribution
Vladimir Zworykin
cathode-ray tube
1978 Luis Alvarez
radio distance and direction indicator
Leo Baekeland
synthetic resin
Carl Djerassi
oral contraceptive
Louis Pasteur
brewing beer and ale
1979 Jay Forrester
random access memory (RAM)
Robert Goddard
rocket science
Charles Plank, Edward Rosinski
improved gasoline manufacture
1980 Edwin Armstrong
frequency modulation (FM) radio broadcasting
James Hillier
electron lens correction device
Charles Kettering
engine starting devices and ignition system
Lewis Sarett
synthetic cortisone
1981 Harold Black
negative feedback amplifier
Chester Carlson
xerography
Charles Draper
gyroscopic apparatus
Nikolaus Otto
gas motor engine
1982 Henry Ford
transmission mechanism
Jack Kilby
integrated circuit
Ernest Lawrence
cyclotron
Ottmar Mergenthaler
linotype machine
Max Tishler
riboflavin, sulfaquinoxline
1983 Ernest Alexanderson
high-frequency alternator
Andrew Alford
localizer antenna systems
Herbert Dow
process of extracting bromine
Robert Noyce
semiconductor device and lead structure
George Stibitz
complex computer
1984 William Burton
manufacture of gasoline
Wallace Carothers
nylon
Philo Farnsworth
television system
Theodore Maiman
laser
1985 Marvin Camras
magnetic recording
Willis Carrier
air conditioning
René Higonnet, Louis Moyroud
phototypesetter
Willem Kolff
artificial heart
Roy Plunkett
Teflon
1986 Luther Burbank
strain of peach
Harold Edgerton
stroboscope
Wilson Greatbatch
heart pacemaker
Donalee Tabern, Ernest Volwiler
Pentothal, Nembutal
1987 Arnold Beckman
apparatus for testing acidity
William Burroughs
calculating machine
Andrew Moyer
method for production of penicillin
Igor Sikorsky
helicopter controls
1988 Frank Colton
oral contraceptive
Elisha Otis
safety elevator
Louis Parker
television receiver
An Wang
magnetic pulse controlling device
1989 Raymond Damadian
magnetic resonance imaging
John Deere
steel plow
Irving Langmuir
incandescent electric lamp
George Westinghouse
steam-power brake device
1990 George Washington Carver
cosmetics, paint, and stain
Graham Durant, John Emmett, C.
Robin Ganellin
antiulcer compounds and compositions
Charles Ginsburg
videotape recorder
Herman Hollerith
punched card tabulating system
Eugene Houdry
liquid fuels
Percy Julian
cortisone synthesis
Robert Ledley
diagnostic X-ray system
Kenneth Olsen
magnetic core memory
1991 Willard Bennett
radio frequency mass spectrometer
Gertrude Elion
antileukemia drug
Gordon Gould
optically pumped laser amplifier
Leonard Greene
airplane stall warning device
William 'Butch' Hanford, Donald
Holmes
polyurethane
Elmer Sperry
gyroscopic compass
Robert Williams
synthesis of vitamin B1
1992 Lloyd Conover
Frederick Cottrell
tetracycline
electrostatic precipitator
William Hewlett
audio oscillator
Benjamin Rubin
bifurcated vaccination needle
1993 Baruch Blumberg, Irving Millman
test and vaccine for hepatitis B
John Ericsson
propeller
William Lear
automobile radio
Robert Maurer, Donald Keck, Peter
Schultz
fiber optics
John Parsons
numerical control of machine tools
1994 Emile Berliner
gramophone/microphone
Robert Hall
magnetron
Elizabeth Hazen, Rachel Brown
nystatin
Robert Rines
high-resolution imaging-scanning radar and sonar
Heinrich Rohrer, Gerd Binnig
scanning tunneling microscope
1995 Joseph H. Burckhalter, Robert J.
Seiwald
dyes for diagnosing infectious disease
Stephanie L. Kwolek
Kevlar polymers and fibers
Waldo L. Semon
polyvinyl chloride plastisols
John Sheehan
semisynthetic penicillin
William Stanley
electric transformer
Forrest M. Bird
fluid control device, respirator, pediatric ventilator
1996 H. M. Edmund Germer
discharge device, high-pressure vapor lamp
Ted Hoff, Stanley Mazor, Federico
Faggin
microprocessor concept and architecture
Julius Arthur Nieuwland
vinyl derivatives of acetylene and methods of preparation
Arthur Leonard Schawlow
masers and maser communications system
Leo Szilard
neutronic reactor
1997 Edward Goodrich Acheson
carborundum
Robert W. Bower
field-effect device with insulated gate (MOSFET)
George H. Babcock, Stephen Wilcox,
Jr.
water-tube steam boiler
Seymour Cray
supercomputer
Mark Dean, Dennis Moeller
improvements in computer architecture allowing computer components
to communicate with each other in a high-speed and efficient manner
Robert H. Dennard
dynamic random access memory (DRAM)
1998 Henry Timken
tapered roller bearing
Alfred Nobel
dynamite
Joseph Begun
magnetic recording
Douglas Engelbart
computer mouse and development of modern computer environment
James Fergason
liquid-crystal display
Kary Mullis
polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
1999 Percy LeBaron Spencer
microwave oven
Donald L. Campbell, Homer Z. Martin, fluid catalytic cracking
Eger V. Murphree, Charles W. Tyson
George de Mestral
Velcro
Gerhard Sessler, James Edward West foil electret microphone
Bryan B. Molloy, Klaus K. Schmiegel
2000 Walt Disney
Prozac
multiplane camera
Reginald Fessenden
radiotelephony
Alfred Free, Helen Free
glucose detection for diabetes
J. Franklin Hyde
method of making a transparent article of silica
William Kroll
method for manufacturing titanium and related alloys
Stephen Wozniak
microcomputer for use with video display
2001 Robert Banks, Paul Hogan
polymers
Herbert Boyer, Stanley Cohen
genetic engineering
Oliver Evans
high-pressure steam engine
Thomas Fogarty
embolectomy catheter
Elijah McCoy
automatic engine lubricator
Patsy Sherman, Sam Smith
Scotchgard
Christopher Sholes
typewriter
2002 Raymond Kurzweil
Kurzweil reading machine
Nils Bohlin
3-point safety belt
Rangaswamy Srinivasan, James
Wynne, Samuel Blum
excimer laser surgery
Drs. M. Stephen Heilman, Alois
Langer, Morton Mower, Michel
Mirowski
implantable defibrillator
Dr. Rodney Bagley, Dr. Irwin
Lachman, Ronald Lewis
ceramic substrate for catalytic converters
Felix Hoffmann
aspirin
Dr. John Presper Eckert, Jr., John
Mauchly
electronic numerical integrator and computer (ENIAC) data translating
device
Henry Bessemer
Bessemer steel process
2003 George Carruthers
far electrograph ultraviolet camera
Frank Cepollina
satellite servicing techniques
Glenn Curtiss
hydroaeroplane
Maxime Faget
space capsule design
Leroy Grumman
retractable landing gear; folding wing
Charles H. Kaman
rotor control mechanism for rotary aircraft
Paul Kollsman
altimeter
Edwin A. Link
link trainer/simulator
Thomas Midgley, Jr.
ethyl gasoline
John Northrop
flying wing plane; all-metal high-wing monocoque airplane (Vega)
John Pierce
communications satellite
Harold Rosen
spin stabilized synchronous communications satellite
Theodore von Kármán
turbo jet
Hans J. P. von Ohain
jet engine
Richard Whitcomb
supercritical wing
Sir Frank Whittle
jet engine
Sam Williams
small fan-jet engine
2004 Frederick Banting, Charles Best,
James Collip
Insulin for diabetics
Vannevar Bush
Differential Analyzer
Harry Coover
superglue
Wallace Coulter
blood counter
Ray Dolby
noise reduction systems
Edith Flanigen
molecular filters for petroleum processing
Robert Gallo, Luc Montagnier
HIV isolation and diagnosis
Ivan Getting, Bradford Parkinson
Global Positioning System (GPS)
John Gibbon
heart-lung machine
Lloyd Hall
food preservation techniques
Elias Howe
sewing machine
Charles Kelman
cataract eye surgery
Bernard Oliver, Claude Shannon
Pulse Code Modulation
Norbert Rillieux
modern sugar refining
John Roebling
modern suspension bridge
2005 Matthias Baldwin
various steam locomotive components
C. Donald Bateman
Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS)
Clarence Birdseye
innovative food preservation processes
Leopold Godowsky, Jr.
color photographic film process (with Leopold Mannes)
Robert Gundlach
innovations in photocopying technology
Dr. Alec Jeffreys
genetic fingerprinting
Dean Kamen
various medical devices, including the AutoSyringe
Leopold Mannes
color photographic film process (with Leopold Godowsky, Jr.)
Garrett Augustus Morgan
three-color traffic signal
Les Paul
solid-body electric guitar
Jacob Rabinow
various innovations in Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Glenn T. Seaborg
synthesis and isolation of the radioactive element plutonium
Dr. Leo Henryk Sternbach
benzodiazepines, a class of tranquilizers (with Lowell Randall and Earl
Reeder)
Selman Waksman
Streptomycin, a powerful antibiotic
Source: National Inventors Hall of Fame.
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