Bette Nesmith Graham

Bette Nesmith Graham, inventor of Liquid Paper

It was originally called "mistake out" and was the invention of Bette Nesmith Graham, a secretary in Dallas and a single mother raising a son, Michael (The Monkees). Bette was an artist and use to handling paints and inks. She used her own kitchen blender to mix up her first batch of liquid paper, the substance used to cover up mistakes made on paper.

Gordon Gould

Gordon Gould, inventor of the laser

Gordon Gould was the first person to use the word "laser," and there is good reason to believe he made the first light laser. Gould was a doctoral student at Columbia University under Charles Townes, the inventor of the maser. Gould was inspired to build his optical laser starting in 1958. He failed to file for a patent his invention until 1959. As a result, Gould's patent was refused and his technolgy was exploited by others. In1977 Gould finally won his patent war and received his first patent for the laser.

Art Fry

Art Fry, inventor of Post-It notes

In the early 1970s, Art Fry was in search of a bookmark for his church hymnal that would neither fall out nor damage the hymnal. Fry soon realized that his "bookmark" had other potential functions when he used it to leave a note on a work file, and co-workers kept dropping by, seeking "bookmarks" for their offices. This "bookmark" was a new way to communicate and to organize. 3M Corporation crafted the name Post-it® note for Fry’s bookmarks and began production in the late 70s for commercial use.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin, inventor of the lightning rod, bifocal glasses, the Franklin stove and the odometer

Franklin's innovations include bifocal glasses and the iron furnace stove, a small contraption with a sliding door which burns wood on a grate, thus allowing people to cook food and heat their homes at the same time. Mid-eighteenth century scientists and inventors considered electricity to be Franklin's most remarkable area of investigation and discovery.

Philo T. Farnsworth

Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of modern television

In 1927, Farnsworth was the first inventor to transmit a television image comprised of 60 horizontal lines. The image transmitted was a dollar sign. Farnsworth developed the dissector tube, the basis of all current electronic televisions. He filed for his first television patent in 1927 (pat#1,773,980.)

Douglas C. Engelbart

Douglas C. Engelbart, inventor of the computer mouse

In 1964, the first prototype computer mouse was made to use with a graphical user interface (GUI), 'windows'. Engelbart received a patent for the wooden shell with two metal wheels (computer mouse) in 1970, describing it in the patent application as an "X-Y position indicator for a display system." "It was nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end," Engelbart revealed about his invention.

Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Alva Edison, inventor of the phonograph, lightbulb and motion pictures

August 12, 1877, is the date popularly given for Thomas Alva Edison's completion of the model for the first phonograph. It is more likely, however, that work on the model was not finished until November or December of that year, since Edison did not file for the patent until December 24, 1877.