The Evidence Vault
Every claim carries its evidence with it.
Inspiring history that turns out to be wrong damages the people it was meant to honour. So every record here is labelled with how well it is documented — including the ones where the honest answer is 'not well enough' — and you can open the register below and check for yourself.
Strong primary documentation exists — a granted patent, government record, or original document held in a public archive.
Reliable historical records — institutional archives, contemporaneous publications or agency records — support the claim.
Multiple credible independent secondary sources support the claim.
The contribution is traditionally attributed to this individual or community, but the surviving documentation has limitations.
Credible sources disagree about the nature or extent of the contribution.
The claim circulates widely but sufficient documentation has not been located by this archive.
Where the evidence comes from
186 citations sit behind these records. They are graded by how close each one stands to the original document — a granted patent outranks an article about a granted patent.
81
Primary record
An original document created at the time of the event — a granted patent, a government filing, a contemporaneous record held in a public archive.
87
Institutional record
A record curated by an archive, museum, university or agency that holds custody of the underlying material.
18
Scholarship
Peer-reviewed or professionally edited historical research that interprets the underlying documents.
The register
Every person and innovation in the archive, ranked by documentation strength. Filter by evidence level and open any record to read its sources.
- Granville T. WoodsVerified
- Garrett A. MorganVerified
- Katherine JohnsonVerified
- George R. CarruthersVerified
- Patricia E. BathVerified
- Valerie L. ThomasVerified
- Far-ultraviolet camera/spectrographVerified
- Norbert RillieuxVerified
- Elijah McCoyVerified
- Lewis Howard LatimerVerified
- Jan Ernst MatzeligerVerified
- Percy Lavon JulianVerified
- Frederick McKinley JonesVerified
- James E. WestVerified
- Lonnie G. JohnsonVerified
- Mark E. DeanVerified
- Marian CroakVerified
- Lloyd Augustus HallVerified
- Great Zimbabwe's dry-stone architectureVerified
- Multiple-effect evaporatorVerified
- The ISA bus and the open PC architectureVerified
- Voice over Internet Protocol systemsVerified
- George Washington CarverDocumented
- Daniel Hale WilliamsDocumented
- Charles R. DrewDocumented
- Gladys WestDocumented
- Shirley Ann JacksonDocumented
- Thomas O. MensahDocumented
- Benjamin BannekerDocumented
- Thomas L. JenningsDocumented
- Henry BlairDocumented
- Rebecca Lee CrumplerDocumented
- Jane Cooke WrightDocumented
- Otis Frank BoykinDocumented
- Dorothy VaughanDocumented
- Mary Winston JacksonDocumented
- Bessie Blount GriffinDocumented
- Anderson Ruffin AbbottDocumented
- Maggie Aderin-PocockDocumented
- The rock-hewn churches of LalibelaDocumented
- Dry scouring of clothesDocumented
- Sterilised spices and reliable curing saltsDocumented
- Banked blood and plasma distributionDocumented
- The West Area computers become programmersDocumented
- The precision wire resistorDocumented
- Chemotherapy against solid tumoursDocumented
- M-PESA mobile moneyDocumented
- Madam C. J. WalkerDocumented
- OnesimusDocumented
- Ernest Everett JustDocumented
- Vivien ThomasDocumented
- Marie Maynard DalyDocumented
- David Harold BlackwellDocumented
- Teodoro SampaioDocumented
- Arlie PettersDocumented
- John EdmonstoneDocumented
- Wangari MaathaiVerified
- Tebello NyokongDocumented
- Segenet KelemuDocumented
- Francisca Nneka OkekeDocumented
- Kwabena BoahenDocumented
- Victor B. LawrenceDocumented
- William KamkwambaDocumented
- The monolithic stelae of AksumDocumented
- Tetracycline in the bones of ancient NubiaDocumented
- Sahelian mud-brick engineering at DjennéDocumented
- The walls and earthworks of Benin CityDocumented
- Caesarean section in Bunyoro-KitaraDocumented
- The blue baby operationDocumented
- The Green Belt seedling methodDocumented
- A windmill built from salvageDocumented
- Light-activated cancer therapy with phthalocyaninesDocumented
- Ushahidi crisis mappingDocumented
- Neurogrid neuromorphic systemDocumented
- Sarah E. GoodeVerified
- Sarah BooneVerified
- Alexander MilesVerified
- Marie Van Brittan BrownVerified
- André RebouçasDocumented
- Annie EasleyDocumented
- Alexa Irene CanadyDocumented
- Mae Carol JemisonVerified
- Automatic engine lubricatorVerified
- Process for manufacturing carbon filamentsVerified
- Automatic shoe-lasting machineVerified
- Cabinet bedVerified
- Automatic elevator door mechanismVerified
- Railway induction telegraphVerified
- Improved ironing boardVerified
- Safety hood (breathing device)Verified
- Three-position traffic signalVerified
- Truck-mounted mechanical refrigerationVerified
- Foil-electret microphoneVerified
- Software for the Centaur upper stageDocumented
- Closed-circuit home security systemVerified
- Geodetic Earth modelling for satellite positioningDocumented
- Illusion transmitterVerified
- Pressurised water gun (Super Soaker)Verified
- Laserphaco Probe for cataract surgeryVerified
- Alice Augusta BallDocumented
- Manley WestDocumented
- Arthur ZangDocumented
- Hadiyah-Nicole GreenSupported
- Cheikh Anta DiopDocumented
- Cardinal WardeDocumented
- The Ishango BoneDocumented
- Iron production at MeroëDocumented
- The manuscript libraries of TimbuktuVerified
- High-temperature preheated furnaces of the HayaSupported
- The Ball Method for chaulmoogra oilDocumented
- CardioPad tele-cardiology tabletDocumented
Where our own record is thinnest
An archive that only shows its strongest work is a brochure. These 0 records carry documentation limits we have not resolved. If you hold better evidence, we want it.
Submit documentation →What this archive will never do
- Invent a patent number, a date, a quotation or a citation.
- Present an AI-generated image as a historical photograph.
- Publish an unverified claim in the voice of established fact.
- Upgrade "improved" to "invented" because it reads better.
- Let a claim stand once credible evidence contradicts it.
Currently documenting 64 people and 47 innovations.
Words we use precisely
- Invented
- created something that did not previously exist
- Patented
- filed and was granted a legal claim on a specific date
- Improved
- made an existing technology materially better
- Pioneered
- was among the first to establish a practice or field
- Discovered
- identified something that already existed in nature
- Contributed to
- did essential work within a larger effort