The Inventor Database
People who designed, engineered, patented and discovered.
Every profile records what the person actually did, what obstacles stood in the way, and which archives hold the documentation. Where the record is thin, the profile says so.
Norbert Rillieux
Engineer who made industrial evaporation efficient
Explore profileElijah McCoy
Mechanical engineer of automatic machine lubrication
Explore profileLewis Howard Latimer
Draftsman and electrical pioneer who made light bulbs last
Explore profileJan Ernst Matzeliger
Inventor of the automatic shoe-lasting machine
Explore profileGranville T. Woods
Electrical engineer of railway communication
Explore profileSarah E. Goode
Among the first Black women to receive a US patent
Explore profileSarah Boone
Dressmaker who redesigned the ironing board
Explore profileAlexander Miles
Patented automatic elevator doors
Explore profileGeorge Washington Carver
Agricultural scientist of soil restoration
Explore profileGarrett A. Morgan
Inventor of the three-position traffic signal and safety hood
Explore profileMadam C. J. Walker
Built a manufacturing and distribution system from nothing
Explore profileDaniel Hale Williams
Early successful pericardial surgery; founder of Provident Hospital
Explore profileAlice Augusta Ball
Chemist who made the first effective leprosy treatment injectable
Explore profileCharles R. Drew
Built the science and logistics of blood banking
Explore profilePercy Lavon Julian
Synthetic chemist who made steroid medicines affordable
Explore profileFrederick McKinley Jones
Invented practical mobile refrigeration
Explore profileKatherine Johnson
Computed the trajectories that put Americans in orbit
Explore profileJames E. West
Co-inventor of the electret microphone
Explore profileGeorge R. Carruthers
Built the ultraviolet camera that went to the Moon
Explore profileMarie Van Brittan Brown
Patented the first home video security system
Explore profilePatricia E. Bath
Ophthalmologist who invented laser cataract surgery apparatus
Explore profileValerie L. Thomas
NASA scientist who patented the illusion transmitter
Explore profileGladys West
Mathematician behind the geodetic Earth model used by GPS
Explore profileLonnie G. Johnson
Nuclear engineer, Galileo mission veteran, inventor of the Super Soaker
Explore profileMark E. Dean
Co-architect of the IBM PC and the ISA bus
Explore profileShirley Ann Jackson
Theoretical physicist in condensed matter and telecommunications research
Explore profileMarian Croak
Engineer of voice over IP and text-to-donate
Explore profileThomas O. Mensah
Chemical engineer in fibre-optic manufacturing and nanotechnology
Explore profileManley West
Co-developed Canasol, a glaucoma treatment derived from cannabis
Explore profileAndré Rebouças
Brazilian military engineer and abolitionist
Explore profileArthur Zang
Created the CardioPad, a tablet-based cardiac diagnostic device
Explore profileHadiyah-Nicole Green
Physicist developing laser-activated nanoparticle cancer therapy
Explore profileOnesimus
Carried West African inoculation practice into colonial Boston
Explore profileBenjamin Banneker
Self-taught astronomer and almanac author
Explore profile