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Super Soaker, sports bra and other inventors join Hall of Fame
The inventors of laser dermatology, 1-MCP, VoIP and several other important innovations were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame
The US-based National Inventors Hall of Fame brought several
important inventors into its ranks at the Annual Induction Ceremony on Thursday,
May 5, including the creators of the Super Soaker, the sports bra, VoIP, and
the automatic surgical tourniquet.
In its first in-person induction ceremony since 2019, and attended
by Managing IP, the NIHF honoured 27 individuals including 16 recent inventors
and 11 historical innovators.
The event in Washington DC, which kicked off with an opening speech from new
USPTO director Kathi Vidal on the importance of US innovation, was hosted by
the actor and mathematics writer Danica McKellar.
The first inventor to be inducted was Margaret Wu, a Taiwan-born
industrial chemist who revolutionised the field of synthetic lubricants. Wu thanked
her parents, whom she noted believed in her enough to send her to engineering
school.
Rox Anderson, who developed laser-based treatments and procedures used in skin care and received patent number 5,995,568, was also honoured. Phan Thi Kim Phuc, the woman who as a girl was famously photographed running naked down a road with her back burned during the Vietnam War, paid special tribute to Anderson in a video presentation.
The inventors of bend-insensitive optical fibre, Dana
Bookbinder, Ming-Jun Li and Pushkar Tandon, were inducted too, along with Mick
Mountz, Peter Wurman and Raffaello D’Andrea, who created mobile robotic
material handling for online fulfilment (patent number 8,649,899).
Marian Croak, who received patent number 7,599,359 for voice over internet protocol in the 1980s, got a special mention. The host McKellar pointed out that without Croak’s innovation, the internet-enabled communication that people used during COVID wouldn’t have been possible.
James McEwen, the inventor of the automatic surgical tourniquet
and recipient of patent number 4,469,099, later took the stage to say he was
especially grateful to the USPTO.
“To me, getting that first US patent was the great equaliser
that allowed a David to compete with the Goliaths of the world and to help make
the world a better place.”
Sylvia Blankenship and Edward Sisler were inducted into the
hall of fame for inventing 1-MCP, the novel compound used to significantly
extend the freshness and storage life of fruits (patent number 5,518,988).
Blankenship said that Sisler, who died in 2016, was the smartest person she had ever
met.
Lonnie Johnson, the inventor of the Super Soaker (patent
number 4,591,071) and another of Friday’s inductees, said he couldn’t thank the
NIHF enough.
“The money I got from Super Soaker allowed me to pursue my
passion,” he said. “I feel like God has given me a gift and I feel obligated to
give back.”
The last three inductees of the night were Lisa Lindahl,
Hinda Miller and Polly Smith, inventors of the sports bra, for which they got
patent number 4,174,717.
“Some say that the invention of the jog bra is as important as
fire and the wheel,” joked Miller. “We accept this honour on behalf of all
female entrepreneurs, past, present and future.”
Historical inductees of the night
included Patricia Bath, who invented laserphaco cataract surgery, Carl Benz,
who made the modern automobile, and Edward Bullard, the creator of the hard hat.
The night was sponsored by 33
different organisations, including the USPTO, Qualcomm and Google.
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