Great Inventors

Great inventors BAIRD, JOHN LOGIE John Logie Baird (1888-1946) was a Scottish inventor and engineer who was a pioneer in the development of mechanical television.

BALLPOINT PEN The first non-leaking ballpoint pen was invented in 1935 by the Hungarian brothers Lazlo and Georg Biro.

BELL, ALEXANDER GRAHAM Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847, Edinburgh, Scotland - August 2, 1922, Baddek, Nova Scotia) invented the telephone (with Thomas Watson) in 1876.

BERNERS-LEE, TIM Tim Berners-Lee (1955- ) invented the World Wide Web.

BRAILLE Braille is a coded system of raised dots that are used by the blind to read.

BRAILLE, LOUIS Louis Braille (1809-1852) improved a coded system of raised dots used by the blind to read.

BRAILLE TYPEWRITER The Hall Braille typewriter (also called a Braillewriter or Brailler) was invented in 1892 by Frank Haven Hall.

CARLSON, CHESTER F. Chester Floyd Carlson (1906-1968) invented xerography (which means "dry writing" in Greek) in 1938.

CAXTON, WILLIAM William Caxton (1422?-1491) was an English businessman, royal advisor, translator, editor, and printer who set up England's first printing press in 1476.

CELLULAR PHONE The first automatic analog cellular phone was made in the 1960's. Commercial models were introduced in Japan by NTT on December 3, 1979.

DOWNING, PHILIP B. The street letter drop mailbox with a hinged door that closed to protect the mail was invented by Philip B. Downing. Downing, an African-American inventor, patented his new device on October 27, 1891 (US Patent # 462,096).