Herbert Boyer Pioneer of genetic engineering (1973)

Modern genetic engineering began in 1973 when Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen used enzymes to cut a bacteria plasmid and insert another strand of DNA in the gap.  Both bits of DNA were from the same type of bacteria, but this milestone, the invention of recombinant DNA technology, offered a window into the previously impossible -- the mixing of traits between totally dissimilar organisms.  To prove that this was possible, Cohen and Boyer used the same process to put a bit of frog DNA into a bacteria.
        Since 1973, this technology has been made more controllable by the discovery of new enzymes to cut the DNA differently and by mapping the genetic code of different organisms.  Now that we have a better idea of what part of the genetic code does what, we have been able to make bacteria that produce human insulin for diabetics (previously came from livestock), as well as EPO for people on kidney dialysis (previously came from urine of people in third world countries with ringworm).
        In 1990, a young child with an extremely poor immune system recieved genetic therapy.  Some of her white blood cells were genetically manipulated and re-introduced into her bloodstream while she watched Sesame Street.  These new cells have taken over for the original, weak white cells, and her immune system now works properly.  Although relatively few people have had their cells genetically altered, these advances have made the prospect of mainstream genetic medicine seem more likely.

George Gray Invented the LCD and LED (1970)

We are surrounded by digital displays on our watches, clocks, calculators, televisions, CD and DVD players. The list goes on and on. But last time you glanced at one of those displays, did you take the time to thank Hull and Professor George Gray?

In a solid, molecules always maintain their orientation and stay in the same position with respect to one another. The molecules in liquids are just the opposite: they can change their orientation and move anywhere in the liquid. But there are some substances that can exist in an odd state, not quite solid, not quite liquid. When they are in this state their molecules tend to maintain their orientation like the molecules in a solid, but also move around to different positions like the molecules in a liquid. This means that liquid crystals are neither a solid nor a liquid, hence their seemingly contradictory name. 
Liquid crystals were discovered as early as 1888 but their structure and properties were first described by Charles Mauguin in 1911. Over in Hull, Sir Brynmor Jones initiated research in the field of liquid crystals in the 1930s. It was only when he became head of the Department of Chemistry that responsibility for this research passed to George Gray, which was to be a pivotal decision.

After the invention of the twisted nematic liquid crystal display in 1972, liquid crystal research suddenly became fashionable. Twisted nematic liquid crystals are naturally twisted. Applying an electric current to these liquid crystals will untwist them to varying degrees, depending on the current’s voltage. Their application however, proved impractical because of a lack of photo-chemically and chemically stable nematic materials that existed in the liquid-crystalline state at room temperature.
In 1973, George Gray changed all that. Alongside Ken Harrison and the Ministry of Defence, he developed cyano-biphenyl liquid crystals, which were found to possess stable nematic phases (meaning they have no spacial ordering of the molecules) at, or close to, room temperature. His invention became an overnight success and the marketplace was suddenly flooded with electronic devices containing small area liquid crystal displays (LCD’s), that for the most part contained Hull materials. LCD’s use these liquid crystals because they react predictably to electric current in such a way that controls the passage of light. The research group was awarded The Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement in 1979.

George Gray went on to be awarded the Fellowship of The Royal Society of Chemistry (FRS), the Fellowship of The Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE), honoured with a CBE and receive the Kyoto Laureate of 1995. He also remains an Emeritus Professor at the University of Hull.


LED’s vs. LCD’s 

LCD - Liquid Crystal Display - favoured display systems because they are thin, light and require very little power.

LED - Light Emitting Diode - an electronic device that lights up when electricity is passed through it. They are good for displaying images because they can be relatively small and they do not burn out. However, they require more power than LCD’s. 

Jack Kilby, Jerry Merryman and James von Tassel... The portable calculator (1967)

Jack St.Clair.

Jerry Merryman.

James von Tassel
There are few living men whose insights and professional accomplishments have changed the world. Jack Kilby is one of these men. His invention of the monolithic integrated circuit - the microchip - some 30 years ago at Texas  Instruments (TI) laid the conceptual and technical foundation for the entire field of modern microelectronics. It was this breakthrough that made possible the sophisticated high-speed computers and large-capacity semiconductor memories of today's information age. 

Jerry D. Merryman

Jerry D. Merryman joined TI in 1963 and remained with the company for 30 years. He was one of three team members responsible for the invention of the handheld electronic calculator, and served as project manager and logic designer for the two-year project.

Stephanie Kwolek Invented kevlar (1966)..the bullet proof fabric

Kevlar - Stephanie Kwolek By Mary Bellis

By Mary Bellis Stephanie Kwolek’s research with high performance chemical compounds for the DuPont Company led to the development of a synthetic material called Kevlar which is five times stronger than the same weight of steel. Kevlar, patented by Kwolek in 1966, does not rust nor corrode and is extremely lightweight. Many police officers owe their lives to Stephanie Kwolek, for Kevlar is the material used in bullet proof vests. Other applications of the compound include underwater cables, brake linings, space vehicles, boats, parachutes, skis, and building materials. Stephanie Kwolek was born in New Kensington, Pennsylvania in 1923. Upon graduating in 1946 from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon University) with a bachelor’s degree, Stephanie Kwolek went to work as a chemist at the DuPont Company. She would ultimately obtain 28 patents during her 40-year tenure as a research scientist. In 1995, Stephanie Kwolek was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. How Does Body Armor Work? When a handgun bullet strikes body armor, it is caught in a "web" of very strong fibers. These fibers absorb and disperse the impact energy that is transmitted to the vest from the bullet, causing the bullet to deform or "mushroom." Additional energy is absorbed by each successive layer of material in the vest, until such time as the bullet has been stopped. Because the fibers work together both in the individual layer and with other layers of material in the vest, a large area of the garment becomes involved in preventing the bullet from penetrating. This also helps in dissipating the forces which can cause nonpenetrating injuries (what is commonly referred to as "blunt trauma") to internal organs. Unfortunately, at this time no material exists that would allow a vest to be constructed from a single ply of material.

Percy LeBaron Spencer Invented the microwave oven (1946)

The Microwave Oven Cooks Food Quickly
by Microwave Radiation

PERCY SPENCER 24jan1950

Patent Name: Method of Treating Foodstuffs
Patent Number: 2,495,429
Patent Date: 24 January 1950
Inventor: Percy L. Spencer, of West Newton, Massachusetts
What It Does: Cooks food quickly by microwave radiation.


Background: In 1946, Percy Spencer, a self-taught electronics wizard who never graduated grammar school, received U.S. patent 2,408,235 for the development of a high-efficiency magnetron. Magnetron tubes employ heated cathodes to generate electrons that are affected by electro-magnetic energy and reduced microwave radiation. Microwave radiation is used both in radar and in the "method of treating foodstuffs" that Spencer invented and patented four years later.
While working for the Raytheon Manufacturing Company, Spencer was running tests on one of the new magnetron tubes when he noticed the candy bar in his pocket began to melt. In playing his natural inventor instincts, he decided to play some uncooked popcorn in front of the magnetron tube. To his delight, the Colonels began popping. (This is still a favorite application of microwave technology.)
Engineers at Raytheon went to work on Spencer's discovery. The first commercial microwave oven was introduced in 1947. It was 750 pounds and 5 1/2 feet tall. Twenty years in many modifications later, the first countertop, domestic microwave oven hit the market. By 1975, microwaves were selling faster than conventional gas range ovens.

1. Electron-discharging cathodes (14) housed within oscillators are joined by conductors (20, 21).
2. These conductors are interned connected by another conductor (22), a center tap on a winding (17) of the transformer (18).
3. Coaxial transmission lines (24, 25) alternately deliver hyper-frequency energy to a wave guide (23).
4. The wave guide is directed at a piece of food on the speed-adjustable conveyor (28).

Douglas Engelbart Invented the computer mouse (1964)

Inventors of the Modern Computer

The History of the Computer Mouse and the Prototype for Windows - Douglas Engelbart. By Mary Bellis "It would be wonderful if I can inspire others, who are struggling to realize their dreams, to say 'if this country kid could do it, let me keep slogging away'." - Douglas Engelbart Douglas Engelbart changed the way computers worked, from specialized machinery that only a trained scientist could use, to a user-friendly tool that almost anyone can use. He invented or contributed to several interactive, user-friendly devices: the computer mouse, windows, computer videoteleconferencing, hypermedia, groupware, email, the Internetand more.

Wilson Greatbatch Invented the first heart pacemaker (1960)

1996 Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award Winner.

Photo by Robert Lewis

In an attempt to record the sound of a heartbeat, Dr. Wilson Greatbatch inadvertently created something far more crucial—a device that emitted electricity pulses to the heart. It was this discovery that led to the implantable cardiac pacemaker and distinguished Greatbatch as having created one of the most significant inventions of the 20th century. In 1996, he was honored with the Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award.

Greatbatch first learned of heart block—a condition in which a nerve fails to send electrical impulses to make the heart work—while talking with two surgeons visiting Cornell University in the early 1950s. At the time, combating heart block was done with a painful electric shock delivered via bulky external equipment. Greatbatch was convinced he could invent a smaller, implantable device.

Then, quite by accident, Greatbatch's "eureka moment" happened in 1958. Transistors had recently become available, and Greatbatch was building an oscillator with one transistor to record heartbeat sounds. He incorporated the wrong transistor, which produced a pulse that mimicked the rhythm of a heart. "I stared at the thing in disbelief, thinking this was exactly the properties of a pacemaker," said Greatbatch.

Greatbatch licensed his invention to Medtronic, Inc., and the first pacemaker was implanted in a human in 1960. He upgraded his device with a lithium iodine battery for durability in 1970, and his invention has been saving lives ever since.

Greatbatch has shown a commitment to educating children through inspirational speeches at schools and museums. He also established the Eleanor and Wilson Greatbatch Foundation to donate money to schools and other causes.

Still inventing, Greatbatch acquired three patents with scientist John Sanford in the 1980s and 1990s for methods of inhibiting the replication of AIDS and another similar virus in cats.

Greatbatch was born in 1919 in Buffalo, NY. U.S. Naval service in World War II enabled him to receive a bachelor's degree in engineering from Cornell University as a GI Bill student (1950). He received a master's in electrical engineering from the University of Buffalo (1957), succeeded by four honorary degrees. Greatbatch, who holds over 220 patents, is a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the National Academy of Engineering, among others. 

Jack Kilby Made the first microchip - the start of miniaturisation of technology (1958)

It seems that the integrated circuit was destined to be invented. Two separate inventors, unaware of each other's activities, invented almost identical integrated circuits or ICs at nearly the same time.

Jack Kilby, an engineer with a background in ceramic-based silk screen circuit boards and transistor-based hearing aids, started working for Texas Instruments in 1958. A year earlier, research engineer Robert Noyce had co-founded the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. From 1958 to 1959, both electrical engineers were working on an answer to the same dilemma: how to make more of less.

Why the Integrated Circuit Was Needed

In designing a complex electronic machine like a computer it was always necessary to increase the number of components involved in order to make technical advances. The monolithic (formed from a single crystal) integrated circuit placed the previously separated transistors, resistors, capacitors and all the connecting wiring onto a single crystal (or 'chip') made of semiconductor material. Kilby used germanium and Noyce used silicon for the semiconductor material.

Patents for the Integrated Circuit

In 1959 both parties applied for patents. Jack Kilby and Texas Instruments received U.S. patent #3,138,743 for miniaturized electronic circuits. Robert Noyce and the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation received U.S. patent #2,981,877 for a silicon based integrated circuit. The two companies wisely decided to cross license their technologies after several years of legal battles, creating a global market now worth about $1 trillion a year.

Commercial Release

In 1961 the first commercially available integrated circuits came from the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. All computers then started to be made using chips instead of the individual transistors and their accompanying parts. Texas Instruments first used the chips in Air Force computers and the Minuteman Missile in 1962. They later used the chips to produce the first electronic portable calculators. The original IC had only one transistor, three resistors and one capacitor and was the size of an adult's pinkie finger. Today an IC smaller than a penny can hold 125 million transistors.

Jack Kilby holds patents on over sixty inventions and is also well known as the inventor of the portable calculator (1967). In 1970 he was awarded the National Medal of Science.Robert Noyce, with sixteen patents to his name, founded Intel, the company responsible for the invention of the microprocessor, in 1968. But for both men the invention of the integrated circuit stands historically as one of the most important innovations of mankind. Almost all modern products use chip technology.

Jonas Salk Made the vaccine for polio (1955)..Humility Personified

Jonas Salk - Medical Pioneer

Even the disease's name scares everyone today: Cancer. But in the 1950's the scary disease was Polio. It paralyzed or killed children. People kept hoping someone would find a way to stop it. Dr. Salk worked every day for years to discover a vaccine to prevent polio, and he succeeded. But instead of bragging and taking lots of money for his work, he displayed HUMILITY and kept working as a doctor to find cures for other diseases, including cancer and AIDS. Quotes: "If humankind would accept and acknowledge this responsibility and become creatively engaged in the process of evolution, consciously as well as unconsciously, a new reality would emerge, and a new age could be born." "Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality. " "Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next. " "The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more. " Oct 28, 1914 - Jun 23, 1995  Virtue: Humility What could you say to someone who praises you for doing a good job?

Sir Christopher Cockerell Invented the hovercraft

Hovercraft

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By Mary Bellis
A hovercraft is a vehicle supported on a cushion of air supplied by a powered fan mounted on the craft. The hovercraft was invented by Christopher Cockerell in 1956. The theory behind one of the most successful inventions of the 20th century, the Hovercraft, was originally tested in 1955 using an empty KiteKat cat food tin inside a coffee tin, an industrial air blower and a pair of kitchen scales. Sir Christopher Cockerell developed the first practical hovercraft designs, these led to the first hovercraft to be produced commercially, the SRN1.
Christopher Cockerell's idea was to build a vehicle that would move over the water's surface, floating on a layer of air. This would reduce friction between the water and vehicle. To test his hypothesis, he put one a smaller can inside a larger can and used a hairdryer to blow air into them. The downward thrust produced was greater when one can was inside the other rather than air just being blown into one can.