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American Inventors and Innovators

People who invented, built or improved things that changed American life.

64 cardsGrades 3–5, Grades 6–8#inventors#innovation#biography

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64 cards
  • Benjamin FranklinPerson
    Lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, and a public library
  • Eli WhitneyPerson
    Cotton gin (1793) and ideas about interchangeable parts
  • Robert FultonPerson
    Made steamboats practical, starting with the Clermont in 1807
  • Samuel MorsePerson
    Telegraph and Morse code, 1830s-1840s
  • Cyrus McCormickPerson
    Mechanical reaper for harvesting grain
  • John DeerePerson
    Steel plow for breaking prairie soil
  • Elias HowePerson
    Sewing machine with a lockstitch, 1846
  • Isaac SingerPerson
    Improved and sold sewing machines widely
  • Elisha OtisPerson
    Safety elevator, shown in 1854
  • Charles GoodyearPerson
    Vulcanized rubber
  • Samuel ColtPerson
    Revolver and mass production methods
  • Alexander Graham BellPerson
    Telephone, patented in 1876
  • Thomas EdisonPerson
    Phonograph, practical light bulb and research laboratories
  • Nikola TeslaPerson
    Worked on alternating current electric systems
  • George WestinghousePerson
    Air brake for trains and AC power systems
  • Lewis LatimerPerson
    Improved the carbon filament for light bulbs
  • Granville WoodsPerson
    Black inventor with many patents for railway and electrical devices
  • Elijah McCoyPerson
    Invented lubricating devices for steam engines
  • Madam C. J. WalkerPerson
    Built a hair care business and became a self-made millionaire
  • George Washington CarverPerson
    Scientist who promoted peanuts and crop rotation
  • Booker T. WashingtonPerson
    Founded Tuskegee Institute
  • Wright brothersPerson
    Made the first powered airplane flight in 1903 at Kitty Hawk
  • Henry FordPerson
    Model T and the moving assembly line
  • George EastmanPerson
    Simple Kodak cameras and roll film
  • Garrett MorganPerson
    Improved traffic signal and a safety hood
  • Charles DrewPerson
    Developed blood banking methods
  • Percy JulianPerson
    Chemist who made medicines from plants
  • Hedy LamarrPerson
    Actress who co-invented a frequency-hopping idea used later in wireless tech
  • Grace HopperPerson
    Helped create early programming languages
  • Steve JobsPerson
    Co-founder of Apple; helped popularize personal computers
  • Bill GatesPerson
    Co-founder of Microsoft
  • Jonas SalkPerson
    Developed a polio vaccine, 1955
  • Albert SabinPerson
    Developed an oral polio vaccine
  • Robert GoddardPerson
    Launched the first liquid-fueled rocket in 1926
  • Philo FarnsworthPerson
    Demonstrated all-electronic television in 1927
  • Lee de ForestPerson
    Invented the audion vacuum tube, important for radio
  • Mary AndersonPerson
    Invented the windshield wiper in 1903
  • Josephine CochranePerson
    Invented the dishwasher in 1886
  • Margaret KnightPerson
    Invented the flat-bottomed paper bag machine
  • Stephanie KwolekPerson
    Invented Kevlar, a super strong fiber
  • Ruth HandlerPerson
    Created the Barbie doll
  • Earle DicksonPerson
    Invented the Band-Aid for his wife in 1920
  • Walter HuntPerson
    Invented the safety pin in 1849
  • Ole EvinrudePerson
    Invented the outboard motor
  • Willis CarrierPerson
    Invented modern air conditioning
  • Clarence BirdseyePerson
    Developed quick-freezing for foods
  • Gideon SundbackPerson
    Improved the zipper
  • James NaismithPerson
    Invented basketball in 1891
  • Frederick McKinley JonesPerson
    Invented refrigeration units for trucks
  • Katherine JohnsonPerson
    Calculated flight paths for NASA
  • Mark DeanPerson
    Co-developed key IBM PC technologies
  • Jerry LawsonPerson
    Helped develop the first cartridge-based video game console
  • Ralph BaerPerson
    Called the father of video games for the Magnavox Odyssey
  • Wilbur WrightPerson
    Older Wright brother who piloted first flights
  • Orville WrightPerson
    Younger Wright brother, who piloted the first flight
  • PatentPerson
    Government record giving an inventor exclusive rights to an invention
  • Patent OfficePerson
    Government office that registers patents; the first US patent law was in 1790
  • SmithsonianPerson
    Museums that preserve American inventions
  • InnovationPerson
    A new idea, method or device
  • PrototypePerson
    An early test version of an invention
  • Franklin's kite experimentPerson
    1752 test linking lightning to electricity
  • Telegraph line to CaliforniaPerson
    Completed in 1861
  • First transcontinental telephone callPerson
    Made in 1915
  • Apollo programPerson
    NASA program that landed astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972

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