Benjamin Franklin: Lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, and a public library
Eli Whitney: Cotton gin (1793) and ideas about interchangeable parts
Robert Fulton: Made steamboats practical, starting with the Clermont in 1807
Samuel Morse: Telegraph and Morse code, 1830s-1840s
Cyrus McCormick: Mechanical reaper for harvesting grain
John Deere: Steel plow for breaking prairie soil
Elias Howe: Sewing machine with a lockstitch, 1846
Isaac Singer: Improved and sold sewing machines widely
Elisha Otis: Safety elevator, shown in 1854
Charles Goodyear: Vulcanized rubber
Samuel Colt: Revolver and mass production methods
Alexander Graham Bell: Telephone, patented in 1876
Thomas Edison: Phonograph, practical light bulb and research laboratories
Nikola Tesla: Worked on alternating current electric systems
George Westinghouse: Air brake for trains and AC power systems
Lewis Latimer: Improved the carbon filament for light bulbs
Granville Woods: Black inventor with many patents for railway and electrical devices
Elijah McCoy: Invented lubricating devices for steam engines
Madam C. J. Walker: Built a hair care business and became a self-made millionaire
George Washington Carver: Scientist who promoted peanuts and crop rotation
Booker T. Washington: Founded Tuskegee Institute
Wright brothers: Made the first powered airplane flight in 1903 at Kitty Hawk
Henry Ford: Model T and the moving assembly line
George Eastman: Simple Kodak cameras and roll film
Garrett Morgan: Improved traffic signal and a safety hood
Charles Drew: Developed blood banking methods
Percy Julian: Chemist who made medicines from plants
Hedy Lamarr: Actress who co-invented a frequency-hopping idea used later in wireless tech
Grace Hopper: Helped create early programming languages
Steve Jobs: Co-founder of Apple; helped popularize personal computers
Bill Gates: Co-founder of Microsoft
Jonas Salk: Developed a polio vaccine, 1955
Albert Sabin: Developed an oral polio vaccine
Robert Goddard: Launched the first liquid-fueled rocket in 1926
Philo Farnsworth: Demonstrated all-electronic television in 1927
Lee de Forest: Invented the audion vacuum tube, important for radio
Mary Anderson: Invented the windshield wiper in 1903
Josephine Cochrane: Invented the dishwasher in 1886
Margaret Knight: Invented the flat-bottomed paper bag machine
Stephanie Kwolek: Invented Kevlar, a super strong fiber
Ruth Handler: Created the Barbie doll
Earle Dickson: Invented the Band-Aid for his wife in 1920
Walter Hunt: Invented the safety pin in 1849
Ole Evinrude: Invented the outboard motor
Willis Carrier: Invented modern air conditioning
Clarence Birdseye: Developed quick-freezing for foods
Gideon Sundback: Improved the zipper
James Naismith: Invented basketball in 1891
Frederick McKinley Jones: Invented refrigeration units for trucks
Katherine Johnson: Calculated flight paths for NASA
Mark Dean: Co-developed key IBM PC technologies
Jerry Lawson: Helped develop the first cartridge-based video game console
Ralph Baer: Called the father of video games for the Magnavox Odyssey
Wilbur Wright: Older Wright brother who piloted first flights
Orville Wright: Younger Wright brother, who piloted the first flight
Patent: Government record giving an inventor exclusive rights to an invention
Patent Office: Government office that registers patents; the first US patent law was in 1790
Smithsonian: Museums that preserve American inventions
Innovation: A new idea, method or device
Prototype: An early test version of an invention
Franklin's kite experiment: 1752 test linking lightning to electricity
Telegraph line to California: Completed in 1861
First transcontinental telephone call: Made in 1915
Apollo program: NASA program that landed astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972

Free flashcards from Peabody at peabody.kids/flashcards/american-inventors-and-innovators