Life Changing Inventions Make History

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

What does the MRI, the LP record, and a popular weed killer have in common? Their inventors have just been picked for induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

The creators of those life-changing inventions join 15 other inventors to make up the 2007 class of inductees. The honorees are in good (make that great) company joining history-making inventors such as Thomas Edison, Velcro inventor George de Mestral and Charles Goodyear, developer of vulcanized rubber.

Despite the fact that some of the inventors have created products that have literally changed the way we live our lives, most are not household names. For example, did you know that a man named Paul C. Lauterbur is credited for designing the MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging? What about Robert M. Metcalfe? Did you know that he is the man behind the high-speed networking known as Ethernet? And, how many of you knew that Peter C. Goldmark created the long-playing (LP) record? As for the man behind the herbicide Roundup... his name is John E. Franz.

Those men and their distinguished colleagues will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in May in Akron, Ohio. The new inductees include seven living and 11 deceased inventors. The hall has inducted a new class of inventors each year since 1973. All tolled 331 inventors have been recognized.

An interesting note: The year 1973 (the year the hall first began inducting members) was the same year Metcalfe started working on his Ethernet project at Xerox Corporation's research center in Palo Alto, California. He told local news reporters that back then he had "no idea it would get that big." Sigh... 1973. I wish I could say that the Ethernet was older than me, but alas... it's not.

How many of the aforementioned inventions have affected your life?

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Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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