Throughout the centuries, countless inventors and scientists have made significant contributions to our understanding of the world around us. Sadly, not all of them have got the due they deserve, and many still remain out of our history books for one reason or another. That’s despite the fact that so many technologies we use today – like computer programs, wireless devices, films, and others – were developed by these forgotten, overlooked inventors from history.
10. Joseph Glidden
Barbed wire played a crucial role during the westward expansion period in American history. It made it possible to fence in vast tracts of land that were previously open and vulnerable, making it easier for ranchers to control their herds and farmers to protect their crops. It also contributed to the end of the open-range system and the emergence of large-scale agriculture across the country, and it was now much easier to enforce property rights on the ground.
Joseph Glidden, a farmer and businessman from Illinois, is credited with inventing the first successful barbed wire design in 1874. He had been experimenting with different prototypes for several years, before he chanced upon the idea of wrapping two metal wires together with sharp barbs. Glidden patented his design in 1874 and started manufacturing it on a large scale. Before long, barbed wire was a common sight on farms and ranches throughout the American West, making him one of the most successful inventors and businessmen in American history.
9. Martin Cooper
Martin Cooper is an American engineer and inventor who is also sometimes called the ‘father of the cellular phone’, as his invention ultimately paved the way for the development of modern smartphones. In 1973, he led the team that built the first mobile cell phone called the Motorola DynaTAC, completely revolutionizing the way we communicate with each other.
Cooper began his career in the telecommunications industry in the 1950s, working for companies such as Teletype Corporation and Motorola. He started working on the development of a portable cell phone design some time in the late 1960s, that would allow people to make calls from anywhere instead of fixed locations.
On April 3, 1973, Cooper made the first cell phone call from a Motorola DynaTAC to Joel Engel at AT&T. While the DynaTAC would go on to become the first commercially available cell phone, it was still prohibitively expensive and inaccessible for most people, delaying mass adoption by several years.
8. Mary Anderson
The windshield wiper may be an irreplaceable car safety feature today, but that wasn’t always the case. It was invented by Mary Anderson – an American inventor who came up with the idea in 1902, after she observed that drivers at the time had to stop their cars and manually clear snow, rain, and debris from the windshields to improve visibility, which was dangerous and time-consuming.
Anderson’s earliest prototype comprised a lever that could be used to move a rubber blade across the windshield from inside the car. She patented it in 1903, though it would take many more years before drivers warmed up to the idea. Many car manufacturers were skeptical of the need for a windshield wiper in cars at the time, and were hence slow to adopt the technology. Obviously, they were wrong about it, as windshield wipers are a standard feature in almost every car sold around the world today. Since her invention, Mary Anderson has been awarded a number of honors and awards for her contribution to automotive safety, including her 2011 induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
7. Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel
The mechanical metronome is a device used by musicians to mark time and regulate tempo. It was invented in the early 19th century by Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel – a Dutch inventor and clockmaker. Winkel’s ‘musical chronometer’ from 1814 consisted of a pendulum that could be adjusted to different speeds using a sliding weight. He couldn’t patent it, however, and the credit originally went to a German inventor called Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, who copied Winkel’s prototype and started selling it under his name.
Maelzel’s marketing efforts were so successful that the metronome was soon commonly known as the ‘Maelzel Metronome’. Beethoven was the first composer to use metronome markings in his pieces, which would soon become common practice for musicians around the world. While Winkel’s original design was initially forgotten, he is now recognized as the true inventor of the device that changed music forever. Apart from allowing composers to specify exact tempos for their works, the metronome also allowed for the standardization of tempo markings across different styles of music.
6. Henry Blair
Henry Blair was an African-American inventor and farmer credited with the invention of the corn planter in 1836. We’re not sure about his exact origins, though he’s assumed to have been a freedman around the time of the invention, as slaves weren’t allowed to file patents back then.
Blair’s corn planter was a significant improvement over previous methods of planting corn, which usually involved arduous work like digging holes and planting seeds by hand. Blair’s device was a horse-drawn machine that could plant corn seeds in a straight row on a large scale, greatly increasing efficiency and speed.
Blair’s invention made it possible for farmers to plant corn quickly and relatively effortlessly, leading to increased productivity and lower food prices. The corn planter also paved the way for the larger mechanization of agriculture, which played an important role in the early development of industry across America.
5. Peter Durand
Peter Durand was a British merchant known for his patent of the tin can in 1810. Before the invention, preservation was a major challenge for the food industry, as food could only be stored for short periods of time and in limited amounts. Durand’s invention made it possible to keep food items edible for much longer periods of time, as it used a unique sealing technique to make the containers truly airtight.
The tin can was an important invention that allowed for the transport and storage of food over long distances. It also allowed for the creation of new products and innovations in the industry, as it was suddenly possible to dramatically increase shelf life of food products and other perishable items. While other tin can designs had existed before Durand’s patent, his invention involved sealing food in a tin container using a soldered lead plug, making it much more airtight and commercially-viable.
4. John Harrison
Before the invention of the marine chronometer, determining longitude at sea was a difficult and often inaccurate process. Sailors relied on celestial navigation and dead reckoning, which could be affected by weather conditions and human error. This made long-distance seafaring extremely dangerous, resulting in a number of shipwrecks. In the 18th century, the British government even offered a prize of £20,000 to anyone who could solve the problem of determining longitude at sea.
John Harrison, a self-taught carpenter, took up the challenge and invented a series of precision clocks known as marine chronometers in 1735. These early navigation devices allowed sailors to determine longitude with precision and navigate with much greater safety and efficiency. Harrison’s first marine chronometer was tested on a voyage to Jamaica, and it was found to be accurate within a distance of 18 geographical miles. The invention led to increased trade and commerce around the world, directly contributing to the rise of the British Empire.
3. Garrett A. Morgan
Born on March 4, 1877, in Paris, Kentucky, Garrett Augustus Morgan was an African-American inventor credited with important inventions in public safety. He invented the gas mask and the traffic signal, two inventions that have saved countless lives ever since. While the mask was designed to protect people from the harmful effects of smoke and gas during fire-related accidents, the traffic signal was intended to prevent on-road accidents and reduce traffic congestion.
The gas mask was patented in 1914, and has since been used by firefighters, police officers, and other first responders to protect them from the effects of smoke and gas during accidents and other similar situations. The original design featured a hood that covered the wearer’s head, along with a breathing tube that filtered out harmful chemicals and smoke.
The three-position traffic signal, on the other hand, was patented in 1923. It was a crucial innovation in city planning and public safety, especially on busy roads and highways, and has since been used by countries around the world.
2. Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace, born Augusta Ada Byron in 1815 in London, is often referred to as the first computer programmer due to her pioneering work with Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine – a hypothetical machine designed to perform complex calculations. She was the daughter of poet Lord Byron and a mathematician mother, and had a natural flair for mathematics and the sciences from a very early age.
Lovelace’s work on the Analytical Engine – also sometimes called the first computer ever – led her to write what is considered the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine. She was also the first mathematician to calculate a sequence of numbers known as Bernoulli numbers, which could be classified as the first computer program ever written. Lovelace’s work on the Analytical Engine was particularly advanced for the time, as it proved that computers could be used to perform complex operations on values other than numbers, like musical notations.
1. Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard Muybridge was a British photographer and inventor who made crucial contributions to the invention of motion pictures in the late 19th century. He is best known for his work in stop-motion photography, which involved manually capturing multiple images of a moving subject to create the illusion of motion.
Muybridge’s most famous work was his early film capturing the motion of horses, which he photographed in a series of still images. He used a series of cameras placed along a track to shoot the horses in motion, followed by a zoopraxiscope – a device he conceptualized and built himself – projecting the images in rapid succession on the screen, creating the first motion picture in history. His innovations opened up new possibilities for visual storytelling, and gave birth to all the movies and other kinds of videos we see around us today. For his contributions, Eadweard Muybridge is still sometimes called the ‘Father of the Motion Picture’.