Inventor

tag see type

An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an idea is unique enough either as a stand-alone invention or as a significant improvement over the work of others, it can be patented. A patent, if granted, gives the inventor a proprietary interest in the patent over a specific period of time, which can be licensed for financial gain.

An inventor creates or discovers an invention. The word inventor comes from the Latin verb invenire, invent-, to find.^[1][2] Although inventing is closely associated with science and engineering, inventors are not necessarily engineers or scientists.^[3] Due to advances in artificial intelligence, the term "inventor" no longer exclusively applies to an occupation (see human computers).^[4]

Some inventions can be patented. The system of patents was established to encourage inventors by granting limited-term, limited monopoly on inventions determined to be sufficiently novel, non-obvious, and useful. A patent legally protects the intellectual property rights of the inventor and legally recognizes that a claimed invention is actually an invention. The rules and requirements for patenting an invention vary by country and the process of obtaining a patent is often expensive.

Another meaning of invention is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social behaviours adopted by people and passed on to others.^[5] The Institute for Social Inventions collected many such ideas in magazines and books.^[6] Invention is also an important component of artistic and design creativity. Inventions often extend the boundaries of human knowledge, experience or capability.

Types

Inventions are of three kinds: scientific-technological (including medicine), sociopolitical (including economics and law), and humanistic, or cultural.

Scientific-technological inventions include railroads, aviation, vaccination, hybridization, antibiotics, astronautics, holography, the atomic bomb, computing, the Internet, and the smartphone.

Sociopolitical inventions comprise new laws, institutions, and procedures that change modes of social behavior and establish new forms of human interaction and organization. Examples include the British Parliament, the US Constitution, the Manchester (UK) General Union of Trades, the Boy Scouts, the Red Cross, the Olympic Games, the United Nations, the European Union, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as movements such as socialism, Zionism, suffragism, feminism, and animal-rights veganism.

Humanistic inventions encompass culture in its entirety and are as transformative and important as any in the sciences, although people tend to take them for granted. In the domain of linguistics, for example, many alphabets have been inventions, as are all neologisms (Shakespeare invented about 1,700 words). Literary inventions include the epic, tragedy, comedy, the novel, the sonnet, the Renaissance, neoclassicism, Romanticism, Symbolism, Aestheticism, Socialist Realism, Surrealism, postmodernism, and (according to Freud) psychoanalysis.

Among the inventions of artists and musicians are oil painting, printmaking, photography, cinema, musical tonality, atonality, jazz, rock, opera, and the symphony orchestra. Philosophers have invented logic (several times), dialectics, idealism, materialism, utopia, anarchism, semiotics, phenomenology, behaviorism, positivism, pragmatism, and deconstruction. Religious thinkers are responsible for such inventions as monotheism, pantheism, Methodism, Mormonism, iconoclasm, puritanism, deism, secularism, ecumenism, and the Baháʼí Faith. Some of these disciplines, genres, and trends may seem to have existed eternally or to have emerged spontaneously of their own accord, but most of them have had inventors.^[7]

Process

Practical means

Alessandro Volta with the first electrical battery. Volta is recognized as an influential inventor.

Ideas for an invention may be developed on paper or on a computer, by writing or drawing, by trial and error, by making models, by experimenting, by testing and/or by making the invention in its whole form. Brainstorming also can spark new ideas for an invention. Collaborative creative processes are frequently used by engineers, designers, architects and scientists. Co-inventors are frequently named on patents.

In addition, many inventors keep records of their working process - notebooks, photos, etc., including Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Evangelista Torricelli, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.^{[8][9][10][11]}

In the process of developing an invention, the initial idea may change. The invention may become simpler, more practical, it may expand, or it may even morph into something totally different. Working on one invention can lead to others too.^[12]

History shows that turning the concept of an invention into a working device is not always swift or direct. Inventions may also become more useful after time passes and other changes occur. For example, the parachute became more useful once powered flight was a reality.^[13]

Conceptual means

Thomas Edison with phonograph. Edison was one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name.

Invention is often a creative process. An open and curious mind allows an inventor to see beyond what is known. Seeing a new possibility, connection or relationship can spark an invention. Inventive thinking frequently involves combining concepts or elements from different realms that would not normally be put together. Sometimes inventors disregard the boundaries between distinctly separate territories or fields.^[citation ^needed] Several concepts may be considered when thinking about invention.

Play

Play may lead to invention. Childhood curiosity, experimentation, and imagination can develop one's play instinct. Inventors feel the need to play with things that interest them, and to explore, and this internal drive brings about novel creations.^[14][15]

Sometimes inventions and ideas may seem to arise spontaneously while daydreaming, especially when the mind is free from its usual concerns.^[16] For example, both J. K. Rowling (the creator of Harry Potter)^[17] and Frank Hornby (the inventor of Meccano)^[18] first had their ideas while on train journeys.

In contrast, the successful aerospace engineer Max Munk advocated "aimful thinking".^[19]

Re-envisioning

To invent is to see anew. Inventors often envision a new idea, seeing it in their mind's eye. New ideas can arise when the conscious mind turns away from the subject or problem when the inventor's focus is on something else, or while relaxing or sleeping. A novel idea may come in a flash—a Eureka! moment. For example, after years of working to figure out the general theory of relativity, the solution came to Einstein suddenly in a dream "like a giant die making an indelible impress, a huge map of the universe outlined itself in one clear vision".^[20] Inventions can also be accidental, such as in the case of polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon).

Insight

Insight can also be a vital element of invention. Such inventive insight may begin with questions, doubt or a hunch. It may begin by recognizing that something unusual or accidental may be useful or that it could open a new avenue for exploration. For example, the odd metallic color of plastic made by accidentally adding a thousand times too much catalyst led scientists to explore its metal-like properties, inventing electrically conductive plastic and light emitting plastic-—an invention that won the Nobel Prize in 2000 and has led to innovative lighting, display screens, wallpaper and much more (see conductive polymer, and organic light-emitting diode or OLED).^[21]

Exploration

A rare 1884 photo showing the experimental recording of voice patterns by a photographic process at the Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Many of their experimental designs panned out in failure.

])Eric M. C. Tigerstedt (1887–1925) was known as a pioneer of sound-on-film technology. Tigerstedt in 1915.

Invention is often an exploratory process with an uncertain or unknown outcome. There are failures as well as successes. Inspiration can start the process, but no matter how complete the initial idea, inventions typically must be developed.

Improvement

Inventors may, for example, try to improve something by making it more effective, healthier, faster, more efficient, easier to use, serve more purposes, longer lasting, cheaper, more ecologically friendly, or aesthetically different, lighter weight, more ergonomic, structurally different, with new light or color properties, etc.

Implementation

Western Arabic numerals - an example of non-material inventions.

Railways — probably the most important invention in land transport. (Railway station in Bratislava, Slovakia)

In economic theory, inventions are one of the chief examples of "positive externalities", a beneficial side effect that falls on those outside a transaction or activity. One of the central concepts of economics is that externalities should be internalized—unless some of the benefits of this positive externality can be captured by the parties, the parties are under-rewarded for their inventions, and systematic under-rewarding leads to under-investment in activities that lead to inventions. The patent system captures those positive externalities for the inventor or other patent owner so that the economy as a whole invests an optimum amount of resources in the invention process.

Comparison with innovation

Main article: Innovation

In contrast to invention, innovation is the implementation of a creative idea that specifically leads to greater value or usefulness. That is, while an invention may be useless or have no value yet still be an invention, an innovation must have some sort of value, typically economic.

As defined by patent law

...

Invention - Wikipedia

Vitaly Abalakov (1906–1986), Russia – camming devices, Abalakov thread (or V-thread), gearless ice climbing anchor
Ernst Karl Abbe (1840–1905), Germany – Condenser (microscope), apochromatic lens, refractometer
Hovannes Adamian (1879–1932), USSR/Russia/Armenia – tricolor principle of the color television
Samuel W. Alderson (1914–2005), U.S. – Crash test dummy
Alexandre Alexeieff (1901–1982), Russia/France – Pinscreen animation (with his wife Claire Parker)
Rostislav Alexeyev (1916–1980), Russia/USSR – Ekranoplan
Randi Altschul (born 1960), U.S. – Disposable cellphone
Abram Alikhanov (1904–1970), Armenia/USSR – Soviet atomic bomb, nuclear reactor
Bruce Ames (born 1928), U.S. – Ames test (Cell biology)
Giovanni Battista Amici (1786–1863), Italy – Dipleidoscope, Amici prism
Ruth Amos (born 1989), UK – StairSteady
Mary Anderson (1866–1953), U.S. – windshield wiper blade
Momofuku Ando (1910–2007), Japan – Instant noodles
Hal Anger (1920–2005), U.S. – Well counter (radioactivity measurements), gamma camera
Anders Knutsson Ångström (1888–1981), Sweden – Pyranometer
Ottomar Anschütz (1846–1907), Germany – single-curtain focal-plane shutter, electrotachyscope
Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe (1872–1931), Germany – Gyrocompass
Virginia Apgar (1909–1974), U.S. – Apgar score (for newborn babies)
Nicolas Appert (1749–1841), France – canning (food preservation) using glass bottles, see also Peter Durand
Archimedes (c. 287–212 BC), Greece – Archimedes' screw
Guido of Arezzo (c. 991–c. 1033), Italy – Guidonian notation, see musical notation and also staff (music)
Ami Argand (1750–1803), France – Argand lamp
William George Armstrong (1810–1900), UK – hydraulic accumulator
Neil Arnott (1788–1874), UK – waterbed
Emil Artin (1889–1962), Armenia/Austria/Germany – modern abstract algebra
Joseph Aspdin (1788–1855), UK – Portland cement
John Vincent Atanasoff (1903–1995), Bulgaria/U.S. – electronic digital computer
Marcel Audiffren, France – refrigeration, patent

B

Boris Babayan (born 1933), Armenia/USSR/Russia – Soviet computers, Superscalar processor
Charles Babbage (1791–1871), UK – Analytical engine (semi-automatic)
Tabitha Babbit (1779–1853), U.S. – Saw mill circular saw
Victor Babeș (1854–1926), Romania – Babesia, the founder of serum therapy
Leo Baekeland (1863–1944), Belgian–American – Velox photographic paper and Bakelite
Ralph H. Baer (1922–2014), German born American – video game console
Adolf von Baeyer (1835–1917), Germany – Fluorescein, synthetic Indigo dye, Phenolphthalein
John Logie Baird (1888–1946), Scotland – World's first working television, 26 January 1926 and electronic colour television
Abi Bakr of Isfahan (c. 1235), Persia/Iran – mechanical geared astrolabe with lunisolar calendar
George Ballas (1925–2011), U.S. – String trimmer
Frederick Banting (1891–1941), Canada – Insulin
Vladimir Baranov-Rossine (1888–1944), Russia/France – Optophonic Piano
John Barber (1734–1801), UK – gas turbine
John Bardeen (1908–1991), U.S. – co-inventor of the transistor, with Brattain and Schockley
Vladimir Barmin (1909–1993), Russia – first rocket launch complex (spaceport)
Anthony R. Barringer (1925–2009), Canada/U.S. – INPUT (Induced Pulse Transient) airborne electromagnetic system
Earl W. Bascom (1906–1995), Canada/U.S. – rodeo bucking chute (1916 and 1919), rodeo bronc saddle (1922), rodeo bareback rigging (1924), rodeo riding chaps (1926)
Nikolay Basov (1922–2001), Russia – co-inventor of laser and maser
Patricia Bath (1942–2019), U.S. - inventor of laser cataract surgery
Émile Baudot (1845–1903), France – Baudot code
Eugen Baumann (1846–1896), Germany – PVC
Trevor Baylis (1937–2018), UK – a wind-up radio
Maria Beasley (1847–1904), U.S. – barrel-hooping machine, improved life raft
Francis Beaufort (1774–1857), Ireland/UK – Beaufort scale, Beaufort cipher
Hans Beck (1929–2009), Germany – inventor of Playmobil toys
Arnold O. Beckman (1900–2004), U.S. – electric pH meter
Vladimir Bekhterev (1857–1927), Russia – Bekhterev's Mixture
Josip Belušić (1847–1905), Croatia – electric speedometer
Michael Bell (born 1938), together with Melanie Chartoff (born 1950), U.S. – a gray water recycling device for reuse of shower and sink water in the home
Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922), UK, Canada, and U.S. – telephone
Nikolay Benardos (1842–1905), Russian Empire – arc welding (specifically carbon arc welding, the first arc welding method)
Ruth R. Benerito (1916–2013), U.S. – Permanent press (no-iron clothing)
Miriam Benjamin (1861–1947), Washington, D.C. – Gong and signal chair (adopted by House of Representatives and precursor to flight attendant signal system)
William R. Bennett Jr. (1930–2008), together with Ali Javan (1926–2016), U.S./Iran – Gas laser (Helium-Neon)
Melitta Bentz (1873–1950), Germany – paper Coffee filter
Karl Benz (1844–1929), Germany – the petrol-powered automobile
Hans Berger (1873–1941), Germany – first human EEG and its development
Friedrich Bergius (1884–1949), Germany – Bergius process (synthetic fuel from coal)
Emile Berliner (1851–1929), Germany and U.S. – the disc record gramophone
Tim Berners-Lee (born 1955), UK – with Robert Cailliau, the World Wide Web
Marcellin Berthelot (1827–1907), France – Berthelot's reagent (chemistry)
Heinrich Bertsch (1897–1981), Germany – first fully synthetic laundry detergent "Fewa" (chemistry)
Charles Best (1899–1978), Canada – Insulin (chemistry)
Max Bielschowsky (1869–1940), Germany – Bielschowsky stain (histology)
Alfred Binet (1857–1911), France – with his student Théodore Simon (1872–1961), first practical Intelligence test
Lucio Bini (1908–1964), together with Ugo Cerletti (1877–1963), Italy – Electroconvulsive therapy
Gerd Binnig (born 1947), with Christoph Gerber, Calvin Quate and Heinrich Rohrer, Germany/Switzerland/U.S. – Atomic force microscope and Scanning tunneling microscope
Clarence Birdseye (1886–1956), U.S. – Flash freezing
László Bíró (1899–1985), Hungary – Ballpoint pen
Thor Bjørklund (1889–1975), Norway – Cheese slicer
J. Stuart Blackton (1875–1941), U.S. – Stop-motion film
Otto Blathy (1860–1939), Hungary – co-inventor of the transformer, wattmeter, alternating current (AC) and turbogenerator
John Blenkinsop (1783–1831), UK – Blenkinsop rack railway system
Charles K. Bliss (1897–1985), Austro-Hungary/Australia – Blissymbols
Katharine Burr Blodgett (1898–1979), U.S. – nonreflective glass
Alan Blumlein (1903–1942), UK – stereo
David Boggs (1950–2022), U.S. – Ethernet
Nils Bohlin (1920–2002), Sweden – the three-point seat belt
Sarah Boone (1832–1908), U.S. – improved ironing board design
Charlie Booth (1903–2008), Australia – Starting blocks
Sam Born (1891–1959), Russia/U.S. – lollipop-making machine
Jagdish Chandra Bose (1858–1937), India – Crescograph
Matthew Piers Watt Boulton (1820–1894), UK – aileron
Seth Boyden (1788–1870), U.S. – nail-making machine
Herbert Boyer (born 1936), together with Paul Berg (1926–2023), and Stanley Norman Cohen (1935–), U.S. – created first Genetically modified organism
Willard Boyle (1924–2011) together with George E. Smith (born 1930), U.S. – Charge-coupled device (CCD)
Hugh Bradner (1915–2008), U.S. – Wetsuit
Louis Braille (1809–1852), France – Braille writing system, Braille musical notation
Archie Brain (born 1942), UK – Laryngeal mask
Jacques E. Brandenberger (1872–1954), Switzerland – Cellophane
Édouard Branly (1844–1940), France – Coherer
Charles F. Brannock (1903–1992), U.S. – Brannock Device (shoe size)
Walter Houser Brattain (1902–1987), U.S. – co-inventor of the transistor
Karl Ferdinand Braun (1850–1918), Germany – cathode-ray tube oscilloscope
Wernher von Braun (1912–1977), Germany/U.S. – V-2 rocket, Saturn V rocket
Stanislav Brebera (1925–2012), Czech Republic – Semtex explosive
David Brewster (1781–1868), UK – Kaleidoscope
Charles B. Brooks (1865–?), U.S. – first self-propelled street sweeping truck
Rachel Fuller Brown (1898–1980), U.S. – Nystatin, the world's first antifungal antibiotic
William C. Brown (1916–1999), U.S. – crossed-field amplifier
Marie Van Brittan Brown (1922–1999), U.S. – home security system
Friedrich Wilhelm Gustav Bruhn (1853–1927), Germany – Taximeter
Nikolay Brusentsov (1925–2014), USSR, Russia – ternary computer (Setun)
Dudley Allen Buck (1927–1959), U.S. – Cryotron, content-addressable memory
Edwin Beard Budding (1795–1846), UK – lawnmower
Gersh Budker (1918–1977), Russia – electron cooling, co-inventor of collider
Edward Bull (1759–1798), England – Bull engine (a modified steam engine)
Robert Bunsen (1811–1899), Germany – Bunsen burner
Henry Burden (1791–1871), Scotland and U.S. – Horseshoe machine, first usable iron railroad spike

C

Ve Elizabeth Cadie (1893–1956), U.S. – heat insulating handle for small home appliances
Herminie Cadolle (1845–1926), France – modern brassiere
Robert Cailliau (born 1947), Belgium – with Tim Berners-Lee, the World Wide Web
Edward A. Calahan (1838–1912), U.S. – Stock ticker tape
Nicholas Callan (1799–1864), Ireland – Induction coil
Spéranza Calo-Séailles (1885–1949), Greece – "Lap" decorative concrete
Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton (1863–1930), Scotland – Television
Tullio Campagnolo (1901–1983), Italy – Quick release skewer
Charles Cantor (born 1942), U.S. – Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (molecular biology)
Mario Ramberg Capecchi (born 1937), together with Sir Martin John Evans (born 1941), and Oliver Smithies (1925–2017), U.S. – Gene targeting
Roxey Ann Caplin (1793–1888), UK – Victorian-style corset
Arturo Caprotti (1881–1938), Italy – Caprotti valve gear
Gerolamo Cardano (1501–1576), Italy – Cardan grille (cryptography)
Philip Cardew (1851–1910), UK – Hot-wire galvanometer
Chester Carlson (1906–1968), U.S. – Xerographic copier
Wallace Carothers (1896–1937), U.S. – Nylon and Neoprene (together with Arnold Collins)
Antonio Benedetto Carpano (1764–1815), Italy – Vermouth
Mary P. Carpenter (1840–1900), U.S. – mosquito nets, mosquito traps
Giovanni Caselli (1815–1891), Italy/France – Pantelegraph
George Cayley (1773–1857), UK – tension-spoke wheels
Anders Celsius (1701–1744), Sweden – Celsius temperature scale
Vint Cerf (born 1943), together with Bob Kahn (1938–), U.S. – Internet Protocol (IP)
Ugo Cerletti (1877–1963), together with Lucio Bini (1908–1964), Italy – Electroconvulsive therapy
Leona Chalmers (fl 1937), U.S. – modern menstrual cup
Charles Chamberland (1851–1908), France – Chamberland filter
Min Chueh Chang (1908–1991), together with Gregory Goodwin Pincus (1903–1967), U.S./China – Combined oral contraceptive pill
Thomas Chang (born 1933), Canada/China – Artificial cell
Emmett Chapman (1936–2021), U.S. – Chapman Stick
Claude Chappe (1763–1805), France – Semaphore line
Melanie Chartoff (born 1950), together with Michael Bell (born 1938), U.S. – a gray water recycling device for reuse of shower and sink water in the home
David Chaum (born 1955), U.S. – Digital signatures, ecash
Vladimir Chelomey (1914–1984), USSR – First space station (Salyut)
Joyce Chen (1917–1994), China – stir fry pan
Pavel Cherenkov (1904–1990), USSR – Cherenkov detector
Evgeniy Chertovsky (1902–?), Russia – pressure suit
Alicia Chong Rodriguez – American engineer and inventor
Ward Christensen (born 1945), U.S. – Bulletin board system
Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891–1958), Denmark – Creator of Lego
Samuel Hunter Christie (1784–1865), UK – Wheatstone bridge
Juan de la Cierva (1895–1936), Spain – the autogyro
Charles Clagget (1740–1795), UK – Improvements for musical instruments
Leland Clark (1918–2005), U.S. – Clark electrode (medicine)
Georges Claude (1870–1960), France – neon lamp
Adelaide Claxton (fl 1860s–1890s), UK – ear caps
Madame Clicquot Ponsardin (1777–1866), France – Champagne riddling
Henri Marie Coandă (1886–1972), Romania – Coandă effect
Josephine Cochrane (1839–1913), U.S. – dishwasher
Christopher Cockerell (1910–1999), UK – Hovercraft
Aeneas Coffey (1780–1852), Ireland – Coffey still
Sir Henry Cole (1808–1882), UK – Christmas card
Samuel Colt (1814–1862), U.S. – Revolver development
Sir William Congreve (1772–1828), UK – Congreve rocket
George Constantinescu (1881–1965), Romania – creator of the theory of sonics, a new branch of continuum mechanics
Albert Coons (1912–1978), U.S. – Immunofluorescence (microscopy)
Martin Cooper (born 1928), U.S. – Mobile phone
Harry Coover (1917–2011), U.S. – Super Glue
Lloyd Groff Copeman (1865–1956), U.S. – Electric stove
Cornelis Corneliszoon (1550–1607), The Netherlands – wind powered sawmill
Alexander Coucoulas (born 1933), U.S. – Thermosonic bonding
Wallace H. Coulter (1913–1998), U.S. – Coulter principle
Jacques Cousteau (1910–1997), France – co-inventor of the aqualung and the Nikonos underwater camera
John "Jack" Higson Cover Jr. (1920–2009), U.S. – Taser
William Crookes (1832–1919), UK – Crookes radiometer, Crookes tube
Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731), Italy – piano
Caresse Crosby (1891–1970), U.S. – Modern bra
S. Scott Crump (inv. c. 1989), U.S. – fused deposition modeling
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot (1725–1804), France – first steam-powered road vehicle
William Cullen (1710–1790), UK – first artificial refrigerator
Rose Cumming (1887–1968), U.S. – metallic wallpaper
Emily Cummins (born 1987), UK – sustainable refrigerator, water carrier, toothpaste dispenser
Marie Curie (1867–1934), Poland – portable X-ray units ("Little Curies"),^[1] radium-emanation needles^[2]
Jamie Lee Curtis (born 1958), U.S. – diapers
Jan Czochralski (1885–1953), Poland / Germany – Czochralski process (crystal growth)

D

Nils Gustaf Dalén (1869–1937), Sweden – AGA cooker, Dalén light, Agamassan, Sun valve for lighthouses and buoys
John Frederic Daniell (1790–1845), UK – Daniell cell
Corradino D'Ascanio (1891–1981), Italy – Vespa scooter
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italy – helicopter, tanks, and parachutes for safety
Raymond Damadian (1936–2022), Armenia/U.S. – Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Robert Davidson (1804-1894), Scotland – electric locomotive
Jacob Davis (1868–1908), U.S. – Riveted jeans
Humphry Davy (1778–1829), UK – Davy miners lamp
Joseph Day (1855–1946), UK – the crankcase-compression two-stroke engine
Lee de Forest (1873–1961), U.S. – Phonofilm, triode
Fe del Mundo (1911–2011), Philippines – non-electric incubator
Yuri Nikolaevich Denisyuk (1927–2006), Russia – 3D holography
Robert H. Dennard (born 1932), U.S. – Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM)
Miksa Déri (1854–1938), Hungary – co-inventor of an improved closed-core transformer
Robert DeStefano (born 1962), U.S. – exercise equipment
James Dewar (1842–1923), UK – Thermos flask
Aleksandr Dianin (1851–1918), Russia – Bisphenol A, Dianin's compound
William Kennedy Laurie Dickson (1860–1935), UK – motion picture camera
Philip Diehl (1847–1913), U.S. – Ceiling fan
Rudolf Diesel (1858–1913), Germany – Diesel engine
William H. Dobelle (1943–2004), U.S. – Dobelle Eye
Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner (1780–1849), Germany – Döbereiner's lamp (chemistry)
Toshitada Doi (born 1943), Japan, together with Joop Sinjou, Netherlands – Compact disc
Ray Dolby (1933–2013), U.S. – Dolby noise-reduction system
Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky (1862–1919), Poland/Russia – three-phase electric power
Marion O'Brien Donovan (1917–1998), U.S. – Waterproof diaper
Hub van Doorne (1900–1979), Netherlands – Variomatic continuously variable transmission
John Thompson Dorrance (1873–1930), U.S. – Condensed soup
Amanda Minnie Douglas (1831–1916), writer and inventor (portable folding mosquito net frame)
Charles Dow (1851–1902), U.S. – Dow Jones Industrial Average
Mulalo Doyoyo (born 1970), South Africa/U.S. – Cenocell – cementless concrete
Anastase Dragomir (1896–1966), Romania – Ejection seat
Karl Drais (1785–1851), Germany – dandy horse, Draisine
Richard Drew (1899–1980), U.S. – Masking tape
John Boyd Dunlop (1840–1921), UK – first practical pneumatic tyre
Cyril Duquet (1841–1922), Canada – Telephone handset
Alexey Dushkin (1904–1977), Russia – deep column station
James Dyson (born 1947), UK – Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, incorporating the principles of cyclonic separation.

E

George Eastman (1854–1932), U.S. – roll film
J. Presper Eckert (1919–1995), U.S. – ENIAC – the first general purpose programmable digital computer
Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931), U.S. – phonograph, commercially practical incandescent light bulb, etc.
Pehr Victor Edman (1916–1977), Sweden – Edman degradation for Protein sequencing
Sir Robert Geoffrey Edwards (1925–2013), UK – In vitro fertilisation
Ellen Eglin (1849–c. 1890), U.S. – Clothes wringer
Brendan Eich (born 1961), U.S. – JavaScript (programming language)
Willem Einthoven (1860–1927), The Netherlands – the electrocardiogram
Benjamin Eisenstadt (1906–1996), U.S. – Sugar packet
Paul Eisler (1907–1992), Austria/U.S. – Printed circuit board (electronics)
Giorgi Eliava (1892–1937), together with Félix d'Herelle (1873–1949), France / Georgia – Phage therapy
Ivan Elmanov, Russia – first monorail (horse-drawn)
Rune Elmqvist (1906–1996), Sweden – implantable pacemaker
John Haven Emerson (1906–1997), U.S. – iron lung
Douglas Engelbart (1925–2013), U.S. – the computer mouse
John Ericsson (1803–1889), Sweden – the two screw-propeller
Emil Erlenmeyer (1825–1909), Germany – Erlenmeyer flask
Sir Martin John Evans (born 1941), together with Mario Ramberg Capecchi (born 1937), and Oliver Smithies (1925–2017), U.S. – Knockout mouse, Gene targeting
Ole Evinrude (1877–1934), Norway – outboard motor

F

Charles Fabry (1867–1945), together with Alfred Perot (1863–1925), France – Fabry–Pérot interferometer (physics)
Samuel Face (1923–2001), U.S. – concrete flatness/levelness technology; Lightning Switch
Federico Faggin (born 1941), Italy – microprocessor
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), The Netherlands – Fahrenheit temperature scale, Mercury-in-glass thermometer
Michael Faraday (1791–1867), UK – electric transformer, electric motor
Johann Maria Farina (1685–1766), Germany; Eau de Cologne
Myra Juliet Farrell (1878–1957), Australia – stitchless button, Press stud
Philo Farnsworth (1906–1971), U.S. – electronic television
Marga Faulstich (1915–1998), Germany – optical glass, lightweight lens SF 64^[3]
Muhammad al-Fazari (died 796/806), Persia – astrolabe
John Bennett Fenn (1917–2010), U.S. – Electrospray ionization
Henry John Horstman Fenton (1854–1929), UK – Fenton's reagent (chemistry)
James Fergason (1934–2008), U.S. – improved liquid crystal display
Enrico Fermi (1901–1954), Italy – nuclear reactor
Humberto Fernández-Morán (1924–1999), Venezuela – Diamond scalpel, Ultra microtome
Michele Ferrero (1925–2015), Italy – Kinder Surprise = Kinder Eggs, Nutella
Bran Ferren (born 1953), U.S. – Pinch-to-zoom (multi-touch), together with Daniel Hillis
Reginald Fessenden (1866–1932), Canada – two-way radio
Robert Feulgen (1884–1955), Germany – Feulgen stain (histology)
Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick (1829–1901), Germany – contact lens
Ethel Finck (1932–2003), U.S. – cardiac catheter
Abbas Ibn Firnas (810–887), Al-Andalus – fused quartz and silica glass, metronome
Artur Fischer (1919–2016) Germany – fasteners including fischertechnik.
Franz Joseph Emil Fischer (1877–1947), together with Hans Schrader (1921–2012), Germany – Fischer assay (oil yield test)
Franz Joseph Emil Fischer (1877–1947), together with Hans Tropsch (1889–1935), Germany – Fischer–Tropsch process (refinery process)
Gerhard Fischer (1899–1988), Germany/U.S. – hand-held metal detector
Paul C. Fisher (1913–2006), U.S. – Space Pen
Edith M. Flanigen (born 1929), U.S. – zeolite Y, molecular sieve
Alexander Fleming (1881–1955), Scotland – Penicillin
John Ambrose Fleming (1848–1945), UK – Vacuum diode
Sandford Fleming (1827–1915), Canada – Universal Standard Time
Nicolas Florine (1891–1972), Georgia/Russia/Belgium – first tandem rotor helicopter to fly freely
Tommy Flowers (1905–1998), UK – Colossus an early electronic computer.
Irmgard Flügge-Lotz (1903–1974), U.S. – aircraft guidance systems
Thomas J. Fogarty (born 1934), U.S. – Embolectomy catheter (medicine)
Larry Fondren, U.S. – entrepreneur, inventor and credit markets expert
Eunice Newton Foote (1819–1888), U.S. – greenhouse effect, boot soles
Enrico Forlanini (1848–1930), Italy – Steam helicopter, hydrofoil, Forlanini airships
Eric Fossum (born 1957), U.S. – intra-pixel charge transfer in CMOS image sensors
Josephine G. Fountain (fl 1960), U.S. – direct suction tracheotomy tube
Jean Bernard Léon Foucault (1819–1868), France – Foucault pendulum, gyroscope, eddy current
Benoît Fourneyron (1802–1867), France – water turbine
John Fowler (1826–1864), UK – steam-driven ploughing engine
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), U.S. – the pointed lightning rod conductor, bifocal glasses, the Franklin stove, the glass harmonica
Herman Frasch (1851–1914), Germany / U.S. – Frasch process (petrochemistry), Paraffin wax purification
Ian Hector Frazer (born 1953), together with Jian Zhou (1957–1999), U.S./China – HPV vaccine against cervical cancer
Helen Murray Free (1923–2021), U.S. – diabetes tests
Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827), France – Fresnel lens
Amelia Freund (1824–1887), Germany – cooking stove contained a "frizzler" which fried without hardening.^[4]
Ida Freund (1863–1914), UK – gas measuring tube, periodic table cupcakes
William Friese-Greene (1855–1921), UK – cinematography
Julius Fromm (1883–1945), Germany – first seamless Condom
Arthur Fry (born 1931), U.S. – Post-it note
Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983), U.S. – geodesic dome
C. W. Fuller (inv. 1953), U.S. – Gilhoolie
Robert Fulton (1765–1815), United States – first commercially successful steamboat, first practical submarine
Ivan Fyodorov (c. 1510–1583), Russia/Poland–Lithuania – invented multibarreled mortar, introduced printing in Russia
Svyatoslav Fyodorov (1927–2000), Russia – radial keratotomy
Vladimir Fyodorov (1874–1966), Russia – Fedorov Avtomat (first self-loading battle rifle, arguably the first assault rifle)

G

Dennis Gabor (1900–1979), Hungarian-British – holography
Boris Borisovich Galitzine (1862–1916), Russia – electromagnetic seismograph
Joseph G. Gall (born 1928), U.S. – In situ hybridization (cell biology)
Alfred William Gallagher (1911–1990), New Zealand – Electric fence for farmers
Dmitri Garbuzov (1940–2006), Russia/U.S. – continuous-wave-operating diode lasers (together with Zhores Alferov), high-power diode lasers
Elmer R. Gates (1859–1923), U.S. – foam fire extinguisher, electric loom mechanisms, magnetic & diamagnetic separators, educational toy ("box & blocks")*
Richard J. Gatling (1818–1903), U.S. – wheat drill, first successful machine gun
Georgy Gause (1910–1986), Russia – gramicidin S, neomycin, lincomycin and other antibiotics
E. K. Gauzen, Russia – three bolt equipment (early diving costume)
Norman Gaylord (1923–2007), U.S. – rigid gas-permeable contact lens
Karl-Hermann Geib (1908–1949), Germany / USSR – Girdler sulfide process
Hans Wilhelm Geiger (1882–1945), Germany – Geiger counter
Andrey Geim (born 1958), Russia/United Kingdom – graphene
Nestor Genko (1839–1904), Russia – Genko's Forest Belt (the first large-scale windbreak system)
Christoph Gerber (1942–), with Calvin Quate (1923–2019), and with Gerd Binnig (1947–), Germany/U.S./Switzerland – Atomic force microscope
Friedrich Clemens Gerke (1801–1888), Germany – current international Morse code
David Gestetner (1854–1939), Austria-Hungary / UK – Gestetner copier
Alberto Gianni (1891–1930), Italy – Torretta butoscopica
John Heysham Gibbon (1903–1973), U.S. – Heart-lung machine
Gustav Giemsa (1867–1948), Germany – Giemsa stain (histology)
Adolph Giesl-Gieslingen (1903–1992), Austria – Giesl ejector
Henri Giffard (1825–1882), France – powered airship, injector
David J. Gingery (1932–2004), USA
Donald A. Glaser (1926–2013), U.S. – Bubble chamber
Joseph Glass (1791–1867), England – chimney-sweeping apparatus
Valentyn Glushko (1908–1989), Russia – hypergolic propellant, electric propulsion, Soviet rocket engines (including world's most powerful liquid-fuel rocket engine RD-170)
Heinrich Göbel (1818–1893), Germany – incandescent lamp
Leonid Gobyato (1875–1915), Russia – man-portable mortar
Robert Goddard (1882–1945), U.S. – liquid fuel rocket
Sam Golden (1915–1997), together with Leonard Bocour (1910–1993), U.S. – Acrylic paint
Peter Carl Goldmark (1906–1977), Hungary – vinyl record (LP), CBS color television
Camillo Golgi (1843–1926), Italy – Golgi's method (histology)
György Gömöri (1904–1957), Hungary / U.S. – Gömöri trichrome stain, Gömöri methenamine silver stain (histology)
Lewis Gompertz (c. 1783—1861), UK – expanding chuck, improved velocipede
Sarah E. Goode (1855–1905), US – cabinet bed. First African-American woman to receive a United States patent.
Charles Goodyear (1800–1860), U.S. – vulcanization of rubber
Praveen Kumar Gorakavi (born 1989), India – low-cost Braille Typewriter
Robert W. Gore (1937–2020), U.S. – Gore-Tex
Igor Gorynin (1926–2015), Russia – weldable titanium alloys, high strength aluminium alloys, radiation-hardened steels
James Gosling (born 1955), U.S. – Java (programming language)
Gordon Gould (1920–2005), U.S. – Laser, see also Theodore Maiman
Richard Hall Gower (1768–1833), UK – ship's hull and rigging
Boris Grabovsky (1901–1966), Russia – cathode commutator, an early electronic TV pickup tube
Bette Nesmith Graham (1924–1980), U.S. – Correction fluid, Liquid Paper
Iréne Grahn (1945–2013), Sweden – finger joint support for patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Hans Christian Gram (1853–1938), Denmark / Germany – Gram staining (histology)
Zénobe Gramme (1826–1901), Belgium/France – Gramme dynamo
Temple Grandin (born 1947), Inventor of the squeeze machine and humane abattoirs.
Michael Grätzel (born 1944), Germany/Switzerland– Dye-sensitized solar cell
James Henry Greathead (1844–1896), South Africa – tunnel boring machine, tunnelling shield technique
Chester Greenwood (1858–1937), U.S. – thermal earmuffs
Lori Greiner (born 1969), U.S. – Silver Safekeeper anti-tarnish lining (jewelry organizers) and multiple consumer products, 120 US and foreign patents
James Gregory (1638–1675), Scotland – Gregorian telescope
William Griggs (1832–1911), England – a process of photolithography
William Robert Grove (1811–1896), Wales – fuel cell
Gustav Guanella (1909–1982), Switzerland – DSSS, Guanella-Balun
Otto von Guericke (1602–1686), Germany – vacuum pump, manometer, dasymeter
Mikhail Gurevich (1893–1976), Russia – MiG-series fighter aircraft, including world's most produced jet aircraft MiG-15 and most produced supersonic aircraft MiG-21 (together with Artem Mikoyan)
Goldsworthy Gurney (1793–1875), England – Gurney Stove
Bartolomeu de Gusmão (1685–1724), Brazil – early air balloons
Johann Gutenberg (c. 1398–1468), Germany – movable type printing press
Samuel Guthrie (physician) (1782–1848), U.S. – discovered chloroform

H

Fritz Haber (1868–1934), Germany – Haber process (ammonia synthesis)
John Hadley (1682–1744), UK – Octant
Waldemar Haffkine (1860–1930), Russia/Switzerland – first anti-cholera and anti-plague vaccines
Gunther von Hagens (born 1945), Germany – whole body Plastination
Charles Hall (1863–1914), U.S. – aluminum production
Robert N. Hall (1919–2016), U.S. – Semiconductor laser
Samuel Hall (1782–1863), UK – condenser to enable recycling of water in ship's steam engine
Tracy Hall (1919–2008), U.S. – synthetic diamond
Nicholas Halse (died 1636), England – malt kiln
Richard Hamming (1915–1998), U.S. – Hamming code
John Hays Hammond Jr. (1888–1965), U.S. – radio control
Ruth Handler (1916–2002), U.S. – Barbie doll
James Hargreaves (1720–1778), UK – spinning jenny
John Harington (1561–1612), UK – the flush toilet
William Snow Harris (1791–1867), UK – much improved naval Lightning rods
John Harrison (1693–1776), UK – marine chronometer
Ross Granville Harrison (1870–1959), U.S. – first successful animal Tissue culture, Cell culture
Kazuo Hashimoto (died 1995), Japan – Caller-ID, answering machine
Victor Hasselblad (1906–1978), Sweden – invented the 6 x 6 cm single-lens reflex camera
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) (965–1039), Iraq – camera obscura, pinhole camera, magnifying glass
George H. Heilmeier (1936–2014), U.S. – liquid crystal display (LCD)
Henry Heimlich (1920–2016), U.S. – Heimlich maneuver
Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988), U.S. – waterbed
Jozef Karol Hell (1713–1789), Slovakia – the water pillar
Rudolf Hell (1901–2002), Germany – the Hellschreiber
Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894), Germany – Helmholtz pitch notation, Helmholtz resonator, ophthalmoscope
Zhang Heng (78–139), China – Seismometer, first hydraulic-powered armillary sphere
Beulah Louise Henry (1887–1973), U.S. – bobbin-free sewing machine, vacuum ice cream freezer
Charles H. Henry (1937-2016), U.S. – Quantum well laser
Joseph Henry (1797–1878), Scotland/U.S. – electromagnetic relay
Félix d'Herelle (1873–1949), together with Giorgi Eliava (1892–1937), France, Georgia – Phage therapy
Heron (c. 10–70), Roman Egypt – usually credited with invention of the aeolipile, although it may have been described a century earlier
John Herschel (1792–1871), UK – photographic fixer (hypo), actinometer
Harry Houdini (1874–1926) U.S. – flight time illusion
Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894), Germany – radio telegraphy, electromagnetic radiation
Ephraim Hertzano (1912–1987), Roumania / Israel – Rummikub
Lasse Hessel (1940–2019), Denmark – Female condom
George de Hevesy (1885–1966), Hungary – radioactive tracer
Ronald Price Hickman (1932–2011), U.S. – designed the original Lotus Elan, the Lotus Elan +2 and the Lotus Europa, as well as the Black & Decker Workmate
Rowland Hill (1795–1879), UK – postage stamp
Maurice Hilleman (1919–2005) – vaccines against childhood diseases
Tanaka Hisashige (1799–1881), Japan – Myriad year clock
Ted Hoff (born 1937), U.S. – microprocessor
Felix Hoffmann (Bayer) (1868–1949), Germany – Aspirin
Albert Hofmann (1906–2008), Switzerland – LSD
Kotaro Honda (1870–1954), Japan – KS steel
Huang Hongjia (1924–2021), China – Single-mode optical fiber.
Herman Hollerith (1860–1929), U.S. – recording data on a machine readable medium, tabulator, punched cards
Nick Holonyak (born 1928), U.S. – LED (Light Emitting Diode)
Norman Holter (1914–1983), U.S. – Holter monitor
Robert Hooke (1635–1703), UK – balance wheel, iris diaphragm, acoustic telephone
Erna Schneider Hoover (born 1926), U.S. – computerized telephone switching system
Harold Hopkins (1918–1994), UK – zoom lens, rod lens endoscope
Grace Murray Hopper (1906–1992), U.S. – Compiler
Frank Hornby (1863–1936), UK – invented Meccano
Jimmy Hotz (born 1953), U.S. – Hotz MIDI Translator, Atari Hotz Box
Royal Earl House (1814–1895), U.S. – first Printing telegraph
Coenraad Johannes van Houten (1801–1887), Netherlands – cocoa powder, cacao butter, chocolate milk
Elias Howe (1819–1867), U.S. – sewing machine
David Edward Hughes (1831–1900), UK – printing telegraph
Chuck Hull (born 1939), U.S. – 3D printer
Troy Hurtubise (1963–2018), Canada – Trojan Ballistics Suit of Armor, Ursus suit, Firepaste, Angel Light
Miller Reese Hutchison (1876–1944), U.S. – Klaxon, electric hearing aid
Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695), Netherlands – pendulum clock
John Wesley Hyatt (1837–1920), U.S. – celluloid manufacturing

I

Gavriil Ilizarov (1921–1992), Russia – Ilizarov apparatus, external fixation, distraction osteogenesis
Mamoru Imura (born 1948), Japan – RFIQin (automatic cooking device)
Daisuke Inoue (born 1940), Japan – Karaoke machine
János Irinyi (1817–1895), Hungary – noiseless match
Ub Iwerks (1901–1971), U. S. – Multiplane camera for animation

J

Moritz von Jacobi (1801–1874), Germany/Russia – electrotyping, electric boat
Rudolf Jaenisch (born 1942), Germany/U.S. – first Genetically modified mouse
Alcinous Burton Jamison (1851–1938), American physician, inventor of medical devices
Karl Guthe Jansky (1905–1950), U.S. – radio telescope
Karl Jatho (1873–1933), Germany – aeroplane
Ali Javan (1926–2016), together with William R. Bennett Jr. (1930–2008), Iran/U.S. – Gas laser (Helium-Neon)
Al-Jazari (1136–1206), Iraq – crank-driven and hydropowered saqiya chain pump, crank-driven screw and screwpump, elephant clock, weight-driven clock, weight-driven pump, reciprocating piston suction pump, geared and hydropowered water supply system, programmable humanoid robots, robotics, hand washing automata, flush mechanism, lamination, static balancing, paper model, sand casting, molding sand, intermittency, linkage
Ibn Al-Jazzar (Algizar) (895–979), Tunisia – sexual dysfunction and erectile dysfunction treatment drugs
Ányos Jedlik (1800–1898), Hungary – Jedlik dynamo
Alec John Jeffreys (born 1950), UK – DNA profiling (forensics)
Charles Francis Jenkins (1867–1934), U.S. – television and movie projector (Phantoscope)
Thomas L. Jennings (1791–1859), U.S. – novel method of dry cleaning
Steve Jobs (1955–2011), U.S. – Apple Macintosh computer, iPod, iPhone, iPad and other devices, software operating systems and applications.
Amos Edward Joel Jr. (1918–2008) U.S. – electrical engineer, known for several contributions and over seventy patents related to telecommunications switching systems
Carl Edvard Johansson (1864–1943), Sweden – Gauge blocks
Johan Petter Johansson (1853–1943), Sweden – Pipe wrench and adjustable spanner
Reynold B. Johnson (1906–1998), U.S. – Hard disk drive
Philipp von Jolly (1809–1884), Germany – Jolly balance
Scott A. Jones (born 1960), U.S. – created one of the most successful versions of voicemail as well as ChaCha Search, a human-assisted internet search engine
Tom Parry Jones (1935–2013), UK – first electronic Breathalyzer
Assen Jordanoff (1896–1967), Bulgaria – airbag
Marc Jorgenson, Canada, engineer, inventor and musician
Anatol Josepho (1894–1980), patented the first coin-operated photo booth called the "Photomaton" in 1925.
Marjorie Joyner (1896–1994), U.S. – Permanent wave machine
Whitcomb Judson (1836–1909), U.S. – zipper
Percy Lavon Julian (1899–1975), U.S. – chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants
Ma Jun (fl. 220–265), China – south-pointing chariot (see differential gear), mechanical puppet theater, chain pumps, improved silk looms

K

Mikhail Kalashnikov (1919–2013), Russia – AK-47 and AK-74 assault rifles (the most produced ever)
Bob Kahn (born 1938), together with Vint Cerf (born 1943), U.S. – Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
Dawon Kahng (1931–1992), South Korea, together with Simon Sze (born 1936), Taiwan/U.S. – Floating-gate MOSFET
Dean Kamen (born 1951), U.S. – Invented the Segway HT scooter and the IBOT Mobility Device
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853–1926), Netherlands – liquid helium
Nikolay Kamov (1902–1973), Russia – armored battle autogyro, Ka-series coaxial rotor helicopters
Pyotr Kapitsa (1894–1984), Russia – first ultrastrong magnetic field creating techniques, basic low-temperature physics inventions
Georgii Karpechenko (1899–1941), Russia – rabbage (the first ever non-sterile hybrid obtained through the crossbreeding)
Jamshīd al-Kāshī (c. 1380–1429), Persia/Iran – plate of conjunctions, analog planetary computer
Andrew Kay (1919–2014), U.S. – Digital voltmeter
Adolphe Kégresse (1879–1943), France/Russia – Kégresse track (first half-track and first off-road vehicle with continuous track), dual-clutch transmission
Carl D. Keith (1920–2008), together with John J. Mooney (1930–2020), U.S. – three way catalytic converter
Mstislav Keldysh (1911–1978), Latvia/Russia – co-developer of Sputnik 1 (the first artificial satellite) together with Korolyov and Tikhonravov
John Harvey Kellogg (1852–1943), cornflake breakfasts
John G. Kemeny (1926–1992), together with Thomas E. Kurtz (born 1928), Hungary/U.S. – BASIC (programming language)
Alexander Kemurdzhian (1921–2003), Armenia/Russia/USSR – first space exploration rover (Lunokhod)
Mary Kenner (1912–2006), U.S. – sanitary belt
William Saville-Kent (1845–1908), UK/Australia – Pearl culture, see also Mikimoto Kōkichi
Kerim Kerimov (1917–2003), Azerbaijan and Russia – co-developer of human spaceflight, space dock, space station
Jacques de Kervor (1928–2010), French industrial designer
Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958), U.S. – invented automobile self-starter ignition, Freon ethyl gasoline and more
Fazlur Khan (1929–1982), Bangladesh – structural systems for high-rise skyscrapers
Yulii Khariton (1904–1996), Russia – chief designer of the Soviet atomic bomb, co-developer of the Tsar Bomba
Anatoly Kharlampiyev (1906–1979), Russia – Sambo (martial art)
Al-Khazini (fl.1115–1130), Persia/Iran – hydrostatic balance
Konstantin Khrenov (1894–1984), Russia – underwater welding
Abu-Mahmud Khojandi (c. 940–1000), Persia/Iran – astronomical sextant
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (Algoritmi) (c. 780–850), Persia/Iran – algebra, mural instrument, horary quadrant, Sine quadrant, shadow square
Johann Kiefuss – inventor in Nuremberg in 1517
Marcel Kiepach (1894–1915), Croatia – dynamo, maritime compass that indicates north regardless of the presence of iron or magnetic forces
Erhard Kietz (1909–1982), Germany & U.S. – signal improvements for video transmissions^[5]
Jack Kilby (1923–2005), U.S. – patented the first integrated circuit
Al-Kindi (Alkindus) (801–873), Iraq/Yemen – unambiguously described the distillation of wine in the 9th century, cryptanalysis, frequency analysis
Petrus Jacobus Kipp (1808–1864), The Netherlands – Kipp's apparatus (chemistry)
Semyon Kirlian (1898–1978), Armenia/USSR – Kirlian photography
Steve Kirsch (born 1956), U.S. – Optical mouse
Fritz Klatte (1880–1934), Germany – vinyl chloride, forerunner to polyvinyl chloride
Yves Klein (1928–1962), France – International Klein Blue
Margaret E. Knight (1838–1914), U.S. – machine that completely constructs box-bottom brown paper bags
Tom Knight (?), U.S. – BioBricks (synthetic biology)
Ivan Knunyants (1906–1990), Armenia/Russia/USSR – Soviet chemical weapons, capron, Nylon 6, polyamide-6
Robert Koch (1843–1910), Germany – method for culturing bacteria on solid media
Willem Johan Kolff (1911–2009), Netherlands – artificial kidney hemodialysis machine
Rudolf Kompfner (1909–1977), U.S. – Traveling-wave tube
Konstantin Konstantinov (1817/1819–1871), Russia – device for measuring flight speed of projectiles, ballistic rocket pendulum, launch pad, rocket-making machine
Sergei Korolev (1907–1966), USSR – first successful intercontinental ballistic missile (R-7 Semyorka), R-7 rocket family, Sputniks (including the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite), Vostok program (including the first human spaceflight)
Nikolai Korotkov (1874–1920), Russian Empire – auscultatory technique for blood pressure measurement
Semyon Korsakov (1787–1853), Russian Empire – punched card for information storage
Mikhail Koshkin (1898–1940), Russia – T-34 medium tank, the best and most produced tank of World War II^[6]
Ognjeslav Kostović (1851–1916), Serbia/Russia – arborite (high-strength plywood, an early plastic)
Gleb Kotelnikov (1872–1944), Russia – knapsack parachute, drogue parachute
William Justin Kroll (1889–1973), Luxemburg/U.S. – Kroll process
Alfred Krupa (1915–1989), Yugoslavia – the modern wheeled suitcase, a glass-bottom boat, the skis for use in walking on water, a folding canvas catamaran
Aleksey Krylov (1863–1945), Russia – gyroscopic damping of ships
Ivan Kulibin (1735–1818), Russia – egg-shaped clock, candle searchlight, elevator using screw mechanisms, a self-rolling carriage featuring a flywheel, brake, gear box, and bearing, an early optical telegraph
Shen Kuo (1031–1095), China – improved gnomon, armillary sphere, clepsydra, and sighting tube
Igor Kurchatov (1903–1960), Russia – first nuclear power plant, first nuclear reactors for submarines and surface ships
Thomas E. Kurtz (born 1928), together with John G. Kemeny (1926–1992), U.S./Hungary – BASIC (programming language)
Raymond Kurzweil (born 1948), Optical character recognition; flatbed scanner
Ken Kutaragi (born 1950), Japan – PlayStation
Stephanie Kwolek (1923–2014), U.S. – Kevlar
John Howard Kyan (1774–1850), Ireland – process of Kyanization used for wood preservation

L

Dmitry Lachinov (1842–1902), Russia – mercury pump, economizer for electricity consumption, electrical insulation tester, optical dynamometer, photometer, electrolyser
René Laennec (1781–1826), France – stethoscope
Georges Lakhovsky (1869–1942), Russia/U.S. – multiple wave oscillator
Hedy Lamarr (1914–2000), Austria and U.S. – Spread spectrum radio
Edwin H. Land (1909–1991), U.S. – Polaroid polarizing filters and the Land Camera
Samuel P. Langley (1834–1906), U.S. – bolometer
Alexander Nikolayevich Lodygin (1847–1923), Russia – incandescent lamp
Irving Langmuir (1851–1957), U.S. – gas filled incandescent light bulb, hydrogen welding
Norm Larsen (1923–1970), U.S. – WD-40
Lewis Latimer (1848–1928), U.S. – improved carbon-filament light bulb
Gustav de Laval (1845–1913), Sweden – invented the milk separator and the milking machine
Semyon Lavochkin (1900–1960), Russia – La-series aircraft, first operational surface-to-air missile S-25 Berkut
John Bennet Lawes (1814–1900), UK – superphosphate or chemical fertilizer
Ernest Orlando Lawrence (1901–1958), U.S. – Cyclotron
Nikolai Lebedenko, Russia – Tsar Tank, largest armored vehicle in history
Sergei Lebedev (1874–1934), Russia – commercially viable synthetic rubber
William Lee (1563–1614), UK – Stocking frame knitting machine
Edward Leedskalnin (1887–1951), U.S. – construction techniques used to single-handedly lift massive coral blocks in the creation of his Coral Castle
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), The Netherlands – development of the microscope
Jerome H. Lemelson (1923–1997), U.S. – inventions in the fields in which he patented make possible, wholly or in part, innovations like automated warehouses, industrial robots, cordless telephones, fax machines, videocassette recorders, camcorders, and the magnetic tape drive used in Sony's Walkman tape players.
Jean-Joseph Etienne Lenoir (1822–1900), Belgium – internal combustion engine, motorboat
Giacomo da Lentini (13th century), Italy – Sonnet
R. G. LeTourneau (1888–1969), U.S. – electric wheel, motor scraper, mobile oil drilling platform, bulldozer, cable control unit for scrapers
Rasmus Lerdorf (born 1968), Greenland/Canada – PHP (programming language)
Willard Frank Libby (1908–1980), U.S. – radiocarbon dating
Justus von Liebig (1803–1873), Germany – nitrogen-based fertilizer
Edward Light (1747–1832), UK – harp lute
Hon Lik (born 1951), China – electronic cigarette
Otto Lilienthal (1848–1896), Germany – hang glider
Lin Yutang (1895–1976), China/U.S. – Chinese language typewriter
Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974), U.S. – organ perfusion pump
Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist (1862–1931), Sweden – Kerosene stove operated by compressed air
Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), Sweden – formal Binomial nomenclature for living organisms, Horologium Florae
Hans Lippershey (1570–1619), The Netherlands – associated with the appearance of the telescope
Jonas Ferdinand Gabriel Lippmann (1845–1921), France – Lippmann plate, Integral imaging, Lippmann electrometer
Lisitsyn brothers, Ivan Fyodorovich and Nazar Fyodorovich, Russia – samovar (the first documented makers)
William Howard Livens (1889–1964), UK – chemical warfare – Livens Projector
Eduard Locher (1840–1910), Switzerland – Locher rack railway system
Fredrik Ljungström (1875–1964) and Birger Ljungström (1872–1948), Sweden – Ljungström turbine, Ljungström air preheater, Ljungström method
Alexander Lodygin (1847–1923), Russia – electrical filament, incandescent light bulb with tungsten filament
Louis Lombard-Gérin (1848–1918), France – trolleybus
Mikhail Lomonosov (1711–1765), Russia – night vision telescope, off-axis reflecting telescope, coaxial rotor, re-invented smalt
Yury Lomonosov (1876–1952), Russia/UK – first successful mainline diesel locomotive
Aleksandr Loran (1849 – after 1911), Russia – fire fighting foam, foam extinguisher
Oleg Losev (1903–1942), Russia – light-emitting diode, crystadine
Antoine Louis (1723–1792), France – Guillotine
Archibald Low (1882–1956), UK – pioneer of radio guidance systems
Ed Lowe (1920–1995), U.S. – Cat litter
Gleb Lozino-Lozinskiy (1909–2001), Russia – Buran (spacecraft), Spiral project
Ignacy Łukasiewicz (1822–1882), Poland/Armenia – Kerosene lamp, Oil refinery
Auguste and Louis Lumière (1862–1954 and 1864–1948), France – Cinématographe
Cai Lun, 蔡倫 (50–121), China – paper
Giovanni Luppis or Ivan Vukić (1813–1875), Austrian Empire (ethnical Croatian, from Rijeka) – self-propelled torpedo
Gustave Lyon (1857–1936), France – chromatic harp
Richard F. Lyon (born 1952), U.S. – Optical mouse
Arkhip Lyulka (1908–1984), Russia – first double jet turbofan engine, other Soviet aircraft engines

M

Charles Macintosh (1766–1843), Scotland – waterproof raincoat, life vest
Theodore Maiman (1927–2007), U.S. – Laser, see also Gordon Gould
Ahmed Majan (born 1963), UAE – instrumented racehorse saddle and others
Aleksandr Makarov (born 1966), Russia/Germany – Orbitrap mass spectrometer
Stepan Makarov (1849–1904), Russia – Icebreaker Yermak, first true icebreaker able to ride over and crush pack ice
Victor Makeev (1924–1985), Russia – first submarine-launched ballistic missile
Nestor Makhno (1888–1934), Ukraine/Russia – tachanka
Dmitri Dmitrievich Maksutov (1896–1964), Russia – Maksutov telescope
Annie Malone (1869–1957), U.S. – Cosmetics for African American women
Sergey Malyutin (1859–1937), Russia – designed the first matryoshka doll (together with Vasily Zvyozdochkin)
Al-Ma'mun (786–833), Iraq – singing bird automata, terrestrial globe
Boris Mamyrin (1919–2007), Russia – reflectron (ion mirror)
George William Manby (1765–1854), UK – Fire extinguisher
Harry Mendell, U.S. – invented the first digital sampling synthesizer
Joy Mangano (born 1956), U.S. – household appliances
Anna Mangin (1844–1931) – American inventor, educator, caterer and women's rights campaigner
Charles Mantoux (1877–1947), France – Mantoux test (tuberculosis)
Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937), Italy – radio telegraphy
Gheorghe Marinescu (1863–1938), Romania – first science films in the world in the neurology clinic in Bucharest (1898–1901)
Sylvester Marsh (1803–1884), U.S. – Marsh rack railway system
Konosuke Matsushita (1894–1989), Japan – battery-powered Bicycle lighting
Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf (1526–1585), Syria/Egypt/Turkey – steam turbine, six-cylinder 'Monobloc' suction pump, framed sextant
Alex Mashinsky (born 1965), U.S. – VoIP
John Landis Mason (1826–1902), U.S. – Mason jars
Fujio Masuoka (born 1943), Japan – Flash memory
John W. Mauchly (1907–1980), U.S. – ENIAC – the first general purpose programmable digital computer
Henry Maudslay (1771–1831), UK – screw-cutting lathe, bench micrometer
Hiram Maxim (1840–1916), U.S. born, UK – first self-powered machine gun
James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) and Thomas Sutton, Scotland – color photography
Stanley Mazor (born 1941), U.S. – microprocessor
John Loudon McAdam (1756–1836), Scotland – improved "macadam" road surface
Elijah McCoy (1843–1929), Canada – Displacement lubricator
Nicholas McKay Sr. (1920–2014), U.S. – Lint roller
Frederick McKinley Jones (1893–1961), U.S. – 22 patents, the most prominent for an automatic refrigeration system for long-haul trucks
James McLurkin (born 1972), U.S. – Ant robotics (robotics)
Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (1845–1916), Russia – probiotics
Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès (1817–1880), France – margarine
Mordecai Meirowitz (born 1930), Roumania / Israel – Mastermind (board game)
Dmitri Mendeleev (1834–1907), Russia – Periodic table, pycnometer, pyrocollodion
Richard B. Merrill (1949–2008), U.S. – Foveon X3 sensor
George de Mestral (1907–1990), Switzerland – Velcro
Robert Metcalfe (born 1946), U.S. – Ethernet
Antonio Meucci (1808–1889), Italy/U.S. – various early telephones, a hygrometer, a milk test
Édouard Michelin (1859–1940), France – pneumatic tire
Anthony Michell (1870–1959), Australia – tilting pad thrust bearing, crankless engine
Artem Mikoyan (1905–1970), Armenia/Russia/USSR – MiG-series fighter aircraft, including world's most produced jet aircraft MiG-15 and most produced supersonic aircraft MiG-21 (together with Mikhail Gurevich)
Alexander Mikulin (1895–1985), Russia – Mikulin AM-34 and other Soviet aircraft engines, co-developer of the Tsar Tank
Mikhail Mil (1909–1970), Russia – Mi-series helicopter aircraft, including Mil Mi-8 (the world's most-produced helicopter) and Mil Mi-12 (the world's largest helicopter)
Alexander Miles (1838–1918), U.S. – system for automatically opening and closing elevator doors
David L. Mills (born 1938), U.S. – Fuzzball router, Network Time Protocol
Marvin Minsky (1927–2016), U.S. – Confocal microscopy
Tokushichi Mishima (1893–1975), Japan – MKM magnetic steel
Pavel Molchanov (1893–1941), Russia – Radiosonde
Jules Montenier (1895–1962), U.S. – Anti-perspirant deodorant
Montgolfier brothers (1740–1810) and (1745–1799), France – hot air balloon
John J. Montgomery (1858–1911), U.S. – heavier-than-air gliders
Narcis Monturiol i Estarriol (1819–1885), Spain – steam powered submarine
Robert Moog (1934–2005), U.S. – Moog synthesizer
John J. Mooney (1930–2020), together with Carl D. Keith (1920–2008), U.S. – three way catalytic converter
Roland Moreno (1945–2012), France – inventor of the smart card
Samuel Morey (1762–1843), U.S. – internal combustion engine
Garrett A. Morgan (1877–1963), U.S. – inventor of the smoke hood
Alexander Morozov (1904–1979), Russia – T-54/55 (the most produced tank in history), co-developer of T-34
Walter Frederick Morrison (1920–2010), U.S. – Flying disc
William Morrison (dentist) (1860–1926), U.S. – Cotton candy machine
Samuel Morse (1791–1872), U.S. – early Morse code, see also Morse Code controversy
Sergei Ivanovich Mosin (1849–1902), Russia – Mosin–Nagant rifle
Motorins, Ivan Feodorovich (1660s–1735) and his son Mikhail Ivanovich (?–1750), Russia – Tsar Bell
Vera Mukhina (1889–1953), Russia – welded sculpture
Kary Mullis (1944–2019), U.S. – PCR
Fe del Mundo (1911–2011), Philippines – medical incubator made out of bamboo for use in rural communities without electrical power
Colin Murdoch (1929–2008), New Zealand – Tranquillizer gun, disposable hypodermic syringe
William Murdoch (1754–1839), Scotland – Gas lighting
Jozef Murgas (1864–1929), Slovakia – inventor of the wireless telegraph (forerunner of the radio)
Evgeny Murzin (1914–1970), Russia – ANS synthesizer
Banū Mūsā brothers, Muhammad (c. 800–873), Ahmad (803–873), Al-Hasan (810–873), Iraq – mechanical trick devices, hurricane lamp, self-trimming and self-feeding lamp, gas mask, clamshell grab, fail-safe system, mechanical musical instrument, automatic flute player, programmable machine
Pieter van Musschenbroek (1692–1761), Netherlands – Leyden jar, pyrometer
Walton Musser (1909–1998), U.S. – Harmonic drive gear
Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904), UK – motion picture
Ted Myerson (born 1975), U.S. – data cloud computing system patents

N

Georgi Nadjakov (1896–1981), Bulgaria – wikt:photoelectret
Alexander Nadiradze (1914–1987), Georgia/Russia – first mobile ICBM (RT-21 Temp 2S), first reliable mobile ICBM (RT-2PM Topol)
Nagai Nagayoshi (1844–1929), Japan – Methamphetamine
James Naismith (1861–1939), Canadian born, U.S. – invented basketball and American football helmet
Yoshiro Nakamatsu (born 1928), Japan – "PyonPyon" spring shoes, digital watch, CinemaScope, armchair "Cerebrex", sauce pump, taxicab meter
Shuji Nakamura (born 1954), Japan – Blue laser
John Napier (1550–1617), Scotland – logarithms
Andrey Nartov (1683–1756), Russia – first lathe with a mechanic cutting tool-supporting carriage and a set of gears, fast-fire battery on a rotating disc, screw mechanism for changing the artillery fire angle, gauge–boring lathe for cannon-making, early telescopic sight
James Nasmyth (1808–1890), Scotland – steam hammer
Giulio Natta (1903–1979), together with Karl Ziegler (1898–1973), Italy/Germany – Ziegler–Natta catalyst
William Neade (fl.1624–1637), England – weapon combining a longbow and a pike
Nebuchadrezzar II (634–562 BC), Iraq (Mesopotamia) – screw, screwpump
Erwin Neher (born 1944), together with Bert Sakmann (1942–), Germany – Patch clamp technique
Ted Nelson (born 1937), U.S. – Hypertext, Hypermedia
Sergey Nepobedimiy (1921–2014), Russia – first supersonic anti-tank guided missile Sturm, other Soviet rocket weaponry
Karl Nessler (1872–1951), Germany/U.S. – Permanent wave machine, artificial eyebrows
Bernard de Neumann (1943–2018), UK – massively parallel self-configuring multi-processor
John von Neumann (1903–1957), Hungary – Von Neumann computer architecture, Stochastic computing, Merge sort algorithm
Isaac Newton (1642–1727), UK – reflecting telescope (which reduces chromatic aberration)
Miguel Nicolelis (born 1961), Brazil – Brain-machine interfaces
Joseph Nicephore Niépce (1765–1833), France – photography
Nikolai Nikitin (1907–1973), Russia – prestressed concrete with wire ropes structure (Ostankino Tower), Nikitin-Travush 4000 project (precursor to X-Seed 4000)
Paul Gottlieb Nipkow (1860–1940), Germany – Nipkow disk
Jun-ichi Nishizawa (1926–2018), Japan – Optical communication system, SIT/SITh (Static Induction Transistor/Thyristor), Laser diode, PIN diode
Alfred Nobel (1833–1896), Sweden – dynamite
Ludvig Nobel (1831–1888), Sweden/Russia – first successful oil tanker
Emmy Noether (1882–1935), Germany, groundbreaking contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics; Noether's Theorem
Jean-Antoine Nollet (1700–1770), France – Electroscope
Wilhelm Normann (1870–1939), Germany – Hydrogenation of fats
Carl Richard Nyberg (1858–1939), Sweden – the blowtorch

O

Aaron D. O'Connell (born 1981), U.S. – first Quantum machine
Joseph John O'Connell (1861–1959), U.S. – number of inventions relating to telephony and electrical engineering
Theophil Wilgodt Odhner (1845–1903), Sweden/Russia – the Odhner Arithmometer, a mechanical calculator
Paul Offit (born 1951), U.S., along with Fred Clark and Stanley Plotkin, invented a pentavalent Rotavirus vaccine
Hans von Ohain (1911–1998), Germany – co-inventor of the jet engine
Jarkko Oikarinen (born 1967), Finland – Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
Katsuhiko Okamoto (?–), Japan – Okamoto Cubes = modifications of Rubik's Cube
Ransom Eli Olds (1864–1950), U.S. – Assembly line
Lucien Olivier (1838–1883), Belgium or France / Russia – Russian salad (Olivier salad)
Gerard K. O'Neill (1927–1992), U.S. – Storage ring (physics)
J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), United States – Atomic bomb
Hugh Orr (1715–1798), U.S. – machine for cleaning flax seed
Hans Christian Ørsted (1777–1851), Denmark – electromagnetism, aluminium
Elisha Otis (1811–1861), U.S. – safety system for elevators
William Oughtred (1575–1660), UK – slide rule

P

Arogyaswami Paulraj (born 1944), India/U.S. – MIMO
Antonio Pacinotti (1841–1912), Italy – Pacinotti dynamo
Hilary Page (1904-1957), UK – Self-Locking Building Bricks, the predecessor of Lego
Larry Page (born 1973), U.S. – with Sergey Brin invented Google web search engine
William Painter (1838–1906), UK/U.S. – Crown cork, Bottle opener
Salvatore Pais (born 1967), Romania/U.S. – electromagnetic field generator to deflect asteroids away from the Earth, an inertial mass reduction device, a room-temperature superconductor, a gravitational wave generator, and a compact fusion reactor
Alexey Pajitnov (born 1956), Russia/U.S. – Tetris
Julio Palmaz (born 1945), Argentina – balloon-expandable, stent
Helge Palmcrantz (1842–1880), Sweden – multi-barrel, lever-actuated, machine gun
Daniel David Palmer (1845–1913), Canada – chiropractic
Luigi Palmieri (1807–1896), Italy – seismometer
Frank Pantridge (1916–2004), Ireland – Portable defibrillator
Georgios Papanikolaou (1883–1962), Greece / U.S. – Papanicolaou stain, Pap test = Pap smear
Alice H. Parker (1895–1920), U.S. – central heating using natural gas furnace
Philip M. Parker (born 1960), U.S. – computer automated book authoring
Thomas Parker (1843–1915), England – electric car
Alexander Parkes (1831–1890), UK – celluloid
Florence Parpart (c. 1856–?), U.S. – industrial sweeping machine, electrical refrigerator
Forrest Parry (1921–2005), U.S. – Magnetic stripe card
Charles Algernon Parsons (1854–1931), British – steam turbine
Spede Pasanen (1930–2001), Finland – ski jumping sling, boat ski
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), France – Pascal's calculator
Gustaf Erik Pasch (1788–1862), Sweden – safety match
Dimitar Paskov (1914–1986), Bulgaria – Galantamine
C. Kumar N. Patel (born 1938), India/U.S. – Carbon dioxide laser
Les Paul (1915–2009), U.S. – multitrack recording
Andreas Pavel (born 1945), Brazil – audio devices
Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936), Russia, – classical conditioning
Floyd Paxton (1918–1975), U.S. – Bread clip
John Pemberton (1831–1888), U.S. – Coca-Cola
Slavoljub Eduard Penkala (1871–1922), Croatia – mechanical pencil
Ralph Peo (1897–1966), U.S. – early Automobile air conditioning, shock absorbers
William Henry Perkin (1838–1907), UK – first synthetic organic chemical dye Mauveine
Henry Perky (1843–1906), U.S. – shredded wheat
Alfred Perot (1863–1925), together with Charles Fabry (1867–1945), France – Fabry–Pérot interferometer (physics)
Stephen Perry, UK (fl. 19th century) – rubber band
Aurel Persu (1890–1977), Romania – first aerodynamic car, aluminum body with wheels included under the body, 1922
Vladimir Petlyakov (1891–1942), Russia – heavy bomber
Julius Richard Petri (1852–1921), Germany – Petri dish
Peter Petroff (1919–2004), Bulgaria – digital wrist watch, heart monitor, weather instruments
Fritz Pfleumer (1881–1945), Germany – magnetic tape
Auguste Piccard (1884–1962), Switzerland – Bathyscaphe
Gregory Goodwin Pincus (1903–1967), together with Min Chueh Chang (1908–1991), U.S./China – Combined oral contraceptive pill
Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (1810–1881), Russia – early use of ether as anaesthetic, first anaesthesia in a field operation, various kinds of surgical operations
Fyodor Pirotsky (1845–1898), Russia – electric tram
Arthur Pitney (1871–1933), U.S. – postage meter
Hippolyte Pixii (1808–1835), France – Pixii dynamo
Joseph Plateau (1801–1883), Belgium – phenakistiscope (stroboscope)
Baltzar von Platen (1898–1984), Sweden – gas absorption refrigerator
James Leonard Plimpton (1828–1911), U.S. – roller skates
Ivan Plotnikov (1902–1995), Russia – kirza leather
Roy Plunkett (1910–1994), U.S. – Teflon
Petrache Poenaru (1799–1875), Romania – fountain pen
Christopher Polhem (1661–1751), Sweden – Padlock
Nikolai Polikarpov (1892–1944), Russia – Po-series aircraft, including Polikarpov Po-2 Kukuruznik (world's most produced biplane)
Eugene Polley (1915–2012), U.S. – wireless remote control (with Robert Adler)
Ivan Polzunov (1728–1766), Russia – first two-cylinder steam engine
Mikhail Pomortsev (1851–1916), Russia – nephoscope
Olivia Poole (1889–1975), U.S. – Jolly Jumper baby harness
Alexander Popov (1859–1906), Russia – radio pioneer, created a radio receiver that worked as a lightning detector
Nikolay Popov (1931–2008), Russia – first fully gas turbine main battle tank (T-80)
Josef Popper (1838–1921), Austria – discovered the transmission of power by electricity.
Aleksandr Porokhovschikov (1892–1941), Russia – Vezdekhod (the first prototype tank, or tankette, and the first caterpillar amphibious ATV)
Ignazio Porro (1801–1875), Italy – Porro prism, strip camera
Valdemar Poulsen (1869–1942), Denmark – magnetic wire recorder, arc converter
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804), UK – soda water
Robert Taylor Pritchett (1828–1907), UK – Pritchett bullet
Alexander Procofieff de Seversky (1894–1974), Russia/U.S. – first gyroscopically stabilized bombsight, ionocraft, also developed air-to-air refueling
Alexander Prokhorov (1916–2002), Russia – co-inventor of laser and maser
Petro Prokopovych (1775–1850), Russian Empire – early beehive frame, queen excluder and other beekeeping novelties
Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (1863–1944), Russia/France – early colour photography method based on three colour channels, also colour film slides and colour motion pictures
Mark Publicover (born 1958), U.S. – first affordable trampoline safety net enclosure
George Pullman (1831–1897), U.S. – Pullman sleep wagon
Michael I. Pupin (1858–1935), Serbia – pupinization (loading coils), tunable oscillator
Tivadar Puskás (1844–1893), Hungary – telephone exchange

Q

Calvin Quate (1923–2019), with Gerd Binnig (born 1947), and with Christoph Gerber (1942–), U.S./Germany/Switzerland – Atomic force microscope
Adolphe Quetelet (1796–1874), France/Belgium – Body mass index (BMI)

R

Jacob Rabinow (1910–1999), U.S. – Magnetic particle clutch, various Phonograph-related patents
John Goffe Rand (1801–1873), U.S. – Tube (container)
Robert Ransome (1753–1830), England – improvement to the plough
Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi (Rhazes) (865–965), Persia/Iran – distillation and extraction methods, sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid, soap kerosene, kerosene lamp, chemotherapy, sodium hydroxide
Alec Reeves (1902–1971), UK – Pulse-code modulation
Karl von Reichenbach (1788–1869), Germany – paraffin, creosote oil, phenol
Tadeus Reichstein (1897–1996), Poland/Switzerland – Reichstein process (industrial vitamin C synthesis)
Ira Remsen (1846–1927), U.S. – saccharin
Ralf Reski (born 1958), Germany – Moss bioreactor 1998
Josef Ressel (1793–1857), Czechoslovakia – ship propeller
William Reynolds (1758–1803), England – canal inclined plane
Ri Sung-gi (1905–1996), North Korea – Vinylon
Charles Francis Richter (1900–1985), U.S. – Richter magnitude scale
Adolph Rickenbacker (1886–1976), Switzerland – Electric guitar
Hyman George Rickover (1900–1986), U.S. – Nuclear submarine
Niklaus Riggenbach (1817–1899), Switzerland – Riggenbach rack railway system, Counter-pressure brake
Dennis Ritchie (1941–2011), U.S. – C (programming language)
Gilles de Roberval (1602–1675), France – Roberval balance
John Roebuck (1718–1794) UK – lead chamber process for sulfuric acid synthesis
Francis Rogallo (1912–2009), U.S. – Rogallo wing
Heinrich Rohrer (1933–2013), together with Gerd Binnig (1947–), Switzerland/Germany – Scanning tunneling microscope
**Peter I the Great (Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov), Tsar and Emperor of Russia (1672–1725), Russia – decimal currency, yacht club, sounding line with separating plummet (sounding weight probe)
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845–1923), Germany – the X-ray machine
Ida Rosenthal (1886–1973), Belarus/Russia/U.S. – Bra (Maidenform), the standard of cup sizes, nursing bra, full-figured bra, the first seamed uplift bra (all with her husband William)
Sidney Rosenthal (1907–1979), U.S. – Magic Marker
Eugene Roshal (born 1972), Russia – FAR file manager, RAR file format, WinRAR file archiver
Boris Rosing (1869–1933), Russia – CRT television (first television system using CRT on the receiving side)
Guido van Rossum (born 1956), The Netherlands – Python (programming language)
Michael Rothman, U.S. – UEFI
Subrata Roy (scientist) (born 1962), India, U.S. – Wingless Electromagnetic Air Vehicle, Serpentine geometry plasma actuator, micro-scale actuators
Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier (1754–1785), France – Rozière balloon
Ernő Rubik (born 1944), Hungary – Rubik's Cube, Rubik's Magic and Rubik's Clock
Ernst Ruska (1906–1988), Germany – electron microscope
William Chester Ruth (1882–1971), U.S. – combination baler feeder, self-lifting farm elevator
François van Rysselberghe (1846–1893), Belgium – Universal meteorograph, Condenser telephone

S

Albert Bruce Sabin (1906–1993), U.S. – oral Polio vaccine
Alexander Sablukov (1783–1857), Russia – centrifugal fan
Şerafeddin Sabuncuoğlu (1385–1468), Turkey – illustrated surgical atlas
Gilles Saint-Hilaire (born 1948), Canada – Quasiturbine, Qurbine
Andrei Sakharov (1921–1989), Russia – invented explosively pumped flux compression generator, co-developed the Tsar Bomb and tokamak
Jonas Edward Salk (1914–1995), U.S. – injection Polio vaccine
Robert Salmon (1763–1821), England – agricultural implements
Franz San Galli (1824–1908), Poland/Russia (Italian and German descent) – radiator, central heating
Frederick Sanger (1918–2013), U.S. – Sanger sequencing (= DNA sequencing)
Larry Sanger (born 1968), together with Jimmy Wales, U.S. – Wikipedia
Yoshiyuki Sankai (born c. 1957), Japan – Robotic exoskeleton for motion support (medicine)
Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873–1932), Brazil – non-rigid airship and airplane
Arthur William Savage (1857–1938) – radial tires, gun magazines, Savage Model 99 lever action rifle
Thomas Savery (1650–1715), UK – steam engine
Adolphe Sax (1814–1894), Belgium – saxophone
Vincent Joseph Schaefer (1906–1993), U.S. – Cloud seeding by dry ice
Bela Schick (1877–1967), Hungary – diphtheria test
Wilhelm Schickard (1592–1635), Germany – mechanical calculator
Hugo Schiff (1834–1915), Germany – Schiff test (histology)
Pavel Schilling (1786–1837), Estonia/Russia – first electromagnetic telegraph, mine with an electric fuse
Gilmore Schjeldahl (1912–2002), U.S. – Airsickness bag
Hubert Schlafly (1919–2011), U.S. – Teleprompter = Autocue
Wilhelm Schlenk (1879–1943), Germany – Schlenk flask (chemistry)
Bernhard Schmidt (1879–1935), Estonia/Germany – Schmidt camera
Friedrich Schmiedl (1902–1994), Austria – rocket mail
Otto Schmitt (1913–1998), U.S. – Schmitt trigger (electronics)
Christian Schnabel (1878–1936), German – simplistic food cutleries
Kees A. Schouhamer Immink (born 1946), Netherlands – Major contributor to development of compact disc
August Schrader (1807–1894), U.S. – Schrader valve for Pneumatic tire
David Schwarz (1852–1897), Croatia, – rigid airship, later called Zeppelin
Raymond Scott (1908–1994), U.S. – inventor and developer of electronic music technology
Girolamo Segato (1792–1836), Italy – artificial petrifaction of human cadavers
Marc Seguin (1786–1875), France – wire-cable suspension bridge
Hanaoka Seishū (1760–1835), Japan – General anaesthetic
Ted Selker (inv. 1987), U.S. – Pointing stick
Sennacherib (705–681 BC), Iraq (Mesopotamia) – screw pump
Léon Serpollet (1858–1907), France – Flash boiler, Gardner-Serpollet steam car
Iwan Serrurier (1878–1953), Netherlands/U.S. – inventor of the Moviola for film editing
Mark Serrurier (1904–1988), U.S. – Serrurier truss for Optical telescopes
Gerhard Sessler (born 1931), Germany – foil electret microphone, silicon microphone
Guy Severin (1926–2008), Russia – extra-vehicular activity supporting system
Ed Seymour (inv. c. 1949), U.S. – Aerosol paint
Leonty Shamshurenkov (1687–1758), Russia – first self-propelling carriage (a precursor to both bicycle and automobile), projects of an original odometer and self-propelling sledge
Ibn al-Shatir (1304–1375), Syria – "jewel box" device which combined a compass with a universal sundial
Bi Sheng (Chinese: 畢昇) (c. 990–1051), China – clay movable type printing
Patsy O’Connell Sherman (1930–2008), U.S. – Scotchgard
Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973–1025), Japan – psychological novel
Pyotr Shilovsky (1871–1957), Russia/UK – gyrocar
Masatoshi Shima (born 1943), Japan – microprocessor
Fathullah Shirazi (c. 1582), Mughal India – early volley gun
Joseph Shivers (1920–2014), U.S. – Spandex
William Bradford Shockley (1910–1989), U.S. – co-inventor of transistor
Henry Shrapnel (1761–1842), UK – Shrapnel shell ammunition
Vladimir Shukhov (1853–1939), Russia – thermal cracking (Shukhov cracking process), thin-shell structure, tensile structure, hyperboloid structure, gridshell, oil pipeline, cylindric oil depot
Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor (born 1972), Malaysia – cell growth in outer space, crystallization of proteins and microbes in space
Augustus Siebe (1788–1872), Germany/UK – Inventor of the standard diving dress
Sir William Siemens (1823–1883), Germany – regenerative furnace
Werner von Siemens (1816–1892), Germany – electric elevator, Electromote (= first trolleybus), an early Dynamo
Al-Sijzi (c. 945–1020), Persia/Iran – heliocentric astrolabe
Igor Sikorsky (1889–1972), Russia/U.S. – first four-engine fixed-wing aircraft (Russky Vityaz), first airliner and purpose-designed bomber (Ilya Muromets), helicopter, Sikorsky-series helicopters
Bernard Silver (1924–1963), together with Norman Joseph Woodland (1921–2012), U.S. – Barcode
Kia Silverbrook (born 1958), Australia – Memjet printer, world's most prolific inventor
Luther Simjian (1905–1997), Armenia/U.S. – Automated teller machine (ATM)
Vladimir Simonov (1935–2020), Russia – APS Underwater Assault Rifle, SPP-1 underwater pistol
Charles Simonyi (born 1948), Hungary – Hungarian notation
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980–1037), Persia/Iran – steam distillation, essential oil, pharmacopoeia, clinical pharmacology, clinical trial, randomized controlled trial, quarantine, cancer surgery, cancer therapy, pharmacotherapy, phytotherapy, Hindiba, Taxus baccata L, calcium channel blocker
Clive Sinclair (1940–2021), U.K. - Sinclair C5, ZX Spectrum and A-bike
Isaac Singer (1811–1875), U.S. – sewing machine
B. F. Skinner (1904–1990), U.S. – Operant conditioning chamber
Nikolay Slavyanov (1854–1897), Russia – shielded metal arc welding
Alexander Smakula (1900–1983), Ukraine/Russia/U.S. – anti-reflective coating
Michael Smith (1932–2000), U.S. – Site-directed mutagenesis (molecular biology)
Oliver Smithies (1925–2017), together with Sir Martin John Evans (born 1941), and Mario Ramberg Capecchi (born 1937), U.S. – Knockout mouse, Gene targeting
Yefim Smolin, Russia – table-glass (stakan granyonyi)
Friedrich Soennecken (1848–1919), Germany – Ring binder, Hole punch
Su Song (1020–1101), China – first chain drive
Marin Soljačić (born 1974), Croatia – Resonant inductive coupling
Edwin Southern (born 1938), U.S. – Southern blot (molecular biology)
Alfred P. Southwick (1826–1898), U.S. – Electric chair
Igor Spassky (born 1926), Russia – Sea Launch platform
Percy Spencer (1894–1970), U.S. – microwave oven
Elmer Ambrose Sperry (1860–1930), U.S. – gyroscope-guided automatic pilot
Lyman Spitzer (1914–1997), U.S. – Stellarator (physics)
Frank J. Sprague (1857–1934), father of electric traction, electric elevator improvements and electric multiple unit trains.
Bhargav Sri Prakash (born 1977), India/U.S. – Digital vaccines, learnification platform at FriendsLearn, virtual reality system, electromagnetic collision avoidance system, OBD based in-vehicle powertrain performance measurement, rate-based driver controls for drive by wire systems
Richard Stallman (born 1953), U.S. – GNU operating system, GNU Emacs, GNU Compiler Collection
Ladislas Starevich (1882–1965), Russia/France – puppet animation, live-action/animated film
Gary Starkweather (1938–2019), U.S. – laser printer, color management
John Kemp Starley (1855–1901), U.K. – safety bicycle
Betsey Ann Stearns (1830–1914), U.S. – garment cutting diagram and system
Boris Stechkin (1891–1969), Russia – co-developer of Sikorsky Ilya Muromets and Tsar Tank, developer of Soviet heat and aircraft engines
George Stephenson (1781–1848), UK – steam railway
Simon Stevin (1548–1620), Netherlands – land yacht
Andreas Stihl (1896–1973), Switzerland/Germany – electric chain saw
Reverend Dr Robert Stirling (1790–1878), Scotland – Stirling engine
Aurel Stodola (1859–1942), Slovakia – gas turbines
Aleksandr Stoletov (1839–1896), Russia – first solar cell based on the outer photoelectric effect
Levi Strauss (1829–1902), U.S. – blue jeans
John Stringfellow (1799–1883), UK – aerial steam carriage
Bjarne Stroustrup (born 1950), Denmark – C++ (programming language)
Almon Strowger (1839–1902), U.S. – automatic telephone exchange
Emil Strub (1858–1909), Switzerland – Strub rack railway system
Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (Azophi) (903–986), Persia/Iran – timekeeping astrolabe, navigational astrolabe, surveying astrolabe
René Núñez Suárez (born 1945/1946), El Salvador – "turbococina" (turbo-cooker)
Kyota Sugimoto (1882–1972), Japan – Japanese language typewriter
Mutsuo Sugiura (1918–1986), Japan – Esophagogastroduodenoscope
Pavel Sukhoi (1895–1975), Russia – Su-series fighter aircraft
Simon Sunatori (born 1959), Canada – inventor of MagneScribe and Magic Spicer
Sushruta (600 BC), Vedic India – inventor of Plastic Surgery, Cataract Surgery, Rhinoplasty
Theodor Svedberg (1884–1971), Sweden – Analytical ultracentrifuge
Joseph Swan (1828–1914), UK – Incandescent light bulb
Robert Swanson (1905–1994), Canada – invented and developed the first multi-chime air horn for use with diesel locomotives
Remi Swierczek (born 1958), Poland – inventor of Music Identification System and the Mico Changer (coin hopper and dispenser used in casinos)
Andrei Sychra (c.1773/76–1850), Lithuania/Russia, Czech descent – Russian seven-string guitar
Walter Sylvester (1867–1944), UK – the "Sylvester", for safely removing pit props
Vladimir Syromyatnikov (1933–2006), Russia – Androgynous Peripheral Attach System and other spacecraft docking mechanisms
Simon Sze (born 1936), Taiwan/U.S., together with Dawon Kahng (1931–1992), South Korea – Floating-gate MOSFET
Leó Szilárd (1898–1964), Hungary/U.S. – co-developed the atomic bomb, patented the nuclear reactor, catalyst of the Manhattan Project

T

Muhammad Saleh Thattvi (fl.1659–1660), Mughal India – seamless globe and celestial globe
Gyula Takátsy (1914–1980), Hungary – first Microtiter plate
Esther Takeuchi (born 1953) – holds more than 150 US-patents, the largest number for any woman in the United States
Igor Tamm (1895–1971), Russia – co-developer of tokamak
Ching W. Tang (born 1947), Hong Kong/U.S., together with Steven Van Slyke, U.S. – OLED
Mardi bin Ali al-Tarsusi (c. 1187), Middle East – counterweight trebuchet, mangonel
Gustav Tauschek (1899–1945), Austria – Drum memory
Kenyon Taylor (1908–1986), U.S. – Flip-disc display
Bernard Tellegen (1900–1990), Netherlands – pentode
Edward Teller (1908–2003), Hungary – hydrogen bomb
Eli Terry (1772–1852)
Michel Ter-Pogossian (1925–1996), Armenia/U.S. – Positron emission tomography (PET)
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943), Serbia – induction motor, high-voltage / high-frequency power experiments, the transmission of electrical power
Avie Tevanian (born 1961), Armenia/U.S. – Mach kernel, NeXTSTEP, macOS
Léon Theremin (1896–1993), Russia – theremin, interlace, burglar alarm, terpsitone, Rhythmicon (first drum machine), The Thing (listening device)
Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar (1785–1870), France – Arithmometer
Elihu Thomson (1853–1937), UK, U.S. – Prolific inventor, Arc lamp and many others
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (1824–1907), UK – Kelvin absolute temperature scale
Eric Tigerstedt (1887–1925), Finland – Sound-on-film, triode vacuum tube
Kálmán Tihanyi (1897–1947), Hungary – co-inventor of cathode ray tube and iconoscope, infrared video camera, plasma display
Mikhail Tikhonravov (1900–1974), Russia – co-developer of Sputnik 1 (the first artificial satellite) together with Korolyov and Keldysh, designer of further Sputniks
Gavriil Adrianovich Tikhov (1875–1960), Russia – feathering spectrograph
Benjamin Chew Tilghman (1821–1897), U.S. – sandblasting
Fedor Tokarev (1871–1968), Russia – TT-33 semiautomatic handgun and SVT-40 self-loading rifle
Ray Tomlinson (1941–2016), U.S. – First inter-computer email
Evangelista Torricelli (1608–1647), Italy – barometer
Linus Torvalds (born 1969), Finland/U.S. – Linux kernel
Alfred Traeger (1895–1980), Australia – Pedal radio
Richard Trevithick (1771–1833), UK – high-pressure steam engine, first full-scale steam locomotive
Franc Trkman (1903–1978), Slovenia – electrical switches, accessories for opening windows
Hans Tropsch (1889–1935), together with Franz Joseph Emil Fischer (1877–1947), Germany – Fischer–Tropsch process (refinery process)
Yuri Trutnev (1927–2021), Russia – co-developer of the Tsar Bomb
Roger Y. Tsien (1952–2016), together with Osamu Shimomura (1928–2018) and Martin Chalfie (born 1947), U.S. – Discovery and development of Green fluorescent protein
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935), Russia – spaceflight
Mikhail Tsvet (1872–1919), Russia – chromatography (specifically adsorption chromatography, the first chromatography method)
Alexei Tupolev (1925–2001), Russia – the Tupolev Tu-144 (first supersonic passenger jet)
Andrei Tupolev (1888–1972), Russia – turboprop powered long-range airliner (Tupolev Tu-114), turboprop strategic bomber (Tupolev Tu-95)
Alan Turing (1912–1954), UK – Turing machine
Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (1201–1274), Persia/Iran – observatory, Tusi-couple
Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī (1135–1213), Persia/Iran – linear astrolabe
Ralph Hart Tweddell (1843–1895), England – portable hydraulic riveter

U

Shintaro Uda (1869–1976), together with Hidetsugu Yagi (1886–1976), Japan – Yagi–Uda antenna–
Lewis Urry (1927–2004), Canada – long-lasting alkaline battery
Tomislav Uzelac, Croatia – first successful MP3 player, AMP

V

Ira Van Gieson (1866–1913), U.S. – Van Gieson's stain (histology)
Theophilus Van Kannel (1841–1919), U.S. – revolving door (1888)
Vladimir Veksler (1907–1966), Russia – synchrophasotron, co-inventor of synchrotron
John Venn (1834–1923), UK – Venn diagram (1881)
Auguste Victor Louis Verneuil (1856–1913), France – Verneuil process (crystal growth)
Pierre Vernier (1580–1637), France – Vernier scale (1631)
Lucien Vidi (1805–1866), France – Barograph
Edgar Villchur (1917–2011), U.S. – Acoustic suspension (loudspeaker)
Artturi Ilmari Virtanen (1895–1973), Finland – AIV fodder
Alessandro Volta (1745–1827), Italy – battery, see also Voltaic pile
Bernard Vonnegut (1914–1997), together with Henry Chessin, and Richard E. Passarelli Jr., U.S. – Cloud seeding by silver iodide
Ivan Vučetić (1858–1925), Croatia – method of fingerprint classification

W

Ruth Graves Wakefield (1903–1977), U.S. – chocolate chip cookie
Paul Walden (1863–1957), Latvia/Russia/Germany – Walden inversion, Ethylammonium nitrate (the first room temperature ionic liquid)
Jimmy Wales (born 1966), together with Larry Sanger, U.S. – Wikipedia
Adam Walker (1730–1821), UK – eidouranion
Madam C.J. Walker (1867–1919), U.S. – beauty and hair products for African American women
Barnes Wallis (1887–1979), UK – bouncing bomb
Frederick Walton (c. 1834–1928), UK – Linoleum
Maurice Ward (1933–2011), UK – Starlite
Aldred Scott Warthin (1866–1931), together with Allen Chronister Starry (1890–1973), U.S. – Warthin–Starry stain (histology)
Robert Watson-Watt (1892–1973), Scotland – microwave radar
James Watt (1736–1819), Scotland – improved Steam engine
Thomas Wedgwood (1771–1805), UK – first (not permanent) photograph
Carl Auer von Welsbach (1858–1929), Austria – Gas mantle, ferrocerium
Jonas Wenström (1855–1893), Sweden – three-phase electrical power
George Westinghouse (1846–1914), U.S. – Air brake (rail)
Charles Wheatstone (1802–1875), UK – concertina, stereoscope, microphone, Playfair cipher, pseudoscope, dynamo
Richard T. Whitcomb (1921–2009), U.S. – Supercritical airfoil, Winglet
Cornelius Whitehouse (1796–1883), UK – method of manufacturing tubes cheaply and accurately
Eli Whitney (1765–1825), U.S. – cotton gin
Frank Whittle (1907–1996), UK – co-inventor of the jet engine
Otto Wichterle (1913–1989), Czechoslovakia – soft contact lens
Norman Wilkinson (1878–1971), UK – Dazzle camouflage
Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (1869–1959), UK – Cloud chamber
Paul Winchell (1922–2005), U.S. – artificial heart
Sergei Winogradsky (1856–1953), Russia / USSR – Winogradsky column for culturing microorganisms
Niklaus Wirth (born 1934), Switzerland – Pascal (programming language)
A. Baldwin Wood (1879–1956), U.S. – high volume pump
Norman Joseph Woodland (1921–2012), together with Bernard Silver (1924–1963), U.S. – Barcode
Granville Woods (1856–1910), U.S. – Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph
Steve Wozniak (born 1950), U.S. – Apple I & II computers, early Macintosh concepts, CL 9 CORE universal remote and other devices and applications.
James Homer Wright (1869–1928), U.S. – Wright's stain (histology)
Wright brothers, Orville (1871–1948) and Wilbur (1867–1912) – U.S. – powered airplane
Wu Yulu, Chinese farmer and inventor of home-made robots
Adam Wybe (1584–1653), Dutch – inventor of the cable car on multiple supports
Arthur Wynne (1871–1945), UK – creator of crossword puzzle

X

Yi Xing (683–727), China – Astronomical clock

Y

Pavel Yablochkov (1847–1894), Russia – Yablochkov candle (first commercially viable electric carbon arc lamp)
Hidetsugu Yagi (1886–1976), together with Shintaro Uda (1896–1976), Japan – Yagi–Uda antenna
Alexander Yakovlev (1906–1989), Russia – Yak-series aircraft, including Yakovlev Yak-40 (the first regional jet)
Linus Yale Jr. (1821–1868), U.S. – cylinder lock
Linus Yale Sr. (1797–1858), U.S. – pin tumbler lock
Shunpei Yamazaki (born 1942), Japan – patents in computer science and solid-state physics, see List of prolific inventors
Gazi Yaşargil (born 1925), Turkey – Microneurosurgery
Ryōichi Yazu (1878–1908), Japan – Yazu Arithmometer
Gunpei Yokoi (1941–1997), Japan – Game Boy
Arthur M. Young (1905–1995), U.S. – Bell Helicopter
Vladimir Yourkevich (1885–1964), Russia/France/U.S. – ship hull design
Tu Youyou (born 1930), China – Artemisinin
Sergei Yudin (1891–1954), Russia – cadaveric blood transfusion and other medical operations
Muhammad Yunus (born 1940), Bangladesh – microcredit, microfinance
Abu Yusuf Yaqub (c. 1274), Morocco/Spain – siege cannon
Abraham Albert Yuzpe (born 1938), U.S. – Yuzpe regimen (= form of Emergency contraception)

Z

Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) (936–1013), Islamic Spain – catgut surgical suture, various surgical instruments and dental devices
Frank Zamboni (1901–1988), U.S. – Ice resurfacer
Giuseppe Zamboni (1776–1846), Italy – Zamboni pile (early battery)
Ludwik Łazarz Zamenhof (1859–1917), Russia/Poland – Esperanto
Walter Zapp (1905–2003), Latvia/Estonia/Germany – Minox (subminiature camera)
Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (Arzachel) (1028–1087), Islamic Spain – almanac, equatorium, universal astrolabe
Yevgeny Zavoisky (1907–1976), Russia – EPR spectroscopy, co-developer of NMR spectroscopy
Nikolay Zelinsky (1861–1953), Russia – first effective filtering coal gas mask in the world
Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838–1917), Germany – Zeppelin
Frits Zernike (1888–1966), The Netherlands – Phase contrast microscope
Tang Zhongming (1897–1980), China – internal combustion engine powered by charcoal
Jian Zhou (1957–1999), together with Ian Hector Frazer (born 1953), China/U.S. – HPV vaccine against cervical cancer
Nikolai Zhukovsky (1847–1921), Russia – early wind tunnel, co-developer of the Tsar Tank
Karl Ziegler (1898–1973), together with Giulio Natta (1903–1979), Germany/Italy – Ziegler–Natta catalyst
Franz Ziehl (1857–1926), together with Friedrich Neelsen (1854–1898), Germany – Ziehl–Neelsen stain (histology)
Konrad Zuse (1910–1995), Germany – invented the first programmable general-purpose computer (Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4)
Vasily Zvyozdochkin (1876–1956), Russia – matryoshka doll (together with Sergey Malyutin)
Vladimir Zworykin (1889–1982), Russia/U.S. – Iconoscope, kinescope