14 Black Inventors that I want to highlight today:

1. Dr. Shirley Jackson- a physicist, experiments with theoretical physics paved the way for numerous developments in the telecommunication space including the touch-tone telephone, the portable fax, caller ID, & call waiting

2. Inventor and engineer, Lewis Latimer. One of Latimer’s greatest inventions was the carbon filament, a vital component of the light bulb. His inventions didn’t stop there, working with Alexander Graham Bell, Latimer helped draft the patent for Bell’s design of the telephone.

3.The home security system was invented by a black nurse named Marie Ban Brittan Brown.

Her original invention consisted of peepholes, a camera, monitors, and a two-way microphone. The finishing touch was an alarm button that, when pressed, would immediately contact the police.

4. Next one is Otis Boykin. His most notable contribution to science was likely the circuit improvements he made to pacemakers after losing his mother to heart failure! It has saved so many lives!

5. Next is Lonnie Johnson. He invited the famous water gun! Lonnie wasn’t a toymaker, he was actually an Aerospace Engineer for NASA with a resume boasting a stint with the US Air Force, work on the Galileo Jupiter probe and Mars Observer project, and more than 40 patents!

6. Next is Charles Drew who invited the bloodmobiles! Drew was a physician, surgeon, and medical researcher who worked with a team at Red Cross on groundbreaking discoveries around blood transfusions. He played a major role in developing the first large-scale blood banks

7. Next is Marian Croak. In 2013, Marian Croak was inducted into Women in Technology International’s hall of fame, a move that recognizes her remarkable achievements in tech. Her contributions were mainly in VoiP and (voice over Internet!)

8. The animated GIF comes from the Black Queen who initially started with a kitten being scared by an iguana!

9. Next is Mr. Philip! The construction of the honeycombed inspired him to rethink computer processing. In 1989, he put this idea to work, using 65,000 processes to invent the world’s first super computer — able to perform 3.1 billion calculations per second.

10. Next is the genius Mr. Jesse Wilkins Jr. His greatest contribution to scholarship was the development of mathematical models to explain gamma radiation and his work on developing a shielding against gamma radiation.

11. Next is the genius is Mr. Elijah McCoy. In 1872 he developed a “lubricating cup” that could automatically drip oil when and where needed — vital in avoiding sticking to the track. The lubricating cup met with enormous success and orders for it came in from railroad companies.

12. Next is the awesome Garrett Morgan. Morgan first created the “safety hood” to help firefighters navigate smokey buildings, later modifying it to carry its own air supply— making it the world’s first effective gas masks.

13. Next to last is the genius named Mary and Mildred Davidson! Together, they invented the sanitary belt

14. Lastly is the genius Frederick Mckinley Jones. He took out more than 60 patents throughout his life, including a patent for the roof-mounted cooling system that’s used to refrigerate goods on trucks during extended transportation in the mid-1930s