20 Forgotten Inventors from History Who Deserve More Recognition

While the whole world knew her as a stunning Hollywood actress during the golden age of cinema, she spent her free time inventing incredible things in her trailer. During World War II, she helped develop a secret communication system using frequency-hopping technology to prevent jamming of radio-controlled torpedoes. This brilliant military concept was ahead of its time.

Thomas Edison is generally credited with inventing the light bulb, but his first version actually burned out far too quickly to be usable in homes. That’s when an exceptionally talented Black draftsman stepped in and patented a durable carbon filament that lasted much longer. He even wrote the very first manual on incandescent lighting and oversaw the installation of streetlights in major cities.

You probably take your car’s windshield wipers for granted. During a winter trip to New York, this keenly observant woman from the South noticed that a streetcar driver was constantly rolling down his window to wipe away the icy slush. Back home, she designed an ingenious wooden blade attached to a rubber strip, which could be operated from inside the vehicle using a lever.

This young boy from rural Utah actually conceived the principle of electronic television when he was only fourteen years old and working on his family’s farm. While observing the parallel lines of a plowed field, he realized that an image could be scanned line by line across a screen using a beam of electrons. He managed to build a working prototype in a small laboratory.

If you enjoy the cozy warmth of your home during winter cold snaps, it’s largely thanks to a revolutionary heating system designed by this talented African American woman. In 1919, tired of relying on inefficient fireplaces, she patented a one-of-a-kind furnace that drew in cold air, safely heated it with natural gas, and distributed it through a network of ducts.

Alexander Graham Bell is known worldwide for inventing the telephone. But a penniless Italian immigrant had actually beaten him to it by several years. This talented tinker had built a working voice communication device in his New York home so he could stay in touch with his bedridden wife, who was on the floor above.

This 19th-century factory worker was so incredibly prolific that she was often nicknamed the “female Thomas Edison.” While working at a paper mill, she noticed that existing flat-bottomed paper bags had to be glued by hand. She then invented a complex iron mechanism that automatically fed, cut, folded, and glued the paper.

You might be surprised to learn that the handy microwave oven sitting on your kitchen counter was actually discovered quite by accident. While working on military radar equipment for a major defense contractor, this self-taught engineer noticed that a chocolate bar he had in his pocket had completely melted. Piqued by curiosity, he decided to test the invisible radar waves on other foods, including popcorn kernels.

She studied a theoretical mechanical calculator designed by a friend who was an inventor and realized that this device could do much more than just perform mathematical calculations. She published a series of detailed papers describing an algorithm for calculating a sequence of complex Bernoulli numbers using this machine. Her forward-thinking vision demonstrated that technology could process music, text, and graphics.

Before his groundbreaking discoveries, blood transfusions had to be performed immediately. He realized that separating the liquid plasma from the red blood cells made it possible to freeze the plasma and transport it safely over very long distances. His “blood banks,” which saved countless lives, helped save thousands of soldiers during World War II.

This extraordinary chemist was working on lightweight fibers for automobile tires when she accidentally developed an entirely new and incredibly strong liquid crystal solution. Instead of discarding this strangely watery mixture, she convinced a colleague to turn it into a fabric. Her extraordinary discovery gave rise to Kevlar.

This young engineer was tasked with finding a way to prevent high humidity from causing sheets of paper to wrinkle at a publishing house in Brooklyn. He developed a system that circulated air over cooling coils. He soon realized that people appreciated the cooling effect just as much as the paper did, which revolutionized modern architecture.

Before he invented his ingenious device, trains and factory machinery had to be stopped constantly so that workers could oil the moving parts by hand. His high-quality oil cup was so superior to cheap imitations that engineers refused to buy anything else. They specifically demanded “the real McCoy.”

This pioneering admiral believed that computers should be much easier to program. So she decided to create a tool capable of translating human words into machine code. She developed the very first compiler, which directly paved the way for today’s most common modern programming languages.

The crystal-clear sound quality you enjoy when listening to the radio is thanks to a brilliant inventor with a tragic fate. He was the one who developed frequency modulation, better known as FM radio. This technology made it possible to completely eliminate the annoying static that plagued traditional AM broadcasts. 

Every day, you rely on GPS technology to find your way around the streets of a city you don’t know, but this system wouldn’t work without the mathematical genius of this unassuming pioneer. She spent decades working at a naval base, where she painstakingly processed complex satellite data to map the Earth’s exact shape.

This prolific innovator devoted his entire life to making cars and machinery safer. He patented an automatic gearshift that greatly reduced the driver’s workload. He also developed improved equipment for testing train brakes. He even designed the turn signal, which helps prevent millions of traffic accidents every day. 

This self-taught chemist was the only woman among nine hundred male engineers. She was entrusted with the difficult task of developing a brand-new rocket fuel. She succeeded in creating a powerful liquid mixture called “Hydyne,” which gave the Jupiter-C rocket the extra thrust it needed to launch the first American satellite. 

Even though he’s finally starting to gain recognition online today, this eccentric genius spent most of his life being completely swindled by businessmen who were even more flashy than he was. He was the one who developed the alternating current system that now powers every home on the planet. Yet Thomas Edison fought tooth and nail to discredit his work.