Contemporary African-American Inventors

Lonnie G. Johnson

Lonnie G. Johnson is former Acting Chief of the Space Nuclear Power Safety Section at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He also was  Senior Systems Engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where he worked on the Galileo mission to Jupiter. But most people recognize the Tuskegee University alumnus most popular invention: the Super Soaker squirt gun. Just two years after inventing the toy it reportedly generated $200 million in sales. Johnson  holds more than 80 patents, with over 20 more pending, and is the author of several publications on spacecraft power systems.

Janet Emerson Bashen

Janet Emerson Bashen founded Bashen Corporation in 1994, at her dining room table with very little capital, one client and the will to succeed. In January 2006 she not only found success, she made history. Bahsen became the first African American female to hold a patent for a software invention. Bashen invented, LinkLine, which is a web-based application for EEO claims intake and tracking, claims management, document management and numerous reports. Her company remains focused on innovation and a dedication to building proactive EEO initiatives within organizations.

Dr. Patricia Bath

Dr. Patricia Bath is an internationally recognized ophthalmologist and surgeon who invented the laser-powered Laserphaco Probe. The inventions allows physicians to vaporize cataracts in a matter of minutes. The Harlem born pioneer has dedicated her life to the treatment and prevention of blindness in African-Americans. She’s also managed to become a trailblazer in the process. Dr. Bath was the first female ophthalmologist at UCLA’s prestigious Jules Stein Eye Institute and the first female African American surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center.

Thomas Mensah

Dr. Thomas Mensah holds more than a dozen patents in the United States and abroad. One of them is for the Patriot missile guidance system. The native of Ghana is Chairman of Supercond Technology Inc. of Norcross, Georgia. His inventions cover fields including fiber optics and guided vehicle systems. His work with SMART weapons, like the Patriot missile, were considered crucial to the success in the Gulf War. Dr. Mensah holds 7 pioneering inventions in Fiber Optics Technology and was the winner of the 2010 Percy Julian Award.

Elijah Abron

Elijah Abron had a problem to solve. He wanted to make paper fasten together without using bulky binders, cumbersome paper clips or staples. Through trial and error he invented the Substrate sheets with removable strip and received a patent for the invention in May of 2006. This revolutionary product binds papers together through a simple step process. Stack the self-binding paper, pull the strip and the papers are securely fastened. Abron continues to head his company Eli’s Papers in Shreveport, Lousiana.

Earl S. Bell

Earl Bell, is known as an inventor, building designer, and architectural theorist, as well as Hip hop architect. Brooklyn born and raised, Bell’s passion for science and design began at a very young age. He presented his first invention at the age of 9. But Bell  first began to document and patent his inventions while attending Pratt Institute’s Architecture Program in 1998. Earl holds 3 US patents and 1 International Patent (South Africa). He is the sole inventor of Sasu Technology: liquid hydraulic electrical display for showing information, Slide Skin Technology: ergonomic chair system, Qet Ambit Technology: internal electrical mechanical mechanism for Quantification and has others that are being reviewed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Andre McCarter

Andre McCarter has a history in athletics. He’s a former member of the UCLA 1975 championship  basketball team and was coached by the legendary John Wooden. He also played in the NBA for the Kansas City Kings and Washington Bullets. But McCarter’s patented an invention called Touch Glove put him on the map. The Touch Glove is a training glove that lessens the athlete’s sense of touch in certain areas of his hand (“no touch areas”), thereby training the athlete to control the ball with his finger tips. He received the patent for his invention in April 2000.

Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson is known as an innovator in dance, but one of his inventions helped him solidify place as an icon of dance. Jackson received a patent in 1993 for his gravity defying shoes. The shoe includes a cut-out in the heel, which an entertainer slides on and off a nail head in the stage. The nail head grabs the heel and allows the entertainer to perform apparently gravity defying leans as demonstrated in the video “Smooth Criminal”.

Robert G. Bryant

Robert G Bryant is a chemical engineer who works for NASA’s Langley Research Center. His work has lead to numerous patented inventions. Bryant was in charge of the team that invented Soluble Imide (LaRC-SI) the self-bonding thermoplastic that received an R&D 100 award for being one of the most significant new technical products of 1994. More recently, a device that Bryant’s team invented that can act like muscle and nerves to expand and contract surfaces was named the 2006 NASA Government Invention of the Year. NASA’s Macro-Fiber Composite can be attached to a structure to bend it, reduce vibrations and monitor force.