Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation |

Explore

Behind every invention, there is a story. Discover those stories here.

Branch Rickey holding his chin and looking at a blackboard with lists of players’ names

Blog

Branch Rickey, Baseball Innovator

By introducing several innovations, baseball executive Branch Rickey transformed America’s national pastime.

Blog

Game Controllers for All

Developing an adaptive game controller activity

Gold pocket watch with an elaborate face, with letters A to Z and numbers 1 to 24

Blog

How Do We Know Exactly When the New Year Begins?

Appreciating the invention of standardized time zones as the calendar turns to 2020.

Study

Scholars and students, join us in studying our passion: invention! Apply for a fellowship, travel grant, or internship. Explore our collections. Consult our research reports and best practices for documenting and collecting inventors’ materials. And check out our Lemelson Center/MIT Press book series.

Montage of book covers published in the Lemelson Center Studies series

Lemelson Center Books

Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation

Books in the interdisciplinary Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation series explore the history of invention and innovation and the work of inventors and the technologies they create.

Detail of Handprints on Hubble book cover, showing astronaut Kathy Sullivan looking out the window of the space shuttle.

Lemelson Center Books

Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut's Story of Invention

In the newest book in the Lemelson Center series with MIT Press, the first American woman to walk in space recounts her experiences as part of the team that launched, rescued, repaired, and maintained the Hubble Space Telescope.

Dolby Laboratories, Inc. Records

Inventor Name Dolby, Ray Repository Corporate ArchivistDolby Laboratories, Inc.Corporate Archives1275 Market StreetSan Francisco, CA 94131415-558-0268

Try

Get hands-on with the history and the process of invention! Try all sorts of ways to get creative!

DO Try This at Home!

D.I.Y. Victorian Virtual Reality

Make your own stereoscope and experience the nineteenth-century predecessor to today’s virtual reality technology.

A young girl works on the Invent a Skate Park activity

Spark!Lab

Current Spark!Lab Activities

Draper Spark!Lab visitors can enjoy inventing while exploring the history and process of invention.

Spark!Lab

About Spark!Lab

Draper Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors.

On view

Visit the Lemelson Hall of Invention and Innovation

The Lemelson Hall of Invention and Innovation features:

Places of Invention, an exhibition that explores what can happen when the right mix of inventive people, untapped resources, and inspiring surroundings come together.

Draper Spark!Lab, our hands-on invention workshop for children and families.

Inventive Minds, a changing gallery that highlights the Lemelson Center’s work on documenting inventors.

Location and Hours:

The Lemelson Center and the Lemelson Hall of Invention and Innovation are located at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

Draper Spark!Lab is open daily (except Tuesdays and Dec. 24 and 25) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Places of Invention and Inventive Minds are open daily (except Dec. 25) from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Click for visiting information. Hours are subject to change for holidays, inclement weather, and urgent maintenance issues. Please check the museum calendar for updates.

Branch Rickey, Baseball Innovator

Game Controllers for All

How Do We Know Exactly When the New Year Begins?

Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation

Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut's Story of Invention

Dolby Laboratories, Inc. Records

D.I.Y. Victorian Virtual Reality

Current Spark!Lab Activities

About Spark!Lab

Feb 05, 2020

Mar 04, 2020

Apr 01, 2020

May 06, 2020

Sep 03, 2019

Nov 08, 2018

Nov 08, 2018

Sep 14, 2018