Skip to main content
  • Main menu
Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
  • Home
  • Explore

Explore

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

 

  • Explore All
  • Blog
  • Invention Stories
  • Places of Invention
  • Beyond Words
Hyperboloid model made of cardboard, wood, thread, wire, and thread spools
Blog

From Innovators to Curators, Making Do is Nothing New

A teleworking curator looks at the ways in which those who created and used objects took advantage of what they found available.

Society for the History of Technology logo
Blog

Game Changers Team Presents Its Research at SHOT

The Game Changers curatorial team presents their research at the annual meeting of the Society for the History of Technology, 8–11 October 2020.

Howard Head skiing downslope
Blog

Sports Innovator Howard Head

The engineer behind Head skis and Prince tennis rackets revolutionized both sports.

Don Featherstone posing with plastic pink flamingos on a lawn
Blog

The Making of the Iconic Plastic Pink Lawn Flamingo

A look at the ersatz bird that became a barometer of taste.

Beyond Bakelite book cover
Blog

New Books by Lemelson Center Alumni Fellows

Add these books to your summer reading list!

U-Sketch pick your color green orange blue lavender purple black

Story Tags

  • African American inventors (Relevance: 23.295454545455%)
  • Agriculture and horticulture (Relevance: 27.840909090909%)
  • Air and space (Relevance: 23.863636363636%)
  • Art (Relevance: 19.318181818182%)
  • Computers (Relevance: 27.840909090909%)
  • DIY/Maker Movement (Relevance: 19.318181818182%)
  • Environment (Relevance: 23.295454545455%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 100%)
  • Game Changers exhibition (Relevance: 19.886363636364%)
  • Household technology (Relevance: 29.545454545455%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 25%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 51.704545454545%)
  • Military technology (Relevance: 21.022727272727%)
  • Music (Relevance: 36.931818181818%)
  • Photography, film, television, and video (Relevance: 25.568181818182%)
  • Places of Invention (Relevance: 40.340909090909%)
  • Sports (Relevance: 53.409090909091%)
  • Textiles and clothing (Relevance: 29.545454545455%)
  • Toys and games (Relevance: 23.295454545455%)
  • Transportation (Relevance: 45.454545454545%)
  • Women inventors (Relevance: 40.909090909091%)
Cartoon-style drawing of a Jeep with legs, arms, eyes, and a mouth
Blog

Illustrating Invention

Illustrator Boris Artzybasheff brought machines to life.

Hinda Miller and Lisa Lindahl wearing Jogbras running
Beyond Words

Inventive Minds: Inventors of the Sports Bra

Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller, and Polly Palmer Smith invented the now-ubiquitous sports bra in the 1970s.

Exterior of Houston Astrodome stadium
Blog

Inventing and Reinventing Stadiums

Over the past 120 years, new inventions have kept fans coming to stadiums.

Patent drawings of a pointe shoe from the side and front.
Blog

A Better Pointe Shoe Is Sorely Needed

Ballet is an art form steeped in tradition, but pointe shoes need not be out of step with the times.

Detail from a World War I poster showing a Red Cross nurse
Blog

Nurse Innovations Crucial to Pandemic Response

During times of crisis, nurses turn to their innate innovative behaviors to derive new solutions for the needs of their patients.

Detail of Figure 1, US Patent 1,242,872, showing entrance signage
Blog

One-Way Supermarket Aisles

The return of an invention from the 1910s.

A young woman playing Pandemic
Blog

Disaster Board Games

Board game inventions can help us cope with crises.

Brightly colored simple drawings of hands in s cricle
Blog

Lupe Hernandez and the Invention of Hand Sanitizer

Sorting out the facts in an oft-told story.

Rectangular black-and-beige plastic box with keypad on right and register tape on left.
Blog

When Technology Disrupts the Vibe

Growing pains in the digital age from the not-so-distant past . . .

Triangular Brownie Inventor Badge
Blog

Calling All Brownie Girl Scout Inventors

Bring your Brownie troop to Spark!Lab, where everyone is an inventor!

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.

3D printed wearable components
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.

Men working inside the tunnel
Blog

Battling Under the River

Looking back at the tunneling boom of the early 1900s—and the "sandhogs" who made it happen.

Newsprint ad for the “Snow Surfer,” retailing at $5.77. Text reads, in part, “Enjy the fun of skiing, tobogganing, and sledding all rolled into one with this exciting new sport.”
Blog

Sherman Poppen’s Snurfer

A look at the slippery slope of commercializing an invention.

See More Stories

VIEW 2419 Matching Results

Found 2419 Stories

  • Agriculture and horticulture (Relevance: 5.2914427449359%)
  • Air and space (Relevance: 6.5729640347251%)
  • Chemistry (Relevance: 2.8110789582472%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 2.9350971475816%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 7.2757337742869%)
  • Maritime (Relevance: 2.852418354692%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 4.4646548160397%)
  • Military technology (Relevance: 3.307151715585%)
  • Mining and drilling (Relevance: 3.5551880942538%)
  • Patents and trademarks (Relevance: 11.988424968995%)
  • Photography, film, television, and video (Relevance: 3.513848697809%)
  • Power generation, motors, and engines (Relevance: 3.8032244729227%)
  • Research and development (Relevance: 3.0177759404713%)
  • Telegraph, telephone, and telecommunications (Relevance: 3.1417941298057%)
  • Textiles and clothing (Relevance: 3.307151715585%)
  • Transportation (Relevance: 6.0768912773874%)
❯
Go to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History website

About Menu

▼
Open menu
▲
Close menu
  • Explore
    • Blog
    • Invention Stories
    • Places of Invention
    • Beyond Words
  • Study
    • Research Opportunities
    • Archives
    • Lemelson Center Books
    • Lemelson Center Research
    • Symposia & Conferences
  • Try
    • DO Try This at Home!
    • Spark!Lab
    • Spark!Lab Network
    • Encouraging Innovative Thinking
  • About
    • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • News
    • Who We Are
    • FAQ
    • Donate
  • Multimedia
  • Tags
  • Surprise Me
  • Search
  • Open Drawer
Copyright 2020, Smithsonian Institution, All Rights Reserved
  • DONATE
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
Twitter Facebook Tumblr Email Print