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

Blog

Welcome to our blog, where you will find our latest musings on how invention and innovation—past, present, and future—influence our lives.

  • Explore All
  • Blog
  • Invention Stories
  • Places of Invention
  • Beyond Words
Title page of Hopkins’s address to manufacturers
Blog

Licensing the First US Patent

Inventions do not sell themselves.

X-ray image of contents of a briefcase
Blog

The Two Inventors Who Made Airline Travel Safer

In 1970, two engineers invented the first low-dose X-ray scanner for airline passenger security screening.

Sketch of a woman reading
Blog

Illustrating "The Amateur Scientist" at Scientific American

Scientific American welcomed articles by amateur scientists and inventors—and Roger Hayward illustrated their ideas.

Dick Fosbury in mid-jump
Blog

The Fosbury Flop—A Game-Changing Technique

Dick Fosbury revolutionized high jumping by introducing a game changing technique.

A small thermal printer producing a time badge.
Blog

The Invention of the Self-Expiring Visitor Badge

Controlling visitor access has always been difficult, but the invention of the self-expiring visitor badge reduced the security problem substantially.

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

Story Tags

  • African American inventors (Relevance: 38.461538461538%)
  • Architecture, construction, and building materials (Relevance: 19.230769230769%)
  • Archives@NMAH (Relevance: 57.692307692308%)
  • Behind-the-scenes (Relevance: 30.769230769231%)
  • DIY/Maker Movement (Relevance: 23.076923076923%)
  • Design (Relevance: 30.769230769231%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 26.923076923077%)
  • Game Changers exhibition (Relevance: 65.384615384615%)
  • Household technology (Relevance: 23.076923076923%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 23.076923076923%)
  • Invention process (Relevance: 46.153846153846%)
  • Kid inventors (Relevance: 19.230769230769%)
  • Kid-friendly (Relevance: 23.076923076923%)
  • Legendary inventors (Relevance: 19.230769230769%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 26.923076923077%)
  • Patents and trademarks (Relevance: 26.923076923077%)
  • Play (Relevance: 23.076923076923%)
  • Spark!Lab (Relevance: 100%)
  • Sports (Relevance: 61.538461538462%)
  • Toys and games (Relevance: 23.076923076923%)
  • Women inventors (Relevance: 38.461538461538%)
Informal pose of Tahira Reid Smith, arms folded
Blog

Game Changers Inventor Spotlight: Tahira Reid Smith

Engineering professor Dr. Tahira Reid Smith has been inventive since childhood and is best known for her automated double-Dutch jump rope machine.

Metal patent model for Verea calculating machine
Blog

Signposts to Diverse Stories of Invention

Museum objects reveal unexpected stories about diverse inventions—and inventors.

Composite image with skater Nikolai Panin tracing figures on the ice and diagrams of different ice figures
Blog

How Skating Acquired and Lost Its “Figure”

Thanks to invention and innovation, the history of figure skating is truly head-spinning.

Andy Granatelli and his brother Vincent standing behind two race cars
Blog

The Supercharged, Super Fast, Novi Engine

Race car owner and driver, innovator, and entrepreneur Andy Granatelli was as supercharged as the Novi itself.

An array of parts from which a creature can be made; includes blue polyester fur, hinged aluminum rods, miscellaneous Lego bits and 3D-printed parts, and small balls made into eyes.
Blog

Encouraging Inventive Thinking Over Winter Break

Use the time and resources you have to foster inventive thinking in your family this winter break!

Model is a white cube on legs with a hinged door and controls on the base
Blog

The Einstein-Szilard Refrigerator

Why didn't the geniuses’ refrigerator ever make it to market?

A whole Margherita pizza
Blog

An Innovative Pizza Place

We asked Mozzeria, a newly opened Deaf-owned, Deaf-led pizza shop in Washington, DC, about being innovative during a pandemic.

Line drawing of inner workings of a lamp with a perpetual wick.
Blog

Ingenious Devices

Fountains, perpetual oil lamps, and other inventions from the Islamic “Golden Age”

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!

Cartoon-style drawing of a Jeep with legs, arms, eyes, and a mouth
Blog

Illustrating Invention

Illustrator Boris Artzybasheff brought machines to life.

Exterior of Houston Astrodome stadium
Blog

Inventing and Reinventing Stadiums

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

See More Stories

VIEW 2691 Matching Results

Found 2691 Stories

  • Agriculture and horticulture (Relevance: 5.1653660349313%)
  • Air and space (Relevance: 6.6146413972501%)
  • Chemistry (Relevance: 2.9728725380899%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 3.0471943515422%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 7.2835377183203%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 4.5707915273133%)
  • Military technology (Relevance: 3.2329988851728%)
  • Mining and drilling (Relevance: 3.4559643255295%)
  • Patents and trademarks (Relevance: 11.40839836492%)
  • Photography, film, television, and video (Relevance: 3.5302861389818%)
  • Power generation, motors, and engines (Relevance: 3.4559643255295%)
  • Spark!Lab (Relevance: 3.4559643255295%)
  • Telegraph, telephone, and telecommunications (Relevance: 3.0471943515422%)
  • Textiles and clothing (Relevance: 3.307320698625%)
  • Transportation (Relevance: 5.8342623560015%)
  • Women inventors (Relevance: 3.0843552582683%)
❯
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 2021, Smithsonian Institution, All Rights Reserved
  • DONATE
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
Twitter Facebook Tumblr Email Print