Contemporary inventors serve as role models for the next generation.
Ralph H. Baer (1922–2014) was one of America’s leading inventors, whose legacy comprises more than 150 patents, dozens of electronic toys and games...
One of the best perks of working at the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center is the opportunity to meet inventors and innovators from a wide variety of...
When I told my friends and family that I would be out of town on a work trip in July for a skateboarding and innovation festival in South Dakota, the...
Until the skateboarders came along, Vans had no real direction, no specific purpose as a business other than to make the best shoes possible. . ....
Superbowl commercials can be funny, quirky, downright weird, and even inspiring. The Monday after the 2019 Superbowl, one of my colleagues asked me if...
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, amusement parks were popular destinations, especially for the working class, who sought a...
When I first began my job at the Lemelson Center, I was most surprised by the Innoskate program. At the time I did not quite understand why the...
Years ago while conducting research for the Lemelson Center’s Invention at Play exhibition, I was surprised to learn that Lincoln Logs—one of my...
In Spark!Lab, we’re believers in the power of play to unlock innovation. While the old adage that “necessity is the mother of invention” may hold true...
How do you allow hundreds of museum visitors to create their own Muppet-like creatures? Better yet, how do you do that without glue—and in such a way...
The built environment that surrounds us is a serious matter, especially to Elaine Ostroff (1933–). An educator, advocate, problem solver, and...
One of the best aspects of my job is meeting inventors from myriad fields who always have inspiring stories to share about their lives and inventive...
Pokémon Go is arguably the most sweeping video-game phenomenon of 2016. Days after its launch in the United States on July 7, the game had broken...
Fifty years ago, in September 1966, an unassuming engineer heading a research group at the defense contractor Sanders Associates in New Hampshire hand...
Sports and innovation has been a subject of great interest to the Lemelson Center that we highlight as part of our 2016-2020 strategic planning...
