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Found 100 Stories
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.

Patricia Bath stands amongst a group of students during a Lemelson Center Innovative Lives program in 2000.
Blog

Remembering Dr. Patricia Bath

Pathbreaker, physician, educator, role model, and inventor of the Laserphaco Probe for the treatment of cataracts.

3 figures from Dr. InBae Yoon US patent 3,870,048 showing 3 ring-shaped parts of his tool for minimally-invasive tubal ligations.
Encouraging Innovative Thinking

The Legacy of Dr. InBae Yoon

Dr. Yoon passionately believed—like we do—that everyone is inventive.

Red maple leaf design from the Canadian flag.
Blog

O Canada! Inventors from Across the Border

Inspired by visitor stories submitted to our Places of Invention map about Canadian inventors and inventions

Female health professional with tablet computer, stock photo via Shutterstock
Blog

DIY Innovation in the Hospital

Scientists, clinicians, and patients have always been do-it-yourself innovators.

Universal AED sign
Blog

A Heartfelt Story

The invention of the AED—the automated external defibrillator—saves lives every day.

Manny Villafana
Places of Invention

Be Still, My Heart: Behind the Scenes in the Cardiac Collections

A group of small archival boxes lay nestled together, each holding a cardiac pacemaker or valve. "It's like being a kid in a candy store," exclaimed inventor Manny Villafaña.

An early pacemaker
Places of Invention

Invention hot spot: The rise of "Medical Alley" in Minnesota in the 1950s–1970s

Places of Invention tells the stories of historic and modern communities where people, resources, and spaces have come together to spark inventiveness.

Curator Steve Turner with a scientific instrument
Spark!Lab

Reinventing Spark!Lab

To get inspiration for themes and activities as we develop the new Spark!Lab, the team has been taking "field trips" to different collections areas in the Museum. Here are some highlights from our visits to the Physical Sciences and Medical collections.

1985 photo of four cardiac pioneers who trained or worked in Medical Alley (left to right): Dr. Nazih Zudhi, Manny Villafaña, Dr. C. Walton Lillehei, and Dr. Christiaan Barnard.
Places of Invention

Manny’s Medical Alley

On a recent research trip to Minnesota for "Places of Invention," I had the special opportunity to meet one of the region’s pioneers, Manuel (“Manny”) Villafaña. You may not know his name, but you’ve probably heard of at least one of the seven medical-device companies he has founded in Minneapolis, including Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. (CPI) and St. Jude Medical.

The Straith padded dashboard is demonstrated in this photo by the inventor’s daughter, Jean Straith Hepner, and granddaughter, Grace Quitzow.
Places of Invention

Doctors Inventing Auto Safety

Lemelson Fellow Less Vinsel shares his research on the role that medical doctors played in improving auto safety.

Invention Stories

Inventing the Future: 3D Printing

What implications might 3D printing hold for the future?

Earl Bakken working inside the Medtronic Garage, c 1955.
Places of Invention

Much More than a Garage, a Place of Invention

Like more famous garages in Silicon Valley that begat Apple and Hewlett Packard, the former 800-square-foot garage in Minneapolis served as a convenient, no-rent location for Palmer Hermundslie and Earl Bakken to found Medtronic in 1949.

A stylized drawing of a compact fluorescent light bulb surrounded by a solid orange circle with a green border
Invention Stories

Akhil Madhani: Literally on the Cutting Edge of Robotics

"Engineers have to invent things, because that's their job, to develop something as a solution to a problem."

A stylized drawing of a compact fluorescent light bulb surrounded by a solid orange circle with a green border
Symposia & Conferences

Living with Technology, Inside and Out

Over the last couple of years, the Lemelson Center has been looking at the variety of means invention mediates the interface between human beings and environment.

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Shriners Hospital Patient Isolation Unit Records, 1956-1981 (bulk 1969-1972)

Inventor Name Maley, Matthew Repository Archives CenterNational Museum of American HistorySmithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.202-633-3270https://americanhistory.si.edu/archives

MIND database logo for non-Smithsonian archival materials
Archives

Dr. Irvin M. Borish Papers, 1939-1996

Inventor Name Borish, Irvin M.

MIND database logo for non-Smithsonian archival materials
Archives

Roger J. Williams Papers, 1920-1988

Inventor Name Williams, Roger J.

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Found 2417 Stories

  • Agriculture and horticulture (Relevance: 5.2958212660323%)
  • Air and space (Relevance: 6.5784029788995%)
  • Chemistry (Relevance: 2.8134050475796%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 2.9375258585023%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 7.2817542407944%)
  • Maritime (Relevance: 2.8547786512205%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 4.4683491932147%)
  • Military technology (Relevance: 3.3098882912702%)
  • Mining and drilling (Relevance: 3.5581299131154%)
  • Patents and trademarks (Relevance: 11.998345055854%)
  • Photography, film, television, and video (Relevance: 3.5167563094746%)
  • Power generation, motors, and engines (Relevance: 3.8063715349607%)
  • Research and development (Relevance: 3.020273065784%)
  • Telegraph, telephone, and telecommunications (Relevance: 3.1443938767067%)
  • Textiles and clothing (Relevance: 3.3098882912702%)
  • Transportation (Relevance: 6.0819197352089%)
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