From squirts to hertz [Lonnie Johnson, inventor]

摘要

With more than 100 awarded and pending patents-for everything fromnhair-drying rollers to soil moisture meters-Lonnie Johnson is among ansmall group of African-American inventors whose work accounts for 6npercent of all US patent applications. the young Johnson was knownnaround his neighborhood as "the professor," a child prodigy who won anstatewide high school science competition for turning junkyard scrapsninto a remote-controlled robot nearly a meter tall that ran onncompressed air. His tinkering plus whopping SAT scores won him a mathnscholarship to Tuskegee Institute, where he earned a bachelor's degreenin mechanical engineering and a master's in nuclear engineering. Duringnhis time as a NASA engineer he invented the SuperSoaker water gun. Thensuccess of the SuperSoaker gave Johnson both the financial means and thenprofessional clout to quit his day job and invent full-time. He set upntwo companies, Johnson Research and Development and Excellatron, bothnbased in Atlanta, Ga., whose combined staffs of 30 now develop newnconsumer products, toys, and environmentally friendly alternativenmethods of power. They also invest in technology startups and doncommunity outreach, including setting up an inner-city manufacturingnplant and visiting local schools to introduce youngsters to the world ofninventing