Lonnie Johnson (inventor)
Lonnie George Johnson | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 6, 1949[1] Mobile, Alabama, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Engineer, Inventor |
| Known for | Super Soaker |
Lonnie George Johnson (born October 6, 1949 in Mobile, Alabama) is an American inventor and engineer who holds more than 80 patents.[2] Johnson is most known for inventing the Super Soaker water gun, which has ranked among the world's top 20 best-selling toys every year since its release.[3]
Early life
Johnson attended an all-black high school "Lillie B. High School".[4] He earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Tuskegee University.
Career
After college, Johnson joined the U.S. Air Force, where he helped develop the stealth bomber program.[5] Later, he worked at NASA on Galileo's mission to Jupiter.[6] More recently, he teamed up with scientists from Tulane University and Tuskegee University to develop a method of transforming heat into electricity with the goal of making green energy more affordable.[6]
Two of Johnson’s companies, Excellatron Solid State and Johnson Electro-Mechanical Systems (JEMS), are developing energy technology. Excellatron is introducing thin film batteries, a new generation of rechargeable battery technology. JEMS has developed the Johnson Thermo-Electrochemical Converter System (JTEC), listed by Popular Mechanics as one of the top 10 inventions of 2009. JTEC has potential applications in solar power plants and ocean thermal power generation. It converts thermal energy to electrical energy using a non-steam process which works by pushing hydrogen ions through two membranes, with significant advantages over alternative systems.
References
Inline citations
- ^ Broad, William J. Engineer At Play: Lonnie Johnson -Rocket Scientist, Served Up Soggy, July 31, 2001, The New York Times.
- ^ "Lonnie Johnson". TEDxAtlanta. TED. 2014-05-06. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
- ^ "Lonnie George Johnson". Biography.com. A&E Television Networks. 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
- ^ Ward, Logan (November 2010). "Shooting for the Sun". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
- ^ "Summer Inventions: A NASA Engineer Created the Super Soaker?!". Biography.com. A&E Television Networks. 2014-07-21. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
- ^ a b "Who Made That Super Soaker?". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 2013-08-02. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
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General references
- Lonnie G. Johnson, The SuperSoaker, Sept. 1998. Inventor of the Week bio, MIT
- Yes, You Can Make a Million, Issue:March 2007, Kiplinger Finance Magazine
- Super Soaker Inventor Aims to Cut Solar Costs in Half, By Logan Ward, January 1, 2008, Popular Mechanics
- Super Soaker Inventor Invents New Thermoelectric Generator, By Willie D. Jones, March 2008, IEEE Spectrum
- Number 10:Johnson Thermo-Electrochemical Converter System - Breakthrough Awards 2008, Top 10 New World-Changing Innovations of the Year (With Videos!), By Logan Ward and the Editors of Popular Mechanics, October 10, 2008, Popular Mechanics