On January 13, 1983 President Ronald Reagan declared February 11 as National Inventors Day. The date was chosen in honor of the birthday of Thomas Alva Edison. Edison invented such important innovations as the incandescent electric lamp, the phonograph, and the motion picture projector and earned over 1,000 patents during his lifetime. In Proclamation 5103, President Reagan stated that “inventors are the keystone of the technological progress that is so vital to the economic, environmental, and social well-being of this country.”
Some inventions may be happy accidents by an observant person; the microwave oven, penicillin, sticky notes, and bubble wrap may never have made their way into their current use if it were not for sharp or persistent inventors.
What do Ermal Fraze, Thomas Adams, Melitta Bentz, Patricia Beth, and Stephen Perry all have in common? They are recognized annually on February 11th, along with the Wright brothers, Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver, and Elisha Otis.
Thanks to inventors, people can safely ride in an elevator, have a well-lit room at the flip of a switch, speak to someone on the other side of the world or efficiently pump lotion from a bottle. Many inventors go their whole life without recognition for their creations, while others are household names. Nearly everything around us results from someone tinkering in their garage, laboratory, or basement trying to find a solution to a problem.
According to nationaldaycalendar.com; siarchives.si.edu. Source of photo: internet
