National Inventors Hall of Fame

History

The National Inventors Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 on the initiative of H. Hume Mathews, then the chairman of the National Council of Patent Law Associations (now the National Council of Intellectual Property Law Associations). It was launched by Ed Sobey, who was also the first director. In 1974, it gained a major sponsor in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from Washington, D.C.

At first, the Hall was housed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, D.C., near the Washington National Airport but it soon needed more room at a more prominent location. A committee was formed in 1986 to find a new home for it. For a time, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the frontrunner. But in 1987, a patent attorney from Akron, Edwin "Ned" Oldham, the representative from the National Council of Patent Law Associations, led the drive to move the Hall to Akron. According to Maurice H. Klitzman, one of the founding members of the Board of Directors, because of the guaranteed financial support by the city of Akron that greatly exceeded any other community's proposal, the Board selected Akron as the new home. The construction of the new building was finished in 1995 and the Hall opened to the public with the name of the Inventure Place.

From the beginning, the Inventure Place was intended to be more than a science and technology museum and library. It was designed to double as an inventor's workshop and a national resource center for creativity. Designed by an architect from New York City, James Stewart Polshek, it was a stainless-steel building, shaped like a curving row of white sails, with five tiers of exhibits. One of the exhibits allowed the visitors to use computer programs for making animations and mechanisms for running laser-light shows.

But attendance did not meet expectations and the museum never made a profit, although its related ventures and programs, such as Invent Now and Camp Invention, proved to be more successful. In 2002, its name was changed to the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum (NIHFM). Six years later the NIHFM moved to Alexandria, Virginia. Its former facility was converted to a specialty school for students in grades between 5th and 8th. Since 2010 it has been the National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM Middle School, a middle school for the Akron Public Schools.

An annual induction ceremony is held to honor the newest inventor members. The venue is typically held near the NIHFM, though location varies; e.g., Arlington, VA in 1980; Akron, OH in 1990 and 2006; and Washington, DC in 2003 and 2010 onward. During the museum's 2009 relocation, inductions were held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

Activities

In Alexandria, the National Inventors Hall of Fame operates a museum in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office building at 600 Dulany Street, with a gallery of digital portraits of the honorees, interactive kiosks and a theater. Admission is free.

In addition to the exhibits of the artifacts and documents from the collections of the Patent and Trademark Office, it also sponsors Camp Invention, Club Invention, and the Collegiate Inventors Competition.

Camp Invention, founded in 1990, is a daytime summer camp for children, with program sites in 49 states. Camp Invention is the only nationally recognized summer program focused on creativity, innovation, real-world problem solving and the spirit of the invention.

The Collegiate Inventors Competition was created in 1990 to encourage college and university students to be creative and innovative with science, engineering, and technology for dealing with the problems of the world. Since then, with the help from the sponsors, it has awarded more than $1 million to the winning students in two categories, undergraduate and graduate. In 2012, the first places were won with a delivery therapy for treating cancer and a way to facilitate suturing in abdominal surgery. Other finalists included the use of CT scanning and 3-D printing technology to replicate an amputee's lost hand, a low-profile shoulder brace that can be applied by the athletes themselves, and an electric motorcycle that runs on spheres instead of wheels.

Inductees

Main article: List of National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees

References

;General

• Akron Life and Leisure magazine, Baker Publishing, J. McGarrity, June 2003

;Specific

References

1. [http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1727 “National Inventors Hall of Fame”], ''Ohio History Central''. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
2. "National Inventors Hall of Fame".
3. National Inventors Hall of Fame. "Nominate".
4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20020204222500/http://invent.org/book/origin.html “Origin and Presidents of the National Inventors Hall of Fame”], ''The National Inventors Hall of Fame'', Invent.org, archived February 4, 2002. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
5. "President Ed Sobey Northwest Invention Center". [[Semester at Sea]].
6. (2013). "The Engine of Complexity: Evolution as Computation". [[Columbia University Press]].
7. [http://www.southwickresearch.com/Inventions/Inventors-Journal-1974-1976.pdf “National Inventors Hall of Fame”], ''The Inventors' Journal'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (November 9, 1974), p. 2, col. 1. (PDF)
8. Gamerman, Amy (August 1995). "A cooperstown for gadgeteers and tinkerers", ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''. p. A9, Subscription required.
9. [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/30/travel/travel-advisory-inventors-hall-of-fame-opens-in-akron-ohio.html “Inventors Hall of Fame opens in Akron, Ohio”], ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 30, 1995, section 5, p. 3.
10. Biliczky, Carol (May 17, 2008) [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_multi=AK|&p_product=AK&p_theme=gatehouse&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=Officials%20OK%20plans%20for%20ailing%20museum:%20National%20Inventors%20Hall%20of%20Fame%20will%20remain%20in%20operation,%20but%20will%20be%20resource%20for%20new%20school,%20undergo%20other%20changes%20AND%20date(all)&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(Officials%20OK%20plans%20for%20ailing%20museum:%20National%20Inventors%20Hall%20of%20Fame%20will%20remain%20in%20operation,%20but%20will%20be%20resource%20for%20new%20school,%20undergo%20other%20changes)&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no Officials OK plans for ailing museum: National Inventors Hall of Fame will remain in operation, but will be resource for new school, undergo other changes] ''Akron Beacon Journal'', accessed April 17, 2020, Subscription required.
11. [http://www.roadsideamerica.com/blog/inventors-hall-of-fame/ “Inventors Hall of Fame No Perpetual Motion Machine”], June 22, 2008, RoadsideAmerica: Trunkations.
12. [http://www.akronschools.com/scienceschool/ “National Inventors Hall of Fame® School ... Center for STEM Learning”] {{webarchive. link. (November 19, 2009, [[Akron Public Schools]].)
13. (26 February 1980). "BRIEFLY NOTED". Columbia University.
14. (2025). "The Weekend of April 5th Through 9th, 1990". Plastics Pioneers Association.
15. (May 5, 2006). "Inventive Bunch Heads to Hall of Fame". NPR.
16. (February 11, 2003). "Goddard Engineer Among 2003 Inductees into National Inventors Hall of Fame". SPACENEWS.
17. (March 31, 2010). "National Inventors Hall of Fame: 38th Annual Induction Ceremony". C-SPAN.
18. (February 5, 2016). "Five with MIT ties tapped for Inventors Hall of Fame". Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
19. (May 4, 2009). "Honoring The Creators Of The Computerized World". Forbes.
20. "Our Museum is a National Monument to Innovation".
21. Ali, Aman (June 15, 2006). [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_multi=AK|&p_product=AK&p_theme=gatehouse&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=Camp%20demands%20creativity:%20Youngsters%20enjoy%20hands-on%20learning%20in%20one%20of%20many%20National%20Inventors%20Hall%20of%20Fame%20programs%20AND%20date(6/1/2006%20to%206/30/2006)&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=6/1/2006%20to%206/30/2006)&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(Camp%20demands%20creativity:%20Youngsters%20enjoy%20hands-on%20learning%20in%20one%20of%20many%20National%20Inventors%20Hall%20of%20Fame%20programs)&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no Camp demands creativity: Youngsters enjoy hands-on learning in one of many National Inventors Hall of Fame programs] ''Akron Beacon Journal'' Accessed April 17, 2020, Subscription required.
22. (November 13, 2012). "Collegiate Inventors Honored for Innovative Science and Technology Advances". National Inventors Hall of Fame.