George Westinghouse

George Westinghouse was born on October 6, 1846 in Central Bridge, NY. Westinghouse served in the civil war for two years before being made acting third assistant engineer in the Navy. In 1865 he attended college for only three months before obtaining his first patant on the rotary steam engine. In April of 1869 he designed the air brake, which allowed trains to stop reliably every time. Before this train crashes were extremely frequent. Seeing possible profit, he started the Westinhouse air brake company in July of that year. As the company kept busy he eventually developed the Automatic Air Brake, and the triple valve. In 1884 Westinghouse created the Westinhouse Electric Company. He funded Nikola Tesla thus claiming exclusive rights to his patants. He died of deteriorating health and illness. He died on March 12, 1914. He recieved a total of 361 patents to his name, the last of which he recieved four years after his death.

Felix Wankel

Felix Wankel was born on August 30, 1902 in Luhran, Germany. At age 28 Wankel opened his very own engine research facility. From 1926 to 1945, Wankel worked at an aeronautics factory where he aquired his knowledge on valves and how to seal them. In 1951 he began to work for an auto mobile factory. He then dedicated himself to finding a better alternative to the internal combustion engine. Four years later, he completed the design of a rotary cylinder engine. He tested the first completed one in 1957. It one of few rotary cylinder engines that was successful. It was also lightweight and had very few moving parts. However the rotor seal was the only problem, and he could not fix it. Wankel died on October 9, 1988.

Richard Trevithick

Richard Trevithick was born in1771 in Illogan, Cornwall. In high school he was much more interested in sports than learning. Some called him "The Cornish Giant" because he grew to a size of 6 foot 2 inches. Trevethick loved steam engines. In 1796 he produced a working engine boiler combination. After his success on the model engine he decided to create a full scale engine. On Christmas Eve 1801, Trevethick and some friends went for a short ride on "The Puffing Devil". Although it worked well it could not hold the steam for very long which made it quite impractical for use. In 1804 he created the first steam locomotive to successfully run on rails. It made three successful runs, however the 7-ton locomotive broke the rails every time so it was abandoned. He jumped from failure to fail until he died on April 22, 1833. His uses of steam can rightly credit him as the father of steam locomotives.

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856. Nikola Tesla is most widely known for the invention of Alternating current. His first idea was to create a spinning magnet that spun a coil thus alternating the current going through the main line. AC could go much further than Direct current which lost amperage after a large distance. In 1884 Tesla sailed over to America to workalongside Edison. This was an excellent combination, except for the fact that each disagreed with the other over AC(Alternating Current) and DC (Direct Current). Around 1887 George Westinghouse took interest in Tesla's ideas and began funding him. All the while Edison publicly disputed Tesla's claims. Edison posted pictures of animals being electrocuted by the high voltage lines. Edison went as far to say that AC was so dangerous it should be used in New York's electric chair. In spite of Edison, AC beat DC. In 1890's a Hydroelectric generator was placed on Niagara Falls and electricty was spread through the east using AC. Tesla died a peaceful death on his bed in NYC on January 7, 1943.

Henry Ford

Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863, making him the first child of William and Mary Ford's six children. At an early age he expressed great interest in mechanical things and not his farm work. At age 16, Henry left home to become an apprentice machinist for three years although he would occasionally come home and work on the farm with his parents. After his apprenticeship had ended he divided his time between the farm and working on steam engines. Upon his marriage to Clara Bryant in 1888 he supported his new family by running a saw mill. In 1891 he became an engineer in the Edison Illuminating Company. In 1893 he was promoted to chief engineer, which gave him the time and the money to pursue his own interests in the combustion engine. The Ford Motor Company was established in 1903, however very unsuccessful. In 1908 he began producing the Model T. This car was a great success. It was cheap and reliable. In 1913 he introduced the moving assembly line which allowed the company to mass produce the cars, and thus reducing the price of the car even more.

Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday was born on September 22, 1791. He is most widely known for his expiraments in Chemistry and Magnetism. At age 21 he became an assistant to the famous chemist Humphry Davy who worked in London. He discovered two new chlorides of carbon. In 1825 he was appointed director of the laboratory in London. In 1831 he demonstrated his theory of induction. Using a manetic field to produce electricity. In 1845 he discovered the Faraday effect, how magnetic fields affect polarized light. In 1855 he discontinued his work in chemistry because he was, well, getting old. Faraday died on August 25, 1867.

John Presper Eckert

John Presper Eckert was born on April 9, 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Alongside John W. Mauchly they created the first digital computer from 1941-1945. Mauchly worked more on the overall design while Eckert was involved in the electronics. Eckert and Mauchly started up the Electronic Control Company. This company built the Binary Automatic Computer (BINAC). The major advantage to this machine was that it used magnetic tapes to store information rather that punched cards. The Electronic Control Company was asked by the National Bureau of Standards to create a Universal Automatic Computer. The ECC ran into finacial trouble and was consumed by the Remington Rand Corporation. The Universal Automatic Computer was finished by Remington Rand in 1950. Eckert stayed with this company until his retirement. John Presper Eckert died on June 5, 1995.

Abraham Darby

Abraham Darby was born about 1678. He invented Coke smelting in 1709. This process replaced charcoal with coal in metal foundries. This was a major advantage to Britain since coal was becoming more an more scarce and expensive also. He also made major discoveries in brass production that turned Britain into a major exporter of brass. He also designed sand casting which allows that mold to be reused thus costing the companies less money. Darby died on March 8, 1717

Gottleib Daimler

Gottleib Daimler was born on March 17, 1834 in Schorndorf. In 1852 Daimler turned his life over to Mechanical Engineering. In 1872 Gottlieb began working with Nicholas August Otto on the gas engine. In 1876 they created the four stroke engine though it was still to inefficient for use. In 1882 Daimler and Wilhelm Maybech founded Daimler Motors. They were able to increase the power and speed of the engine using petroleum. In 1883 Daimler and Maybech finished their first engine with an amazing 600 rpm. This blew the standards for that time away. The highest at that time was 120 to 160 rpm. In November 1885 Daimler placed an engine on a bicycle and created the first motorcycle. On March 8, 1886 they created the first motorized stagecoach. Daimler and Maybech proved the power of their motor in many ways. In 1887 they hooked it up to a boat. And 1888 they placed it into a hot air balloon to power the balloon. Daimler died on March 6, 1900.

Wernher Von Braun

Wernher Magnus Maximilian Frieherr Von Braun was born on March 23, 1912 in Wirsitz, Prussia(now Poland). Upon his Lutheran Confirmation his mother gave him a telescope for his birthday. He discovered that he had an extreme attraction to the night sky. After the Treaty of Versailles he and his family moved to Berlin. When he entered school he didn't do very well in Physics or Mathematics, until he realized that if he wanted to pursue the night sky he must do well in these subjects. From then on he applied himself 110% to his studies in Physics and Mathematics. He received his doctorate after his group launched two model rocket up about 2 miles into the sky. Von Braun became a member of the SS from 1940 to the end of the war. He however did not want to join but he had no choice. If he hadn't he would have had to give up his life's work. In 1942 Hitler commanded the production of the V2 missile. Von Braun had to help design it. On September 7, 1944 Hitler launched the first missile towards England. More people died during construction of the rocket than when it was used as a weapon. In 1945 Von Braun called in his planning staff and they all discussed how they would surrender to the rapidly appoaching Americans. They also had to evade their own army because the SS had received orders to kill all German engineers. In 1947 Von Braun Married his first cousin, and in 1948 their daughter, Iris, was born at a naval hospital in Fort Bliss. Von Braun also became the first director at NASA from 1960 to 1970. Living an extremely full life Von Braun died on June 16, 1977.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank, or Lloyd as he is most commonly referred to, was born on June 8, 1867. Before he was even born his mother was determined to make him into an architect. In 1887 Lloyd pawned some of his father's book so he could buy himself a ticket to Chicago. On his fourth day in Chicago he went to the office of Joseph Lyman Silsbee. After being interviewed by one of Silsbee's draftmen Lloyd was hired as a tracer for a salary of eight dollars a week. Wright worked there for about year before he found a job with a higher salary. He began to work with Louis Sullivan and Danmark Adler. Lloyd will openly admit that only Sullivan effected him as a true engineer would. In 1893 Sullivan fired him because Lloyd was asking for to many independent jobs. In the 1920's Wright built a number of houses in Hollywood for famous actors. Lloyd died on April 9, 1964.

Philo Farnsworth

Philo Taylor Farnsworth was born on August 19, 1906 near Beaver City, Utah. Philo developed an early interest in electronics. In 1926, Philo and another inventor began to work together to develop his ideas on the television. In 1927, Philo's image dissector transmitted its first image, a straight line. Philo presented his invention to the press in 1928 when he had a more reliable system. By 1936, Philo's company was transmitting basic entertainment programs. Philo died of alcoholism on March 11, 1971.

Wilbur and Orville Wright

Wilbur Wright was the third son of Bishop Milton Wright and was born on April 16, 1867 in Indiana. Orville his brother was born on August 19, 1871 in Dayton, Ohio, "The Birthplace of Aviation." As both boys were growing up they were encouraged by their parents to experiment and investigate anything the found interesting. During 1900 to 1903 the Brothers worked on their first plane. They attempted to sell their idea to the army however the army declined at first. During WWI the army began using planes to drop tear gas over the enemy camps. On May 30, 1912 Wilbur Wright died young at the age of 45. Orville died on January 30, 1948. In Orville's complete life the speed of the airplane went from 0mph to nearly 1,000mph.

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Bell went to Royal High School in Edinburgh, and graduated at the age of 13. He became a student teacher of elocution and music at the age of 16. He instructed at Somersetshire College from 1866 to 1867. When he was 23 he and his family moved to Brantford Canada, where he began his studies in telephony. On March 6, 1876 Bell received the patent for the telephone. While he was in the Volta Laboratory he and hi colleagues experiment ed with the idea to use a magnetic field as a way of storing sound. They could not get it to work however that was the basic principle used in the cassette and computer and then the CD. In 1888 he became a founder of the National Geographic society and he became its second president. In 1914 he received an award for his telephone. Bell died on August 2, 1922 in Baddeck, Canada.

Grace Hopper

Grace Hopper was born on December 9, 1906. She was an early form of a computer wizard. She progammed the Mark 1 calculator and she also was the first compiler of a computer programming language. In 1928 she graduated from Vassar university with a bachelors degree in Physics and Mathematics. She then pursued Yale. She got her masters in the same two subject in 1930 and 1934. She became the first women ever to have a Ph.D in Mathematics. In 43' she joined the naval reserve to begin work on the Mark 1 calculator. Even after the war when she was discharged she kept on working on the Mark II and Mark III calculators. She also designed the computer language compiler that allowed it to be written extremely close to the English language instead of ones, and zeros. She also implemented a computer standards institution, which eventually became what is now NIST. To every meeting she wore her full naval uniform. Hopper is also remembered for being the first to discover a computer bug. Grace Hopper died on January 1, 1992. She now lies at rest in section 59 of Arlington cemetery.

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio into a middle class family. Oddly enough Tom didn't begin to talk until he was four years of age. As soon as he acquired his speech he began asking anyone and everyone how things worked. By age eleven Tom began to use the local library. At twelve Tom's parents hired a tutor because they could not understand what Tom was talking about in his numerous fields of knowledge.
Tom's first invention was the automatic repeater. It would receive and send messages between unmanned telegraph stations. Another of his early inventions was the electric vote recorder. When he tried to sell it to the legislature they rejected the idea. Tom realized that his idea was ahead of its time and way to advanced for the minds of the legislature.
In 1877 Edison invented the phonograph, even though Alexander Graham Bell had been working on the idea for years. In 83' he invented electric light, heat and power. Around 1900 he invented the first movie camera. At age 83 he began to slow down and created his 1093 patent.
Thomas Edison died at the age of 84. He died in New Jersey on October 8th 1931.