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America

List of notable or famous historians from the United States, with bios and photos, including the top historians born in the United States and even some popular historians who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American historians then this list is the perfect resource for you. These historians are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known historian from the United States is included when available. List ranges from Woodrow Wilson to Theodore Roosevelt and more. This historic historians from the United States list can help answer the questions &quot;Who are some American historians of note?&quot; and &quot;Who are the most famous historians from the United States?&quot; These prominent historians of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American historians.Use this list of renowned American historians to discover some new historians that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page.&nbsp;

American People

List of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-best-selling-fiction-authors-of-all-time/walter-graves?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">most popular authors</a> from United States, listed alphabetically with photos when available. For centuries authors have been among the world's most important people, helping chronicle history and keep us entertained with one of the earliest forms of storytelling. Whether they're known for fiction, non-fiction, poetry or even technical writing, the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-american-authors/ranker-books?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">famous American authors</a> on this list have kept that tradition alive by writing renowned works that have been praised around the world. You can find useful information below about these notable American writers, such as when they were born and where their place of birth was.List authors include Amos Eaton, Andrew I. Porter and more.This list answers the questions, "Which famous authors are from United States?" and "Who are the best American authors?" For further information on these historic American authors, click on their names. If you're a bookworm then use this list of celebrated American authors to discover some new books that you will enjoy reading.

List of notable or famous pianists from the United States, with bios and photos, including the top pianists born in the United States and even some popular pianists who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American pianists then this list is the perfect resource for you. These pianists are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known pianist from the United States is included when available. The list you're viewing is made up of American piano players like Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel. This historic pianists from the United States list can help answer the questions &quot;Who are some American pianists of note?&quot; and &quot;Who are the most famous pianists from the United States?&quot; These prominent pianists of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American pianists.Use this list of renowned American pianists to discover some new pianists that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page.&nbsp;

List of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-pop-artists-2019/ranker-music?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">most popular artists</a> from United States, listed alphabetically with photos when available. For centuries artists have been among the world's most important people, helping chronicle history and keep us entertained with one of the earliest forms of entertainment. Whether they're known for painting, sculpting, etching or drawing, the famous American artists on this list have kept that tradition alive by creating renowned pieces of art that have been praised around the world. You can find useful information below about these notable American artists, such as when they were born and where their place of birth was.Artists include everyone from Pietro Pezzati to Linda McCartney.This list answers the questions, "Which famous artists are from United States?" and "Who are the most well-known American artists?" For further information on these historic American artists, click on their names. If you're a fine art lover use this list of celebrated American artists to discover some new paintings that you will enjoy.

List of notable or famous mathematicians from the United States, with bios and photos, including the top mathematicians born in the United States and even some popular mathematicians who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American mathematicians then this list is the perfect resource for you. These mathematicians are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known mathematician from the United States is included when available. The list you're viewing has a variety of people, like Albert Einstein and Benjamin Banneker, in it. This historic mathematicians from the United States list can help answer the questions "Who are some American mathematicians of note?" and "Who are the most famous mathematicians from the United States?" These prominent mathematicians of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American mathematicians.Use this list of renowned American mathematicians to discover some new mathematicians that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. {#nodes}

Soccer

DaMarcus Beasley

List of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-current-soccer-players/ranker-sports?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best soccer players</a> from United States of America. List includes the top soccer (or “football”) players from United States of America, along with photos when available. This list of best United States of America soccer players is ordered by popularity, so only the greatest players are at the top of the list. If you're searching for a particular famous United States of America soccer player you can use the &quot;search&quot; box to find what you're looking for.The list you're viewing is made up of a variety of different players, including Austin Brown and Jim Stamatis.This list answers the questions, &quot;Who are the best United States of America footballers?&quot; and &quot;Who is the greatest United States of America soccer player of all time?&quot; You can click on the names of these popular soccer players of United States of America in order to get more information about each one. If you're a sports lover then you can use this list of popular United States of America soccer players to discover some new athletes that you might really enjoy watching.

List of <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-tv-actors-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">famous TV actors</a> from United States, listed alphabetically with photos of the actors when available. United States has given birth to a lot of talented television actors who have gone on to star in comedies, dramas, soap operas, reality shows and more. These are some of the funniest and most talented American TV stars that have ever lived, so if you're an aspiring actor or actress from United States this list should contain many of your idols. If you're looking for a particular popular actor or actress from United States then use the "search" box to find who you're looking for.TV actors here include everything from Jim Byrnes to Cathy Carr.This list answers the questions, "Who are the best American TV actors?" and "Which television actors are from United States?" You can click on the names of these legendary TV stars of United States in order to get more information about each one. If you're a TV junkie use this list of talented American actresses to find some new TV stars that you haven't already heard of.

Buildings

List of the famous landmarks that make up the United States of America skyline, listed alphabetically with photos when available. United States of America architectural landmarks as well as other major buildings, dwellings, and other structures in United States of America are included on this list. Information about these United States of America buildings is included on this list, such as when the building first opened and what architectural style it falls under. List includes both new buildings in United States of America and older historic landmarks. Buildings here include everything from The Louvre to Metropolitan Museum of Art.This list answers the question, "What are the most famous buildings in United States of America?"This is a good reference for research into the historical architecture in United States of America. Famous architectural houses within the city of United States of America are included as well, sometimes by address, other times listed by the name of the original home owner.

List of notable or famous scientists from the United States, with bios and photos, including the top scientists born in the United States and even some popular scientists who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American scientists then this list is the perfect resource for you. These scientists are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known scientist from the United States is included when available. The list you're viewing is made up of different people like Alexander Graham Bell and Benjamin Franklin. This historic scientists from the United States list can help answer the questions &quot;Who are some American scientists of note?&quot; and &quot;Who are the most famous scientists from the United States?&quot; These prominent scientists of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American scientists.Use this list of renowned American scientists to discover some new scientists that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page.&nbsp;

Inventors

Alexander Graham Bell

List of famous American inventors, listed loosely by relevance with photos when available. These are some of <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/greatest-americans-ever/jacariah?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the greatest American</a> inventors that have helped make our lives easier by inventing things we use in our everyday lives. The inventions invented by each historic American inventor are displayed next to the inventors name when available. These brilliant inventors from United States can also be sorted by various bits of information, such as what year and where the inventor was born. Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein are included on this list along with many more.This list answers the questions "what are the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-english-inventors-list/reference?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">names of inventors</a> born in United States?" and "what is a list of smart American inventors?"Share this list of amazing American inventors by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. If you're looking to find out more about renowned inventors from United States then you're in the right place. {#nodes}

List of notable or famous illustrators from the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/tags/united-states?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag">United States</a>, with bios and photos, including the top illustrators born in the United States and even some popular illustrators who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American illustrators then this list is the perfect resource for you. These illustrators are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known illustrator from the United States is included when available. Examples of people on this list: Andy Warhol, Dav Pilkey and more. This historic illustrators from the United States list can help answer the questions "Who are some American illustrators of note?" and "Who are the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/notable-illustrator_s)/reference?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">most famous illustrators</a> from the United States?" These prominent illustrators of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American illustrators.Use this list of renowned American illustrators to discover some new illustrators that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/tags/social-media?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag">social media</a> icons at the top or bottom of the page. {#nodes}

List of notable or famous economists from the United States, with bios and photos, including the top economists born in the United States and even some popular economists who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American economists then this list is the perfect resource for you. These economists are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known economist from the United States is included when available. This list has a variety of people in it, from Alan Greenspan to Paul Krugman. This historic economists from the United States list can help answer the questions "Who are some American economists of note?" and "Who are the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-famous-economists/reference?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">most famous economists</a> from the United States?" These prominent economists of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American economists.Use this list of renowned American economists to discover some new economists that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. {#nodes}

List of notable or <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-fashion-designers-from-italy/reference?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">famous fashion designers</a> from the United States, with bios and photos, including <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-influential-fashion-designers-in-history/samantha-dillinger?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the top fashion designers</a> born in the United States and even some popular fashion designers who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American fashion designers then this list is the perfect resource for you. These fashion designers are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known fashion designer from the United States is included when available. This list is made up of a variety of people, including Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. This historic fashion designers from the United States list can help answer the questions "Who are some American fashion designers of note?" and "Who are the most famous fashion designers from the United States?" These prominent fashion designers of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American fashion designers.Use this list of renowned American fashion designers to discover some new fashion designers that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. {#nodes}

List of notable or famous presenters from the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/tags/united-states?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag">United States</a>, with bios and photos, including the top presenters born in the United States and even some popular presenters who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American presenters then this list is the perfect resource for you. These presenters are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known presenter from the United States is included when available. A factual list, featuring people like Jennifer Lopez and Heidi Klum. This historic presenters from the United States list can help answer the questions "Who are some American presenters of note?" and "Who are the most famous presenters from the United States?" These prominent presenters of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American presenters.Use this list of renowned American presenters to discover some new presenters that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/tags/social-media?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag">social media</a> icons at the top or bottom of the page. {#nodes}

Companies

List of notable businesses founded in United States of America, listed alphabetically with corporate logos when available. This list includes some of the largest, <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-profitable-businesses-in-the-world/business-and-company-info?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">most profitable companies</a> that were founded in United States of America. The famous United States of America companies and corporations on this list include both public and private corporations. You can find information about the popular companies on this list, such as what industry they're part of. When available you can click on the successful United States of America company's names to find out even more about them.List features items like Apple, General Electric and more!This list answers the questions, "What companies were founded in United States of America?" and "What are the biggest United States of America companies?" If you're a United States of America native then this list of the biggest United States of America companies will make you proud. This list is also an excellent resource if you're doing research on reputable businesses from United States of America.

List of the most notable, well-known and  popular candy sold in United States of America . List is organized alphabetically, not by taste, and features pictures of the United States of America candy whenever possible. Additional information about the United States of America candy’s history and where the United States of America can be found is available by clicking the name of the candy. List items include Zagnut, GooGoo Cluster and more. {#nodes}

List of notable or famous rowers from the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/tags/united-states?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag">United States</a>, with bios and photos, including the top rowers born in the United States and even some popular rowers who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American rowers then this list is the perfect resource for you. These rowers are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known rower from the United States is included when available. People on this list include Taylor Ritzel and Kara Kohler. This historic rowers from the United States list can help answer the questions "Who are some American rowers of note?" and "Who are the most famous rowers from the United States?" These prominent rowers of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American rowers.Use this list of renowned American rowers to discover some new rowers that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/tags/social-media?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag">social media</a> icons at the top or bottom of the page. {#nodes}

Olympics

Apolo Ohno

List of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-olympic-athletes-from-japan/voteable?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">greatest Olympic athletes</a> from United States of America, with photos when available. These are the best United States of America Olympians of all time who have had the honor of representing their country at the prestigious Olympic games. United States of America athletes from every era all have their place in the Olympic history books, but which United States of America Olympian is the best of them all? You can decide who the greatest Olympic competitor from United States of America is by how many medals they took back to their country, but that isn't the only factor that comes into play when considering who the best really is. A list made up of athletes like Dwight Howard and Lamar Odom.This list answers the questions, &quot;Who is the best United States of America Olympian of all time?&quot; and &quot;Who are the greatest Olympians from United States of America?&quot;America, Russia and Great Britain have the most Olympic medals out of every country that has been represented in the Olympics, but it doesn't mean that Olympic competitors from other nations don't deserve accolades as well. Vote for your favorite United States of America Olympic athletes on this list, and downvote the ones that you don't think had a huge impact on United States of America.

List of notable or famous bassists from the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/tags/united-states?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag">United States</a>, with bios and photos, including the top bassists born in the United States and even some popular bassists who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American bassists then this list is the perfect resource for you. These bassists are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known bassist from the United States is included when available. This list has a variety of people in it, from Eddie Van Halen to Gene Simmons. This historic bassists from the United States list can help answer the questions "Who are some American bassists of note?" and "Who are the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/notable-bassist_s)/reference?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">most famous bassists</a> from the United States?" These prominent bassists of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American bassists.Use this list of renowned American bassists to discover some new bassists that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/tags/social-media?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag">social media</a> icons at the top or bottom of the page. {#nodes}

List of notable or famous entrepreneurs from the United States, with bios and photos, including the top entrepreneurs born in the United States and even some popular entrepreneurs who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American entrepreneurs then this list is the perfect resource for you. These entrepreneurs are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known entrepreneur from the United States is included when available. List features people like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan. This historic entrepreneurs from the United States list can help answer the questions "Who are some American entrepreneurs of note?" and "Who are the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-successful-entrepreneurs-in-the-world/business-and-company-info?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">most famous entrepreneurs</a> from the United States?" These prominent entrepreneurs of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American entrepreneurs.Use this list of renowned American entrepreneurs to discover some new entrepreneurs that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. {#nodes}

The Americans

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Famous American Inventors | List of Great Inventors from United States Of America

Famous American Inventors List

Inventor

People

Famous People List: The Top People Lists and Top 10s

people

Reference

Gender

Age 30 and over

Gen Xers

Age under 50

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American

West Coast US

Us States

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International

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin  (January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1705] –  April 17, 1790) was an American polymath and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, Freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, Philadelphia's first fire department and the University of Pennsylvania.Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation. Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment. In the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, "In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat." To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become."Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at the age of 23. He became wealthy publishing this and Poor Richard's Almanack, which he authored under the pseudonym "Richard Saunders". After 1767, he was associated with the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of British policies.
He pioneered and was first president of Academy and College of Philadelphia which opened in 1751 and later became the University of Pennsylvania. He organized and was the first secretary of the American Philosophical Society and was elected president in 1769. Franklin became a national hero in America as an agent for several colonies when he spearheaded an effort in London to have the Parliament of Great Britain repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. His efforts proved vital for the American Revolution in securing shipments of crucial munitions from France.
He was promoted to deputy postmaster-general for the British colonies in 1753, having been Philadelphia postmaster for many years, and this enabled him to set up the first national communications network. During the revolution, he became the first United States Postmaster General. He was active in community affairs and colonial and state politics, as well as national and international affairs. From 1785 to 1788, he served as governor of Pennsylvania. He initially owned and dealt in slaves but, by the 1750s, he argued against slavery from an economic perspective and became one of the most prominent abolitionists.
His colorful life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and his status as one of America's most influential Founding Fathers, have seen Franklin honored more than two centuries after his death on coinage and the $100 bill, warships, and the names of many towns, counties, educational institutions, and corporations, as well as countless cultural references.

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current electricity supply system. Tesla gained experience in telephony and electrical engineering before immigrating to the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison in New York City. He soon struck out on his own with financial backers, setting up laboratories and companies to develop a range of electrical devices. His patented AC induction motor and transformer were licensed by George Westinghouse, who also hired Tesla for a short time as a consultant. 

Orville Wright

Alexander Graham Bell ('Graham' pronounced )  (March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a  Scottish-born American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with inventing and patenting the first practical telephone. He also founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work. His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876. Bell considered his invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils, and aeronautics. Although Bell was not one of the 33 founders of the National Geographic Society, he had a strong influence on the magazine while serving as the second president from January 7, 1898, until 1903.

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who has been described as America's greatest inventor. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.Edison was raised in the American Midwest; early in his career he worked as a telegraph operator, which inspired some of his earliest inventions. In 1876, he established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where many of his early inventions were developed. He later established a botanic laboratory in Fort Myers, Florida in collaboration with businessmen Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, and a laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey that featured the world's first film studio, the Black Maria. He was a prolific inventor, holding 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as patents in other countries. Edison married twice and fathered six children. He died in 1931 of the complications of diabetes.

Wilbur Wright

Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912) was the older of the two Wright brothers (the other being Orville), two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein ( EYEN-styne; German: [ˈalbɛɐ̯t ˈʔaɪnʃtaɪn] (listen); 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics). His work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. He is best known to the general public for his mass–energy equivalence formula 
  
    
      
        E
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    {\displaystyle E=mc^{2}}
  , which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation". He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect", a pivotal step in the development of quantum theory.
Near the beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian mechanics was no longer enough to reconcile the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. This led him to develop his special theory of relativity during his time at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern (1902–1909). However, he realized that the principle of relativity could also be extended to gravitational fields, and he published a paper on general relativity in 1916 with his theory of gravitation. He continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and quantum theory, which led to his explanations of particle theory and the motion of molecules. He also investigated the thermal properties of light which laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. In 1917, he applied the general theory of relativity to model the structure of the universe.Except for one year in Prague, Einstein lived in Switzerland between 1895 and 1914, during which time he renounced his German citizenship in 1896, then received his academic diploma from the Swiss federal polytechnic school (later the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH) in Zürich in 1900. After being stateless for more than five years, he acquired Swiss citizenship in 1901, which he kept for the rest of his life. In 1905, he was awarded a PhD by the University of Zurich. The same year, he published four groundbreaking papers during his renowned annus mirabilis (miracle year) which brought him to the notice of the academic world at the age of 26. Einstein taught theoretical physics at Zurich between 1912 and 1914, before he left for Berlin, where he was elected to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.
In 1933, while Einstein was visiting the United States, Adolf Hitler came to power. Because of his Jewish background, Einstein did not return to Germany. He settled in the United States and became an American citizen in 1940. On the eve of World War II, he endorsed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt alerting him to the potential development of "extremely powerful bombs of a new type" and recommending that the US begin similar research. This eventually led to the Manhattan Project. Einstein supported the Allies, but he generally denounced the idea of using nuclear fission as a weapon. He signed the Russell–Einstein Manifesto with British philosopher Bertrand Russell, which highlighted the danger of nuclear weapons. He was affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, until his death in 1955.
Einstein published more than 300 scientific papers and more than 150 non-scientific works. His intellectual achievements and originality have made the word "Einstein" synonymous with "genius". Eugene Wigner wrote of Einstein in comparison to his contemporaries that "Einstein's understanding was deeper even than Jancsi von Neumann's. His mind was both more penetrating and more original than von Neumann's. And that is a very remarkable statement."

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President of the United States. He was a spokesman for democracy, and embraced the principles of republicanism and the rights of the individual with worldwide influence. At the beginning of the American Revolution, he served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia, and then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France and later the first United States Secretary of State serving under President George Washington. In opposition to Alexander Hamilton's Federalism, Jefferson and his close friend, James Madison, organized the Democratic-Republican Party, and later resigned from Washington's cabinet. Elected Vice President in 1796 in the administration of John Adams, Jefferson opposed Adams, and with Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which attempted to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts.

John Browning

John Moses Browning (January 23, 1855 – November 26, 1926) was an American firearms designer who developed many varieties of military and civilian firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms –  many of which are still in use around the world. He made his first firearm at age 13 in his father's gun shop, and was awarded the first of his 128 firearm patents on October 7, 1879, at the age of 24. He is regarded as one of the most successful firearms designers of the 19th and 20th centuries, and pioneered the development of modern automatic and semi-automatic firearms.Browning influenced nearly all categories of firearms design. He invented, or made significant improvements to, single-shot, lever-action, and pump-action rifles and shotguns. Arguably, his most significant contributions were in the area of autoloading firearms. He developed the first reliable and compact autoloading pistols by inventing the telescoping bolt, then integrating the bolt and barrel shroud into what is known as the pistol slide. Browning's telescoping bolt design is now found on nearly every modern semi-automatic pistol, as well as several modern fully automatic weapons. He also developed the first gas-operated firearm, the Colt–Browning Model 1895 machine gun –  a system that surpassed mechanical recoil operation to become the standard for most high-power self-loading firearm designs worldwide. He also made significant contributions to automatic cannon development.
Browning's most successful designs include the M1911 pistol, the water-cooled M1917, the air-cooled M1919, and heavy M2 machine guns, the Browning Automatic Rifle, and the Browning Auto-5 –  the first semi-automatic shotgun. Some of these arms are still manufactured, often with only minor changes in detail and cosmetics to those assembled by Browning or his licensees. His guns are some of the most copied firearms in the world.

Samuel Morse

Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American painter and inventor. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs. He was a co-developer of Morse code and helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy.

Charles Goodyear

Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 – July 1, 1860) was an American self-taught chemist and manufacturing engineer who developed vulcanized rubber, for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844.Goodyear is credited with inventing the chemical process to create and manufacture pliable, waterproof, moldable rubber.Goodyear's discovery of the vulcanization process followed five years of searching for a more stable rubber and stumbling upon the effectiveness of heating after Thomas Hancock.  His discovery initiated decades of successful rubber manufacturing in the Lower Naugatuck Valley in Connecticut, as rubber was adopted to multiple applications, including footwear and tires.  The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is named after him.

Eli Whitney

Eli Whitney (December 8, 1765 – January 8, 1825) was an American inventor best known for inventing the cotton gin.  This was one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution and shaped the economy of the Antebellum South.  Whitney's invention made upland short cotton into a profitable crop, which strengthened the economic foundation of slavery in the United States. Despite the social and economic impact of his invention, Whitney lost many profits in legal battles over patent infringement for the cotton gin. Thereafter, he turned his attention into securing contracts with the government in the manufacture of muskets for the newly formed United States Army. He continued making arms and inventing until his death in 1825.

George Westinghouse

George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who invented the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, gaining his first patent at the age of 19. Westinghouse saw the potential in alternating current as an electricity distribution system in the early 1880s and put all his resources into developing and marketing it, a move that put his business in direct competition with the Edison direct current system. In 1911 Westinghouse received the AIEE's Edison Medal "For meritorious achievement in connection with the development of the alternating current system. He was portrayed by Michael Shannon in the 2017 film The Current War.

George Eastman

George Eastman  (July 12, 1854 – March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and popularized the use of roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream. Roll film was also the basis for the invention of motion picture film stock in 1888 by the world's first film-makers Eadweard Muybridge and Louis Le Prince, and a few years later by their followers Léon Bouly, William Kennedy Dickson, Thomas Edison, the Lumière Brothers, and Georges Méliès.
He was a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman School of Music, and schools of dentistry and medicine at the University of Rochester and in London Eastman Dental Hospital; contributing to the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the construction of several buildings at the second campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the Charles River. In addition, he made major donations to Tuskegee University and Hampton University, historically black universities in the South. With interests in improving health, he provided funds for clinics in London and other European cities to serve low-income residents.
In his final two years, Eastman was in intense pain caused by a disorder affecting his spine. On March 14, 1932, Eastman shot himself in the heart, leaving a note which read, "To my friends: my work is done. Why wait?"The George Eastman Museum has been designated a National Historic Landmark.  Eastman is the only person represented by two stars in the  Hollywood Walk of Fame recognizing the same achievement, for his invention of roll film.

George Pullman

George Mortimer Pullman (March 3, 1831 – October 19, 1897) was an American engineer and industrialist. He designed and manufactured the Pullman sleeping car and founded a company town, Pullman, for the workers who manufactured it. His Pullman Company also hired African-American men to staff the Pullman cars, who became known and widely respected as Pullman porters, providing elite service.
Struggling to maintain profitability during an 1894 downturn in manufacturing demand, he halved wages and required workers to spend long hours at the plant, but did not lower prices of rents and goods in his company town. He gained presidential support by Grover Cleveland for the use of federal military troops which left 30 strikers dead in the violent suppression of workers there to end the Pullman Strike of 1894. A national commission was appointed to investigate the strike, which included assessment of operations of the company town. In 1898 the Supreme Court of Illinois ordered the Pullman Company to divest itself of the town, which became a neighbourhood of the city of Chicago.

William Shockley

William Bradford Shockley Jr. (February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) was an American physicist and inventor. Shockley was the manager of a research group at Bell Labs that included John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. The three scientists were jointly awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for "their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect".
Partly as a result of Shockley's attempts to commercialize a new transistor design in the 1950s and 1960s, California's "Silicon Valley" became a hotbed of electronics innovation. In his later life, Shockley was a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University and became a proponent of eugenics.

Philo Farnsworth

Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. He made many crucial contributions to the early development of all-electronic television. He is best known for his 1927 invention of the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device (video camera tube), the image dissector, as well as the first fully functional and complete all-electronic television system. Farnsworth developed a television system complete with receiver and camera—which he produced commercially through the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation from 1938 to 1951, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.In later life, Farnsworth invented a small nuclear fusion device, the Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor, employing inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC). It was not a practical device for generating nuclear power, though it provides a viable source of neutrons.  The design of this device has been the inspiration for other fusion approaches, including the Polywell reactor concept.  Farnsworth held 300 patents, mostly in radio and television.

Wernher von Braun

Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977) was a German and later American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Germany and a pioneer of rocket technology and space science in the United States.While in his twenties and early thirties, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and develop the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War II. Following the war, he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of Operation Paperclip. He worked for the United States Army on an intermediate-range ballistic missile program, and he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite Explorer 1. 
His group was assimilated into NASA, where he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. In 1967, von Braun was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering and in 1975, he received the National Medal of Science. He advocated a human mission to Mars.

Jonas Salk

Jonas Edward Salk (; October 28, 1914 – June 23, 1995) was an American medical researcher and virologist. He discovered and developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. Born in New York City, he attended the City College of New York and New York University School of Medicine, later choosing to do medical research instead of becoming a practicing physician. In 1939, after earning his medical degree, Salk began an internship as a physician scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital. Two years later he was granted a fellowship at the University of Michigan, where he would study flu viruses with his mentor Thomas Francis Jr.Until 1955, when the Salk vaccine was introduced, polio was considered one of the most frightening public health problems in the world. In the postwar United States, annual epidemics were increasingly devastating. The 1952 U.S. epidemic was the worst outbreak in the nation's history. Of nearly 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 people died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis, with most of its victims being children. The "public reaction was to a plague", said historian William L. O'Neill. "Citizens of urban areas were to be terrified every summer when this frightful visitor returned." According to a 2009 PBS documentary, "Apart from the atomic bomb, America's greatest fear was polio." As a result, scientists were in a frantic race to find a way to prevent or cure the disease.
In 1947, Salk accepted an appointment to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In 1948, he undertook a project funded by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, the organization that would fund the development of a vaccine, to determine the number of different types of polio virus. Salk saw an opportunity to extend this project towards developing a vaccine against polio, and, together with the skilled research team he assembled, devoted himself to this work for the next seven years. The field trial set up to test the Salk vaccine was, according to O'Neill, "the most elaborate program of its kind in history, involving 20,000 physicians and public health officers, 64,000 school personnel, and 220,000 volunteers." Over 1.8 million school children took part in the trial. When news of the vaccine's success was made public on April 12, 1955, Salk was hailed as a "miracle worker" and the day almost became a national holiday. Around the world, an immediate rush to vaccinate began, with countries including Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, West Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Belgium planning to begin polio immunization campaigns using Salk's vaccine.
Salk campaigned for mandatory vaccination, claiming that public health should be considered a "moral commitment." Salk claimed that his sole focus had been to develop a safe and effective vaccine as rapidly as possible, with no interest in personal profit, and credited this attitude with the fact that there is no patent for the vaccine. However, there would have been no patent either way, as the vaccine was already ruled to be unpatentable due to prior art. In 1960, he founded the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, which is today a center for medical and scientific research. He continued to conduct research and publish books, including Man Unfolding (1972), The Survival of the Wisest (1973), World Population and Human Values: A New Reality (1981), and Anatomy of Reality: Merging of Intuition and Reason (1983). Salk's last years were spent searching for a vaccine against HIV. His personal papers are stored at the University of California, San Diego Library.

Leo Baekeland

Leo Henricus Arthur Baekeland FRSE(Hon) (November 14, 1863 – February 23, 1944) was a Belgian chemist. He is best known for the inventions of Velox photographic paper in 1893 and Bakelite in 1907. He has been called "The Father of the Plastics Industry" for his invention of Bakelite, an inexpensive, nonflammable and versatile plastic, which marked the beginning of the modern plastics industry.

King C. Gillette

King Camp Gillette (January 5, 1855 – July 9, 1932) was an American businessman. He invented a best selling version of the safety razor. Several models were in existence before Gillette's design. Gillette's innovation was the thin, inexpensive, disposable blade of stamped steel. Gillette is widely credited with inventing the so-called razor and blades business model, where razors are sold cheaply to increase the market for blades, but in fact he only adopted this model after his competitors did.

George Washington

George Constant Louis Washington (May 20, 1871 – March 29, 1946) was a Belgian-born American inventor and businessman. He is best remembered for his invention of an early instant coffee process and for the company he founded to mass-produce it, the G. Washington Coffee Company.An emigrant from his native Belgium, he arrived in the New York area in 1897 and dabbled in several technical fields before hitting upon instant coffee manufacture during a sojourn in Central America in 1906 or 1907. He began selling his coffee in 1909 and founded a company to manufacture it in 1910. Based in New York and New Jersey, his company prospered and became an important military supplier during World War I. The company's products were also advertised in New York newspapers and on the radio. The success of his company made Washington wealthy, and he lived in a mansion in Brooklyn and then moved to a country estate in New Jersey in 1927. In that same year, he lost a dispute with the tax authorities. Washington was married and had three children.
Washington's company was sold to American Home Products in 1943, shortly before his death. Though the coffee brand was discontinued by 1961, Washington's name is still used today in the product G. Washington's Seasoning & Broth.

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was lauded as the "greatest humorist this country has produced", and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature". His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "The Great American Novel".
Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter, contributing articles to the newspaper of his older brother Orion Clemens. He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. His humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", was published in 1865, based on a story that he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California, where he had spent some time as a miner. The short story brought international attention and was even translated into French. His wit and satire, in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.
Twain earned a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, but he invested in ventures that lost most of it—such as the Paige Compositor, a mechanical typesetter that failed because of its complexity and imprecision. He filed for bankruptcy in the wake of these financial setbacks, but he eventually overcame his financial troubles with the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers. He eventually paid all his creditors in full, even though his bankruptcy relieved him of having to do so.
Twain was born shortly after an appearance of Halley's Comet, and he predicted that he would "go out with it" as well; he died the day after the comet returned.

Robert H. Goddard

Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945) was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket. Goddard successfully launched his rocket on March 16, 1926, ushering in an era of space flight and innovation. He and his team launched 34 rockets between 1926 and 1941, achieving altitudes as high as 2.6 km (1.6 mi) and speeds as fast as 885 km/h (550 mph).Goddard's work as both theorist and engineer anticipated many of the developments that were to make spaceflight possible. He has been called the man who ushered in the Space Age. Two of Goddard's 214 patented inventions—a multi-stage rocket (1914), and a liquid-fuel rocket (1914)—were important milestones toward spaceflight. His 1919 monograph A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes is considered one of the classic texts of 20th-century rocket science. Goddard successfully applied two-axis control (gyroscopes and steerable thrust) to rockets to effectively control their flight.
Although his work in the field was revolutionary, Goddard received little public support, moral or monetary, for his research and development work. The press and other scientists ridiculed his theories of spaceflight. As a result, he became protective of his privacy and his work. He also preferred working alone because of the aftereffects of a bout with tuberculosis. Years after his death, at the dawn of the Space Age, he came to be recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern rocketry, along with Robert Esnault-Pelterie, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and Hermann Oberth. He not only recognized the potential of rockets for atmospheric research, ballistic missiles and space travel but was the first to scientifically study, design and construct the rockets needed to implement those ideas.NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center was named in Goddard's honor in 1959. He was also inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame in 1966, and the International Space Hall of Fame in 1976.

Richard Feynman

Richard Phillips Feynman, ForMemRS (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics for which he proposed the parton model. For contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 jointly with Julian Schwinger and Shin'ichirō Tomonaga.
Feynman developed a widely used pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions describing the behavior of subatomic particles, which later became known as Feynman diagrams. During his lifetime, Feynman became one of the best-known scientists in the world. In a 1999 poll of 130 leading physicists worldwide by the British journal Physics World he was ranked as one of the ten greatest physicists of all time.He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II and became known to a wide public in the 1980s as a member of the Rogers Commission, the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Along with his work in theoretical physics, Feynman has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing and introducing the concept of nanotechnology. He held the Richard C. Tolman professorship in theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.
Feynman was a keen popularizer of physics through both books and lectures including a 1959 talk on top-down nanotechnology called There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom and the three-volume publication of his undergraduate lectures, The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Feynman also became known through his semi-autobiographical books Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think? and books written about him such as Tuva or Bust! by Ralph Leighton and the biography Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick.

List of famous American inventors, listed loosely by relevance with photos when available. These are some of the greatest American inventors that have helped ...