Skip to main content
  • Main menu
Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
  • Home
  • Explore

Explore

Behind every invention, there is a story. Discover those stories here.

 

  • Explore All
  • Blog
  • Invention Stories
  • Places of Invention
  • Beyond Words
STEM Pathways Lemelson Logo
Invention Stories

Inspiring STEM Pathways

Contemporary Inventors as Role Models for the Next Generation

A middle-aged woman sitting on a barrel next to an outside staircase. She is holding a sketchbook.
Blog

Immigrant Lili Réthi Revealed the Drama of Construction

Graphic illustrator Lili Réthi depicted engineering, construction, and industrial projects with sensational realism.

Hinda Miller and Lisa Lindahl wearing Jogbras running
Blog

Athletes as User Innovators

Frustrated athletes become “user innovators” when they invent for their sports.

Color woodcut of a turkey in profile, with a farmer sharpening his knife in the background
Blog

Inventing Thanksgiving Traditions

A look at the tech behind some popular Thanksgiving traditions.

Color woodcut of a turkey in profile, with a farmer sharpening his knife in the background
Blog

The Inventive Side of Thanksgiving

About 30 million turkeys are sold each year with built-in pop-up timers designed to tell cooks when the bird has reached that magic temperature. Here's the story behind the pop-up timer's inventor.

U-Sketch pick your color green orange blue lavender purple black

Story Tags

  • African American inventors (Relevance: 25%)
  • Agriculture and horticulture (Relevance: 28.260869565217%)
  • Air and space (Relevance: 23.369565217391%)
  • Computers (Relevance: 27.173913043478%)
  • DIY/Maker Movement (Relevance: 19.565217391304%)
  • Environment (Relevance: 23.913043478261%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 100%)
  • Game Changers exhibition (Relevance: 22.282608695652%)
  • Household technology (Relevance: 28.260869565217%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 25.54347826087%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 52.173913043478%)
  • Military technology (Relevance: 20.652173913043%)
  • Music (Relevance: 35.326086956522%)
  • Photography, film, television, and video (Relevance: 25%)
  • Places of Invention (Relevance: 39.130434782609%)
  • Spark!Lab (Relevance: 19.565217391304%)
  • Sports (Relevance: 58.152173913043%)
  • Textiles and clothing (Relevance: 28.804347826087%)
  • Toys and games (Relevance: 22.826086956522%)
  • Transportation (Relevance: 44.021739130435%)
  • Women inventors (Relevance: 43.478260869565%)
A young blonde woman sitting in a wheelchair, wearing a red tank top, and holding up a 3D printed racing glove.
Blog

Arielle Rausin’s Invention Fits Like a Glove

Wheelchair marathoner Arielle Rausin invented 3D printed gloves that helped her race faster for longer.

Single red urethane skateboard wheel, with the words “Cadillac Wheels Da Kine” molded into it. Da Kine is derived from a Hawaiian word meaning “the best.”
Blog

How Frank “Captain Cadillac” Nasworthy Re-invented the Wheel

Frank Nasworthy’s development of skateboard-specific urethane “Cadillac Wheels” revolutionized the sport in the 1970s and beyond.

A hand waving over a sensor mounted on a text label
Blog

Inventing a Touchless Button

The path from idea to working invention.

A skater in mid-air jumping over 13 skateboards stacked on horizontal edge
Blog

Innoskate South Dakota

Skateboarding and innovation? You bet! And don’t forget the jazz.

An illustration of an air-brushed eye from a pamphlet about air brushing for painting
Blog

How the Invention of the Air Brush Transformed Commercial Art

Simple in construction and operation, the air brush offered new opportunities in art and photography.

Cover of the book Moneyball, showing a closeup of a baseball player’s hand holding a baseball.
Blog

Sports Analytics Before Moneyball

Long before the book Moneyball hit bestseller lists in 2003, sports analytics had emerged as a quirky pastime practiced by operations researchers, freelance sports journalists, and internet hobbyists.

A town made of paper and craft materials, with a hospital, a NASA rocket, and other buildings
Blog

Innovating the Spark!Lab Experience during a Pandemic

Springfield Museums’ Spark!Lab pioneered methods to safely reopen their hands-on space to the public.

Drawing of ten ice cream cones on a plate, stacked in a pyramid shape.
Blog

The Inventive “Queens of Ices”

Some cool women inventors are behind a favorite summer treat!

Logo: words History Time in blue superimposed over a light blue magnifying glass with a red handle
Blog

Videos for Young Learners Encourage Object-Based Discovery

Use our History Time videos to engage your young learner in close noticing skills—and practice with objects from the museum’s collection.

A young child in a wheelchair works with a Spark!Lab facilitator on a stadium-building activity.
Blog

Spark!Lab Goes to Qatar!

The Lemelson Center team brought a pop-up Spark!Lab to Qatar.

Chien-Shiung Wu in profile, sitting at a desk with a panel of knobs and dials in front of her.
Blog

Diverse Voices: Chien-Shiung Wu, “The Chinese Marie Curie”

Chinese-born scientist Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu made significant contributions to experimental physics that helped change what we know about the atomic world.

Green metal button with “environment” in black letters above the Earth Day logo
Blog

Who Invented the Environment?

The work of artists, scientists, inventors, activists, and government regulators helps shape our changing ideas about the environment.

Cartoon-like drawing of a wrench with the words “tweak it”
Blog

Spark!Lab Reboot: Reflect and Tweak

Inventive thinking can turn interruptions into opportunities.

Detail of cover of a brochure showing different types of egg crates, about 1900
Blog

Egg-citing Inventions

The egg carton traces its origins to the early 20th century, with inventors from Great Britain, Canada, and the United States contributing to its evolution.

A round medal that looks like a coin, embossed with Morgan’s portrait and the words Garrett A. Morgan, Inventor, 1877–1963
Blog

Diverse Voices: Inventor Garrett Morgan

Garrett Morgan, called the “Black Edison,” invented safety devices in the early 20th century and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

See More Stories

VIEW 2727 Matching Results

Found 2727 Stories

  • Agriculture and horticulture (Relevance: 5.2071873854052%)
  • Air and space (Relevance: 6.7473414008067%)
  • Archives@NMAH (Relevance: 8.4341767510084%)
  • Chemistry (Relevance: 3.0803080308031%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 3.3003300330033%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 7.5540887422076%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 4.5837917125046%)
  • Military technology (Relevance: 3.3370003667033%)
  • Mining and drilling (Relevance: 3.4103410341034%)
  • Patents and trademarks (Relevance: 11.367803447011%)
  • Photography, film, television, and video (Relevance: 3.8503850385039%)
  • Power generation, motors, and engines (Relevance: 3.4470113678034%)
  • Spark!Lab (Relevance: 3.5203520352035%)
  • Textiles and clothing (Relevance: 3.3736707004034%)
  • Transportation (Relevance: 5.977264393106%)
  • Women inventors (Relevance: 3.3003300330033%)
❯
Go to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History website

About Menu

▼
Open menu
▲
Close menu
  • Explore
    • Blog
    • Invention Stories
    • Places of Invention
    • Beyond Words
  • Study
    • Research Opportunities
    • Archives
    • Lemelson Center Books
    • Lemelson Center Research
    • Symposia & Conferences
  • Try
    • DO Try This at Home!
    • Spark!Lab
    • Spark!Lab Network
    • Encouraging Innovative Thinking
  • About
    • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • News
    • Who We Are
    • FAQ
    • Donate
  • Multimedia
  • Tags
  • Surprise Me
  • Search
  • Open Drawer
Copyright 2023, Smithsonian Institution, All Rights Reserved
  • DONATE
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
Twitter Facebook Tumblr Email Print