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Black History: Inventions That Changed The World
MARIE VAN BRITTAN BROWN
While home security systems today
are more advanced than ever, back in
1966 the idea for a home surveillance
device seemed almost unthinkable.
That was the year famous African Amer-
ican inventor Marie Van Brittan Brown,
and her partner Albert Brown, applied
for an invention patent for a closed-circuit television security system – the forerunner to the modern home security system.
An additional feature of Brown's invention was that a per- son also could unlock a door with a remote control.
A female Black inventor far ahead of her time, Marie Van Brittan Brown created an invention that was the first in a long string of home-security inventions that continue to flood the market today.
DR. MARK DEAN
As a child, Mark Dean excelled in math. In elementary school, he took advanced level math courses and, in high school, Dr. Dean even built his own computer, radio, and amplifier. Dr. Dean contin- ued his interests and went on to obtain a bachelor's degree in elec- trical engineering from the University of Tennessee, a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from Florida Atlantic University and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford. He is one of the most prominent Black inventors in the field of computers.
Dr. Dean started working at IBM in 1980 and was instrumental in the invention of the Personal Computer (PC). He holds three of IBM's original nine PC patents and currently holds more than 20 total patents.
This famous African American inventor has helped IBM make instrumental changes.
One of his most recent computer inventions occurred while leading the team that produced the 1-Gigahertz chip, which contains one million transistors and has nearly limitless potential.
VALERIE THOMAS
From 1964 to 1995, Valerie
Thomas worked in a variety of capaci-
ties for NASA where she developed
real-time computer data systems, con-
ducted large-scale experiments and
managed various operations, projects
and facilities. While managing a project
for NASA's image processing systems,
Thomas' team spearheaded the development of "Landsat," the first satellite to send images from space.
With an eye to the future, Thomas began experimenting on an illusion transmitter in 1977. In 1980, she patented it. In operation, concave mirrors are set up on both ends of the transmission.
This brilliant innovation placed Thomas among the most prominent Black inventors of the 20th century.
NASA continues to use her technology and is exploring ways to use it in surgical tools and possibly television and video.
DR. JAMES EDWARD WEST
Ninety percent of microphones used today are based on the ingenuity of Dr. James Edward West, an African American inven- tor born in 1931 in Prince Edwards County, VA. If you’ve ever talked on the telephone, you’ve probably used his invention.
Dr. West and a colleague, Gerhard Sessler, developed the mic (officially known as the Electroacoustic Transducer Electret Microphone) while with Bell Laboratories, and they received a patent for it in 1962. The acoustical technologies employed be- came widely used for many reasons.
Dr. West started at Bell labs as an intern and joined them full-
time in 1957 after graduating from Temple University. As the in-
ventor of the microphone, Dr. West has received numerous
awards and honors, including 1995 Inventor of the Year from the
State of New Jersey and induction in the Inventors Hall of Fame
in 1999. Dr. West holds 47 US patents and more than 200 foreign patents from his 40-year ca- reer with Bell Laboratories.
Dr. West now works with Johns Hopkins University as a research professor.
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