PBS
Pbs Learning Media: What Edison Teaches Us About Success
In this interactive lesson, students examine Thomas Edison's character traits and how they contributed to his becoming one of the greatest inventors in history. In this interactive lesson, students watch videos to gather evidence about...
Discovery Education
Discovery Education: 3 M Young Scientist Lab: Travel Through Time
Travel through the decades to learn about the innovations that shape your life. Use the Decade Navigator below to start exploring. Transport yourself through the last 100 years to meet the innovations that have shaped our world.
Other
Earliest Voices: Thomas Edison
This resource offers historic voice recordings of Thomas Edison. There is a recording of animal sounds, and a speech given at an electrical exhibition in 1908. A biography and downloadable images of him are also included.
Other
Canada's Digital Collections: Marconi
Marconi tells the story of how he sent the first wireless signal across the Atlantic in 1902.
George Eastman Museum
Eastmanhouse: Inventors in Imaging Technologies
See how George Eastman, Thomas Edison, and Wilhelm Roentgen impacted American film history and had inventions that were interrelated.
Great Idea Finder
Great Idea Finder: Lewis Howard Latimer
An extensive biography of the life of African-American inventor, Lewis Latimer. Find out about his primary claim to fame in the development of an incandescent light bulb, but be sure to read about his many patents, and his importance to...
Great Idea Finder
The Great Idea Finder: Thomas Alva Edison
This site from The Great Idea Finder presents a lengthy biography of Thomas Edison, followed by a wealth of suggested resources including books, movies, and the Internet.
PBS
Pbs: Who Made America?: Innovators: Elmer Sperry
A prolific inventor and businessman, Sperry engineered a gyrocompass that made piloting ships, airplanes, and even spacecraft more reliable. He formed eight different companies to produce his inventions, some still in use today.
BBC
Bbc: Bitesize History: The Industrial Revolution: Causes
An overview of historians' views of the causes of the Industrial Revolution in Britain and of the inventions, inventors, and industries that propelled it.
Ohio History Central
Ohio History Central: Granville T. Woods
A biography of Granville T. Woods, who used his knowledge of machinery to establish his own company and invent many different improvements for the railroad.
National Inventors Hall of Fame
National Inventors Hall of Fame: Philo Taylor Farnsworth
Invent Now Hall of Fame explores the life and career of the "father of television", Philo Taylor Farnsworth. In 1983, he was honored with a postage stamp bearing his picture.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Inventor of the Week: Invention Dimension: Inventor of the Week: Frederick M. Jones
A brief biographical note about Frederick McKinley Jones that cites his work in the areas of refrigeration and sound recording.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Who Am I?
[Free Registration/Login Required] This is a review of famous inventors and people of the Second Industrial Revolution. Activotes questions are included. There is a citation for a United Streaming video clip at the end that could be...
National Inventors Hall of Fame
National Inventors Hall of Fame: Alexander Graham Bell: Telephone
Biographical information and a photograph of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.
National Inventors Hall of Fame
National Inventors Hall of Fame: Ottmar Mergenthaler
Read about the linotype machine, the most important invention since Guttenberg's printing press, and Ottmar Mergenthaler, its inventor.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Inventor of the Week: Samuel f.b. Morse
Provides a short biography of Samuel F.B. Morse, and his invention of the one-wire telegraph and the Morse Code. Also contains pictures.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Inventor of the Week: Garrett A. Morgan
This site from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology provides information on Garrett A. Morgan (1877-1963 CE), who is credited with inventing the gas mask, and, in turn, saving firefighters from suffocating while putting out fires...
National Inventors Hall of Fame
National Inventors Hall of Fame: James Collip: Isolated, Purified Insulin
Learn about one of the scientists responsible for inventing insulin for use by diabetics. Read a brief biography on James Collip, and follow links to inventors who worked with Collip, Charles Best and Frederick Banting.
Other
California State Polytechnic University: Women Inventors: Sarah E. Goode
The hideaway bed was originally invented by a former slave and furniture store owner, Sarah E. Goode.
National Inventors Hall of Fame
National Inventors Hall of Fame: John Deere
Provides a brief biography on the inventor of the plow, John Deere and the success of the plow.
National Inventors Hall of Fame
National Inventors Hall of Fame: James J. Wynne: Far Ultraviolet Procedures
Read about James J. Wynne, co-inventor of the laser technique used in LASIK eye surgery. This page includes a bio, an overview of the invention's impact on the medical world, and a portrait of Wynne.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Inventor of the Week: Madame c.j. Walker
At this site from the MIT Program you can read how Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker, or Madame C.J. Walker, and Marjorie Joyner "founded beauty schools for blacks" and changed the lives of African-Americans.
National Inventors Hall of Fame
National Inventors Hall of Fame: Samuel Blum: Far Ultraviolet Procedures
Read about Samuel Blum, inventor of the laser technique used in LASIK eye surgery. This page includes a bio and a brief explanation of how Blum discovered that lasers could be used in surgery.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Lonnie Johnson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lonnie Johnson, a prolific black American musician, singer, and songwriter, one of the first major blues and jazz guitarists.