Road? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads. – Dr. Emmett Brown.
Here’s a look back at the maker world and beyond!

1923 – Happy 90th Birthday, Stephanie Kwolek!

Stephanie Kwolek, the inventor of Kevlar, turns 90 years old tomorrow. Born to Polish immigrants in Pittsburgh, Kwolek initially wanted to do lab research to save up for medical school, but work at Dupont labs proved interesting enough for her to stick to chemistry.  She happened upon the structure for Kevlar while looking for a lightweight but strong fiber to be used in tires in anticipation of a gasoline shortage. Kevlar proved to be five times stronger than nylon, and her discovery led to a new field of polymer chemistry research.

1889 – Vladimir Brings TV Stateside

Vladimir Kosma Zworykin, the “father” of television, was born 124 years ago today in Murom, Russia. He helped to work on a very early version of television, with Boris Rosing‘s lab in Saint Petersburg that used a cathode ray tube receiver, and a mechanical transmitter. Using his knowledge from that era, he was able to further develop the use of cathode rays working for Westinghouse in the 1920s.

1790 – First U.S. Patent

The first United States patent was granted on July 31st, 1790, to Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, Vermont for an improvement “in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process.” Because this pre-dated the patent office, it was signed instead personally by President George Washington.