National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum — Attraction in Alexandria

The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also operates a museum in Alexandria, Virginia, sponsors educational programs, and a collegiate competition

As of 2020, 603 inventors have been inducted, mostly constituting historic persons from the past three centuries, but including about 100 living inductees. Nominees must hold a U.S. patent of significant contribution to the U.S. welfare, and which advances science and useful arts. The 2020 class included 22 inventors.

The National Inventors Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 on the initiative of H. Hume Mathews, then the chairman of the National Council of Patent Law Associations (now the National Council of Intellectual Property Law Associations). It was launched by Ed Sobey, who was also the first director. In 1974, it gained a major sponsor in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from Washington, D.C.

At first, the Hall was housed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, D.C., near the Washington National Airport but it soon needed more room at a more prominent location. A committee was formed in 1986 to find a new home for it. For a time, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the frontrunner. But in 1987, a patent attorney from Akron, Edwin "Ned" Oldham, the representative from the National Council of Patent Law Associations, led the drive to move the Hall to Akron. According to Maurice H. Klitzman, one of the founding members of the Board of Directors, because of the guaranteed financial support by the city of Akron that greatly exceeded any other community's proposal, the Board selected Akron as the new home. The construction of the new building was finished in 1995 and the Hall opened to the public with the name of the Inventure Place.

From the beginning, the Inventure Place was intended to be more than a science and technology museum and library. It was designed to double as an inventor's workshop and a national resource center for creativity. Designed by an architect from New York City, James Stewart Polshek, it was a stainless-steel building, shaped like a curving row of white sails, with five tiers of exhibits. One of the exhibits allowed the visitors to use computer programs for making animations and mechanisms for running laser-light shows.

But attendance did not meet the expectations and the museum never made a profit, although its related ventures and programs, such as Invent Now and Camp Invention, proved to be more successful. In 2002, its name was changed to the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum. Six years later the Hall moved to Alexandria. Its former facility was converted to a specialty school for students in grades between 5th and 8th. It is now the National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM Middle School, a middle school for the Akron...

The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of highly significant technology. Founded in 1973, its primary mission is to "honor the people responsible for the great technological advances that make human, social and economic progress possible." Besides the Hall of Fame, it also operates a museum in Alexandria, Virginia, and a former middle school in Akron, Ohio, and sponsors educational programs, a collegiate competition, and special projects all over the United States to encourage creativity among students.[1]

National Inventor of Fame

Display of inductees in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Alexandria

AbbreviationNIHFFormation1973TypeNPOLegal statusOrganizationPurpose"Honor[ing] the women and men responsible for the great technological advances that make human, social and economic progress possible."Headquarters3701 Highland Park N.W. North Canton, Ohio 44720Location

Alexandria, Virginia (Hall of Fame museum)

Region served

United States

Membership

603 inventors

Official language

EnglishAffiliationsInvent Now AmericaWebsitewww.invent.org

As of 2020, 603 inventors have been inducted, mostly constituting historic persons from the past three centuries, but including about 100 living inductees.[2] An NIHF committee chooses an annual inductee class in February from nominations accepted from all sources. Nominees must hold a U.S. patent of significant contribution to the U.S. welfare, and which advances science and useful arts.[3] The 2020 class included...

I am looking into teenage inventors for my children's book project about middle school girls interested in science and inventing, there is a mention about 9 year olds going to college. I wonder if there is an exhibit on self taught inventors. The irony of the Tesla car company is that the driver's of them are seeking status, and according to the documentary Tesla was struck by a taxi while crossing the street and winds up penniless in his 80's living in motel paid for by Westinghouse. How are inventors supposed to reasonably balance their life and be paid anywhere near what their contribution is worth?

Tesla's motivation was "to make man's life a little easier". Now we have escalators at the mall, people movers at the airport, elevators going into buildings nearly 2,000 feet above sea level, automatic door openers. 50% of the power grid goes into climate control heating and cooling. There are countless unknown inventors out there. One example of this is that Edison assumed all inventions from employees in the Edison name and not theirs.

In high school I was listed as an inventor in Who's Who of Inventors 1993 edition for a veterinarian supply and I want to get back into selling pet supplies. I also had a concept for regenerative braking without an actual concept. I've been told by a factory owner that manufacturing margins are low. I want to tie this experience in with Marxism and the proletariat factory workers.

Someone mentions Eisenhower Avenue. Why are streets named after politicians rather...