7. Mobile phones
- Dr. Martin Cooper (1928–)
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Martin Cooper invented mobile phones in 1973. Thanks to this innovative doctor, photos, texts, social media accounts, news, music e.t.c. are just one click away. In the beginning, mobile phones were used only by successful businessmen or busy professionals.
Now, they are used by almost all of us, as 96% of Americans have some form of a mobile phone, and without them, I don’t think we can survive a day.
The first cellular mobile phone to be handheld was developed by Dr. Martin Cooper and his team. They showcased the first mobile phone a.k.a. “the brick” in 1973.
8. Chemotherapy
- Louis S. Goodman (1906–2000) and Alfred Gilman (1941–2015)
The treatment used nowadays to kill cancer cells was invented by two genius minds: Louis S. Goodman and Alfred Gilman. It all began in the 1940s when Goodman and Gilman’s passionate work led us one step closer to cancer treatment as we all know it today.
Both of them were pharmacologists from Yale University and they started their cancer treatment research after noticing that a chemical warfare agent, called nitrogen mustard restrained the growth of myeloid and lymphoid cells, two types of cells produced in bone marrows.
After this astonishing discovery, they started to research the effects on mice; and when they were pretty sure that their treatment could make a big difference for cancer patients, Goodman and Gilman injected nitrogen mustard into a patient who had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The result was pretty obvious: the tumor masses were minimized due to their treatment. Since 1946 (the year when Goodman and Gilman published their research), doctors and researchers have successfully tried to improve Goodman and Gilman’s chemotherapy technique. Due to all these efforts, myriad lives have been saved.
1 thought on “10 American Inventors That Changed the World”
The semiconductor or “chip” is the basis of several of these …. that is the invention that cause so much change. It in my opinion was the greatest invention of the last half of the 20th century.