This Inventors Quiz Will Make You Say "Eureka!"

Did you know that Michael Jackson was a techie as well as a performer? His patented anti-gravity shoes led to his signature moonwalk move, first performed in 1983. The drawing with the patent shows a person leaning beyond their center of gravity, though the shoes keep them upright, just as they did during Jackson’s performances.

In 1958, Iowa-born engineer Robert Noyce invented the first integrated circuit, the technology that allows complex computer programming to be contained on a single silicon microchip. A decade later, Noyce co-founded Intel, a company that has produced many innovative technologies (such as the microprocessor) and continues to be a leading manufacturer of computer products to this day.

In 1914, Garrett Morgan patented a breathing device, or “safety hood,” that allowed wearers to breathe safely in the presence of poisonous fumes. This invention was the basis for the gas mask. Almost a decade later, Morgan invented another product that changed lives. After witnessing a traffic accident at a busy intersection in 1923, Morgan invented an early precursor to the modern traffic light that included a warning signal in between the “stop” and “go” lights.

The Einstein-Szilard Refrigerator was developed by Albert Einstein and his former physics student Leo Szilard in 1926. The refrigerator did away with the dangerous chemicals of contemporaries and had no moving parts. It relied solely on the laws of thermodynamics to keep food cold. The two inventors received a patent for their work in 1930.

Lonnie Johnson is an aerospace engineer who worked for the Navy and NASA before applying his knowledge and skills to the invention of the Super Soaker in 1989. Johnson’s invention was an instant success and has made more than $1 billion in revenue since its debut. Today, Johnson runs three technology-development companies that continue to produce significant inventions and file patents.

Archimedes’ screw is a machine used to raise water at an upwards angle. It is said to have been invented by the legendary Greek scientist Archimedes in order to remove water from the hold of a large ship. In addition to his achievements in physics and mathematics, Archimedes (who lived during the second century BCE) is also credited with the invention of a few war machines, including the Iron Claw.

Throughout his agricultural career, George Washington Carver (1864-1943) estimated that he created 300 new products involving peanuts. Among those were new types of peanut flour, peanut milk, and peanut oil. Peanut butter was not invented by Carver. The delicious spread was first developed by the Incas as far back as 950 BCE, and John Harvey Kellogg of the cereal company invented a more modern version in 1895.

While Hedy Lamarr is best known as a movie star, she was also a prolific inventor. During World War II, she and her friend received a patent for a radio signaling device, which was a way of changing radio frequencies to keep the enemies from decoding messages. The secret communication system also helped guide torpedoes to their targets by preventing the interception of radio waves. That technology was later used in modern inventions like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi internet, which led to Lamarr’s posthumous induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.

Alexander Graham Bell and his partner, Thomas Watson, developed the world's first telephone in the 1870s. In fact, it was Watson who answered the first-ever phone call and heard Bell say, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you." After helping found the Bell Telephone Company, Watson turned his inventive mind to shipbuilding and constructed a number of vessels for the U.S. government.

Ada Lovelace, the daughter of poet Lord Byron, made important early contributions to the field of computer science in the late 19th century. Lovelace worked with English mathematician Charles Babbage, whose Analytical Engine is considered a precursor to digital computers. Lovelace wrote the first algorithm for the Analytical Engine, making her the first person to write a program for a computer.

A longtime scientist for DuPont, Stephanie Kwolek was tasked with scouting for the next generation of fibers. In her findings, she created a new class of polymer solutions that could be turned into "super fibers," one of which became the bullet-resistant brand, Kevlar. Since its invention, Kevlar has served as body armor for the police and military, among other things.

Thomas Jefferson created the revolving chair in 1775 while working on drafts of the Declaration of Independence. The Revolving Windsor Armchair now resides with the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.

On May 13, 1897, Guglielmo Marconi sent the world’s first radio message over open water. Although the message traveled only a few miles, this successful example of “wireless telegraphy” was a major breakthrough in the research Marconi was conducting on electromagnetic waves and their ability to transmit sound. The achievement earned Marconi the Nobel Prize in 1909.

On January 27, 1880, Thomas Edison's years of work on the creation of an incandescent light bulb culminated with the receipt of this patent. Before achieving success, Edison and his team tried thousands of different constructions and theories, none of which quite worked. The incandescent light bulb patent is one of 1,093 patents earned by Edison throughout his legendary career.

In his notebooks, Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci drew extensive schematics for an ornithopter, a machine designed to fly through the flapping of artificial wings. Leonardo based his designs for the ornithopter on his close observations of birds in flight. The engineering principles behind the ornithopter served as inspiration for the Wright Brothers when they designed the first airplanes in the late 19th century.

Wilbur Wright was born in 1867 and four years later, Orville. As kids, the two tinkered tirelessly with model helicopters. In 1892, they opened a bicycle shop, giving them access to parts and mechanical knowledge, which they used to invent the world's first functioning airplane. In 1903, Wilbur piloted the Wright Flyer for 59 seconds for a distance of 852 feet — the world's first flight.

Alfred Nobel may be known for the esteemed prizes bearing his name, but the chemist’s fame and fortune came earlier in life, thanks to his invention of dynamite. In the early days, Nobel trained alongside his peer Ascania Sobrero, the Italian chemist who invented nitroglycerine. Nobel ended up patenting his final product, dynamite, in 1866.

Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press used the innovative technique of movable typeface to produce copies of books at a rate previously unseen in Europe. The first book Gutenberg printed was the Bible, which he printed in Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament in the mid-15th century. Today, 49 complete Gutenberg Bibles still exist, and other copies are in fragments.

In addition to his celebrated legacy as a writer and founding father of the United States, Benjamin Franklin was also an accomplished scientist and inventor. During his life, Franklin invented bifocals, the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, a urinary catheter, the glass harmonica, and more. Though he did famously conduct electrical experiments with kites, they were first flown long before Franklin's time.