Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Inventor of the Week: Jonas Salk
Read about Jonas Salk and the development of the polio vaccine. This article from the MIT Invention Dimension includes several links to further information on the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis and the Salk Institute for...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Invention of the Week: Alexander Graham Bell
This site provides a biographical sketch of Alexander Graham Bell and his inventions. Find out about Bell's patents in addition to the telephone.
Other
Ncr: James Ritty, Inventor of the Cash Register, 1879
An interesting biography of James Ritty and an account of how he invented the cash register. Included are pictures of his designs and the prototypes.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Invention of the Week: James Ritty
The interesting biography of James Ritty and his design of the first mechanical cash register. His subsequent sale of the invention to John H. Patterson blossomed into the company, National Cash Register Company.
Other
Positive.news: Children's Inventions to Make the World a Better Place
Children's imaginations are infinite - so could they help draw up the ambitious projects that we need to fight the world's challenges? A group was asked to design inventions to make society a better place. Here's how they responded.
New York Times
New York Times: 32 Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow
If you don't know that the incandescent light was a failure before it was a success, it's easy to write off some modern energy innovations like solar panels because they haven't hit the big time fast enough. Worse, the fairy-tale view of...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: You, Too, Can Be an Inventor!
How have inventions changed the world? This unit focuses on the importance, the process and the creativity involved in inventing. Through the study of inventions and inventors, students learn how inventions are created and the...
Ohio State University
Osu History Teaching Institute: Alexander Graham Bell Primary Source Activity
Eighth graders will critically examine primary sources to gain a better understanding of Alexander Graham Bell and the impact of his inventions.
Ohio State University
Osu History Teaching Institute: The Automobile
This activity will help students understand the different ways in which the automobile changed American society. Students will learn about Henry Ford, whose innovations transformed manufacturing and made automobiles affordable for...
A&E Television
History.com: 11 Innovations That Changed History
From pioneering inventions to bold scientific and medical advancements, find out more about 11 innovations that changed the course of human history.
Smithsonian Institution
Lemelson Center: Invention of the Electric Guitar: The Guitars
In this online exhibition, learn about the evolution of the electric guitar by browsing dozens of influential guitar models. Through diagrams and audio samples, discover how different types of electric guitars work and sound.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Robert Fulton
Learn how the steamboat got its start at the hand of a curious and energetic inventor-Robert Fulton. (In Spanish)
Great Idea Finder
The Great Idea Finder: Invention of the Microwave Oven
Site includes fascinating facts about the invention of the microwave oven by Perry Spencer in 1945.
Project Britain
Primary Homework Help: The Victorians: Inventions
Find out about several major developments that made travel, communications, and trade easier for many people during the Victorian period.
PBS
American Experience: Technology Timeline: 1752 1990
Short descriptions of important technological innovations produced in America and the date of their introduction.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: Technology Timeline 1750 1990
Did you ever wonder who invented something, and when it was invented? Go to this interactive timeline that highlights inventors/inventions from 1750-1990. Click on the topic to read a brief paragraph about that invention.
abcteach
Abcteach: Inventors and Inventions
[Free Registration/Login Required] Find several scientific inventors and inventions with activities for students in primary grades through middle school. One lesson in particular integrates technology by focusing on the invention of the...
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Inventions
Investigate past and present inventions, and use the tape player as an example to explore issues inventors must deal with, including patents, theft and technological obsolescence. Use the scientific method to choose, design and develop...
Other
African American Inventors Who've Changed Your Life (Pdf) [Pdf]
Integrated lesson plan focusing on the contributions that African American inventors have made to modern society. Includes rationale, day by day plan, links, and other information.
Other
Edison: His Life and Inventions: The Telephone, Motograph, and Microphone
This site offers the text of a book by Frank Dyer and Thomas Martin published in 1929 on the inventions of Thomas Edison. This particular page discusses Alexander Graham Bell's development of the telephone and the controversy over Thomas...
Other
Pioneers, Inc.: Black Scientists and Inventors
Find brief descriptions of the inventions of many African-American inventors in many fields in the 19th century.
Other
Patent Museum: Egg Beater: Willis Johnson 1884
A brief description to the patent filing and an excerpt from the patent request that Willis Johnson filed for his improvements in the egg beater. Included are drawings submitted with the patent request.
Other
New York Subway History: Beach Pneumatic Transit
Not all inventions turn out to be good ideas! Read about Alfred Ely Beach's idea to build a pneumatic tube under the streets of New York City for subway trains to use.