Famous Inventors Born in June

Robert Sanderson Mulliken

Date of Birth: June 7, 1896

Profession: American physicist and chemist; Nobel laureate.

Notable Works: He is primarily responsible for the early development of molecular orbital theory, i.e. the elaboration of the molecular orbital method of computing the structure of molecules.

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Peter Debye Award (1963); Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1966); ForMemRS (1967); Priestley Medal (1983).

Charles Glover Barkla

Date of Birth: June 7, 1877

Profession:  British physicist; Nobel laureate.

Notable Works: He made significant progress in developing and refining the laws of X-ray scattering, X-ray spectroscopy; the principles governing the transmission of X-rays through matter, and especially the principles of the excitation of secondary X-rays.

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Nobel Prize in Physics (1917); Hughes Medal (1917); Fellow of the Royal Society (1912).

Heinrich Rohrer

Date of Birth: June 6, 1933

Profession: Swiss physicist; Nobel laureate.

Notable Works: He designed the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), which is a type of microscope used for imaging surfaces at the atomic level.

Prestigious Honours and Awards: EPS Europhysics Prize (1984); King Faisal Prize (1984); Nobel Prize in Physics (1986); Elliott Cresson Medal (1987); Fritz London Memorial Lecture (1992).

Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Date of Birth: June 11, 1910

Profession: French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author.

Notable Works: He co-invented the first successful Aqua-Lung, open-circuit SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus). The apparatus assisted him in producing some of the first underwater documentaries.

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Palme d’Or at Cannes; Legion of Honour – Commander (1972).

Werner Arber

Date of Birth: June 3, 1929

Profession: Swiss microbiologist and geneticist; Nobel laureate.

Notable Works: He discovered restriction endonucleases. Their work would lead to the development of recombinant DNA technology.

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1978.

Benjamin Huntsman

Date of Birth: June 4, 1704

Profession:  English inventor.

Notable Works: He was a manufacturer of cast or crucible steel, after many experiments, Huntsman was able to make satisfactory cast steel, in clay pot crucibles, each holding about 34 pounds of blistered steel.

Edward Davy 

Date of Birth: June 16, 1806

Profession: English physician and inventor.

Notable Works: He played a prominent role in the development of telegraphy, and invented an electric relay.

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Member of the Society of Telegraph Engineers (1885)

George de Mestral

Date of Birth: June 19, 1907 

Profession: Swiss electrical engineer.

Notable Works: He invented the hook and loop fastener which he named Velcro.  de Mestral was inspired to invent Velcro after examining burrs clinging to his clothing after a hiking trip. He began developing the fabric in 1948 and completed work in 1955, patenting his invention the same year.

Prestigious Honours and Awards:  National Inventors Hall of Fame, 1999.