Famous Inventors Born in October

Robert Stirling

Date of Birth: 25 October 1790 

Profession: Scottish clergyman and engineer.

Notable Works: He invented the Stirling engine. He initially created a Heat Economiser with his brother, a device for storing and releasing heat using air circulation instead of steam.

In 1818, he improved upon this concept by developing a closed-cycle heat engine powered by air, primarily used for water pumping. Despite some innovations and patents, the engine faced limitations due to materials and high temperatures. Stirling aimed for safety and improved efficiency compared to steam engines. While the Stirling engine is not widely used today, it still attracts interest from research institutions due to its unique characteristics.

John B. Gorrie

Date of Birth:  October 3, 1803

Profession: a Nevisian-born American physician and scientist.

Notable Works: The inventor of mechanical refrigeration.

In the 1800s, Dr. John Gorrie worked on creating artificial ice due to difficulties in transporting natural ice. He succeeded in making ice mechanically in 1844 and secured a patent for his ice-making machine in 1851. However, financial challenges prevented him from commercializing his invention, and he passed away in 1855.

Sir William Ramsay

Date of Birth: October 2, 1852

Profession: Scottish chemist 

Notable Works: Ramsay is known for work that introduced a whole new group to the periodic table, variously called over time the inert, rare, or noble gases.

He discovered argon, helium, neon, krypton, and xenon. Led to the conclusion by different paths and, at first, without working together, both Lord Rayleigh and Sir William Ramsay succeeded in proving that there must exist a previously unknown gas in the atmosphere. At the meeting of the British Association in August 1894, they announced the discovery of argon.

Yet another discovery of Ramsay (in conjunction with Soddy), the importance of which it was impossible to foresee, was the detection of helium in the emanations of radium (1903).

H. V. Porter

Date of Birth: October 2, 1891

Profession: American educator, coach

Notable Works: Porter designed the fan-shaped backboard in 1933 and pushed for a smaller,

molded leather basketball in 1935. His 1936 high school rulebook standardized the game nationwide, and he served on the National Basketball Rules Committee. Porter coined “March Madness” to describe high school basketball excitement and introduced motion pictures for technique study; Porter was one of the first to associate it with basketball tournament season, and it became popular with Illinois sportswriters. His innovations and leadership left a lasting mark on the sport.

William Griggs

Date of Birth: October 4, 1832 

Profession:  English inventor 

Notable Works: Griggs invented a process of chromolithography known as photo-chromo-lithography; by first printing from a photolithographic transfer a faint impression on the paper to serve as a “key”, separating the colours on duplicate negatives by varnishes, then photolithographing the dissected portions on stones, finally registering and printing each in its position and particiliar colour, with the texture, light and shade of the original

William was associated with the India Office, and publications for which he produced coloured illustrations include many works about India.

Louis Jean Lumière

Date of Birth: October 5, 1864

Profession: French engineer

Notable Works: Lumière made the first motion picture in 1895, invented camera equipment for making movies, and created a projector for viewing movies. He played a key role in the development of photography and cinema.

At age 17, Lumière invented a new process for film development using a dry plate. This process was significantly successful for the family business, permitting the opening of a new factory with an eventual production of 15 million plates per year. Thomas Edison‘s Kinetoscope inspired his and his brother’s subsequent work on the cinematograph.