Famous Inventors Born in September

Gunpei Yokoi

Date of Birth:  Sept. 10, 1941

Profession: Japanese video game designer.

Notable Works:  As a long-time Nintendo employee, he was best known as the creator of the Game & Watch handheld system, the inventor of the cross-shaped Control Pad, the original designer of the Game Boy, and the producer of a few long-running and critically acclaimed video game franchises such as Metroid and Kid Icarus.

Carl Zeiss

Date of Birth: Sept. 11, 1816

Notable Works: Zeiss gathered a group of gifted practical and theoretical opticians and glass makers to reshape most aspects of optical instrument production. He founded the popular lens manufacturing company, Carl Zeiss AG. He helped revolutionize optical theory and the practical design of microscopes.

Irène Joliot-Curie

Date of Birth: Sept. 12, 1897

Notable Works: Jointly with her husband, Joliot-Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of induced radioactivity, making them the second-ever married couple (after her parents) to win the Nobel Prize, while adding to the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. 

Milton S. Hershey

Date of Birth: Sept.13, 1857

Notable Works: An American Chocolatier and businessman. He pioneered the manufacture of caramel using fresh milk. Milton built Hershey’s, one of the world’s biggest confectionary manufacturers. The first Hershey bars were sold in 1900 and proved so popular that he was able to build his own company town of Hershey, Pennsylvania

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Hershey’s birthday, September 13, is one of several competing dates celebrated as International Chocolate Day.

Ivan Pavlov

Date of Birth: Sept. 14(26), 1849 

Notable Works: Physiologist who discovered the concept of conditional reflex. He trained a hungry dog to salivate at the sound of a metronome or buzzer, instead of just the sight of food.

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1904); ForMemRS (1907); Copley Medal (1915).

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya

Date of Birth: Sept. 15, 1861

Notable Works: Indian Civil Engineer and 19th Diwan of Mysore. He is known for the construction of dams, hydropower projects, and several architectural marvels. His birthday is Celebrated as Engineer’s Day in India,  Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. 

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Bharat Ratna (1955).

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot

Date of Birth: Sept. 25, 1725

Notable Works: French inventor and trained military engineers. He built the world’s first full-size and working self-propelled mechanical land vehicle, the “Fardier à vapeur” – the very first automobile.