Famous Inventors Born in May

Johannes Georg Bednorz 

Date of Birth: May 16, 1950

Profession:  German physicist. Nobel laureate.

Notable Works: He discovered high-temperature superconductivity in ceramics.

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Marcel Benoist Prize (1986); Fritz London Memorial Prize (1987); Nobel Prize in Physics (1987); EPS Europhysics Prize (1988)

Pranav Mistry

Date of Birth:  May 14, 1981

Profession: computer scientist and inventor.

Notable Works: Mistry is the former President and CEO of STAR Labs (Samsung Technology & Advanced Research Labs). He is currently the founder and CEO of TWO, an Artificial Reality startup.

Some of his other works include Mouseless, an invisible computer mouse; Sparsh, a novel way to copy-paste data between digital devices; Quickies, intelligent sticky notes; Blinkbot, a blink-controlled robot.

Mistry has a Master of Design degree from IIT Bombay and a Master in Media Arts and Sciences degree from MIT.

Prestigious Honours and Awards: The Invention Award by Popular Science (2009) and Young Global Leader (2013)

Sally Kristen Ride 

Date of Birth: May 26, 1951 

Profession: American astronaut and physicist

Notable Works: At the age of 32, Ride became the youngest and the first American woman to enter low-earth orbit space (1983). She is known for her two missions aboard the Challenger Shuttle: STS-7 and STS-41-G and for her impact on US Space Policy (The Ride Report)

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Jefferson Award for Public Service, The Von Braun Award, The Theodore Roosevelt Award and NASA Space Flight Medal. Ms. Ride was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and Astronaut Hall of Fame

Lillian Moller Gilbreth 

Date of Birth: May 24, 1878 

Profession: American psychologist, industrial engineer

Notable Works: Considered one of the first industrial psychologists, Gilbreth helped industrial engineers recognize the importance of psychological dimensions in time and motion study

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Hoover Medal (1966), National Academy of Engineering (first woman elected) (1965)

Alan Curtis Kay

Date of Birth: May 17, 1940

Profession: American computer scientist

Notable Works: he created what is now known as the world’s first portable notebook, the “Dynabook,” which later helped to evolve the laptop computer industry. In 1970, Kay joined Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC).

Prestigious Honours and Awards: ACM Turing Award (2003); Kyoto Prize; Charles Stark Draper Prize

Vincent du Vigneaud

Date of Birth: May 18, 1901

Profession: American biochemist. Nobel laureate.

Notable Works: He discovered the isolation and synthesis of two pituitary hormones: vasopressin, which acts on the muscles of the blood vessels, causing an increase in blood pressure; oxytocin, the principal agent causing contractions of the uterus and secretion of milk. du Vigneaud also contributed to the understanding of vitamins, insulin, and metabolic reactions.

Prestigious Honours and Awards: William H. Nichols Medal (1945); Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1948); Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1955); Willard Gibbs Award (1956)

Emile Berliner

Date of Birth: May 20, 1851 

Profession: German-American inventor

Notable Works: He invented the lateral-cut flat disc record used with a gramophone. Berliner also invented what was probably the first radial aircraft engine (1908), a helicopter (1919), and acoustical tiles (1920)

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Elliott Cresson Medal (1913)

Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Albrecht von Gräfe

Date of Birth: 22 May 1828

Profession: German ophthalmologist.

Notable Works: He was a pioneer eye surgeon who founded modern ophthalmology. Among his achievements were a method of treating glaucoma and a new operation for cataract

Anatol Rapoport

Date of Birth:  May 22, 1911

Profession: Ukrainian mathematical psychologist

Notable Works: He combined his mathematical expertise with psychological insights into the study of game theory, social networks, and semantics.

Prestigious Honours and Awards: Lentz International Peace Research Prize