Engineering
People designing machines and systems.
People in Engineering
36 profiles
InventorNikola Tesla
Developing motors and systems for alternating-current electricity.
InventorThomas Edison
Developing the phonograph and practical electric-lighting systems.
InventorAlexander Graham Bell
Developing and patenting an early practical telephone.
EngineerFerdinand Porsche
Designing influential cars, including the Volkswagen prototype.
EngineerKarl Benz
Building and patenting a pioneering practical petrol-powered automobile.
EngineerGustave Eiffel
Leading the company that built the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty’s internal framework.
EngineerA. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Helping develop India’s launch vehicles and missiles before serving as president.
InventorGranville T. Woods
Improving electrical railway systems and communication with moving trains.
InventorLewis Latimer
Improving carbon-filament manufacture and helping develop early electric lighting.
InventorGarrett Morgan
Developing a safety hood and an improved three-position traffic signal.
EngineerFazlur Rahman Khan
Developing structural systems that made very tall buildings more efficient.
EngineerIsambard Kingdom Brunel
Designing ambitious railways, bridges and ocean-going steamships.
EngineerGeorge Stephenson
Helping establish steam railways as a practical transport system.
EngineerJames Watt
Improving the steam engine with a separate condenser.
InventorLonnie Johnson
Inventing the Super Soaker while pursuing engineering and energy research.
EngineerMary Jackson
Becoming NASA’s first Black woman engineer and helping open technical careers to others.
EngineerMary Golda Ross
Pioneering aerospace engineering as a Cherokee woman at Lockheed.
AviatorVladimir Ilyushin
Test-flying Sukhoi aircraft and helping organise Soviet rugby.
InventorT. Peter Brody
Co-developing active-matrix display technology.
EngineerThomas Haug
Helping standardise international mobile telephone networks.
InventorJesse Ramsden
Making precision instruments for astronomy, navigation and surveying.
EngineerIsamu Akasaki
Developing efficient blue LEDs based on gallium nitride.
EngineerFrank Whittle
Developing the turbojet engine in Britain.
EngineerAndrew Viterbi
Inventing the Viterbi algorithm and co-founding Qualcomm.
EngineerHans von Ohain
Developing the turbojet that powered the Heinkel He 178
EngineerCharles K. Kao
Establishing the feasibility of fibre-optic communication.
PhysicistWillard Boyle
Co-inventing the charge-coupled device used in digital imaging.
EngineerShuji Nakamura
Developing efficient blue LEDs used in modern lighting.
EngineerGeorge H. Heilmeier
Helping develop the first liquid-crystal displays.
EngineerJames Hillier
Building an early high-resolution electron microscope.
EngineerCathcart William Methven
Harbour engineering in Durban and other southern African ports.
EngineerRachid Yazami
Developing the graphite anode used in lithium-ion batteries.
EngineerRudolf E. Kálmán
Developing the Kalman filter for estimating signals from noisy measurements.
PhysicistWolfgang Helfrich
Co-developing twisted-nematic liquid-crystal display technology.
EngineerYoshihisa Okumura
Developing radio-propagation models used in mobile networks.
EngineerEric Fossum
Developing CMOS active-pixel image-sensor technology