The Class Of 2003 National Inventors Hall Of Fame

(1939- ) Far ultraviolet camera and spectragraph. Deployed on the moon by Apollo 16 astronauts, it delivered breakthroughs in astronomy.

(1936- ) Satellite servicing techniques. As manager of NASA’s maintenance program for the Hubble Space Telescope, Cepollina uses his pioneering techniques to continually upgrade and renew the system.

(1878-1930) Hydroaeroplane. Curtiss, who generated more than 70 patents, also developed the first practical aircraft that could land and take off on water.

(1921- ) Spacecapsule design. This renowned NASA engineer created designs for Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft as well as the space shuttle.

(1895-1982) Retractable landing gear. He designed and manufactured some of the most successful military aircraft ever and created the first reliable retractable landing gear for seaplanes.

(1919- ) Rotor control mechanism for rotary aircraft. Best known for his advanced aircraft designs, Kaman created a series of improvements in helicopter guidance and engines. (He also invented the Ovation acoustic guitar.)

(1900-82) Altimeter. The introduction of the barometric altimeter in 1928 was the birth of instrumental flight, making it much safer to fly at night or in poor weather conditions.

(1904-81) Flight trainer/simulator. Link’s safe training system for novice pilots, first built in 1929, saved lives and increased Allied military prowess during World War II.

(1889-1944) Ethyl gasoline. High-octane fuel with Midgley’s additive of tetraethyl lead enabled designers to create high-performance aircraft.

(1895-1981) Flying-wing airplane; high-wing, allmetal monocoque (single-shell)fuselage airplane (the Vega). Northrop’s advanced designs for more than four dozen different aircraft laid a foundation for modern aviation. His radical “flying wing” of the 1940s wasn’t fully realized until the 1990s, with the B-2 stealth bomber.

(1910-2002) Communications satellite. Pierce’s 1960 success in creating Echo 1 , an early experimental communications satellite, continued with Telstar , a more advanced commercial satellite launched in 1962.

(1926- ) Spinstabilized synchronous-communications satellite. Rosen’s advanced design made the Syncom communications satellites, the first ones available 24 hours a day, both light and robust.

(18811963) Turboprop. The cofounder of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory was a pioneering aerodynamicist and an important contributor to the turboprop engine, among many other inventions.

(1911-98) Jet engine. In an effort to produce a powerful, vibration-free power plant for airplanes, Ohain built the first operational jet in 1939.

(1921- ) Supercritical wing. This pioneering aerodynamicist delivered several advances in wing design, including the reduced-drag supercritical wing.

(1907-96) Turbojet engine. Although British authorities were slow to capitalize on his invention, Whittle’s laboratory experiments led him to receive the first turbojet patent, issued in Britain in 1932.

(1921- ) Small fanjet engine. Williams’s radically different approach to jet-engine design allowed him to create extremely small, powerful motors, including the engines that powered the first long-range cruise missiles.