Who's Lonnie George Johnson?
.jpg)
Lonnie George Johnson (born October 6, 1949) is an American inventor, aerospace engineer, and entrepreneur, whose work includes a U.S. Air Force-term of service and a twelve-year stint at NASA, where he worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He invented the Super Soaker water gun in 1989, which has been among the world's bestselling toys ever since.
Johnson was born in Mobile, Alabama. His mother worked as a nurse's aide and his father was a World War II veteran. His father explained the basic principles of electricity to Johnson at an early age. Stating that he "always liked to tinker with things," He was nicknamed the professor from the neighborhood kids. He once destroyed his sister’s doll trying to see what made the eyes close. He also tried to cook up rocket fuel in a saucepan and by doing so almost burned down the house.
He attended Williamson High School, an all-black school in Mobile. Most of his inspiration came from George Washington Carver. In 1968, Johnson represented his high school at a science fair in Alabama, where he was the only black student attending the fair. This was a time when African Americans had very little presence in science. There, he presented his compressed air powered robot he created, which he named "Linex," taking home the first-place prize.
In 1969, after graduating from high school, Johnson attended Tuskegee University, obtaining a B.S. in mechanical engineering in 1973 and a master's degree in nuclear engineering in 1975. He also holds an honorary Ph.D. in Science from Tuskegee University.
He worked for the U.S. Air Force, working on the stealth bomber program, before eventually joining NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1979. While he was at NASA 1979 – 1991 he worked on various projects, including air force mission's lab, where he develops nuclear power source for the Galileo mission to Jupiter and several weapons related projects as well as an engineer on the Mariner Mark II Spacecraft series for the comet Rendezvous and Saturn orbiter Probe missions and on the stealth bomber program.
In 1991, He founded his own company, Johnson Research and Development Co., Inc., of which he is also the president. As of 2022, Johnson has three technology-development companies, Excellatron Solid State, LLC, Johnson Energy Storage, and Johnson Electro-Mechanical Systems (JEMS), operating in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1991, Johnson founded his own company, Johnson Research and Development Co., Inc., of which he is also the president. EMS has developed the Johnson Thermo-Electrochemical Converter System (JTEC) which Popular Mechanics listed as one of the top 10 inventions of 2009.[15] Johnson Energy Storage has developed a solid-state battery and as of early 2023 is raising funds to develop a demonstration manufacturing line.
More recently, he teamed up with scientists from both Tulane University and Tuskegee University to develop a method of transforming heat into electricity to make green energy more affordable.
Johnson first conceived the Super Soaker (which was called the Power Drencher when it was first launch in the toy stores in 1990) while doing work with the U.S. Air Force, it eventually got its trademark name after some tweaks and remarketing. Selling between $10 and $60 depending on the model, the Super Soaker took off, generating $200 million in sales in 1991. Shortly after making the deal for the Super Soaker with the Larami Corporation, Larami became a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc. in February 1995.
Johnson tweaked the design of the water gun, replacing the water in the Super Soaker with a "toy [Nerf] projectile."
In February 2013 Johnson filed suit against Hasbro after he discovered that he was being underpaid royalties for the Super Soaker and several Nerf toys. In November 2013, Johnson was awarded nearly $73 million in royalties from Hasbro Inc. in arbitration. According to Hasbro, the Super Soaker is approaching sales of $1 billion.
No matter how small or weird you think your idea is…. Keep working on it and never sell yourself short.
Comments
Post a Comment