"Being an independent inventor is tough. You develop a product, patent it, then you're looking for someone who will see the benefit from this technology. You assume all the investment and all the risk. It can be a challenge."
Lonnie JohnsonTiny Panda Quotes
Quotes by Lonnie Johnson
Lonnie Johnson is a pioneering African American engineer and inventor, best known for creating the Super Soaker water gun, which transformed the toy industry and became a cultural phenomenon. Born on October 6, 1949, in Mobile, Alabama, Johnson's journey from a humble upbringing to a celebrated innovator exemplifies resilience and creativity. An alum of Tuskegee University and a former NASA engineer, he has earned numerous accolades for his contributions to science and technology, leaving a lasting legacy that inspires future generations to dream and invent.
5 quotes found
"I would say that engineering has been a very positive experience overall, but usually coming into the situation it would be one of being underestimated. People would actually have low expectations. But I would take advantage of it quite honestly, because I would take my time to underestimate the situation."
Lonnie Johnson
"I love playing around with ideas and turning them into something useful or fun."
Lonnie Johnson"In 1968 when I was in high school I built a four-foot-tall remote control robot with pneumatic cylinders that operated his hands. My robot won first place at a science competition at the University of Alabama where my high school was the only African-American school represented. That was a huge moral victory."
Lonnie Johnson
"I got my first patent in 1979 before I left the Air Force. I called it the Digital Distance Measuring Instrument. It used ones and zeros and dots and dashes and a magnifying lens to read binary-encoded information from a scale that was photographically reduced. It used the same kind of technology that's used in CDs and DVDs."
Lonnie Johnson