Tevatron accelerator

The invention: 

A particle accelerator that generated collisions between
beams of protons and antiprotons at the highest energies
ever recorded.

The people behind the invention:

Robert Rathbun Wilson (1914- ), an American physicist and
director of Fermilab from 1967 to 1978
John Peoples (1933- ), an American physicist and deputy
director of Fermilab from 1987

Television

The invention:

System that converts moving pictures and sounds
into electronic signals that can be broadcast at great distances.

The people behind the invention:

Vladimir Zworykin (1889-1982), a Soviet electronic engineer and
recipient of the National Medal of Science in 1967
Paul Gottlieb Nipkow (1860-1940), a German engineer and
inventor
Alan A. Campbell Swinton (1863-1930), a Scottish engineer and
Fellow of the Royal Society
Charles F. Jenkins (1867-1934), an American physicist, engineer,
and inventor

Telephone switching

The invention: 

The first completely automatic electronic system
for switching telephone calls.

The people behind the invention:

Almon B. Strowger (1839-1902), an American inventor
Charles Wilson Hoover, Jr. (1925- ), supervisor of memory
system development
Wallace Andrew Depp (1914- ), director of Electronic
Switching
Merton Brown Purvis (1923- ), designer of switching
matrices

Teflon

The invention: 

Afluorocarbon polymer whose chemical inertness
and physical properties have made it useful for many applications,
from nonstick cookware coatings to suits for astronauts.

The person behind the invention:

Roy J. Plunkett (1910-1994), an American chemist

Talking motion pictures

The invention:

The first practical system for linking sound with
moving pictures.

The people behind the invention:

Harry Warner (1881-1958), the brother who used sound to
fashion a major filmmaking company
Albert Warner (1884-1967), the brother who persuaded theater
owners to show Warner films
Samuel Warner (1887-1927), the brother who adapted soundrecording
technology to filmmaking
Jack Warner (1892-1978), the brother who supervised the
making of Warner films

Syphilis test

The invention: 

The first simple test for detecting the presence of
the venereal disease syphilis led to better syphilis control and
other advances in immunology.

The people behind the invention:

Reuben Leon Kahn (1887-1974), a Soviet-born American
serologist and immunologist

August von Wassermann (1866-1925), a German physician and
bacteriologist

Synthetic RNA

 


The invention: 

A method for synthesizing the biological molecule
RNA established that this process can occur outside the living
cell.

The people behind the invention:

Severo Ochoa (1905-1993), a Spanish biochemist who shared
the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Marianne Grunberg-Manago (1921- ), a French biochemist
Marshall W. Nirenberg (1927- ), an American biochemist
who won the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Peter Lengyel (1929- ), a Hungarian American biochemist

Synthetic DNA

The invention: 

A method for replicating viral deoxyribonucleic
acid (DNA) in a test tube that paved the way for genetic engineering.

The people behind the invention:

Arthur Kornberg (1918- ), an American physician and
biochemist
Robert L. Sinsheimer (1920- ), an American biophysicist
Mehran Goulian (1929- ), a physician and biochemist