Thermal cracking process

The invention: 

Process that increased the yield of refined gasoline
extracted from raw petroleum by using heat to convert complex
hydrocarbons into simpler gasoline hydrocarbons, thereby making
possible the development of the modern petroleum industry.

The people behind the invention:

William M. Burton (1865-1954), an American chemist
Robert E. Humphreys (1942- ), an American chemist

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