List of prolific inventors

Thomas Edison was widely known as the world's most prolific inventor.^[1][2] He held a total of 1,093 U.S. patents (1,084 utility patents and 9 design patents).^[3] In 2003, he was passed by Japanese inventor Shunpei Yamazaki.^[4] On February 26, 2008, Yamazaki was passed by Australian inventor Kia Silverbrook.^[5]

Prolific inventors with 200 or more worldwide utility patent families are shown in the following table. In many cases, this number is also the number of U.S. utility patents granted. A patent family is a set of patents filed in various countries to protect a single invention.

Inventor	# of Patent Families	Country	# of INPADOC patents	Active	Main fields of invention	Ref
Kia Silverbrook	4732	Australia	9838	1994-2016	Printing, Digital paper, Internet, Electronics, CGI, Chemical, DNA, Lab-on-a-chip, MEMS, Mechanical, VLSI	[6][7][4][5][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]
Shunpei Yamazaki	4315	Japan	15222	1976-2016	Thin film transistors, Liquid crystal displays, Solar cells, Flash memory, OLED	[17][18][4][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][19]
Paul Lapstun	1278	Australia	3093	2000-2015	Printing, Digital paper, Internet, Electronics, CGI, VLSI	[20][21][4][10][11][12][13][14][15]
Lowell L. Wood, Jr.	1240	USA	1282	1977-2016	Mosquito laser, Nuclear weapons	[22][23][16]
Gurtej Sandhu	1208	India	1996	1991-2016	Thin film processes and materials, VLSI, Semiconductor device fabrication	[24][25][8][9][10][19]
Jun Koyama	1150	Japan	3700	1991-2016	Thin film transistors, Liquid crystal displays, OLED	[26][27]
Leonard Forbes	1087	Canada	1395	1991-2016	Semiconductor Memories, CCDs, Thin film processes and materials, VLSI	[28][29][4][9][10][11][13]
Thomas Edison	1084	USA	2332	1847(b)-1931(d)	Electric power, Lighting, Batteries, Phonograph, Cement, Telegraphy, Mining	[2][3][4][5][30][31]
Roderick A. Hyde	1029	USA	3103	2001-2016	Various	[32][33][16]
Donald E. Weder	999	USA	1992	1976-2015	Florist supplies	[34][35][4][8][9][10][19]
George Albert Lyon	993	Canada	NA	1882(b)-1961(d)	Automotive, Stainless steel products	[4][36]
John F. O'Connor	949	USA	NA	1864(b)-1938(d)	Railway draft gearing	[4][37]
Melvin De Groote	925	USA	NA	1895(b)-1963(d)	Chemical de-emulsifiers	[2][4]
Francis H. Richards	894	USA	NA	1850(b)-19??(d)	Mechanical, automation	[2][4]
Jay S. Walker	893	USA	2192	1979-2016	Gaming machines	[38][39][10][15]
Edward K. Y. Jung	852	USA	2189	1996-2016	Various	[40][41][16]
Ahmadreza Rofougaran	783	USA	1390	2002-2016	Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits	[42][43]
Warren Farnworth	769	USA	931	1990-2015	Semiconductor packaging	[44][45][8][9][10]
Carleton Ellis	753	USA	NA	1876(b)-1941(d)	Margarine, Polyester, Anti-knock gasoline, Paint stripper	[37][46]
Clarence T. Tegreene	753	USA	2111	2000-2016	Various	[47][48]
Michael J. Sullivan	728	USA	1499	1977-2016	Golf balls	[49][50]
Shou-Shan Fan	727	China	2029	2006-2016	Carbon nanotubes and applications of carbon nanotubes	[51][52]
Hideo Ando	726	Japan	2517	1983-2015	Optical recording	[53][54][15]
George Spector	722	USA	747	1976-1998	Gadgets, Toys	[55][56][8][9]
Salman Akram	719	USA	898	1995-2016	Semiconductor packaging	[57][58][8][9][10]
Rick Allen Hamilton II	719	USA	1026	1999-2016	Various	[59][60][16]
William H. Eby	712	USA	740	1994-2015	Transgenic soybeans	[61][62]
Elihu Thomson	696	UK	NA	1853(b)-1937(d)	Electric power, Arc lamp, Electric motors, Lightning arrester, Arc welder	[2][37]
Austin L. Gurney	685	USA	3930	1999-2016	Proteins, Antibodies	[63][64][11][12]
Tetsujiro Kondo	684	Japan	4135	1987-2015	Signal processing, Image processing	[65][66]
Jeyhan Karaoguz	672	USA	1504	1996-2016	Wireless communications, Computer networks	[67][68]
William I. Wood	653	USA	3626	1981-2013	Proteins, Antibodies	[69][70][11][12]
Simon R. Walmsley	651	Australia	1249	1995-2015	Printing, Electronics, VLSI, Cryptography	[71][72][14][15]
Kangguo Cheng	634	USA	1162	2004-2016	Semiconductor device fabrication, Semiconductor memory, Semiconductor device	[73][74][75]
Audrey D. Goddard	622	USA	3485	1997-2014	Proteins, Antibodies	[76][77][11][12]
Jerome Lemelson	606	USA	NA	1923(b)-1997(d)	Toys, Industrial robots, Cordless telephones, Fax machines, Videocassette recorders	[78][2][19][79]
Béla Barényi	595	Austria	1244	1907(b)-1997(d)	Passive safety in automobiles	[80][81]
Kie Y Ahn	591	USA	709	1976-2016	Thin film processes and materials, VLSI, Semiconductor device fabrication	[82][83]
Tadahiro Ohmi	589	Japan	2682	1981-2016	Thin film processes and materials, Semiconductor device fabrication	[84][85]
Paul J. Godowski	579	USA	2681	1994-2014	Proteins, Antibodies	[86][87][11][12]
Nathan Myhrvold	579	USA	1600	1994-2016	Various	[88][89]
Mark Malamud	575	USA	1709	1997-2016	Various	[90][91][16]
Royce A. Levien	574	USA	1758	1997-2016	Various	[92][93][16]
Artur Fischer	570	Germany	3097	1976-2002	Fasteners, Construction toys	[94][95][96]
Louis L. Hsu	548	USA	910	1988-2015	Various	[97][98]
Robert W. Lord	547	USA	1656	2003-2016	Various	[99][100]
Edward J. Nowak	542	USA	1122	1979-2016	Semiconductor device fabrication, Semiconductor memory, Semiconductor device	[101][102]
Muriel Y. Ishikawa	537	USA	1583	2002-2016	Various	[103][104][105]
Edwin H. Land	535	USA	1236	1909(b)-1991(d)	Instant photography, Polarizing film	[106][107]
Henri Dreyfus	524	Switzerland	2117	1882(b)-1944(d)	Polymers, Synthetic fibers, Dyes	[108][109]
Clyde C. Farmer	513	USA	830	18??(b)-19??(d)	Railway air brakes	[110][37][111]
Heinz Focke	512	Germany	2898	1976-2013	Cigarette packaging	[112][113][8]
Mark I. Gardner	511	USA	587	1994-2010	Consumer electronics, Energy, Computers, Semiconductors, Physics	[114][115][8][9]
Louis H. Morin	503	USA	720	18??(b)-19??(d)	Fasteners, Locks, Bobbins	[116][111]
Ravi K. Arimilli	502	India	767	1992-2016	Computer architecture, Semiconductor memory, Cache coherence, Symmetric multiprocessing	[117][118]
Tobin A. King	497	Australia	1213	2000-2015	Printing, Digital paper, Mechanical	[119][120]
Jack A. Mandelman	481	USA	889	1987-2014	Various	[121][122]
Jordin T. Kare	467	USA	1403	1992-2016	Various	[123][124]
James M. Hart	455	USA	1133	1988-2016	Motor vehicle transmission	[125][126]
Jeffrey P. Gambino	454	USA	787	1992-2016	MEMS, CMOS, BiCMOS, DRAM, Image Sensors, RF, Biosensors, 3D Integrated Circuits	[127][128]
Eberhard Ammermann	451	Germany	5180	1979-2015	Fungicides	[129][130][19]
Thomas E. Murray	449	USA	462	1860(b)-1929(d)	Electrical, HVAC, Wheels, Metal working, Light dimmer	[131][132]
Eric C. Leuthardt	448	USA	1232	2006-2016	Medical devices	[133][134]
Akira Nakazawa	442	Australia	1312	1980-2015	Printing, Mechanical	[135][136]
Hongyong Zhang	438	Japan	815	1993-2014	Thin film transistors, Liquid crystal displays	[137][138]
Scott H. Wittkopp	428	USA	1008	2001-2016	Motor vehicle transmission	[139][140][15]
John M. Santosuosso	428	USA	666	2001-2016	Various	[141][142]
Bruce B. Doris	420	USA	798	1995-2016	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, Semiconductor device fabrication	[143][144]
John Hays Hammond, Jr.	417	USA	460	1888(b)-1965(d)	Radio control, Radio communications, Torpedoes	[145][146]
Wilhelm Brandes	411	Germany	2933	1976-2010	Fungicides	[147][148]
Stanford R. Ovshinsky	400	USA	1649	1922(b)-2012(d)	Batteries, Solar cells, Liquid crystal displays, Hydrogen fuel cells, Computer data storage	[149][150][151]
Ronald S. Cok	395	USA	727	1986-2016	OLED displays; image processing	[152][153]
Robert S. Langer	391	USA	1686	1983-2016	Biotechnology, Drug delivery, Tissue engineering	[154][155]
Josef Theurer	387	Austria	5073	1976-2016	Railroad maintenance machines	[156][157][19]
Anthony K. Stamper	381	USA	702	1998-2016	MEMS, CMOS, BiCMOS, Silicon-germanium	[158][159]
Hans-Joachim Santel	377	Germany	2627	1986-2013	Herbicides, Pesticides, Organic chemistry	[160][161][19]
Gisela Lorenz	374	Germany	4157	1990-2015	Fungicides, Organic chemistry	[162][163][19]
George P. Liang	373	China	503	1983-2016	Gas turbine cooling	[164][165]
David V. Horak	367	USA	608	1992-2016	Various	[166][167]
Garry R. Jackson	366	Australia	656	2001-2015	Printing, Mechanical	[168][169]
Cary L. Bates	366	USA	556	1994-2016	Programming tools, DBX, Memory debuggers	[170][171][172]
Paul W. Dent	362	USA	2247	1984-2015	Wireless communications	[173][174]
George Westinghouse	361	USA	NA	1846(b)-1914(d)	Electric power, Electricity meter, Railway air brake, Steam engines	[175][176][177]
Kai-Li Jiang	359	China	767	2006-2016	Carbon nanotubes and applications of carbon nanotubes	[178][179]
Robert R. Schmidt	350	Germany	2467	1971-2005	Herbicides, Fungicides, Organic chemistry	[180][181]
Victoria Y. H. Wood	347	USA	967	2009-2016	Various	[182][183]
Norman M. Berry	345	Australia	513	2006-2015	Printing, Mechanical	[184][185]
Mark W. Kroll	338	USA	457	1987-2015	Implantable medical devices	[186][187][188]
Vincent J. Zimmer	334	USA	931	1999-2016	Computer software and firmware	[189][190]
Chih-Chao Yang	323	USA	656	1994-2016	Integrated Circuits	[191][192]
Ali Khakifirooz	322	USA	616	2011-2016	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, Semiconductor device fabrication	[193][194]
Wael W. Diab	320	USA	760	2003-2016	Computer networks	[195][196]
William Daniel Hillis	314	USA	230	1994-2016	Various	[197][198]
Jeffrey E. Stahmann	309	USA	611	1986-2015	Artificial cardiac pacemakers	[199][200]
Brent A. Anderson	308	USA	441	2005-2016	Semiconductor device fabrication, Semiconductor memory, Semiconductor device	[201][202]
Victoria Smith	304	USA	2087	2003-2015	Proteins, Antibodies	[203][204]
Carl J. Radens	304	USA	623	2005-2016	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, Semiconductor device fabrication	[205][206]
Liang Liu	304	China	773	1995-2016	Carbon nanotubes and applications of carbon nanotubes	[207][208]
Brian M. O'Connell	304	USA	564	1982-2016	Various	[209][210]
Steven L. Teig	299	USA	365	2001-2016	Integrated Circuits	[211][212]
William R. Tonti	290	USA	441	1994-2015	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, Semiconductor device fabrication	[213][214]
Gregory J. Boss	290	USA	546	1982-2016	Various	[215][216]
Devendra K. Sadana	287	India	738	1983-2016	Solar cells, OLED, Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, LEDs	[217][218]
Hartley Owen	267	USA	751	1976-2010	Fluid catalytic cracking	[219][220]
Keith R. Walker	266	Saudi Arabia	310	2008-2016	Various	[221][222]
Clifford A. Pickover	266	USA	607	1982-2016	Various	[223][224]
Adam Heller	262	Romania	695	1968-2016	Solar cells, Glucose meters, Lasers	[225][226][227]
Victor S. Moore	260	USA	424	1979-2016	Various	[228][229]
Yoshihiro Kikuchi	255	Japan	1002	1995-2015	Video processing	[230][231]
Daniel J. Winarski	255	USA	487	2003-2016	Various	[232][233]
Nobuyuki Taniguchi	245	Japan	967	2009-2015	Cameras	[234][235]
Philip S. Yu	235	USA	158	1992-2016	Various	[236][237]
Kulvir S. Bhogal	232	USA	470	2003-2016	Various	[238][239]
Rajiv V. Joshi	226	USA	345	1986-2016	Electronics, analytics	[240][241]
Takeshi Chujoh	224	Japan	1049	1995-2016	Video processing	[242][243]
Johnny M. Shieh	220	USA	437	1996-2016	Various	[244][245]
Lisa Seacat DeLuca	218	USA	356	2009-2016	Various	[246][247]
Bengt Lindoff	210	Sweden	1444	2000-2016	Wireless communications	[248][249]
Dean L. Kamen	210	USA	1104	1979-2016	Battery-powered electric vehicles, Medical devices, Stirling engines, Water purification, Wheelchairs	[250][251]
Hiroshi (You) Yoshioka	205	Japan	170	1997-2015	Cameras	[252][253]
Patrick B. Usoro	205	USA	343	1999-2015	Transmissions, Hybrid Powertrains, Vehicle Thermal Management	[254][255]
Gerald F. McBrearty	204	USA	383	1997-2016	Various	[256][257]

This table was current as of February 11, 2016. The columns are defined as follows:

• Inventor: The name of the inventor.
• # of Patent Families: This is the number of families of utility patents that have been issued. In many cases above, it is also the number of issued U.S. utility patents. There is a direct correspondence between the number of patent families and the number of unique patented inventions. Conversely, the total number of worldwide patents does not correspond closely to the number of inventions, as each separate invention must be filed as a separate patent in each country for which patent protection is sought. Only utility patents (or the international equivalent) are listed, as a utility patent is a patent for an invention. Not all patents are for inventions. Other patent types are: design patents for the ornamental design of an object; plant patents for plant varieties; and reissue patents, where a correction is made to an already granted patent. This list does not include patent applications (patents pending) as there is no guarantee that a patent application actually describes a novel invention until the patent is granted.
• # of INPADOC patents: This is the worldwide number of patents of all types (utility, design, plant, etc.) This includes patent applications, and duplication of the same patent in multiple countries, so is usually an overestimate of the total number of inventions. This data is primarily from INPADOC, an international patent collection produced and maintained by the European Patent Office (EPO). For some inventors active before computer records were available, the total number of patents is not available (NA).
• Country: This is the country of birth or upbringing of the inventor, where known. If unknown, this is the country of residence identified in the inventor's patent filings.
• Active: The first and last year in which an inventor received a patent issuance, except when activity was prior to digital records, in which case year of birth (b) and death (d) may be substituted. If an inventor's first year is 1976 or a few years after, there may be activity prior to this; earlier dates are not present in the primary source, and would require a secondary source.
• Main fields of invention: These are the main areas that the inventor is or was active in.

Threshold for inclusion

As the average number of patents per inventor is around 3, some sources define prolific inventors as five times above the average (in terms of patents), leading to a threshold of 15 patents.^[258] However, this table currently has an arbitrary cut-off limit for inclusion of 200 patent families. This is purely for practical reasons – there are 122 inventors throughout history with more than 200 utility patent families, but tens of thousands of inventors with more than 15 patents. The threshold of 200 patents means that some famous prolific inventors such as Nikola Tesla are not included in this list, as Tesla had 111 patents.^[259][260]

Significance of inventions

This table is a ranking of the most prolific inventors, not necessarily the most significant inventors. The significance of inventions is often not apparent until many decades after the invention has been made. For recent inventors, it is not yet possible to determine their place in history.

The common symbol for inventiveness, the light bulb, is a perfect example. The first incandescent light bulb was invented by British chemist Sir Humphry Davy in 1802. Many subsequent inventors improved Davy's invention prior to the successful commercialization of electric lighting by Thomas Edison in 1880, 78 years later. Electric lighting continued to be developed. Edison's carbon filament light bulb was made obsolete by the tungsten filament light bulb, invented in 1904 by Sándor Just and Franjo Hanaman. It is this that forms the popular conception of a light bulb, though there are other major forms of lighting. The principle of fluorescent lights was known since 1845, and various inventors, including Edison and Nikola Tesla worked on them without commercial success. Various improvements were made by many other inventors, until General Electric introduced "fluorescent lumiline lamps" commercially in 1938, first available to the public at the 1939 World's Fair. LED lamps also have a long history, with the first light-emitting diode (LED) invented in 1927 by Oleg Losev. LEDs were initially of low brightness, and have been used as indicator lamps and seven-segment displays since 1968. It wasn't until the development of high efficiency blue LEDs by Shuji Nakamura in the 1980s that white LEDs for lighting applications became practical. Although higher cost than incandescent light bulbs, LEDs have higher efficiency and longer life and may finally displace light bulbs in general lighting applications. In each case, more than 50 years passed between the initial invention and commercial success in general lighting applications.

Various published lists

Rankings of prolific inventors have been published at various times. However, until the patent records were digitized, these lists were very tedious to prepare, as many thousands of patent records had to be checked manually. Even after digitization, it is still not a simple process. While the USPTO keeps statistics for annual rankings of inventions assigned to companies, it no longer publishes rankings of individual inventors. The last such list was published by the USPTO in 1998.^[19] Also, patents predating 1976 have not yet been digitized in the USPTO records. This means that patents before 1976 will not be included in a USPTO search by inventor name, and the number of patents granted before 1976 must be added to current searches.

Popular Science (1936)

In January 1936, Popular Science published a list of the "most prolific living inventors to be found in America today".^[37]

Thomas Edison was not included in the list, as he died in 1931, five years earlier.

Time Magazine (2000)

On December 4, 2000, Time Magazine published a list of the "top five inventors".^[2]

This list only included U.S. inventors, so omitted Canadian inventor George Albert Lyon, with 993 U.S. patents at the time of publication, Japanese inventor Shunpei Yamazaki, with 745 U.S. patents, and Béla Barényi, with 595 German patents. Also omitted were John F. O'Connor with 949 U.S. patents, and Carleton Ellis, with 753 U.S. patents at the time of publication.

USA Today (2005)

On December 13, 2005 USA Today published a list of "the top 10 living U.S. patent holders":^[8]

This research was performed by ipIQ of Chicago (now "The Patent Board"^[261]) and 1790 Analytics^[262] of New Jersey. This list only considered living inventors, and thus did not include such prolific inventors as Thomas Edison, Melvin De Groote, and Elihu Thomson. This list included design patents, which are not patents for inventions.

Condé Nast Portfolio (2007)

On October 15, 2007 Condé Nast Portfolio Magazine published a list^[9] of "the world's most prolific inventors alive":

This research was performed by The Patent Board,^[261] a Chicago patent research and advisory firm. As with the USA Today list, the Portfolio list only considered living inventors, and thus did not include such prolific inventors as Thomas Edison. This list also included design patents, which are not patents for inventions.

Business Insider (2011)

On 6 May 2011 Business Insider published an article titled: "The Ten Greatest Inventors In The Modern Era"^[4] containing the following list:

This list included living and dead inventors, and only included granted utility patents (patents for inventions).

Strutpatent.com (2012)

Strutpatent.com publishes a list of the "Top 10 Inventors" ^[10] listing inventors ranked by US patents (of all types) issued since 1990:

This list included only patents granted since 1990, and includes design patents as well as utility patents.

Annual lists (2007–2012)

Strutpatent.com publishes weekly, monthly, and annual lists of the top ten categories, inventors and assignees of US patents since 2007. These lists include all patent types, not just patents for inventions (utility patents).

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2007:^[11]

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2008:^[12]

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2009:^[13]

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2010:^[14]

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2011:^[15]

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2012:^[16]

This table omitted Rick Allen Hamilton II. The USPTO database shows Hamilton was an inventor or co-inventor of 128 US patents granted in 2012,^[263] which would place Hamilton at 6th rank for 2012.

Differences between lists

Differences in patent numbers between the various lists are due to several reasons:

• The lists were created on different dates. As many of the inventors in the lists are still active, the number of patents they hold are increasing.
• While the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the primary source for U.S. patent information, only patents issued since 1976 can be electronically searched by the inventor's name at the USPTO website.^[264] For some of the listed inventors, such as Thomas Edison, all of their patents predate 1976, so other sources must be used.
• Often entities list the worldwide total number of patents that they hold. This is not the same as the number of inventions, as a patent in one country may be for the same invention as a patent in another country. The set of patents covering a single invention in different countries is a Patent family.
• The Time, USA Today and Portfolio lists show the total number of U.S. patents, including patents for designs (Design patents) as well as patents for inventions (Utility patents).
• The annual lists from strutpatent.com list only those patents issued in the particular year to the inventor, not all of the inventor's patents.

See also

• Timeline of historic inventions
• List of inventors

References