List of prolific inventors

Thomas Alva Edison was widely known as the America's most prolific inventor, even after his death in 1931.^[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] Yamazaki passed Silverbrook in 2017.

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
Shunpei Yamazaki	4889	Japan	10000+	1976-2017	Thin film transistors, Liquid crystal displays, Solar cells, Flash memory, OLED	[6][4][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]
Kia Silverbrook	4743	Australia	9790	1994-2017	Printing, Digital paper, Internet, Electronics, CGI, Chemical, DNA, Lab-on-a-chip, MEMS, Mechanical, VLSI	[17][18][4][5][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]
Lowell L. Wood, Jr.	1559	USA	1375	1977-2017	Mosquito laser, Nuclear weapons	[19][20][15]
Roderick A. Hyde	1396	USA	3566	2001-2017	Various	[21][22][15]
Paul Lapstun	1283	Australia	3097	2000-2017	Printing, Digital paper, Internet, Electronics, CGI, VLSI	[23][24][4][9][10][11][12][13][14]
Gurtej Sandhu	1275	India	2078	1991-2017	Thin film processes and materials, VLSI, Semiconductor device fabrication	[25][26][7][8][9][16]
Jun Koyama	1273	Japan	4310	1991-2017	Thin film transistors, Liquid crystal displays, OLED	[27][28]
Kangguo Cheng	1117	USA	1590	2004-2017	Semiconductor device fabrication, Semiconductor memory, Semiconductor device	[29][30]
Leonard Forbes	1098	Canada	1402	1991-2017	Semiconductor Memories, CCDs, Thin film processes and materials, VLSI	[31][32][4][8][9][10][12]
Thomas Edison	1084	USA	2332	1847(b)-1931(d)	Electric power, Lighting, Batteries, Phonograph, Cement, Telegraphy, Mining	[2][3][4][5][33][34]
Donald E. Weder	1000	USA	1995	1976-2017	Florist supplies	[35][36][4][7][8][9][16]
George Albert Lyon	993	Canada	NA	1882(b)-1961(d)	Automotive, Stainless steel products	[4][37]
Clarence T. Tegreene	970	USA	2387	2000-2017	Various	[38][39]
Edward K. Y. Jung	959	USA	2281	1996-2017	Various	[40][41][15]
John F. O'Connor	949	USA	NA	1864(b)-1938(d)	Railway draft gearing	[4][42]
Jay S. Walker	929	USA	2198	1998-2017	Gaming machines	[43][44][9][14]
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]
Shou-Shan Fan	880	China	2180	2006-2017	Carbon nanotubes and applications of carbon nanotubes	[45][46]
Michael J. Sullivan	833	USA	1555	1977-2017	Golf balls	[47][48]
Rick Allen Hamilton II	826	USA	1104	1999-2017	Various	[49][50][15]
Ahmadreza Rofougaran	820	USA	1401	2002-2017	Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits	[51][52]
Warren Farnworth	771	USA	934	1990-2017	Semiconductor packaging	[53][54][7][8][9]
Carleton Ellis	753	USA	NA	1876(b)-1941(d)	Margarine, Polyester, Anti-knock gasoline, Paint stripper	[42][55]
William H. Eby	751	USA	770	1994-2017	Transgenic soybeans	[56][57]
Salman Akram	735	USA	928	1995-2017	Semiconductor packaging	[58][59][7][8][9]
Jeyhan Karaoguz	733	USA	1547	1996-2017	Wireless communications, Computer networks	[60][61]
Hideo Ando	728	Japan	2653	1983-2016	Optical recording	[62][63][14]
Nathan Myhrvold	725	USA	1769	1994-2017	Various	[64][65]
George Spector	722	USA	747	1976-1998	Gadgets, Toys	[66][67][7][8]
Austin L. Gurney	704	USA	3932	1999-2017	Proteins, Antibodies	[68][69][10][11]
Elihu Thomson	696	UK	NA	1853(b)-1937(d)	Electric power, Arc lamp, Electric motors, Lightning arrester, Arc welder	[2][42]
Mark Malamud	692	USA	1798	1997-2017	Various	[70][71][15]
Tetsujiro Kondo	689	Japan	4147	1987-2017	Signal processing, Image processing	[72][73]
Royce A. Levien	687	USA	1819	1997-2017	Various	[74][75][15]
Robert W. Lord	680	USA	1734	2003-2017	Various	[76][77]
Jordin T. Kare	674	USA	1712	1992-2017	Various	[78][79]
Muriel Y. Ishikawa	669	USA	1765	2002-2017	Various	[80][81][82]
William I. Wood	653	USA	3537	1981-2016	Proteins, Antibodies	[83][84][10][11]
Simon R. Walmsley	651	Australia	1241	1995-2015	Printing, Electronics, VLSI, Cryptography	[85][86][13][14]
Audrey D. Goddard	623	USA	3397	1997-2017	Proteins, Antibodies	[87][88][10][11]
Jerome Lemelson	606	USA	NA	1923(b)-1997(d)	Toys, Industrial robots, Cordless telephones, Fax machines, Videocassette recorders	[89][2][16][90]
Béla Barényi	595	Austria	1244	1907(b)-1997(d)	Passive safety in automobiles	[91][92]
Kie Y Ahn	595	USA	709	1976-2017	Thin film processes and materials, VLSI, Semiconductor device fabrication	[93][94]
Tadahiro Ohmi	592	Japan	2759	1981-2016	Thin film processes and materials, Semiconductor device fabrication	[95][96]
Paul J. Godowski	579	USA	2596	1994-2014	Proteins, Antibodies	[97][98][10][11]
Ali Khakifirooz	579	USA	824	2011-2017	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, Semiconductor device fabrication	[99][100]
Edward J. Nowak	575	USA	1161	1979-2017	Semiconductor device fabrication, Semiconductor memory, Semiconductor device	[101][102]
Artur Fischer	570	Germany	3097	1976-2002	Fasteners, Construction toys	[103][104][105]
Bruce B. Doris	569	USA	933	1995-2017	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, Semiconductor device fabrication	[106][107]
Louis L. Hsu	551	USA	920	1988-2016	Various	[108][109]
Edwin H. Land	535	USA	1236	1909(b)-1991(d)	Instant photography, Polarizing film	[110][111]
Eric C. Leuthardt	529	USA	1339	2006-2017	Medical devices	[112][113]
Henri Dreyfus	524	Switzerland	2117	1882(b)-1944(d)	Polymers, Synthetic fibers, Dyes	[114][115]
John M. Santosuosso	517	USA	741	2001-2017	Various	[116][117]
Clyde C. Farmer	513	USA	830	18??(b)-19??(d)	Railway air brakes	[118][42][119]
Heinz Focke	512	Germany	2890	1976-2013	Cigarette packaging	[120][121][7]
Mark I. Gardner	511	USA	587	1994-2010	Consumer electronics, Energy, Computers, Semiconductors, Physics	[122][123][7][8]
Ravi K. Arimilli	506	India	769	1992-2016	Computer architecture, Semiconductor memory, Cache coherence, Symmetric multiprocessing	[124][125]
Louis H. Morin	503	USA	720	18??(b)-19??(d)	Fasteners, Locks, Bobbins	[126][119]
Jeffrey P. Gambino	501	USA	817	1992-2017	MEMS, CMOS, BiCMOS, DRAM, Image Sensors, RF, Biosensors, 3D Integrated Circuits	[127][128]
Tobin A. King	499	Australia	1209	2000-2017	Printing, Digital paper, Mechanical	[129][130]
Jack A. Mandelman	481	USA	900	1987-2014	Various	[131][132]
James M. Hart	474	USA	1154	1988-2017	Motor vehicle transmission	[133][134]
Ronald S. Cok	452	USA	785	1986-2017	OLED displays; image processing	[135][136]
Eberhard Ammermann	451	Germany	5108	1979-2015	Fungicides	[137][138][16]
Thomas E. Murray	449	USA	462	1860(b)-1929(d)	Electrical, HVAC, Wheels, Metal working, Light dimmer	[139][140]
Akira Nakazawa	446	Australia	1354	1980-2017	Printing, Mechanical	[141][142]
Victoria Y. H. Wood	441	USA	1126	2009-2017	Various	[143][144]
Hongyong Zhang	440	Japan	865	1993-2016	Thin film transistors, Liquid crystal displays	[145][146]
Robert S. Langer	439	USA	1837	1983-2017	Biotechnology, Drug delivery, Tissue engineering	[147][148]
Scott H. Wittkopp	432	USA	1012	2001-2017	Motor vehicle transmission	[149][150][14]
Anthony K. Stamper	426	USA	746	1998-2017	MEMS, CMOS, BiCMOS, Silicon-germanium	[151][152]
John Hays Hammond, Jr.	417	USA	460	1888(b)-1965(d)	Radio control, Radio communications, Torpedoes	[153][154]
Devendra K. Sadana	413	India	923	1983-2017	Solar cells, OLED, Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, LEDs	[155][156]
Wilhelm Brandes	411	Germany	2874	1976-2010	Fungicides	[157][158]
Hossein Eslambolchi	411	USA	631	1993-2017	Telecommunications, Network intelligence, information Technology, communications technology	[159][160]
Kai-Li Jiang	406	China	844	2006-2017	Carbon nanotubes and applications of carbon nanotubes	[161][162]
Stanford R. Ovshinsky	400	USA	1649	1922(b)-2012(d)	Batteries, Solar cells, Liquid crystal displays, Hydrogen fuel cells, Computer data storage	[163][164][165]
Cary L. Bates	400	USA	578	1994-2017	Programming tools, DBX, Memory debuggers	[166][167][168]
Gregory J. Boss	392	USA	636	2008-2017	Various	[169][170]
Josef Theurer	388	Austria	4913	1976-2016	Railroad maintenance machines	[171][172][16]
David V. Horak	384	USA	630	1992-2017	Various	[173][174]
Chih-Chao Yang	383	USA	743	2003-2017	Integrated Circuits	[175][176]
Xuemin (Sherman) Chen	382	USA	1151	1997-2017	Computer networks, Integrated Circuits, Signal Processing	[177][178][179][180][181]
Hans-Joachim Santel	377	Germany	2571	1986-2013	Herbicides, Pesticides, Organic chemistry	[182][183][16]
George P. Liang	376	China	512	1983-2017	Gas turbine cooling	[184][185]
Gisela Lorenz	374	Germany	4082	1990-2015	Fungicides, Organic chemistry	[186][187][16]
Clifford A. Pickover	374	USA	784	1992-2017	Various	[188][189]
Vincent J. Zimmer	369	USA	1040	1999-2017	Computer software and firmware	[190][191]
Garry R. Jackson	367	Australia	653	2001-2016	Printing, Mechanical	[192][193]
Wael W. Diab	367	USA	782	2003-2017	Computer networks	[194][195]
Paul W. Dent	366	USA	2148	1984-2017	Wireless communications	[196][197]
Brian M. O'Connell	362	USA	602	2009-2017	Various	[198][199]
George Westinghouse	361	USA	NA	1846(b)-1914(d)	Electric power, Electricity meter, Railway air brake, Steam engines	[200][201][202]
Robert R. Schmidt	350	Germany	2467	1971-2005	Herbicides, Fungicides, Organic chemistry	[203][204]
Norman M. Berry	347	Australia	516	2006-2016	Printing, Mechanical	[205][206]
Mark W. Kroll	347	USA	460	1987-2017	Implantable medical devices	[207][208][209]
William Daniel Hillis	338	USA	227	1986-2017	Various	[210][211]
Brent A. Anderson	337	USA	473	2001-2017	Semiconductor device fabrication, Semiconductor memory, Semiconductor device	[212][213]
Jeffrey E. Stahmann	335	USA	668	1994-2017	Medical devices	[214][215]
Carl J. Radens	329	USA	658	1994-2017	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, Semiconductor device fabrication	[216][217]
Lisa Seacat DeLuca	316	USA	440	2009-2017	Various	[218][219]
Steven L. Teig	313	USA	364	1995-2017	Integrated Circuits	[220][221]
Liang Liu	311	China	782	2005-2017	Carbon nanotubes and applications of carbon nanotubes	[222][223]
Victoria Smith	306	USA	2071	2006-2017	Proteins, Antibodies	[224][225]
Keith R. Walker	300	Saudi Arabia	320	2003-2017	Various	[226][227]
Robert G. LeTourneau	299	USA	NA	1888(b)-1969(d)	Earthworks (engineering), Heavy Equipment, Industrial Machinery	[228][229]
William R. Tonti	291	USA	449	1994-2016	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, Semiconductor device fabrication	[230][231]
Hanson S. Gifford III	291	USA	653	1986-2017	Medical devices	[232][233]
Victor S. Moore	290	USA	429	1982-2017	Various	[234][235]
Daniel J. Winarski	287	USA	521	1982-2017	Various	[236][237]
Adam Heller	274	Romania	716	1968-2017	Solar cells, Glucose meters, Lasers	[238][239][240]
Brent Keeth	272	USA	474	1994-2017	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM	[241][242]
Kulvir S. Bhogal	272	USA	507	2003-2017	Various	[243][244]
Hartley Owen	267	USA	709	1976-2010	Fluid catalytic cracking	[245][246]
Bengt Lindoff	265	Sweden	1666	2000-2017	Wireless communications	[247][248]
Dean L. Kamen	261	USA	1227	1979-2017	Battery-powered electric vehicles, Medical devices, Stirling engines, Water purification, Wheelchairs	[249][250]
Michael A. Rothman	260	USA	685	2001-2017	Computer software and firmware	[251][252]
Yoshihiro Kikuchi	256	Japan	1129	1994-2017	Video processing	[253][254]
Lawrence A. Clevenger	251	USA	493	1996-2017	Semiconductor, Cognitive, Memory, Security, Analytics	[255][256]
Nobuyuki Taniguchi	245	Japan	967	1979-2015	Cameras	[257][258]
Rajiv V. Joshi	241	USA	362	1986-2017	Electronics, analytics	[259][260]
Philip S. Yu	236	USA	158	1982-2016	Various	[261][262]
Takeshi Chujoh	236	Japan	1077	1995-2017	Video processing	[263][264]
Johnny M. Shieh	236	USA	455	1996-2017	Various	[265][266]
Bran Ferren	228	USA	591	1986-2017	Computers, Consumer Electronics, Electro-Optical Systems, Medical, User Interfaces, Automotive, Vehicles & Transportation	[267][268]
Ruilong Xie	228	USA	363	2013-2017	Semiconductor device, CMOS, Semiconductor device fabrication	[269][270]
Paul Ian Mackey	220	Australia	246	2008-2016	Printing, Mechanical	[271][272]
Louis Rosenberg	220	USA	465	1995-2017	Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, A.I., HCI	[273][274]
Gerald F. McBrearty	220	USA	400	1997-2017	Various	[275][276]
Esmael H. Dinan	219	USA	348	2006-2017	Communication Networks	[277][278]
Thomas J. Kennedy III	217	USA	511	1992-2017	Sporting Goods, Wind Turbines	[279][280]
Imad Libbus	213	USA	479	2007-2017	Medical devices	[281][282]
Dorin Comaniciu	209	USA	467	2003-2017	Machine Intelligence, Medical Imaging, Image-Guided Surgery, Computer Vision	[283][284]
Gregory McAvoy	208	Australia	432	2003-2017	Printing, MEMS	[285][286]
Hiroshi (You) Yoshioka	205	Japan	181	1997-2015	Cameras	[287][288]
Patrick B. Usoro	205	USA	343	1999-2016	Transmissions, Hybrid Powertrains, Vehicle Thermal Management	[289][290]
Sebastian T Ventrone	204	USA	286	1989-2017	Semiconductor, Logic, Architecture	[291][292]

This table was current as of August 7, 2017. 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). The database limits results to 10,000 records per inventor, and so "10,000+" is used when an inventor exceeds the limit.
• 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.^[293] However, this table currently has an arbitrary cut-off limit for inclusion of 200 patent families. This is purely for practical reasons – there are 139 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.^[294][295]

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.^[16] 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".^[42]

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":^[7]

This research was performed by ipIQ of Chicago (now "The Patent Board"^[296]) and 1790 Analytics^[297] 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^[8] of "the world's most prolific inventors alive":

This research was performed by The Patent Board,^[296] 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" ^[9] 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:^[10]

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2008:^[11]

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2009:^[12]

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2010:^[13]

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2011:^[14]

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2012:^[15]

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,^[298] 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.^[299] 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