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	4737	Australia	9839	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	4616	Japan	10000+	1976-2016	Thin film transistors, Liquid crystal displays, Solar cells, Flash memory, OLED	[17][4][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][18]
Lowell L. Wood, Jr.	1383	USA	1332	1977-2016	Mosquito laser, Nuclear weapons	[19][20][16]
Paul Lapstun	1281	Australia	3099	2000-2016	Printing, Digital paper, Internet, Electronics, CGI, VLSI	[21][22][4][10][11][12][13][14][15]
Gurtej Sandhu	1248	India	2038	1991-2016	Thin film processes and materials, VLSI, Semiconductor device fabrication	[23][24][8][9][10][18]
Jun Koyama	1228	Japan	4126	1991-2016	Thin film transistors, Liquid crystal displays, OLED	[25][26]
Roderick A. Hyde	1197	USA	3360	2001-2016	Various	[27][28][16]
Leonard Forbes	1091	Canada	1398	1991-2016	Semiconductor Memories, CCDs, Thin film processes and materials, VLSI	[29][30][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][31][32]
Donald E. Weder	999	USA	1993	1976-2015	Florist supplies	[33][34][4][8][9][10][18]
George Albert Lyon	993	Canada	NA	1882(b)-1961(d)	Automotive, Stainless steel products	[4][35]
John F. O'Connor	949	USA	NA	1864(b)-1938(d)	Railway draft gearing	[4][36]
Melvin De Groote	925	USA	NA	1895(b)-1963(d)	Chemical de-emulsifiers	[2][4]
Jay S. Walker	913	USA	2206	1998-2016	Gaming machines	[37][38][10][15]
Edward K. Y. Jung	895	USA	2254	1996-2016	Various	[39][40][16]
Francis H. Richards	894	USA	NA	1850(b)-19??(d)	Mechanical, automation	[2][4]
Clarence T. Tegreene	847	USA	2255	2000-2016	Various	[41][42]
Kangguo Cheng	825	USA	1314	2004-2016	Semiconductor device fabrication, Semiconductor memory, Semiconductor device	[43][44][45]
Ahmadreza Rofougaran	806	USA	1396	2002-2016	Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits	[46][47]
Shou-Shan Fan	791	China	2120	2006-2016	Carbon nanotubes and applications of carbon nanotubes	[48][49]
Michael J. Sullivan	778	USA	1560	1977-2016	Golf balls	[50][51]
Warren Farnworth	770	USA	931	1990-2016	Semiconductor packaging	[52][53][8][9][10]
Rick Allen Hamilton II	763	USA	1064	1999-2016	Various	[54][55][16]
Carleton Ellis	753	USA	NA	1876(b)-1941(d)	Margarine, Polyester, Anti-knock gasoline, Paint stripper	[36][56]
William H. Eby	731	USA	758	1994-2016	Transgenic soybeans	[57][58]
Hideo Ando	728	Japan	2588	1983-2016	Optical recording	[59][60][15]
Salman Akram	727	USA	915	1995-2016	Semiconductor packaging	[61][62][8][9][10]
George Spector	722	USA	747	1976-1998	Gadgets, Toys	[63][64][8][9]
Jeyhan Karaoguz	716	USA	1530	1996-2016	Wireless communications, Computer networks	[65][66]
Elihu Thomson	696	UK	NA	1853(b)-1937(d)	Electric power, Arc lamp, Electric motors, Lightning arrester, Arc welder	[2][36]
Austin L. Gurney	692	USA	3909	1999-2016	Proteins, Antibodies	[67][68][11][12]
Tetsujiro Kondo	684	Japan	4158	1987-2015	Signal processing, Image processing	[69][70]
William I. Wood	653	USA	3560	1981-2016	Proteins, Antibodies	[71][72][11][12]
Simon R. Walmsley	651	Australia	1249	1995-2015	Printing, Electronics, VLSI, Cryptography	[73][74][14][15]
Nathan Myhrvold	646	USA	1690	1994-2016	Various	[75][76]
Audrey D. Goddard	622	USA	3416	1997-2014	Proteins, Antibodies	[77][78][11][12]
Mark Malamud	616	USA	1759	1997-2016	Various	[79][80][16]
Royce A. Levien	614	USA	1799	1997-2016	Various	[81][82][16]
Jerome Lemelson	606	USA	NA	1923(b)-1997(d)	Toys, Industrial robots, Cordless telephones, Fax machines, Videocassette recorders	[83][2][18][84]
Muriel Y. Ishikawa	603	USA	1660	2002-2016	Various	[85][86][87]
Robert W. Lord	599	USA	1708	2003-2016	Various	[88][89]
Béla Barényi	595	Austria	1244	1907(b)-1997(d)	Passive safety in automobiles	[90][91]
Kie Y Ahn	592	USA	709	1976-2016	Thin film processes and materials, VLSI, Semiconductor device fabrication	[92][93]
Tadahiro Ohmi	591	Japan	2691	1981-2016	Thin film processes and materials, Semiconductor device fabrication	[94][95]
Paul J. Godowski	579	USA	2605	1994-2014	Proteins, Antibodies	[96][97][11][12]
Artur Fischer	570	Germany	3097	1976-2002	Fasteners, Construction toys	[98][99][100]
Edward J. Nowak	560	USA	1145	1979-2016	Semiconductor device fabrication, Semiconductor memory, Semiconductor device	[101][102]
Jordin T. Kare	554	USA	1559	1992-2016	Various	[103][104]
Louis L. Hsu	551	USA	914	1988-2016	Various	[105][106]
Edwin H. Land	535	USA	1236	1909(b)-1991(d)	Instant photography, Polarizing film	[107][108]
Henri Dreyfus	524	Switzerland	2117	1882(b)-1944(d)	Polymers, Synthetic fibers, Dyes	[109][110]
Clyde C. Farmer	513	USA	830	18??(b)-19??(d)	Railway air brakes	[111][36][112]
Heinz Focke	512	Germany	2896	1976-2013	Cigarette packaging	[113][114][8]
Mark I. Gardner	511	USA	587	1994-2010	Consumer electronics, Energy, Computers, Semiconductors, Physics	[115][116][8][9]
Ravi K. Arimilli	506	India	767	1992-2016	Computer architecture, Semiconductor memory, Cache coherence, Symmetric multiprocessing	[117][118]
Louis H. Morin	503	USA	720	18??(b)-19??(d)	Fasteners, Locks, Bobbins	[119][112]
Bruce B. Doris	499	USA	867	1995-2016	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, Semiconductor device fabrication	[120][121]
Tobin A. King	497	Australia	1218	2000-2015	Printing, Digital paper, Mechanical	[122][123]
Eric C. Leuthardt	487	USA	1274	2006-2016	Medical devices	[124][125]
Jack A. Mandelman	481	USA	889	1987-2014	Various	[126][127]
Jeffrey P. Gambino	473	USA	798	1992-2016	MEMS, CMOS, BiCMOS, DRAM, Image Sensors, RF, Biosensors, 3D Integrated Circuits	[128][129]
John M. Santosuosso	465	USA	683	2001-2016	Various	[130][131]
James M. Hart	462	USA	1145	1988-2016	Motor vehicle transmission	[132][133]
Ali Khakifirooz	458	USA	737	2011-2016	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, Semiconductor device fabrication	[134][135]
Eberhard Ammermann	451	Germany	5178	1979-2015	Fungicides	[136][137][18]
Thomas E. Murray	449	USA	462	1860(b)-1929(d)	Electrical, HVAC, Wheels, Metal working, Light dimmer	[138][139]
Akira Nakazawa	445	Australia	1340	1980-2016	Printing, Mechanical	[140][141]
Hongyong Zhang	439	Japan	858	1993-2016	Thin film transistors, Liquid crystal displays	[142][143]
Scott H. Wittkopp	429	USA	1010	2001-2016	Motor vehicle transmission	[144][145][15]
Ronald S. Cok	422	USA	747	1986-2016	OLED displays; image processing	[146][147]
John Hays Hammond, Jr.	417	USA	460	1888(b)-1965(d)	Radio control, Radio communications, Torpedoes	[148][149]
Robert S. Langer	416	USA	1759	1983-2016	Biotechnology, Drug delivery, Tissue engineering	[150][151]
Wilhelm Brandes	411	Germany	2923	1976-2010	Fungicides	[152][153]
Hossein Eslambolchi	410	USA	631	1993-2016	Telecommunications, Network intelligence, information Technology, communications technology	[154][155]
Anthony K. Stamper	404	USA	726	1998-2016	MEMS, CMOS, BiCMOS, Silicon-germanium	[156][157]
Stanford R. Ovshinsky	400	USA	1649	1922(b)-2012(d)	Batteries, Solar cells, Liquid crystal displays, Hydrogen fuel cells, Computer data storage	[158][159][160]
Josef Theurer	388	Austria	5085	1976-2016	Railroad maintenance machines	[161][162][18]
Victoria Y. H. Wood	388	USA	1045	2009-2016	Various	[163][164]
Cary L. Bates	380	USA	570	1994-2016	Programming tools, DBX, Memory debuggers	[165][166][167]
David V. Horak	378	USA	615	1992-2016	Various	[168][169]
Hans-Joachim Santel	377	Germany	2623	1986-2013	Herbicides, Pesticides, Organic chemistry	[170][171][18]
George P. Liang	375	China	508	1983-2016	Gas turbine cooling	[172][173]
Gisela Lorenz	374	Germany	4155	1990-2015	Fungicides, Organic chemistry	[174][175][18]
Kai-Li Jiang	374	China	829	2006-2016	Carbon nanotubes and applications of carbon nanotubes	[176][177]
Garry R. Jackson	367	Australia	656	2001-2016	Printing, Mechanical	[178][179]
Paul W. Dent	362	USA	2252	1984-2015	Wireless communications	[180][181]
George Westinghouse	361	USA	NA	1846(b)-1914(d)	Electric power, Electricity meter, Railway air brake, Steam engines	[182][183][184]
Xuemin (Sherman) Chen	361	USA	1151	1997-2016	Computer networks, Integrated Circuits, Signal Processing	[185][186][187][188]
Wael W. Diab	351	USA	774	2003-2016	Computer networks	[189][190]
Robert R. Schmidt	350	Germany	2467	1971-2005	Herbicides, Fungicides, Organic chemistry	[191][192]
Vincent J. Zimmer	349	USA	972	1999-2016	Computer software and firmware	[193][194]
Norman M. Berry	347	Australia	516	2006-2016	Printing, Mechanical	[195][196]
Mark W. Kroll	342	USA	460	1987-2016	Implantable medical devices	[197][198][199]
Chih-Chao Yang	340	USA	690	2003-2016	Integrated Circuits	[200][201]
Devendra K. Sadana	337	India	794	1983-2016	Solar cells, OLED, Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, LEDs	[202][203]
Gregory J. Boss	331	USA	588	2008-2016	Various	[204][205]
Brian M. O'Connell	326	USA	592	2009-2016	Various	[206][207]
William Daniel Hillis	323	USA	229	1986-2016	Various	[208][209]
Brent A. Anderson	319	USA	454	2001-2016	Semiconductor device fabrication, Semiconductor memory, Semiconductor device	[210][211]
Jeffrey E. Stahmann	318	USA	640	1994-2016	Medical devices	[212][213]
Carl J. Radens	313	USA	636	1994-2016	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, Semiconductor device fabrication	[214][215]
Liang Liu	310	China	777	2005-2016	Carbon nanotubes and applications of carbon nanotubes	[216][217]
Victoria Smith	305	USA	2040	2006-2016	Proteins, Antibodies	[218][219]
Clifford A. Pickover	305	USA	653	1992-2016	Various	[220][221]
Steven L. Teig	303	USA	366	1995-2016	Integrated Circuits	[222][223]
William R. Tonti	291	USA	441	1994-2016	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, Semiconductor device fabrication	[224][225]
Keith R. Walker	280	Saudi Arabia	318	2003-2016	Various	[226][227]
Victor S. Moore	277	USA	428	1982-2016	Various	[228][229]
Daniel J. Winarski	272	USA	506	1982-2016	Various	[230][231]
Adam Heller	270	Romania	711	1968-2016	Solar cells, Glucose meters, Lasers	[232][233][234]
Brent Keeth	269	USA	470	1994-2016	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM	[235][236]
Hartley Owen	267	USA	751	1976-2010	Fluid catalytic cracking	[237][238]
Lisa Seacat DeLuca	259	USA	385	2009-2016	Various	[239][240]
Yoshihiro Kikuchi	255	Japan	1120	1994-2015	Video processing	[241][242]
Michael A. Rothman	252	USA	680	2001-2016	Computer software and firmware	[243][244]
Kulvir S. Bhogal	246	USA	486	2003-2016	Various	[245][246]
Nobuyuki Taniguchi	245	Japan	967	1979-2015	Cameras	[247][248]
Philip S. Yu	236	USA	158	1982-2016	Various	[249][250]
Dean L. Kamen	236	USA	1186	1979-2016	Battery-powered electric vehicles, Medical devices, Stirling engines, Water purification, Wheelchairs	[251][252]
Bengt Lindoff	235	Sweden	1574	2000-2016	Wireless communications	[253][254]
Rajiv V. Joshi	234	USA	354	1986-2016	Electronics, analytics	[255][256]
Takeshi Chujoh	228	Japan	1065	1995-2016	Video processing	[257][258]
Johnny M. Shieh	227	USA	444	1996-2016	Various	[259][260]
Paul Ian Mackey	220	Australia	246	2007-2016	Printing, Mechanical	[261][262]
Louis Rosenberg	217	USA	444	1993-2016	Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, A.I., HCI	[263][264]
Gerald F. McBrearty	210	USA	387	1997-2016	Various	[265][266]
Thomas J. Kennedy III	207	USA	506	1992-2016	Sporting Goods, Wind Turbines	[267][268]
Gregory McAvoy	205	Australia	433	2003-2014	Printing, MEMS	[269][270]
Hiroshi (You) Yoshioka	205	Japan	181	1997-2015	Cameras	[271][272]
Patrick B. Usoro	205	USA	343	1999-2016	Transmissions, Hybrid Powertrains, Vehicle Thermal Management	[273][274]
Sebastian T Ventrone	201	USA	NA	1989-2016	Semiconductor, Logic, Architecture	[275]

This table was current as of October 26, 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). 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.^[276] However, this table currently has an arbitrary cut-off limit for inclusion of 200 patent families. This is purely for practical reasons – there are 127 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.^[277][278]

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.^[18] 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".^[36]

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"^[279]) and 1790 Analytics^[280] 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,^[279] 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,^[281] 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.^[282] 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