Inventors Science

Kids have always had amazing ideas, like how to keep your ears warm on a cold winter day or an icy treat to enjoy on a hot summer day. Learn about four young inventors and their inventions that helped to change people's lives.

Explore the life and achievements of Elizabeth Blackwell, America's first woman doctor.

Inventing is all about ideas—ideas for making products better or creating new ones. To put these ideas into action, young inventors need tools for tinkering. Find out how to put together your own inventor's workshop with simple tools and common household objects.

Nikola Tesla, a Serbian immigrant, invented the radio, the induction motor, the neon lamp, and the remote control. Tesla's personal life was magnificently bizarre. Strikingly handsome and impeccably dressed, he was germophobic and never shook hands. He required nine napkins when he sat down to dinner. In later years, he ate only white food and conversed with the pigeons in Bryant Park. This clear, authoritative, and highly enjoyable biography takes account of all phases of this remarkable life.

Have you ever wondered how war machines were created? Or the origin of beauty salons? Or maybe even how rubber is used in tires, and rubber shoes? Learn more about these renowned inventors and how their inventions helped shape modern life into the way we know it now!

Garrett Morgan was an inventor concerned for the well-being of other people. His inventions included the safety hood gas mask and signals that set the standard for today's traffic lights. It is easy to see that the lives of many people were made better or saved by Garrett Morgan’s inventions.

This fun, fact-filled audiobook will teach kids that there are six different simple machines that make our lives easier including: a lever, wheel and axle, pulley, inclined plane, wedge and screw. Upbeat music will teach kids that simple machines only need a person so make them work.

Three years ago, 32-year-old Markus "Notch" Persson of Stockholm was an unknown and bored computer programmer. Today, he is a multi-millionaire international icon. Minecraft, the "virtual Lego" game Markus crafted in his free time, has become one of the most talked about activities since Tetris. Talked about by tens of millions of people, in fact.It is the story of unlikely success, fast money, and the power of digital technology to rattle an empire. And it is about creation, exclusion, and the feeling of not fitting in.

What if you discovered that every traffic light in the world exists because one brilliant inventor refused to accept dangerous streets as "just the way things are"? Saving the Stoplight: The Garrett Morgan Story takes young listeners on an incredible journey through the life of one of America's most ingenious—yet under-recognized—inventors. This captivating biography reveals how Garrett Augustus Morgan transformed deadly intersections into the safe, organized streets we navigate today.

Johannes Gutenberg wasn't just an inventor. He was also a goldsmith, printer, and publisher. Young listeners will discover how this man found a way to bring information to people near and far.

Explore the lives and achievements of the Wright Brothers.

With only three months of formal education, Thomas Edison grew up to be one of the most successful inventors of all time. Applying scientific principles to practical use, he made scores of inventions and held over thirteen hundred patents, from improvements on the telegraph and phonograph to the development of the incandescent lamp and a whole system for distributing electricity. Edison's rise from humble beginnings and his unceasing struggle to overcome obstacles illustrate the spirit of America.

Sarah E. Goode was one of the first African American women to get a United States patent. Working in her husband's furniture store, she recognized the need for a multi-use bed, and through hard work, ingenuity, and determination, invented her unique cupboard bed. She built more than a piece of furniture. She built a life far away from slavery - a life where her sweet dreams could come true.

Do you know how the lightbulb was invented? In the 1800s, the first incandescent lightbulb was invented by Thomas Edison. Learn how Edison experimented with different materials, direct current, and by trial and error to design the first lightbulb. Which power company was created that funded the first electric lighting system to distribute light? The company still operates today, lighting and powering our world!

Help tell the story of Benjamin Franklin's discovery of electricity! Together with your friend, act out this play to learn how Benjamin Franklin used a wire, attached to the top of a kite, to attract lightning from the sky. Lightning is a form of electricity! It travelled down the kite string to the key that created electric sparks! How did Franklin come up with the idea for his famous experiment?

Did you know anyone can become an inventor? Being an inventor is all about solving problems in your everyday life. Inventing means you come up with lots of ideas using your creativity. Follow along in this activity to learn the steps to solve a problem and to improve the world around you!

In ancient China, an alchemist mixed an exploding medicine and accidentally invented gunpowder. Learn about the development of gunpowder and other explosives, like nitroglycerin and dynamite, in this fun feature.

Can you imagine having to sit still for 30 minutes just to have your picture taken? Or having to send film away to be developed? Technology has come a long way since then! Listen to learn about photography inventions like flashbulbs, Kodak and Polaroid cameras, and more!

Some kids are born missing a hand or fingers, others lose them because of accidents. Find out how people are printing artificial hands on 3-D printers to help those who need a hand. They are cheap, easy to build, and really work!

In medicine, machines can be used to take detailed pictures of bones and even to save people’s lives. Listen to learn about the marvelous machines of modern medicine, like the defibrillator, the x-ray machine, and more!