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Lonnie Johnson

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#Tags
I am a nuclear engineer. I'm working on advanced energy technology. I have a new type of the engine that converts heat into electricity, and I've also developed a new type of battery that's all ceramic, without liquid electrolyte. - Lonnie Johnson
#Electricity
#Energy
#I Am
#Technology
I can remember times when we'd be having parties, and people would be dancing and everything and I would be sitting there in the middle doing calculus, just doing my little thing. - Lonnie Johnson
#Doing
#I Can
#People
#Remember
#Sitting
I decided I could develop a toy and get some revenue from that and then use that revenue to really become an inventor and work on some of the more challenging projects I had in mind. - Lonnie Johnson
#Become
#Mind
#More
#Use
#Work
In 1968 when I was in high school I built a four-foot-tall remote control robot with pneumatic cylinders that operated his hands. My robot won first place at a science competition at the University of Alabama where my high school was the only African-American school represented. That was a huge moral victory. - Lonnie Johnson
#Competition
#Control
#Hands
#Science
I've always liked to tinker with things. - Lonnie Johnson
#Always
#Liked
#Things
#Tinker
When I was at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory back in the early '80s is when I first got the idea. The Super Soaker was based on some engineering principles that I applied. I was actually working on another invention which was a heat pump that would use water as a working fluid instead of Freon. - Lonnie Johnson
#Back
#Engineering
#Principles
#Water
In 1975, I was called to active duty in the Air Force, studying U.S. space launches that used nuclear power. I felt it was a big deal to be involved in such an important project - we were providing technical support for launch recommendations that ultimately went to the president. - Lonnie Johnson
#Duty
#Power
#Project
#Space
#Support
Peer review is fine, as long as you're making incremental improvements to a technology. - Lonnie Johnson
#Fine
#Long
#Making
#Review
#Technology
I got my first patent in 1979 before I left the Air Force. I called it the Digital Distance Measuring Instrument. It used ones and zeros and dots and dashes and a magnifying lens to read binary-encoded information from a scale that was photographically reduced. It used the same kind of technology that's used in CDs and DVDs. - Lonnie Johnson
#Air
#Digital
#Information
#Technology
After I graduated from Tuskegee with a masters in nuclear engineering, the draft was on so I signed up for ROTC. I figured if I had to go into the military, I'd rather go in as an officer. - Lonnie Johnson
#After
#Draft
#Engineering
#Go
#Up
I wound up getting offered a job at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory where I invented a power supply mechanism for the Galileo space craft which was in orbit around Jupiter until 2003. - Lonnie Johnson
#Craft
#Job
#Laboratory
#Power
#Space
I received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, then graduated with a masters in nuclear engineering. - Lonnie Johnson
#Bachelor
#Degree
#Engineering
#Nuclear
I would say that engineering has been a very positive experience overall, but usually coming into the situation it would be one of being underestimated. People would actually have low expectations. But I would take advantage of it quite honestly, because I would take my time to underestimate the situation. - Lonnie Johnson
#Expectations
#Experience
#Positive
#Time
There was a time in my life when I was independently wealthy. - Lonnie Johnson
#Independently
#Life
#My Life
#Time
Lady Luck is indifferent. She smiles sometimes, and she frowns sometimes. - Lonnie Johnson
#Indifferent
#Lady
#Luck
#She
#Sometimes
I have never really understood why in this country so many people look down on black people. - Lonnie Johnson
#Black
#Country
#Look
#People
#Why
I was working on a heat pump that used water as a working fluid, and I made some jet pumps for it. I accidentally shot a stream of water across a bathroom where I was doing the experiment and thought to myself, 'this would make a great gun.' - Lonnie Johnson
#Doing
#Great
#Gun
#Myself
#Water
There are maybe three inventions I have that I rank as my top inventions that I'm most proud of. The robot I built in high school, the memory-protected circuitry for the Galileo and the Super Soaker. - Lonnie Johnson
#High School
#Proud
#Rank
#School
#Three
The invention that most people know me for is the Super Soaker water gun. I knew the gun worked well, and I knew it would be successful. I did not realize how successful it would be. - Lonnie Johnson
#Gun
#Know
#Me
#People
#Water
I didn't want to grow old and find that I didn't do what I could have done, that I didn't put my best foot forward. I didn't want to have any regrets. - Lonnie Johnson
#Best
#Done
#Find
#Grow
#Old
As an inventor, it's a rite of passage to have an engine. I'd like to have my own engine someday. - Lonnie Johnson
#Engine
#Like
#My Own
#Own
#Passage
Sitting still, a person produces about 100 watts of heat. What if you could use that to charge your cell phone? - Lonnie Johnson
#Cell Phone
#Heat
#Person
#Phone
#Sitting
That's one of the advantages of being an inventor and tinkerer - I have everything I need to make what I need. - Lonnie Johnson
#Being
#Everything
#Inventor
#Make
#Need
I have a collection of SuperSoakers. I have managed to keep most of them. - Lonnie Johnson
#Collection
#Keep
#Most
#Them
Nobody's going to step in and dump a lot of money and make it easy. Unless you have a lot of money, you have to pay your dues and make a personal sacrifice. - Lonnie Johnson
#Easy
#Money
#Nobody
#Sacrifice
#Step
Persevere. That's what I always say to people. There's no easy route. - Lonnie Johnson
#Always
#Easy
#People
#Route
#Say
Being an independent inventor is tough. You develop a product, patent it, then you're looking for someone who will see the benefit from this technology. You assume all the investment and all the risk. It can be a challenge. - Lonnie Johnson
#Investment
#Looking
#Technology
#Tough
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