Humanities › History & Culture Famous Inventors Whose Last Names Started With "A" Share Flipboard Email Print Portrait of Archimedes. De Agostini Picture Library / Getty Images History & Culture Inventions Famous Inventors Famous Inventions Patents & Trademarks Invention Timelines Computers & The Internet American History African American History African History Ancient History and Culture Asian History European History Genealogy Latin American History Medieval & Renaissance History Military History The 20th Century Women's History View More By Mary Bellis Mary Bellis Inventions Expert Mary Bellis covered inventions and inventors for ThoughtCo for 18 years. She is known for her independent films and documentaries, including one about Alexander Graham Bell. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on March 18, 2019 Edward Goodrich Acheson He received a patent for carborundum, the hardest man-made surface which was needed to bring about the industrial age. Thomas Adams Thomas Adams first tried to change chicle into automobile tires before making it into a chewing gum. Howard Aiken Aiken worked on the Mark computer series and was significant to the history of computers. Ernest F. W. Alexanderson The engineer whose high-frequency alternator gave America its start in the field of radio communication. George Edward Alcorn Alcorn invented a new type of x-ray spectrometer. Andrew Alford He invented the localizer antenna system for radio navigation systems. Randi Altschul Randice-Lisa Altschul invented the world's the first disposable cell phone. Luis Walter Alvarez Alvarez received patents for a radio distance and direction indicator, a landing system for aircraft, a radar system for locating planes, and the hydrogen bubble chamber used to detect subatomic particles. Virgie Ammons Ammons invented a firepace dampening device. Dr. Betsy Ancker-Johnson The third women elected to the National Academy of engineering, Ancker-Johnson holds US patent #3287659. Mary Anderson Anderson patented the windshield wipers in 1905. Virginia Apgar Apgar invented a newborn scoring system called the "Apgar Score" for assessing the health of newborn infants. Archimedes Archimedes, a mathematician from ancient Greece, invented the Archimedes screw (a device for raising water). Edwin Howard Armstrong Armstrong invented a method of receiving high-frequency oscillations, part of every radio and television today. Barbara Askins Askins developed a totally new way of processing film. John Atanasoff Atanasoff worked on the first electronic computer. Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Bellis, Mary. "Famous Inventors Whose Last Names Started With "A"." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/famous-inventors-acheson-to-atanasoff-1991246. Bellis, Mary. (2023, April 5). Famous Inventors Whose Last Names Started With "A". Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/famous-inventors-acheson-to-atanasoff-1991246 Bellis, Mary. "Famous Inventors Whose Last Names Started With "A"." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/famous-inventors-acheson-to-atanasoff-1991246 (accessed June 7, 2023). copy citation