a black man invented the Super Soaker?
he is the man!
Lonnie G. Johnson
Finishing his master's, Lonnie G. Johnson joined the Air Force and was assigned to the Strategic Air Command, where he helped develop the stealth bomber program. His other assignments included working as a systems engineer for the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Cassini mission to Saturn. Johnson also created the Super Soaker squirt gun, which became one of the most popular toys in the world.
Propelled by the success of the Super Soaker, Johnson founded his own company, Johnson Research & Development, since acquiring over 100 patents. Some of his inventions, such as a ceramic battery and hair rollers that set without heat, have achieved commercial success. Others, like a diaper that plays a nursery rhyme when soiled, failed to catch on.
Johnson's most recent project is his most ambitious and important yet. The Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Converter (JTEC) is an advanced heat engine that would convert solar energy into electricity with twice the efficiency of current methods and without any moving parts. While it remains only a prototype, the JTEC has the potential to make solar power competitive with coal, at long last fulfilling the dream of efficient, renewable solar energy. Johnson hopes to have the JTEC operable within the next several years.
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