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Fitch Even Once Again Sponsors National Inventors Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

June 11, 2015

As in past years, Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP was proud to serve as an Honor Sponsor of the 43rd Annual National Inventors Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony recognizing the 2015 inductees. The induction ceremony took place on May 12, 2015, at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia.

In attendance were Fitch Even partners Edward W. Gray, Jr., Past Chair of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Board of Directors, Sherri N. Blount, Karl R. Fink, and Paul R. Michel, Chief Circuit Judge (Retired), among others.

This year's 14 inductees include George Alcorn, a pioneering physicist and engineer noted for his aerospace and semiconductor inventions, including his x-ray imaging spectrometer; Mary-Dell Chilton, who led the research team that produced the first transgenic plants in 1983 and who holds the patent for regeneration of plants containing genetically engineered T-DNA; Jaap Haartsen, who laid the foundations for the system later known as Bluetooth Wireless Technology; and Ioannis Yannas and John Burke, who developed the first commercially reproducible artificial skin that encouraged and facilitated new growth and subsequently has been used for 20 years, saving the lives of thousands of burn victims around the world.

Among the inventors who were inducted posthumously were pioneering female electrical engineer Edith Clarke, who invented the graphical calculator and was known for developing mathematical methods that simplified and reduced the work of electrical engineers; Marion Donovan, the inventor of a waterproof diaper cover and other items known to improve everyday life; and Thomas Jennings who invented a process he called “dry-scouring,” a predecessor to today’s dry cleaning methods, and received a patent for it in 1821, becoming the first African American to be granted a patent. 

The complete list of 2015 honorees can be found on the Invent Now website.

The National Inventors Hall of Fame, a subsidiary of Invent Now, is a nonprofit organization established in 1973 in partnership between the National Council of Intellectual Property Law Associations and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The Hall of Fame honors individuals holding U.S. patents whose extraordinary innovations and creations have made significant contributions to our nation’s welfare and to the advancement of science and the useful arts. The Hall of Fame currently has more than 500 esteemed members.
 

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