Every year, the National Inventors Hall of Fame inducts a new group of influential and groundbreaking figures from the worlds of science and engineering. In the lead-up to the 2010 induction ceremony, here we look at some of last year’s inductees.

In order to encourage the pursuit of innovative thinking and scientific advancement, the National Inventors Hall of Fame annually recognizes those individuals who have contributed to the technological, social and economic breakthroughs that have shaped our world. Tomorrow, the organization will induct its latest round of hall-of-famers. In recognition of the upcoming ceremony, we take a look at some of the distinguished inventors of 2009.

The following are 10 living inventors inducted into the Hall of Fame last year and the breakthroughs for which they are known:

Martin “John” Atalla — The 85-year-old co-inventor of the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), the most commonly used integrated circuit, began his career at Bell Laboratories. His pioneering work in surface passivation enabled the production of silicon integrated circuits and led to the development of the field effect transistor.

Alfred Cho — Known as “the father of molecular beam epitaxy,” an atomic layering process that enables precise device assembly, Cho used his technique to produce the first field effect transistor operating at microwave frequencies and several new types of diodes. His method is now a key part of making cell phone transmissions and the lasers in CD/DVD drives.

Dov Frohman-Bentchkowsky — During his long career at Intel, this inventor created a computer chip that could be erased using ultraviolet light, allowing it to then be rewritten. His invention, known as erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), is found in cell phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, computers and countless other types of complex electronics.

George Heilmeier — After discovering four new kinds of electro-optic effects in liquid crystal, Heilmeier produced the first liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) while working for RCA Laboratories. He later became the director of the military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where he contributed to the development of the first stealth aircraft.

Larry Hornbeck — Relying on an array of two million hinged microscopic aluminum mirrors on a silicon chip, Hornbeck’s Digital Micromirror Device creates images by channeling pulses of digital light through a projection lens. This technology is currently in use in thousands of theater screens around the world.

John Macdougall — Macdougall and his team developed the first commercially viable method of ion implantation, which alters silicon wafer conductivity by bombarding it with ionized atoms. They built the first ion implantation machine from scratch while working at Sprague Electric Co., and the process has since become the prevalent doping technique in integrated circuit manufacturing.

Kenneth Manchester — Working with John Macdougall, Manchester also helped pioneer the ion implantation process and worked on producing one of the first transistors made using this method. The precision doping techniques he helped create are still widespread in the integrated circuit industry.

Carver Mead — An inventor, designer, entrepreneur and physicist, Mead’s expertise contributed to the standards and tools that enabled tens of thousands of transistors to be placed on a single silicon chip, a process known as very large-scale integration. As the co-author of an influential textbook on the subject, his ideas also influenced science education.

Gordon Moore — The co-founder of both Intel and Fairchild Semiconductor, Moore’s strategies defined the standards and pace of the chip manufacturing industry, transforming scientific advances into cost-effective products. He is also the author of Moore’s Law, the famous dictum stating that the number of transistors that can be manufactured on an integrated circuit will double every two years.

Frank Wanlass — Also working at Fairchild Semiconductor, this inventor created the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), which is present in most modern microchips. Wanlass’s CMOS consumed a sixth of the power of rival bipolar circuits, making it indispensable for battery-powered devices, such as calculators, high-speed computers and nearly every type of electronics used today.

The 2009 Hall of Fame also offered posthumous recognition for five inventors who helped advance the causes of science and technology in bettering the world. Here are the inductees added in memoriam:

• Ross Freeman (1948-1989) for the field programmable gate array, a computer chip that can be reprogrammed for added functionality and adaptability to new standards;
• Jean Hoerni (1924-1997) for inventing the planar manufacturing process for depositing transistor components in interconnected layers on a silicon wafer, solving earlier reliability issues;
• Dawon Kahng (1931-1992) for creating the first practical field-effect transistor, which controls electronic signals by switching them on or off or amplifying them, in collaboration with Martin Atalla;
• Gordon Teal (1907-2003) for building the first functional silicon transistor, which revolutionized the silicon semiconductor industry; and
• Robert Widlar (1937-1991) for developing the analog monolithic integrated circuit, which processes real-world signals such as temperature and sound, in addition to inventing the Widlar current source and the band gap voltage reference, still used today.

The National Inventors Hall of Fame gave its 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award to Andrew Grove, one of the founders of Intel and its CEO from 1987 to 1997. Grove has written more than 40 technical papers and holds numerous patents in semiconductor technology, in addition to having taught semiconductor device physics at the University of California, Berkeley and being a lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. His books and articles have served as important resources for scientific education and the advancement of new technologies.

Like the 2008 inductees, the enterprising and hardworking inventors honored in 2009 have played a significant role in pushing the frontiers of science, innovation and creativity. The 2010 honorees being inducted tomorrow into the Hall of Fame are likely to follow in this grand tradition.

Earlier

Inventors Hall of Fame: The New Class

Resources

The National Inventors Hall of Fame

United States Patent and Trademark Office