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National Inventors Hall of Fame

National Inventors Hall of Fame
Interactive kiosk for inventor information - 1, National Inventors Hall of Fame - USPTO building in Alexandria, Virginia.jpg
Display of inductees in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Alexandria
Abbreviation NIHF
Formation 1973
Type NPO
Legal status Organization
Purpose "Honor[ing] the women and men responsible for the great technological advances that make human, social and economic progress possible."
Headquarters 3701 Highland Park N.W.
North Canton, Ohio 44720
Location
Region served
United States
Membership
547 inventors
Official language
English
Affiliations Invent Now America
Website www.invent.org

The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization dedicated to inventors and their inventions. Founded in 1973, its primary mission is to "honor the people responsible for the great technological advances that make human, social and economic progress possible." Besides the Hall of Fame, it also operates a museum in Alexandria, Virginia and a middle school in Akron, Ohio, and sponsors educational programs, a collegiate competition, and special projects all over the United States to encourage creativity among students.

As of 2017, 547 inventors are enshrined in the Hall of Fame from the past three centuries, including approximately 100 living inductees. Every February a class of inductees is chosen by the National Selection Committee and the Blue Ribbon Panel. To qualify, the inventor must have had a U.S. patent that has improved the welfare of humanity and promoted the progress of science and technology.

The National Inventors Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 on the initiative of H. Hume Mathews, then the chairman of the National Council of Patent Law Associations (now the National Council of Intellectual Property Law Associations). In the following year, it gained a major sponsor in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from Washington, D.C.

At first, the Hall was housed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, D.C., near the Washington National Airport but it soon needed more room at a more prominent location. A committee was formed in 1986 to find a new home for it. For a time, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the frontrunner. But in 1987, a patent attorney from Akron, Edwin “Ned” Oldham, the representative from the National Council of Patent Law Associations, led the drive to move the Hall to Akron. According to Maurice H. Klitzman, one of the founding members of the Board of Directors, because of the guaranteed financial support by the city of Akron that greatly exceeded any other community's proposal, the Board selected Akron as the new home. The construction of the new building was finished in 1995 and the Hall opened to the public with the name of the Inventure Place.


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