National Inventors Hall of Fame to Induct 17 Medical-related devices and processes prominent among 9 active honorees
Biological pest control. Service-oriented architecture. Dairy product innovations. Surfboard design!
These are some of the widely disparate categories associated with the 2025 class of National Inventors Hall of Fame® inductees announced January 15.
In partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Hall of Fame will honor 17 inductees—nine living, eight posthumous—May 8 at one of the innovation industry’s most highly anticipated events: “The Greatest Celebration of American Innovation®.”
“It is an honor for the USPTO to recognize the 2025 class of the National Inventors Hall of Fame,” said Derrick Brent, acting under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and acting director of the USPTO. “These amazing visionaries have not only changed the world through their inventions … they also are paving the way for future generations of STEM innovators.”
The Class of 2025
John R. Adler Jr.: CyberKnife® stereotactic radiosurgery. A neurosurgeon, Adler invented the SRS system that enables precision robotic, image-guided therapeutic radiation without skeletal fixation. The CyberKnife is used worldwide to noninvasively ablate tumors and other abnormal lesions in patients.
James Fujimoto, David Huang and Eric Swanson: Optical Coherence Tomography. OCT is a method for imaging subsurface structure of biological tissue in unprecedented detail. It has had major impact in ophthalmology, improving detection and management of sight-impairing eye diseases. OCT also is used in cardiology and across a growing range of applications.
Barney Graham and Jason McLellan: Structure-based vaccine design. Graham, an immunologist and virologist, and McLellan, a structural biologist, used this process to stabilize and modify surface proteins of viruses. They applied their discoveries to the development of COVID-19 vaccines, contributing to billions of doses administered since 2020.
Kerrie Holley: Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). SOA is a software architecture and programming model for large enterprises. Guiding the creation and use of business processes, packaged as services, and defining the information technology infrastructure that allows applications to participate in these processes, SOA has benefited organizations across many industries.
Pamela Marrone: Biological pest control. Marrone has developed and brought to market effective, environmentally responsible, nature-based products for pest management and plant health. An industry leader, she champions the use of biological pesticides and educates the public about their benefits.
Richard Schatz: Palmaz-Schatz Coronary Stent. Schatz collaborated with fellow National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee Julio Palmaz to invent a vascular stent suitable for treating coronary artery disease. Since 1988, the Palmaz-Schatz coronary stent and its derivatives have been used to treat millions of patients worldwide.
Karl Bacon and Ed Morgan: Tubular steel track roller coaster (posthumous). This was the world’s first roller coaster of its kind.Matterhorn Bobsleds, which debuted in 1959 at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, set the standard for roller coaster design technology and paved the way for innovations in the amusement park industry.
Tom Blake: Surfboard design (posthumous). Blake designed the first lightweight, hollow surfboards and paddleboards—some of the earliest boards to be commercially produced. A record-breaking swimmer and surfing pioneer, Blake helped make surfing more accessible and more popular, provided a vital tool for ocean lifeguards and influenced the future of board design.
Emil J Freireich and George Judson: Continuous-flow blood separator (posthumous). This was also the first of its kind. Devices based on this invention have been vital for improving outcomes for leukemia patients and developing new approaches to treating cancer and other diseases.
Virginia Holsinger: Dairy product Innovations (posthumous). Holsinger made healthier dairy products accessible worldwide. Her research on enzymes and digestion advanced the dairy industry, improved nutrition in American schools and international food donation programs, and created the foundation for Lactaid® brand products.
Virginia Norwood: Multispectral scanner (posthumous). The MSS was the first in a series of satellite-based instruments that have been imaging Earth for decades. Launched in 1972 aboard Landsat 1, the first satellite designed to study Earth’s surface, the MSS provided invaluable data and sparked a revolution in remote sensing technology.
C.R. Patterson: Carriages (posthumous). Patterson was an inventor and entrepreneur whose carriage company, C.R. Patterson & Sons Co., evolved to become the first and only black-owned-and-operated automobile company in the United States.
Details: http://invent.org/inductees/new-inductees