Slide Show: From the LP to the Internet, 17 Inventions Rad Enough to Get Their Creators Inducted into the Valhalla of Innovators

Vaccines, air bags, contact lenses and the technology that made the personal computer revolution possible are just a few of the items whose inventors are being honored by the National Inventors Hall of Fame [click here to view the slideshow]

By Christopher Mims

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Click here to view the slideshow of inventions created by this year's crop of inductees into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

This year's inductees include:

Packet Switching
Paul Baran and Donald Davies

Magnetic Disk
John Lynott and William Goddard

Air Bag
Alan Breed

Bioluminescence
Emmett Chappelle

Roundup Herbicide
John Franz

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitors
David Cushman and Miguel Ondetti

Long-Playing Record
Peter Carl Goldmark

Vaccines for Hepatitis, MMR and other diseases
Maurice Hilleman

Automated DNA Sequencer
Leroy Hood

Computed Tomorgraphy (CT) Scanner
Godfrey Hounsfield

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield

Ethernet
Robert Metcalfe

Anti-Inflammatory Drugs
Arthur Nobile

Soft Contact Lenses
Otto Wichterle

View the gallery.

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