The 10 Greatest Inventors of the Mid-20th CenturyÂ

The engineers and inventors of the post WWII period turned their attention to advancements in electronics, communication, and entertainment. Breakthrough inventions range from LEGOs and computer gaming to the integrated circuit and Ethernet -- a range of advancements that have little in common except they changed our lives.

Click on image of Ole Kirk Christiansen below to begin the slide show:

MORE FROM DESIGN NEWS: 20 Great Engineers of the Early 20th Century

The next selection of Great Inventors will look at the later 20th century. We began this series using the term "engineers," but some of the people who had the greatest impact on the engineering profession -- Steve Jobs and Bill Gates -- were not engineers. So we settled on the term, "inventor." That still may not be entirely accurate, since and Gates were more like" assimilators." But close enough.

Rob Spiegel has covered automation and control for 15 years, 12 of them for Design News. Other topics he has covered include supply chain technology, alternative energy, and cyber security. For 10 years he was owner and publisher of the food magazine, Chile Pepper.

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