American Inventor Series Archives - Tennessee Star

Preparing to Take Power, Newly Elected Virginia Gov. Youngkin Announces His Transition Team

November 12, 2021November 11, 2021 Eric Burk

Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin announced his transition steering committee and advisors on Wednesday. The group includes Republican legislators, Republican Party of Virginia officials, and the three previous Republican governors of Virginia. Former Democratic Governor Doug Wilder is also on the list; he aimed several attacks at opponent former Governor Terry McAuliffe during the campaign without ever endorsing Youngkin. The list also includes Sentara Chief of Staff Aubrey Layne, who was a cabinet official to both Governor Ralph Northam and McAuliffe.

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U.S. Rep. Austin Scott Says Hundreds of Afghan SIVs Who Trained in His Georgia District Can’t Get Through Taliban Checkpoint

September 4, 2021September 3, 2021 Chris Butler

U.S. Representative Austin Scott (R-GA-08) said this week that hundreds of Afghans with Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) connected to his district were left behind in Afghanistan. This, Scott said, after those SIVs waited for days at the gates to the Kabul airport as they tried to get out of Afghanistan.

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Thales Academy Announces July 20 Grand Opening of Franklin Campus

June 27, 2020June 26, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

Thales Academy, a college preparatory network of Pre-K-12 independent schools, announced that it will hold a grand opening for its new Franklin campus on July 20.

The grand opening will mark the first day of the school’s year-round calendar for the 2020-2021 academic year, Thales Academy said in a press release.

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American Inventor Series: Frank Zamboni

October 1, 2019January 23, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

Frank Joseph Zamboni never played a second of professional hockey, but he was still inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009 for his vital contributions to the sport.

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American Inventor Series: Garrett A. Morgan, a Son of Slaves Who Invented the Traffic Signal

September 29, 2019September 28, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

Garrett A. Morgan was born on March 4, 1877 in Claysville on the outskirts of Paris, Kentucky to two former slaves. He was one of eleven children and his family was forced to live in a segregated portion of the city, so Morgan left for Cincinnati, Ohio at the age of 14 in search of better opportunities.

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American Inventor Series: Benjamin Banneker, a Black Tobacco Farmer Who Surveyed the Nation’s Capital

September 29, 2019September 30, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

Benjamin Banneker was much more than just an inventor. As a mathematician, astronomer, landowning farmer, writer, and surveyor, Banneker was one of the most influential African Americans alive during America’s infancy.

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American Inventor Series: Hobie Alter, the Henry Ford of Surfing

September 28, 2019January 23, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

Hobart “Hobie” Alter was born on October 31, 1933 in Ontario, California, though his family owned a summer home in Laguna Beach where he developed a passion for water sports.

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American Inventor Series: George Henry Corliss, the Man Who Powered the Industrial Revolution

September 27, 2019January 23, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

George Henry Corliss’ steam engine powered the Industrial Revolution and solidified steam as the superior source of power over waterpower.

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American Inventor Series: Mary Anderson, Inventor of the Windshield Wiper

September 26, 2019January 23, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

On August 14, the Northwest Ohio Classical Academy (NOCA) opened in Toledo for the 2019-20 school year. It is the culmination of five years of effort on behalf of a group of parents who were not satisfied with the current school options available to them.

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American Inventor Series: Glenn Hammond Curtiss, the ‘Fastest Man on Earth’

September 25, 2019January 23, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

Bicycles, motorcycles, blimps, and planes – Glenn Hammond Curtiss was “always eager for speed” and “obsessed with the idea of traveling fast,” according to an autobiography Curtiss wrote with friend Augustus Post. Before the age of 30, Curtiss received the informal title of “fastest man on earth” for his motorcycle races.

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American Inventor Series: Dave Goode, Skiing Pioneer

September 24, 2019January 23, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

Michigan native David Goode launched one of the country’s most successful snow and water ski companies in 1975 when he was just 19 years old. He was a member of the U.S. downhill ski team at the time, but his career was sidetracked by an ankle injury.

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American Inventor Series: Josephine Cochrane, Inventor of the Dishwasher

September 23, 2019January 23, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

Josephine Cochrane, born March 8, 1839, was born in Ohio but spent most of her adult life living in Shelbyville, Illinois as the wife of a wealthy politician named William Cochran. Josephine spelled their name with an “e” at the end to give it some extra pizzazz.

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American Inventor Series: The Wright Brothers

September 21, 2019January 23, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

How do you tell the story of the brothers who gave mankind the gift of flight? The men who realized ancient man’s distant dream of taking to the sky? It’s a daunting task, but luckily other gifted historians have attempted to tell their story.

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American Inventor Series: Cyrus McCormick, the Man Who Freed America from Famine

September 20, 2019September 19, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

Cyrus Hall McCormick was born in 1809 on his father’s rural farm tucked between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains in an America that was still developing “beyond the struggle for food.”

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American Inventor Series: Harvey S. Firestone, Ohio Farm Boy Turned Tire Tycoon

September 18, 2019September 17, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

Harvey S. Firestone was born on December 20, 1868 in Columbiana, Ohio to a family of farmers who had resided in the region since the early 19th century. He was an Ohio farm boy who went on to become one of the greatest industrialists of the modern world.

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American Inventor Series: Margaret E. Knight, the ‘Lady Edison’

September 17, 2019September 17, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

Margaret E. Knight, born in York, Maine in 1838, preferred a “jack-knife, a gimlet, and pieces of wood” to dolls as a young girl. Her amateur woodworking skills made her sleds the “envy of the town’s boys” while her kites were famous throughout the community, according to Henry Petroski’s account of the young inventor in The American Scholar.

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American Inventor Series: William H. Miner, Inspiration for Rural Americans

September 15, 2019September 15, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

William H. Miner was born during the Civil War and died during the Great Depression. He was orphaned at the age of 10 after the death of his father and his only son died a week after birth. He nonetheless exhibited an “unswerving optimism, iron will, dogged determination, meticulous management, and supreme self-confidence,” according to Miner biographer Joseph C. Burke.

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American Inventor Series: Thomas Alva Edison, Father of the Modern World

September 14, 2019January 23, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

Thomas Alva Edison, born February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio, was fired from two jobs before the age of 18 for causing explosions in his places of work.

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American Inventor Series: William Harley, Motorcycle Icon

September 13, 2019January 23, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

Two kids from Milwaukee with a dream of attaching an engine to a bicycle were the unlikely founders of one of America’s most iconic companies: Harley-Davidson.

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American Inventor Series: Benjamin Franklin, American Printer

September 12, 2019September 12, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

Before anything else, Benjamin Franklin was a printer. It’s difficult to imagine now, but printing was a strenuous trade in Franklin’s time, requiring late hours, heavy lifting of various lead types, and long shifts operating the manual presses. Franklin, however, loved to read, which suited him well in his career as a printer.

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