Lonnie Johnson

Dr. Lonnie Johnson is a bona fide “rocket scientist” and prolific inventor, holding over 150 patents with dozens more patents pending. He is an inductee of the Inventors Hall of Fame as well as an inductee of the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame, the first African American to ever obtain such an honor in the state’s history. In addition, Dr. Johnson is an inductee of both the Black Inventors Hall of Fame and the Black Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame, the first inductee ever to win awards in both Halls of Fame in the same year. He is a recipient of the Trumpet Award for his life’s work and his dedication to mentoring students. His most infamous and popular invention, the Super Soaker water gun, was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame and has sold millions worldwide.

Dr. Johnson has a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering, an M.S. degree in Nuclear Engineering and several honorary doctorates. Dr. Johnson’s professional career includes Oakridge National Laboratory and military service at the U.S Air Force Weapons Laboratory and at Strategic Air Command headquarters where he was awarded the Air Force Achievement Medal and received the Air Force Commendation Medal twice. At NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Dr. Johnson worked on the Mars Observer, Galileo (Jupiter) and Cassini (Saturn) missions resulted in him receiving multiple achievement awards for spacecraft system design.

Dr. Johnson is the founder and President of Johnson Research and Development, a technology company focused exclusively on developing Dr. Johnson’s inventions. Its affiliated companies, which also develop Dr. Johnson’s advanced technologies, Johnson Energy Storage (JES) and JTEC Energy (JTEC), are focused on commercialization of Dr. Johnson’s renewable energy technologies. The technology at JES is the next generation rechargeable battery using Dr. Johnson’s innovative breakthroughs in solid glass electrolyte. This technology will revolutionize the EV industry with batteries that hold twice the energy of lithium-ion cells. JTEC’s mission is commercialization of an engine that converts heat directly into electricity more efficiently than existing engines with the unique ability to use very low temperatures. This engine could potentially supply the U.S. with all of its power needs with geothermal heat.

Dr. Johnson’s non-profit, the Johnson STEM Activity Center (JSAC), has served tens of thousands of underserved and socio-economically disadvantaged students in the past 18 years. JSAC has helped put Georgia on the map by leading the nation in minority student participation in a worldwide robotics program – a fitting tribute to a young Johnson, who won a statewide science competition as a high schooler with his very own invention, Linex, a remote-controlled robot. As a young boy growing up in Alabama, Dr. Johnson’s curiosity and insatiable desire to experiment and “tinker” ultimately paved the way for him to invent, create and design numerous technologies in the energy, defense, aerospace, consumer product and toy industries. JSAC is just one way Dr. Johnson wants to pass it forward and help inspire the next generation of global leaders.