**FIRST EMAIL**/2008 FRC Connecticut "Double Regional"

[AcesPease]

Originally Posted by KathieK

Samuel Colt Inventor and founder of the Colt firearm company; born in Hartford.
Charles Goodyear Inventor of vulcanized rubber; born in New Haven.
Mary Kies, The first woman to receive a US patent, received on May 15th, 1809 for a method of weaving straw with silk; from South Killingly.
Robert N. Hall, demonstrated the first semiconductor laser, and invented a type of magnetron commonly used in microwave ovens. He also contributed to the development of rectifiers for power transmission. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut.
Edwin Herbert Land, born in Bridgeport, CT, was an American scientist and inventor. Among other things, he invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, instant polaroid photography, and his retinex theory of color vision.
Kenneth Harry Olsen, born in Stratford, CT, is an American engineer who co-founded Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1957. In 1977, he infamously quipped, "there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home".

Don't forget that J Willard Gibbs, "The greatest thermodynamicist of them all" was born and worked in New Haven CT (Yale). Without his work in mathematical Physics and Chemistry modern science might still be stuck in the 19th century.

Also of note is Igor Sikorsky, pioneering aircraft and Helicopter designer who spent most of his most productive years in CT.