George Devol at the University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1989

George Devol, pictured here, was a prolific inventor. Among his early achievements were an automatic door, a photoelectric bar code reader and a magnetic recording system -- a key component in his programmable devices. In 1954, Devol submitted a patent application for his most notable invention -- the first industrial robot. The patent, 2988237, was issued in 1961.