10 Best Things To Know About Lonnie Johnson, The Super Soaker Inventor

10 Best Things To Know About Lonnie Johnson, The Super Soaker Inventor

Dive into a world where backyard conflicts are exhilarating and laughter fills the air! A fascinating innovation that revolutionized water warfare, the Super Soaker, transforms ordinary summers into spectacular ones. Imagine being able to unleash torrents of water wrath with the push of a trigger, mastering the art of hydrodynamics in your hands.

From its humble beginnings to today’s high-powered blasters, the Super Soaker has soaked its way into the hearts of people of all ages, making every splash-filled battle a memorable cascade of fun and excitement. Prepare to be immersed in the ultimate water-soaked adventure, where the Super Soaker reigns supreme! Here are the ten facts about the person who invented the upper soaker, Lenny Johnson!

1. His parents were hardly educated but they helped him realize his dream

Dr. Lonnie George Johnson.jpg Office of Naval Research from Arlington, United States, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Johnson was born in the city of Mobile, Alabama. His mother, who completed high school, worked as a nurse’s aide, while his father, who did not complete high school, served in World War II. Johnson learned the fundamentals of electricity from his father at a young age. Johnson, who stated that he “always liked to tinker with things,” gained the nickname “the Professor” from the kids in his area.

Lonnie George Johnson is an American inventor, aerospace engineer, and entrepreneur who served in the United States Air Force and worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for twelve years.

2. Johnson was heavily influenced by George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver-crop.jpg Arthur Rothstein, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

George Washington Carver was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who advocated for non-cotton crops and measures to minimize soil depletion. He was a notable black scientist in the early twentieth century.

Carver pioneered strategies to repair soil types eroded by repeated cotton plantings while a professor at Tuskegee Institute. He wanted poor farmers to plant additional crops, like as peanuts and sweet potatoes, to supplement their diet and enhance their standard of living.

The most popular of his 44 practical bulletins for farmers included 105 peanut-based meal dishes. Despite spending years developing and marketing a variety of peanut-based goods, none were economically successful. 

Johnson wanted to be like Carver, he wanted to practice the qualities and principles of life that Carver had. He also wanted to be successful just like Carver. This attitude brought him to greater heights and he presented himself to the eyes of the world to become one of the best inventors in the world.

Read On Top 20 Facts about George Washington Carver

3. Johnson attended Williamson High School (Alabama)

Johnson attended Williamson High institution, an all-black institution in Mobile, as a youngster. Johnson represented his high school at a science fair in Alabama in 1968, when he was the only black student present; at the time, African Americans had a relatively limited presence in science. He won first place in the competition by presenting a robot he designed called “Linex.” The pressurized air powered the robot.

Read On Top 15 Things You Didn’t Know Were Invented By Black Inventors

4. Johnson was a very learned and intelligent person

While the majority resent education as being the hardest thing they ever had an obligation to carry on with, Johnson loved education especially where science and technology were involved. He wanted to maintain his childhood dignity of being called a professor to an actual professor.

Johnson enrolled at Tuskegee University immediately after graduating from high school in 1969, earning a B.S. in mechanical engineering in 1973 and a master’s degree in nuclear engineering in 1975. Tuskegee University has also awarded him an honorary Ph.D. in Science. 

5. Johnson joined NASA in 1979 

Bradley Byrne and Lonnie Johnson 2018 a.jpgOffice of Naval Research, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Johnson joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1979. This was after he worked for the United States Air Force on the stealth bomber program. 

Johnson worked at NASA from 1979 to 1991 on a variety of projects, including the Air Force Mission Lab, developing the nuclear power source for the Galileo mission to Jupiter, several weapons-related projects, and as an engineer on the Mariner Mark ll Spacecraft series for the Comet Rendezvous and Saturn Orbiter Probe missions.

Read On 10 Most Famous NASA Scientists

6. Johnson has three technology-development companies

Solely, Johnson wanted to be a man of his own. He wanted to be a boss wherever he worked but, this does not mean that he never worked hard each time he was an employee or that he never wanted to make a coalition with other experts in the field. Johnson was a team member and an excellent one.

Johnson established his own company, Johnson Research and Development Co., Inc., of which he is also president, in 1991. He collaborated with scientists from Tulane University and Tuskegee University to create a method of converting heat into electricity in order to make green energy more accessible.

As of 2022, Johnson operates three technology-development enterprises in Atlanta, Georgia: Excellatron Solid State, LLC, Johnson Energy Storage, and Johnson Electro-Mechanical Systems (JEMS). JEMS created the Johnson Thermo-Electrochemical Converter System (JTEC), which was named one of the top ten inventions of 2009 by Popular Mechanics.

7. Johnson first conceived the Super Soaker while doing work with the U.S. Air Force

Col. Scott Long ‘fini flight’ 130606-F-CF799-633.jpg Airman 1st Class Allen Stokes, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

After blasting a forceful stream of water in his bathroom while conducting trials for a new sort of refrigeration system in 1982, Air Force and NASA engineer Johnson came up with the notion of a pressurized water gun. He developed a prototype in his basement many months later, utilizing Plexiglas, PVC tubes, O-ring seals, and a two-litre soda bottle for the adequate reservoir.

Johnson had planned to make the toy himself, but the costs were prohibitively expensive. He attempted to form agreements with toy businesses to bring the device to market, but he did not achieve success until 1989.

He met the vice president of the toy firm Larami, who expressed interest in the idea while visiting the American International Toy Fair in New York City. 

Read On 15 Famous African American Inventors That Rocked The World

8. Johnson’s super soaker patent was sued due to infringement

Talk to Me Products sued Larami for patent infringement in 1992, claiming the Super Soaker was a copy of their American Gladiator water gun, which was patented in 1978. However, Talk to Me Products lost its case because its patent referred to a water gun “having a chamber therein,” whereas the Super Soaker used a detachable water chamber on top of the gun for filling.

9. Johnson has several accolades 

Johnson has over 250 patents, the majority of which are for his Super Soaker. Johnson received both the Air Force Achievement and Commendation Medals. He got multiple NASA honours for his work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in spacecraft system design.

In 2008, he received the Breakthrough Award from the science journal Popular Mechanics for his work on JTEC, and in 2011, he was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame. The Super Soaker was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2015. Johnson was elected into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2022.

10. Johnson is a part of the African-American inventors group

Lonnie Johnson, Office of Naval Research (crop).jpg Office of Naval Research, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This list of African-American inventors and scientists includes many African-Americans who invented or discovered numerous objects during their careers. These have varied from simple everyday devices to applications and scientific discoveries in subjects as diverse as physics, biology, mathematics, and medicine.

Throughout American history, African Americans have been victims of injustice, prejudice, and persecution, which has had an impact on African-American creativity. A 2014 research by economist Lisa D. Cook connected African-American violence and a lack of legal protections between 1870 and 1940 to reduced creativity. Despite this, a great number of major inventions have been credited to black innovators.

Lonnie Johnson’s genius is a guiding star in the fabric of creativity. His transformation from a curious toddler to a visionary inventor demonstrates the power of determination and boundless creativity. Johnson’s invention of the Super Soaker not only made summer days more enjoyable, but it also inspired future generations to dream big. His legacy teaches us that we, too, can generate waves of change in the world with determination, imagination, and a dash of bravery.