We’ve all heard the phrase, “It’s the best thing since sliced bread,” but did you know the inventor of sliced bread is from Iowa? Today on River To River, we hear about the lives of some Iowa inventors that made an impact on their state, country, and even the world.
The Iowa inventors we cover on the show include:
- John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry - Inventors of the first digital computer, the "ABC computer"
- George Gallup - Creator of the Gallup poll
- Otto Frederick Rohwedder - Inventor of the sliced bread machine
- Ray Townsend - Inventor with 128 patents, including the "Frank-O'Matic"
- Frank Spedding - Former Director of the Ames Laboratory (part of the Manhattan Project)
(The list above includes just some of the inventors and inventions developed in Iowa. Iowa is home to many other inventions, including the Red Delicious apple, Eskimo Pies, screen doors, the first gas-powered tractor, trampolines, and the antacid tablet.)
