Canada doesn’t get enough credit for all the things that have been invented there. For instance, the electric wheelchair, the surgical stapler, skis for airplanes landing in snow, early all-terrain vehicles (the “Weasel” was his design; it’s also amphibious), the first nuclear reactor built outside the US (and to a new and unique design), and the robotic arms used on the US space shuttles — they were even known as “Canadarms.”
There’s one additional detail about that particular list of inventions, though. Not only are they all from Canada, they were all invented by one person: George Klein, who was born August 15, 1904, in Ontario. Not a lot is known about Klein’s early life — like many Canadians, he was humble and self-effacing, and created all of his inventions at the National Research Council of Canada laboratories in Ottawa. He worked there for 40 years, from 1929 to 1969. Then they called him out of retirement to design the Canadarm.
Klein was a mechanical engineer, and became known as the “most productive inventor in Canada.” He earned an engineering degree from the University of Toronto, but didn’t pursue any more advanced degrees; he was more of a hands-on guy. And of course some of his inventions, like the nuclear reactor, weren’t solo efforts. So he was more of a team guy as well. He was inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame in 1995, but never knew it — he had passed away at 88 three years earlier.
