Canadian inventor, invented the motorized wheelchair (died 1992)

George Klein

George Johann Klein, was a Canadian inventor who is widely regarded as the most productive inventor in Canada in the 20th century. Although he struggled as a high school student, he eventually graduated from the University of Toronto in Mechanical Engineering. His inventions include key contributions to the first electric wheelchairs for quadriplegics, a novel microsurgical suturing device, the ZEEP nuclear reactor which was the precursor to the CANDU reactor, the international system for classifying ground-cover snow, aircraft skis, the Weasel all-terrain vehicle, the STEM antenna for the space program, and the Canadarm.

Born

1904

August 15

Died

1992

Era

1900s

Country

—

About

George, in brief

George Johann Klein, was a Canadian inventor who is widely regarded as the most productive inventor in Canada in the 20th century. Although he struggled as a high school student, he eventually graduated from the University of Toronto in Mechanical Engineering. His inventions include key contributions to the first electric wheelchairs for quadriplegics, a novel microsurgical suturing device, the ZEEP nuclear reactor which was the precursor to the CANDU reactor, the international system for classifying ground-cover snow, aircraft skis, the Weasel all-terrain vehicle, the STEM antenna for the space program, and the Canadarm.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

  1. 1904 Born
  2. 1992 Died

Also on August 15

What else happened on this day, through history

See all of August 15 →

The world in 1904

When George arrived

Read the year 1904 →

Same-day contemporaries

Also born on August 15

Blind Jack 1717– English engineer (died 1810) Ivan Meštrović 1883–1962 Croatian sculptor and architect (died 1962) Jack Lynch 1917–1999 Irish footballer and politician, 5th Taoiseach of Ireland (died 1999) John Chisum 1824–1884 American businessman (died 1884) Jules Grévy 1807–1891 French lawyer and politician, 4th President of the French Republic (died 1891) Leonard Baskin 1922– American sculptor and illustrator (died 2000) Oscar Peterson 1925–2007 Canadian pianist and composer (died 2007) Óscar Romero 1917–1980 Salvadoran archbishop (died 1980) Stieg Larsson 1954–2004 Swedish journalist and author (died 2004)

See everything on August 15 →

Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1904

Alejo Carpentier 1904–1980 Swiss-Cuban musicologist and author (born 1904) Bozorg Alavi 1904– Iranian author and activist (died 1997) Cecil Beaton 1904–1980 English photographer, painter, and costume designer (died 1980) Charles R. Drew 1904–1950 American physician and surgeon (born 1904) Clifford Roach 1904– Trinidadian cricketer and footballer (died 1988) Clyfford Still 1904–1980 American painter and academic (born 1904) Coleman Hawkins 1904–1969 American saxophonist and clarinet player (born 1901) Deng Xiaoping 1904–1997 Chinese soldier and politician, paramount leader and 1st Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (died 1997) Gerhard Herzberg 1904–1999 German-Canadian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1999)

Read about the year 1904 →

Keep going

More to explore

George's birthday August 15 George's zodiac Leo When George arrived 1904