Famous Inventors From New Mexico

A few famous inventors have hailed from New Mexico.

William Hanna

William Hanna (1910 - 2001) was one-half of Hanna-Barbara, the animation studio behind such famous cartoons as Scooby-Doo, Super Friends, Yogi Bear and The Flintstones. In addition to co-founding the studio and being the creative force behind many of its most famous cartoons, Hanna and Barbara were also responsible for creating Tom and Jerry early in their careers.

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Hanna was born in Melrose, New Mexico, though his family moved several times throughout his childhood.

Edward Uhler Condon

Edward Uhler Condon (1902 – 1974) was a nuclear physicist and a pioneer in quantum mechanics. He was born in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and while he attended high school and college in California, he returned to the state for a brief tenure with the Manhattan Project during World War II.

As research director for Westinghouse Electric, he oversaw and conducted research that was instrumental to the development of both radar and nuclear weapons. He later became National Bureau of Standards, where he became a target for the House Un-American Activities Committee; however, he was famously defended against these allegations by such figures as Harry Truman and Albert Einstein.

Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on January 12, 1964. He's best known as the founder, chairman and CEO of Amazon.com, making him one of the pioneers of e-commerce. He also founded Blue Origin, a private spaceflight company.

Smokey Bear

While not an inventor in the traditional sense, the living symbol of Smokey Bear was a native of New Mexico. The bear cub was rescued from a 1950 wildfire in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico and nicknamed "Hotfoot Teddy" due to the injuries he sustained during the fire, but renamed Smokey, after the fire prevention mascot mascot who had been created a few years prior.