1949 - Present
Welcome to our Game Changers.
The world moves forward because of game changers, those who see possibilities where others see limits. Across every industry, innovative organizations are transforming the way we live.
From Rocket Science to Water Propulsion
Meet Lonnie Johnson, mechanical engineer, nuclear engineer, and rocket scientist whose passion for innovation led him to create the icon of many childhoods starting in the 1990s, the Super Soaker.
Johnson always had a thirst for knowledge in science. This garnered him the nickname “The Professor” during his childhood in the suburbs of Mobile, Alabama. In 1968, he won Alabama State’s science fair for a robot he built named Linux that was powered by compressed air.
After completing his master's degree at Tuskegee University, he worked for the U.S. Air Force, where he worked on the stealth bomber program, before eventually joining NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1979. But in his head was brewing an idea that was swimming through his thoughts. The vision that would bring immense joy to children and adults every summer for generations. Johnson wanted to build a water gun unlike any other, a power drencher of sorts that would become, the Super Soaker.
And he did.
In 1990, Johnson brought to market the first versions of Super Soaker that sparked a revolution in summertime water fights for children across the world. In just a year, the Super Soaker would reach annual sales of over $200 million. He made a deal with the Larami Corporation, a large toy manufacturer in Pennsylvania that eventually sold to Hasbro Toys in 1995. According to Hasbro, sales of the Super Soaker are now over $1 billion.
Johnson went on to adapt the Super Soaker’s water with a toy Nerf projectile, which became the N-Strike Nerf product line. He was awarded a settlement of $73 million in royalties after a lawsuit was filed against Hasbro after he discovered that he was being underpaid royalties for the Super Soaker and several Nerf toys.
In 2015, the Super Soaker was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame and in 2022, Johnson was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He remains a silent innovative legend in the hearts and minds of children, and his legacy is drenched in joy.
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