Most people don’t realize the inventor of Super Soaker is a black man. His name is Lonnie Johnson. A former NASA engineer, he says he is an inventor. It is just what he does.

This week, Lonnie Johnson was able to invent $72.9 million dollars into his bank account. The settlement was with Hasbro in a dispute over sales royalties that were unpaid to the inventor. Johnson won the case and is very happy with the outcome of arbitration.

According to the newspaper, the agreement stemmed from a 2001 inventors dispute in which Hasbro had agreed to pay Johnson royalties for the sales of his products. Johnson originally licensed the Super Soaker to Larami Corporation, which was later acquired by Hasbro, and the toy reportedly generated more than $200 million in retail sales in its first two years on the market. As of 2013, total sales of the line are estimated at nearly $1 billion.

Keeping busy

As for the Atlanta-based Johnson, the Super Soaker phenomenon was just a footnote in what has proven to be a very diverse career.

Although it was his plastic toy gun that made him wealthy, Johnson first trained as a nuclear engineer at Tuskegee University and worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab on both the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Mars Observer prior to his exploits in the toy business. He currently holds more than 80 patents and, in addition to the Super Soaker, is also credited with inventing technologies related to both rechargeable batteries and thermodynamic energy.

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/bulls-eye—super-soaker-inventor-scores-huge-payday-232255648.html

Hopefully, Johnson can continue to live his dream of inventing. Hopefully, his name and face will be closely associated with the Super Soaker. Its wide spread recognition and reach is just the sort of bright spark we need to introduce to our children. Get them excited about inventing, experimenting, and creating.

We are the mothers and fathers of science and innovation on this planet, but our youth haven’t been taught this. We must continue to flex our creative and idea birthing muscles in this world.

Spread this news far and wide to awake our souls.