Persevere. That's what I always say to people. There's no easy route. — Lonnie Johnson Always Copy Share Image
I have a collection of SuperSoakers. I have managed to keep most of them. — Lonnie Johnson Collection Copy Share Image
I love playing around with ideas and turning them into something useful or fun. — Lonnie Johnson Creative Copy Share Image
Lady Luck is indifferent. She smiles sometimes, and she frowns sometimes. — Lonnie Johnson Indifferent Copy Share Image
It was because of the success of the Super Soaker, I was able to at least get an audience with people to… — Lonnie Johnson Audience Copy Share Image
I didn't want to grow old and find that I didn't do what I could have done, that I didn't put my… — Lonnie Johnson Best Copy Share Image
I have never really understood why in this country so many people look down on black people. — Lonnie Johnson Black Copy Share Image
I don't think there's any project that I started that I ever stopped working on. — Lonnie Johnson Ever Copy Share Image
I consider myself a general practitioner. I do electronic things. I do toys and water things, mechanical stuff. I'm very, very flexible. — Lonnie Johnson Flexible Copy Share Image
Nobody's going to step in and dump a lot of money and make it easy. Unless you have a lot of money,… — Lonnie Johnson Easy Copy Share Image
Peer review is fine, as long as you're making incremental improvements to a technology. — Lonnie Johnson Fine Copy Share Image
I thought to myself, jeez, it would be really nice to have a high power water gun. It felt really, really good… — Lonnie Johnson Good Copy Share Image
There are maybe three inventions I have that I rank as my top inventions that I'm most proud of. The robot I… — Lonnie Johnson High Copy Share Image
I decided I could develop a toy and get some revenue from that and then use that revenue to really become an… — Lonnie Johnson Could Copy Share Image
I can remember times when we'd be having parties, and people would be dancing and everything and I would be sitting there… — Lonnie Johnson Dancing Copy Share Image
More and more, other countries are able to manufacture things cheaper, beating us in the marketplace in a lot of ways. So… — Lonnie Johnson Ability Copy Share Image
Being an independent inventor is tough. You develop a product, patent it, then you're looking for someone who will see the benefit… — Lonnie Johnson Inventor Copy Share Image
Large companies can afford to file patents on every idea they have. Small companies, we have to weigh our options, do the… — Lonnie Johnson Everything Copy Share Image
The invention that most people know me for is the Super Soaker water gun. I knew the gun worked well, and I… — Lonnie Johnson Gun Copy Share Image
I've invented a new type of engine that converts heat directly into electricity with no moving mechanical parts. It's called the Johnson… — Lonnie Johnson Electricity Copy Share Image
I was working on a heat pump that used water as a working fluid, and I made some jet pumps for it.… — Lonnie Johnson Great Copy Share Image
I wound up getting offered a job at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory where I invented a power supply mechanism for the… — Lonnie Johnson Job Copy Share Image
I am a nuclear engineer. I'm working on advanced energy technology. I have a new type of the engine that converts heat… — Lonnie Johnson Electricity Copy Share Image
There was a time in my life when I was independently wealthy. — Lonnie Johnson Independently Copy Share Image
Sitting still, a person produces about 100 watts of heat. What if you could use that to charge your cell phone? — Lonnie Johnson Cell phone Copy Share Image
I received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, then graduated with a masters in nuclear engineering. — Lonnie Johnson Bachelor Copy Share Image
Especially when you have a lot of technology you're developing as a small company, trying to protect that technology is a real… — Lonnie Johnson Business Copy Share Image
Most of my career as an engineer, I was put in environments where I was the only person of color in the… — Lonnie Johnson Career Copy Share Image
As an inventor, it's a rite of passage to have an engine. I'd like to have my own engine someday. — Lonnie Johnson Engine Copy Share Image
That's one of the advantages of being an inventor and tinkerer - I have everything I need to make what I need. — Lonnie Johnson Being Copy Share Image
I would say that engineering has been a very positive experience overall, but usually coming into the situation it would be one… — Lonnie Johnson Engineering Copy Share Image
When I think back on my childhood and the things that happened to me, there were certain periods of time where I… — Lonnie Johnson Childhood Copy Share Image
In 1968 when I was in high school I built a four-foot-tall remote control robot with pneumatic cylinders that operated his hands.… — Lonnie Johnson Competition Copy Share Image
You sometimes have a very innovative company, and if they come up with one idea, they can come up with many more… — Lonnie Johnson Business Copy Share Image
In 1975, I was called to active duty in the Air Force, studying U.S. space launches that used nuclear power. I felt… — Lonnie Johnson Air force Copy Share Image
I got my first patent in 1979 before I left the Air Force. I called it the Digital Distance Measuring Instrument. It… — Lonnie Johnson Air force Copy Share Image
When I was at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory back in the early '80s is when I first got the idea. The Super… — Lonnie Johnson Back Copy Share Image
After I graduated from Tuskegee with a masters in nuclear engineering, the draft was on so I signed up for ROTC. I… — Lonnie Johnson Army Copy Share Image
