George Klein (inventor)

George Johann Klein, was a Canadian inventor who is often called 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, the first microsurgical staple gun, 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.

15 August 1904

Born on the same birth day (15 August): Anthony Anderson • Carl Joachim Classen • E. Nesbit • Eddie Little Sky • Eileen Bell • Fiann Paul • Inês Pedrosa • Ivan Meštrović • Jennifer Alexander • John Silber • Jules Grévy • Lilia Podkopayeva • Paul Outerbridge • Paul Rand • Pyotr Novikov • Rob Thomas (writer) • Stylianos Gonatas • Óliver Pérez

Born in the same month (August 1904): Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia • Clifford D. Simak • Count Basie • Deng Xiaoping • Dolores del Río • Joe Hulme • Joe Tate (footballer) • John Hay Whitney • Kenneth V. Thimann • Leopold Nowak • Maurice Wilks • Minoru Genda • Norah Lofts • Ralph Bunche • Tamás Lossonczy • Wendell Meredith Stanley