Robinson - the first black manager of the MLB, a first ballot Hall of Famer, and the only player to have won the Most Valuable Player Award in both leagues - died on Feb. 7. He was 83.
"[His] résumé in our game is without parallel, a trailblazer in every sense, whose impact spanned generations," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement posted to the league's website. "He was one of the greatest players in the history of our game, but that was just the beginning of a multifaceted baseball career."
Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame during his first year of eligibility in 1982. The slugger spent some 21 seasons in the league, between the Cinncinati Reds, Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, Anaheim Angels and Cleveland Indians.
In 2005, Robinson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush, and six years later was appointed as Executive Vice President of Baseball Development by Bud Selig, then the commissioner of the MLB.
When we think of inventors, the image that comes to mind is usually that of a frazzled scientist toiling away in a lab, not celebrities pulled from the pages of Us Weekly. However, a number of well-known public figures hold patents for various innovations. Some are related to the work that made them famous, while others are offshoots of hobbies or just a single great idea.
Part of guitar wizard Eddie Van Halen's signature sound was his two-handed tapping technique, but letting all ten fingers fly while simultaneously holding up the guitar's neck could get a bit tricky. Van Halen came up with a novel way to get around this problem, though; he invented a support (top) that could flip out of the back of his axe's body to raise and stabilize the fretboard so he could tap out searing songs like "Eruption." While Van Halen was obviously interested in improving his guitar work, the patent application he filed in 1985 notes that the device would work with any stringed instrument. Want to tap out a scorching mandolin solo? Find someone selling Eddie's device.
It’s probably not surprising that James Cameron—who designed a submersible to take him to the deepest known part of the ocean—will often invent technology to make his films if what he needs doesn’t exist. He holds a number of patents, including US Patent No. 4996938, “apparatus for propelling a user in an underwater environment,” that he and his brother, Michael, created to film The Abyss and patented in 1989. The device is basically an underwater dolly equipped with propellers that makes it easy for a camera operator to maneuver in the water—and allowed Cameron to capture the shots he wanted for the 1989 film, part of which was filmed in an abandoned nuclear reactor.
In 1987 Jamie Lee Curtis designed and patented a disposable diaper that included a waterproof pocket that held baby wipes. She hasn't profited from her idea yet, though, since she refuses to license the patent until diaper companies make biodegradable products.
You know him as a rock legend, but Neil Young also loves trains—so much that he owns a stake in a model train manufacturing company and has an extensive collection. He also holds seven patents related to model trains, including Patent No. US5441223, "Model train controller using electromagnetic field between track and ground."