A German Chemist Felix Hoffmann produced a stable form of acetylsalicylic acid, more commonly known as aspirin, in 1897. Basically, he is searching for something which can give relief to his father. He studied French chemist Charles Gergardt's experiments and "rediscovered" acetylsalicylic acid--or aspirin, as we now know it.
George Westinghouse in 1869 was the first person who invented the air brake and revolutionized the railroad industry, making braking a safer venture and thus permitting trains to travel at higher speeds. After that he made many changes to improve the brakes. By 1905, over 2,000,000 freight, passenger, mail, baggage and express cars and 89,000 locomotives were equipped with the Westinghouse Quick-Action Automatic Brake
Scientist James Russell invents the first digital to optical recording and playback system in 1970. He represented by a string of 0s and 1s a laser reads the binary patterns etched on a photosensitive platter. Russell isn't able to convince the music industry to adopt his invention, but 20 years later, Time Warner and other CD manufacturers pay a $30 million patent infringement settlement to Russell's former employer, the Optical Recording Co.
