Massachusetts is home to some of the highest-rated universities and technology companies in the world, so it’s no surprise that the state has been home to plenty of innovation over the years.
Many of the items you use every day came from here in Massachusetts, from sports to food to office supplies.
Here is a list of some of the best inventions from Massachusetts. How many are a part of your daily life?
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) looks to drive against Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart (36) during the third quarter of Game 6 of basketball's NBA Finals, Thursday, June 16, 2022, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)AP
One of America’s favorite sports was invented by a Springfield College graduate student named James Naismith in 1891, according to the college.
Naismith was tasked with creating a game which could be played indoors during the cold Massachusetts winter. He had originally hoped to use boxes for players to throw the ball into, and asked a janitor for help; the janitor instead returned with two peach baskets.
Naismith’s original game of basketball had only 13 rules, but it has not changed much in the time since then.
FILE - A one-month dosage of hormonal birth control pills is displayed in Sacramento, Calif., Aug. 26, 2016. A drug company is seeking U.S. approval for the first-ever birth control pill that women could buy without a prescription. The request from a French drugmaker sets up a high-stakes decision for the Food and Drug Administration amid the political fallout from the Supreme Court's recent decision overturning Roe v. Wade. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)AP
The first birth control approved by the FDA, Enovid, was developed at Clark University in Worcester between 1951 and 1957. Gregory Pincus, a researcher at the university, was approached by women’s rights activist Margaret Sanger to develop the pill.
The pill combined the hormones estrogen and progesterone and was originally approved to treat menstrual disorders, but many women began taking it as a contraceptive.
Milk's best friend. (photo by Ben Lei via Unsplash)
This popular sweet treat was invented by accident in the 1930s by Ruth Wakefield, who ran the Toll House restaurant in Whitman, according to the Sugar Association. She added chopped-up pieces of chocolate to cookie dough, thinking it would make chocolate cookies, but instead came up with what would become one of the world’s favorite desserts.
Wakefield published the recipe in a cookbook in 1938 and the next year, sold the rights to it and the name “Toll House” to Nestle.
Joshua Bosman keeps track of scores on a spreadsheet as he hosts trivia at the Brown Jug, 1204 S. University Ave. in Ann Arbor on Monday, May 2 2022.Jacob Hamilton | The Ann Arbor News
VisiCalc, the world’s first computer spreadsheet program, was developed by software engineer Dan Bricklin in 1979. It was first developed for the Apple II computer and was the precursor to programs like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.
Bricklin reportedly came up with the idea while watching a presentation at Harvard Business School, where a professor drew horizontal and vertical lines on a chalkboard to resemble accounting paper, according to Bricklin’s website.
The sewing machine used to make hatbands at Nathan Mason Hats in Huntsville. (Matt Wake/mwake@al.com)
While other sewing machines had been produced before, the first modern lockstitch sewing machine was invented by Elias Howe, who patented it in 1846.
Howe’s machine, which he created while working at a mechanic shop in Cambridge, was the first to use a needle with an eye at the point, a shuttle underneath the fabric to form the lock stitch and an automatic feeder, according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Andy Katz-Mayfield and Jeff Raider founded Harry's in 2012 and launched its direct-to-consumer razor subscription service in 2013. (Harry's)
King C. Gillette came up with the idea for the first disposable razor out of frustration at his dull shaving razor, which needed professional sharpening, according to the Gillette website. He realized that the only important part of the razor was the sharp tip, and envisioned that small piece on a flat piece of steel with a handle.
While Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists said it would be impossible to forge blades thin and strong enough for Gillette’s idea, he came up with his first prototype in 1901.
SAN ANSELMO, CA - MAY 09: The Facebook website is displayed on a laptop computer on May 9, 2011 in San Anselmo, California. An investigation by The Pew Research Center found that Facebook has become a player in the news industry as the popular social media site is driving an increasing amount of traffic to news web sites. (Photo Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Getty Images
As anyone who has seen the Oscar-winning film “The Social Network” knows that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg developed the idea for the website while he was a student at Harvard University.
The website was originally developed as a way for students to rank the attractiveness of their classmates, but eventually evolved into the social network that it is today.
In this Sept. 27 2013 photo, a jar of Marshmallow Fluff and a Fluffernutter sandwich are displayed in North Andover, Mass. Last year, the company that makes Marshmallow Fluff sold about 8 million pounds of the white creme, and a bill to make the Fluffernutter _ peanut butter and Fluff on bread _ the official state sandwich has been reintroduced in the state legislature. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)AP
Marshmallow Fluff was first made by a Somerville man named Archibald Query in his kitchen in 1917, according to the company website. Query began selling the sweet spread door-to-door, but shortages during World War I forced him to shut down.
A few years later, candy makers Allen Durkee and Fred Mower purchased the recipe from Query for $500 and began producing it on a larger scale. Today, the tasty treat is celebrated in Massachusetts with the annual What the Fluff? Festival in Somerville.
The Polaroid Corporation was founded in 1937 by Edwin Land in Boston, and originally sold polarized sunglasses and camera lens filters. It wasn’t until the late 1940s that the company developed and began selling the instant film and cameras that it became known for.
While film cameras are not as common today since the invention of digital and cell phone photography, novelty and art cameras are still produced to use instant film by Polaroid and FujiFilm.
A Steelton Fire Company truck at a fire in Swatara Township. July 25, 2022. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com
The first gas-powered fire engine was constructed in Springfield in 1906 by the Knox Automobile Company, according to fire truck manufacturer BME. Prior to that, water was pumped through the engines by horses or even the firefighters themselves.
The original Knox fire truck included ladders and sirens, and firefighters would hold on to the side of the truck as it drove to a fire.
These popular biscuits were first manufactured in 1891 by the Kennedy Biscuit Company in Cambridge, which later merged with another company to form Nabisco. The fruity pastries were named after the city of Newton.
In 2012, Nabisco dropped the word “Fig” from the name, leaving only “Newtons,” but the fig filling remains.
Life board game staten island advancestaten island advance
This popular board game was originally developed by Milton Bradley in Springfield and released in 1860 as “The Checkered Game of Life” with great success. The game was very different from the three-dimensional board and cars filled with pink and blue pegs that we know today, which was adapted and released by the Milton Bradley Company in 1960 as a 100th anniversary celebration of the company, according to Hasbro, which now sells the game.
The original 1960 version of The Game of Life was sold for $6 and players started out with $2,000 in game money.
While several stories exist about the invention of the adjustable screw wrench, commonly known as a “monkey wrench,” the truth is that Worcester native Loring Coes, a knife manufacturer, developed the design and patented it in 1841.
Smiley Ball and the mascot for The Harvey Ball stand outside Worcester Common.
Worcester native and artist Harvey Ball is credited with creating the smiley face around 1963, according to the World Smile Corporation, which was founded by Ball in 1999. He was hired by the State Mutual Life Assurance Company, now known as Hanover Insurance, as a freelance artist to create a smiling logo to be used on buttons and various office items to improve employee morale.
Ball was paid just $45 for his work and never trademarked or copyrighted his design. He is celebrated each year in Worcester with the annual Harvey Ball, hosted by the Worcester Historical Museum.
Franklin Public Library, Franklin, Mass. (Google)
The Franklin Public Library is considered the first in the country, according to the Franklin Cultural District. When the town was incorporated in 1778, it was named Franklin after Benjamin Franklin, and in return, he was asked to donate a bell for the church steeple. Instead, he donated books for the use of town residents. In 1790, town meeting voters decided to lend the books to all Franklin residents free of charge.
The library got a permanent building in 1904, where the original Benjamin Franklin book collection is still on display today.
John J. Loud, a Weymouth resident, was the first to patent a ballpoint pen in 1888, according to the BBC. The lawyer and inventor was frustrated that fountain pens could not write on rougher materials, like wood and leather, and came up with the ballpoint as a solution. Unfortunately, while his design did work on wood and leather, it was too rough for paper, and the patent eventually lapsed when it failed to sell.
In the 1930s, Hungarian journalist László Bíró developed a new type of ink that dried faster and was more functional in Loud’s ballpoint design, leading it eventually to commercial success.
Goodyear has added tires for waste haul trucks to its list of tires made with soybean oil instead of petroleum-derived oil.Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Charles Goodyear entered the field of rubber products with little success, as the material was fairly new in industrial manufacturing and was often too sticky or sensitive to temperature changes to be useful, according to MIT. In 1839, he visited a general store in Woburn to try to sell his product, and a piece of the sample fell onto a hot stove and hardened. Goodyear spent five years perfected the process of vulcanizing rubber through pressure steaming to keep it tough and durable and patented the process in 1844.
Goodyear did not see much commercial success in his lifetime, as many manufacturers began stealing his process despite his patent. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, which uses vulcanized rubber to produce tires, is unrelated to him but was named in his honor.
Cameron Smith, of Australia, plays off the 6th tee during the final round of the British Open golf championship on the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, Sunday July 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)AP
The wooden golf tee was invented by George Grant, a Boston dentist and the first African-American professor at Harvard University, in 1899, according to the U.S. Golf Association. Before its creation, golfers would make tees out of wet sand at each hole, either with their hands or a cone-shaped mold.
Grant enjoyed playing golf near his Arlington home and was frustrated with the mess the sand made, so he developed the wooden tee and had prototypes made for personal use. He never sold his invention and instead gave them out to family and friends for free.
In 1946, Earl Tupper, a chemist in Leominster, developed lightweight, durable plastic containers for food storage, according to the Tupperware website. He was inspired by the seal on paint cans to create the airtight seal on his containers. Potential customers often didn’t understand how the containers worked and needed demonstrations, leading to the concept of the direct-marketing strategy and “Tupperware parties.”
The original Tupperware company still exists today, but similar designs of plastic, airtight containers for food storage are available from numerous other manufacturers.
For its steadfast relevance over the last 12 months, "justice" is Merriam-Webster's 2018 word of the year, an annual distinction the dictionary's editors choose based entirely on lookup data. (Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images)Getty Images
While not technically the first dictionary of the English language, the first commercially successful dictionary was Merriam-Webster’s, according to the Springfield company’s website. Connecticut resident Noah Webster compiled “An American Dictionary of the English Language, Corrected and Enlarged” in 1841, and after his death two years later, G & C Merriam Co., a publishing company in Springfield, purchased the rights to his dictionary and all the unsold copies of it, and the subsequent 1847 edition became popular.
"I love you to pieces" are the words at the bottom of a craft during a Valentine's Day party in a developmental kindergarten class with teacher Rachel McKinnon on Monday, Feb. 14, 2022 at Thomson Elementary School in Davison. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Another product that had been created earlier but popularized in Massachusetts, Valentine cards were made popular by Worcester resident Esther Howland. In 1847, Howland received an English valentine in the mail, and decided that she could do better, according to Worcester Historical Museum. She sold her own designs from her father’s stationery store and was helped by friends to assemble the cards in the Howland family home.
Howland and Grafton resident Jotham Taft, who had also been successfully producing valentines in that town, partnered their businesses and formed the New England Valentine Company in 1879.
Westfield High senior Michael Collins blasts one past New Bedford defenders. (MARC ST.ONGE / THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
Volleyball is another sport with roots in Massachusetts. According to the Olympics, William Morgan, physical director at the YMCA in Holyoke, introduced the game in 1865. Morgan wanted to create a game for people who found basketball too strenuous.
Originally called mintonette, the game included aspects of basketball, tennis and handball.
Stock photo of computer. Downloaded from syracuse.com Getty Images account in February 2022.Westend61 | Getty Images
Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, founded the Consortium known as W3C at MIT in 1994, according to the consortium’s website. The organization is “an international community devoted to developing open web standards,” the website says.
This small profile microwave warms food in a flash. (Courtesy of Amazon)
The microwave, a standard of the modern kitchen, was famously invented by accident. Percy Spencer, an engineer at Waltham-based Raytheon, was working on a radar magnetron one day in 1946 when he discovered that a candy bar in his pocket had melted, according to Popular Mechanics.
The next year, Raytheon released the Radarange, the first commercial microwave oven. It weighed almost 750 pounds and cost more than $2,000.
Rotary telephone and pill box illustration.Voncille Williams
While there is some dispute over the true inventor of the telephone, the man generally credited with it, Alexander Graham Bell, conducted his experiments in Boston. On March 10, 1876, three days after he patented the telephone, Bell called his assistant, Thomas Watson, into the room, and Watson heard him through the device they were working on, according to WGBH.
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