Lonnie George Johnson (born October 6, 1949) is an American inventor, aerospace engineer, and entrepreneur. While widely recognized for inventing the Super Soaker water gun—one of the best-selling toys in history—Johnson’s career is defined by his extensive contributions to aerospace engineering and advanced energy technology. Holding over 150 U.S. patents, he has worked on classified military programs and deep-space NASA missions, and he currently leads research into solid-state battery technology and thermoelectric energy conversion.

Early Life and Education

Johnson was born in Mobile, Alabama. His father, a World War II veteran, taught him the fundamental principles of electricity, sparking an early interest in tinkering and engineering. This earned Johnson the neighborhood nickname “The Professor.”

In 1968, while attending Williamson High School—a segregated school in Mobile—he competed in a state science fair at the University of Alabama. As the only African American student in the competition, Johnson won first place with “Linex,” a remote-controlled robot powered by compressed air that he built from junkyard scraps.

He attended Tuskegee University on a math scholarship, earning a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1973 and a master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering in 1975. (He was later awarded an honorary Ph.D. from the university for his contributions to science).

Aerospace and Military Career

Following his education, Johnson joined the U.S. Air Force, where he was assigned to the Strategic Air Command and worked as the Chief of the Space Nuclear Power Safety Section. He was notably the first flight test engineer assigned to the Stealth Bomber (B-2) program.

In 1979, Johnson transitioned to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). During his tenure at NASA, he served as a Senior Systems Engineer for the Galileo mission to Jupiter, where he helped develop the spacecraft’s nuclear power source. He also contributed to the Cassini mission to Saturn and the Mars Observer project, receiving multiple achievement awards from NASA for his work.

The Super Soaker and Toy Innovations

Despite his aerospace achievements, Johnson’s most famous creation occurred by accident. In 1982, while working on an environmentally friendly heat pump that used water instead of Freon, he machined a nozzle and attached it to his bathroom sink. The resulting high-pressure stream of water shot across the room, giving him the idea for a pressurized water gun.

After several years of prototyping and pitching, Johnson licensed the toy to Larami Corporation. Released initially in 1990 as the “Power Drencher” before being rebranded, the Super Soaker utilized a hand-pumped air-pressure system to shoot water farther and faster than any existing toy. It became a cultural phenomenon, generating over $1 billion in lifetime sales and becoming the top-selling toy in America.

Johnson also applied his pneumatic engineering expertise to dart guns, partnering with Hasbro to design some of the core mechanisms used in the highly successful Nerf N-Strike blaster line.

Advanced Energy Research

The immense commercial success of his toys provided Johnson with the capital to leave the aerospace industry and found his own firm, Johnson Research and Development Co., Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia. Today, his research focuses primarily on sustainable energy solutions:

• Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Converter (JTEC): A solid-state heat engine with no moving mechanical parts. The JTEC uses a proton exchange membrane to compress and expand hydrogen gas, converting thermal energy directly into electrical energy. It is designed to capture waste heat from industrial processes or utilize solar irradiance, boasting a theoretical thermodynamic efficiency approaching the Carnot limit.
• Solid-State Batteries: Through his spin-off company, Johnson Energy Storage, he is developing next-generation ceramic solid-state batteries designed to hold more energy than traditional lithium-ion cells while eliminating the risk of combustible liquid electrolytes.

Key Milestones

• Born in Mobile, Alabama
  1949
  Grew up tinkering with electronics and mechanics, earning the nickname “The Professor.”
  
• Wins State Science Fair
  1968
  Wins first place with “Linex,” a compressed-air robot built from junkyard parts.
  
• Joins NASA’s JPL
  1979
  Begins work as a systems engineer, ultimately contributing to the Galileo and Cassini deep-space missions.
  
• Conceives the Super Soaker
  1982
  Discovers the mechanism for a high-powered water gun while testing an eco-friendly heat pump in his bathroom.
  
• Super Soaker Hits the Market
  1990
  The toy is released commercially and quickly becomes the best-selling toy in the world.
  
• Inducted into Toy Hall of Fame
  2015
  The Super Soaker is officially inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame for its cultural impact.

Mentorship and Legacy: Beyond his technical work, Johnson founded the Johnson STEM Activity Center in Atlanta, a non-profit dedicated to exposing students from diverse and underserved communities to robotics, engineering, and science. In 2011, he became the first African American inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame.