Hundreds of thousands of people ride them every year, from tourists visiting the British Isles to postal workers delivering goods to remote Alaskan villages. British engineer Christopher Cockerell patented the hovercraft, which travels on a cushion of air over land and water, in 1955-but he struggled to arouse any interest in his device. It wasn't until his prototype crossed the English Channel in 1959 that it really took off.

Born in 1910 in Cambridge, England, Cockerell showed an early aptitude for engineering, motorizing his mother's sewing machine. His father, an art museum curator, wasn't impressed; he commented that his son was "no better than a garage hand." In spite of this, Cockerell studied engineering at the University of Cambridge and in 1935 joined Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, where he received 36 patents, most related to radio navigation aids for airplanes.