Boston University: A History of Invention and Innovation

Boston University: A History of Invention and Innovation

To mark the 150th anniversary of BU faculty member Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone, here are some other notable society-changing ideas and products to emerge from BU

Personalism

Borden Parker Bowne was one of America's leading philosophers and BU's first chair of philosophy, and his writings in 1908 on a highly regarded school of thought called Personalism trace a direct line to BU's most notable alumnus, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (GRS'55, Hon.'59), and the Civil Rights era of the 1960s. Defined simply, Personalism suggests that people, rather than abstract entities or forces, are the ultimate principle of all reality. And that the actual physical universe cannot exist apart from some personal force-such as God-meaning that every human being ought to be considered a person of intrinsic dignity, worth, and free will. In his autobiography, King credited Personalism as providing "the metaphysical basis for the dignity and worth of all human personality."

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Framingham Heart Study

The world's longest running cardiovascular study, begun in 1948, the Framingham Heart Study is primarily responsible for guiding the way we eat, why we stopped smoking, and how we exercise-all in the interest of taking care of our tickers. Thomas Dawber and William Kannel, the founders of the study, have been widely recognized for the groundbreaking research it has produced and its longevity.

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Modern smartphone screens

Theodore Moustakas, a College of Engineering professor emeritus, discovered and patented methods for making gallium nitride films with high crystalline quality, a pioneering move that led to the development of blue LED lights and ultimately to white LEDs. White LEDs were instrumental in modern smartphone and computer screens and began our gradual move away from incandescent light bulbs to LED bulbs.

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Concussion

Thanks to Boston University's Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center, led by world-renowned neurologist Ann McKee, a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Pathology, we know more today about how low-level, repetitive head trauma dramatically changes the brain over time. Football players and military personnel have been a special focus of the CTE Center, where groundbreaking research has led to rule changes in the NFL, new equipment technology, and renewed focus on youth sports and when children should begin playing tackle football.

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A bionic pancreas

College of Engineering Research Professor Ed Damiano, whose son has diabetes, set out on a personal mission to create a device that would make it easier for people with type 1 diabetes to deliver the right amount of insulin to their body. The Food & Drug Administration approved Damiano's iLet, and it was named one of Time's "Best Inventions of 2023."

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Skin cancer detector

By using artificial intelligence and an elastic scattering spectroscopy, DermaSensor, a handheld device rooted in technology developed by College of Engineering Professor Irving J. Bigio, is able to examine skin lesions to determine if a person should see a specialist. It's the first device of its kind that the FDA cleared for use by nonspecialist physicians.

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Hormone sensor

A start-up that was founded at BU called BioSens8 is developing wearable technology able to monitor hormone levels in real time. Functioning almost like a glucose monitoring patch, the device will prove especially valuable in measuring estrogen and progesterone levels during fertility, which could help identify the best time for in vitro fertilization treatments and eliminate the need for a special doctor's visit.

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Faster, cheaper MRIs

One of the most powerful and important, but also expensive, medical diagnostic technologies, is MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging. But what if MRIs were cheaper, more easily accessible, and led to more equitable healthcare around the world? That's what Xin Zhang, a BU College of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Engineering, created with her Laboratory for Microsystems Technology. Her invention, named by Time as one of its "Best Inventions of 2025," creates devices that boost the effectiveness of MRI scanners without needing more electrical power, by using material structures, called metamaterials, and inexpensive parts, like widely available electrical cables and wires.

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Goodwill

The next time you set foot in a Goodwill store and grab a used lamp or a lightly worn jacket, thank Boston University alum, and Methodist minister, the Rev. Edgar J. Helms (STH'1893). He collected gently used household items and slightly worn clothing from wealthier parts of Boston and then hired and trained less fortunate people to repair and refresh the used goods so they could be resold. That movement evolved into the business we know today as Goodwill, which currently has more than 140 retail outlets across the United States.

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Blazing the PhD trail for women

In 2023 (the last year of available data), women earned 27,499 research doctorates in the United States, almost 48 percent of the total. Did you know that BU was the first university in America to award a PhD to a woman, classical scholar Helen Magill in 1877? She was just one of many trailblazing women to pass through BU's halls. Others include Lelia Robinson Sawtelle (LAW'1878), the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts Bar, and Anna Oliver (STH'1878), the first woman in the United States to earn a degree in theology.

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Blood pressure

There was a time when high blood pressure was not treated as a serious medical condition-as an actual disease. That changed thanks to the work of a Boston University group led by Robert Wilkins, a former professor and chair of medicine at what is now the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, and later Aram V. Chobanian (Hon.'06), president emeritus of BU and former dean of the BU School of Medicine, now named for him, whose research and findings introduced medications that treat high blood pressure.

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Boston University: A History of Invention and Innovation