George J. Klein

This book is the official biography of George J. Klein, a design engineer who spent 40 years at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and was considered 'the most productive inventor in Canada in the 20th Century'. The book recounts Klein's family history and personal life. It focuses, however, upon his career as an engineer and researcher by recounting the stories surrounding a number of his most influential inventions. These include key contributions to the first electric wheelchairs for quadriplegics, the first microsurgical staple gun, the ZEEP nuclear reactor, the international system for classifying ground cover snow, aircraft skis, the Weasel all terrain vehicle, the STEM antenna for the space program, and the Canadarm. Klein was a proud Canadian whose story is intertwined with the country's scientific and technological development and sheds light upon the process of invention, research, and innovation.