Ukraine is a country of resilient, smart people. They’ve made countless contributions to the world of technology. Here are just a few.
All the world has its eyes on Ukraine right now as Russia continues its invasion of the country. And we’re discovering plenty of admirable qualities of the oft-overlooked nation. While its snarky grandmothers have become legendary, what may not be making it into the spotlight is Ukraine’s long history of innovation. Despite decades of Soviet oppression, Ukrainian-born scientists, inventors, and engineers have made huge contributions to the products many of use and love today. As the country continues to be under threat, it’s worth stopping to appreciate some of the little-known advances its people have gifted the world. Lubomyr Romankiw grew up in Zhovkva, a western Ukrainian city just north of Lviv. He fled to Canada at the beginning of Soviet rule and earned his degree in Alberta, followed by a masters and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From there, he went to work at IBM and secured more than 65 patents, many of which helped set the foundation for modern computing. Among them was the patent for the magnetic head, which Romankiw co-authored with David Thompson in 1979. This technology exponentially improved both storage capacity and read-write speeds compared to the rudimentary magnetic storage devices at the time.
