James E. West: Electret Microphone
While working at Bell Labs in 1962, James E. West (1931-present) and his colleague Gerhard Sessler co-invented the electret microphone, which was more sensitive, more compact and less expensive to produce than the condenser microphone. Patented in 1964, the microphone is used in most mobile phones today. West and Sessler were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1999.