WASHINGTON - What do a diabetes test, the personal computer, spacecraft windows and Mickey Mouse have in common?
Their creators, living and dead, will become the latest inductees into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for their contributions to a broad range of technologies, a selection committee announced Thursday.
Among those in the inventors' class of 2000 are Walt Disney, who in 1940 patented a special camera for filming animation - an invention first used for a full-length film with ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.''
Steve Wozniak, who founded Apple Computer in 1976 with Steve Jobs, was honored for his invention of the Apple II, which brought together all the elements of the modern personal computer.
''Few people will attain the level of fame of this year's inductees,'' said Thomas E. Smith, president of the hall's foundation. ''What's important is not the final outcome, but rather, the route to invention - the process of open-minded investigation.''
Also being inducted are Alfred and Helen Free, who produced an easy self-test for use by diabetics in the late 1950s. Helen Free and Wozniak are the only two living honorees.
The other inductees are: Reginald Fessenden for his 1902 inventions related to wireless radio; William Kroll, who developed a method for manufacturing titanium and zirconium in 1940; and J. Franklin Hyde for 1942 invention of an ultra-pure, high-quality glass used in fiber optics and spacecraft windows.
The hall of fame was created in 1973 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the National Council of Intellectual Property Attorneys. Previous inductees have included Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers and Henry Ford.
A ceremony to induct this year's class, bringing the number of inventors honored to 158, will be held in September at the hall in Akron, Ohio.
