Lanny Smoot, a Disney Research Fellow and long-time member of Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The official ceremony for the Class of 2024 entrants will take place on Thursday, May 9, in Washington, D.C.
Smoot is the first Disney Imagineer to receive this prestigious award, and the second person from The Walt Disney Company to be admitted, after Walt Disney, who was posthumously recognized in 2000 for the multiplane camera.
Smoot stated that he was honored and humbled to be admitted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. With all of the great inventors, however, I had a knot in my throat when I discovered that I was only the second person at The Walt Disney Company to get this accolade, and the first was Walt Disney himself.
With 106 patents to his credit and counting, the 69-year-old has spent over three decades pushing the boundaries of technology to create magnificent, one-of-a-kind experiences for Disney visitors across the globe.
He told CNN that he still enjoys inventing. “Being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame is a dream realized. For an inventor, this is the best thing they can accomplish.
“I love to create. “I enjoy inventing new things to surprise and enchant others,” he said.
Smoot’s career has included roles as a theatrical technology designer, inventor, electrical engineer, scientist, and researcher. Disney patent attorney Stuart Langley describes Smoot as one of the most prolific Black inventors in American history, based on patents issued. He filed 74 patents throughout his 25-year stint with The Walt Disney Company.
Rini Paiva, Executive Vice President for Selection and Recognition at the National Inventors Hall of Fame, stated to CNN that Lanny Smoot is a great innovator. He pursues his life with a great degree of curiosity, and I believe that curiosity, together with determination and persistence, is one of the reasons he is so successful.
Among the bright minds’ ideas are the interactive koi ponds at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, the new HoloTile floor—dubbed “the world’s first multi-person, omnidirectional, modular, expandable, treadmill floor” by Disney—and the extended lightsaber used in Disney Live Entertainment.
According to Cinemablend, Smoot improved popular Disneyland attractions, including making Madame Leota’s head float inside her crystal ball in the Haunted Mansion.