Without him, there would be no Apple: the story of a Ukrainian whose inventions changed the world

In the spring of 2021, Ukraine awarded the famous Ukrainian inventor in the United States, Lubomyr Romankiv, with the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise. Lubomir Romankiv's contribution to world science has long been recognized all over the world. This is stated in Facebook Embassies of Ukraine in the USA.

For all the time, only two Ukrainians have been nominated for the US Inventors Hall of National Fame - Igor Sikorsky and Lyubomir Romankiv.

Romankiv is called "Ukrainian Elon Musk", and without his invention, the world famous Apple company could not have existed.

It is thanks to his inventions that we owe the appearance of the personal computer, hard drive, Internet, solar panels and other innovations that we are used to using every day today.

During his life, the Ukrainian inventor made 180 scientific discoveries, 67 of them were patented. Lubomir Romankiv's inventions are studied at the largest universities in the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Ukraine.

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Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko presented the order to Lubomyr Romankiv, the ceremony was held at the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York.

Life path of an inventor

In Zhovkva (now it is a city in the Lviv region of Ukraine) on April 17, 1931, the future American inventor Lyubomir Romankiv was born, thanks to whom the appearance of hard drives for personal computers became possible. He is one of ten inventors to be nominated for the United States Inventors Hall of Fame. Diaspora.

Turning on our computer, we activate several patents of the Ukrainian at once.

“People are asking me,” says Romankiv. - Show me which of your designs I use on my computer. My answer is very simple: press the "Start" button on the keyboard, and you will see a picture on the screen - this is my magnetic head on the hard disk already working. Besides that, seven of my other patents work for you. ”

Lyubomir Romankiv - Director of the Department of Electrochemical Technology and Magnetism at the Research Center of IBM Corporation, a leading scientific company in the field of computer technology, author and co-author of 180 scientific discoveries and 150 scientific articles.

In 1957, he received his bachelor's degree from the University of Alberta, completed his master's and received his Ph.D. in metallurgy and materials science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1962). He headed the Center for Electrochemical Technology and Microstructures at the Research Institute. Watson of IBM.

The main direction of his work (this is what brought the greatest success to the inventor) is associated with the study of magnetic materials, as well as reflective displays and copper plating processes. So he discovered the processes of creating inductive and magnetoresistive microheads for writing / reading information on hard drives of computers, developed an industrial process, as well as tools and everything necessary to start the production of hard drives.

Such discs were purchased from IBM by another well-known American of Ukrainian origin, Steve Wozniak, for a small startup in the garage. Over time, the famous Apple company, led by Steve Jobs, emerged from this. Lyubomir Romankov also invented the technology of soldering microcontacts on a computer chip and the technology of forming multilevel connections, which are now in every computer.

The invention and work of Lubomir Romankiv allowed IBM to earn millions of dollars, while he trained a whole new generation of engineers for the company. In general, the Ukrainian received 13 awards for outstanding inventions and contributions from IBM and 25 awards for inventions and achievements, he was written about in the prestigious publications “Who's Who in the Scientific World” and “Who's Who in America”. In March 2012, Lubomir Romankiv was nominated for the United States Inventors Hall of National Fame: he is one of ten awarded this honor.

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Although he is considered one of the best inventors in the United States, he has dozens of patents, but the inventor did not become a millionaire. Not money, but contribution to science was and remains a priority for him.

Along with scientific and inventive activity, Lyubomir Romankiv has always paid much attention to participation in the life of Ukrainian society. He is a member of the Presidium of the World Congress of Ukrainians, chairman of the Ukrainian Youth Committee at SKU, was the organizer and chairman of student societies in Edmonton and Boston, founder and head of the Ukrainian radio program in Edmonton, founder of Ukrainian culture courses at Mercy College (New York).

Lyubomir Romankiv is one of the active leaders and leaders of Plast. He became a member in 1946 in Berchtesgaden, Germany. And since then he has gone from a pupil and organizer of the village in Edmonton to the head of the GPR. It was he who, in the late 1980s - early 1990s, initiated the start of negotiations with the Scout Bureau in Geneva on the acceptance of Plast in World Scouting, helped to develop Plast in Ukraine in the early 1990s. He has a number of differences in formation.

The famous inventor recently turned 90, but he is full of strength and energy for new achievements, writes Voice of America.

He is currently working on a new book. In it, he plans to describe all the technologies he has worked on for over 50 years.