INVENTOR

James Naismith

1861 - 1939

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James Naismith (; November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939) was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. While originally developing the game of basketball in Canada, after moving to the United States, he wrote the original basketball rule book and founded the University of Kansas basketball program in 1898. Naismith lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as the birth of the National Invitation Tournament (1938) and the NCAA Tournament (1939). Naismith studied and taught physical education at McGill University in Montreal until 1890, before moving to Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, later that year, where in 1891 he designed the game of basketball while he was teaching at the International YMCA Training School. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. James Naismith is the 77th most popular inventor (down from 53rd in 2019), the 41st most popular biography from Canada (down from 17th in 2019) and the most popular Canadian Inventor.

James Naismith invented the game of basketball in 1891.

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Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, James Naismith ranks 77 out of 426. Before him are Les Paul, Ruth Handler, Claude Chappe, George Eastman, Léon Theremin, and Jacques Piccard. After him are John Browning, Alois Senefelder, Rowland Hill, Charles K. Kao, Jacques de Vaucanson, and Paul Gottlieb Nipkow.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1861, James Naismith ranks 22. Before him are Robert Bosch, José Rizal, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Frederick Gowland Hopkins, Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont, and H. H. Holmes. After him are Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland, Antoine Bourdelle, Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, Italo Svevo, Maximilian von Spee, and Nettie Stevens. Among people deceased in 1939, James Naismith ranks 19. Before him are Werner von Fritsch, Anton Makarenko, Edward Sapir, Karl Radek, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, and Douglas Fairbanks. After him are Matthias Sindelar, Ferdinand von Lindemann, Antonio Machado, Anthony Fokker, Louis Wain, and Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg.

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In Canada

Among people born in Canada, James Naismith ranks 41 out of 1,622. Before him are Sidney Altman (1939), Willard Boyle (1924), Henry Taube (1915), Paul Anka (1941), William Shatner (1931), and William Vickrey (1914). After him are Jim Peebles (1935), Henry Clinton (1730), John Sparrow David Thompson (1845), Arthur B. McDonald (1943), Robert Mundell (1932), and Maye Musk (1948).

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Among INVENTORS In Canada

Among inventors born in Canada, James Naismith ranks 1. After him are Reginald Fessenden (1866), Joseph-Armand Bombardier (1907), Gerald Bull (1928), and Yvonne Brill (1924).

Canadian born Inventors

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