Transgender genius Lynn Conway will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame later this month. Conway and co-inductee Carver Mead transformed the global microelectronics industry by inventing a revolutionary technology that allowed small teams of individuals to design powerful chips like the one powering your laptop and smartphone. Semiconductor firms, circuit designers, and system architects largely worked apart from one another in the 1970s. College students typically studied device physics or integrated circuit design, but not both, while manufacturers used individual design and fabrication methods. Mead and Conway worked together to develop an approach to streamline the process. Their groundbreaking textbook, Introduction to VLSI Systems, became the chip designer’s handbook. A Columbia University graduate with a master's degree in electrical engineering, she is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, emerita, at the University of Michigan. Conway has five U.S. patents and is truly a transgender icon. Conway credits libraries for launching her career and subsequent inventions. She says the stories of the adventures of people have always inspired her and impacted her deeply. This statement holds a significant value amidst the present political environment where the attacks on education and book bans have been nonstop by Republicans. #Queer Up Technology