Lonnie Johnson was born in 1949. His hobbies were launching bottle rockets at school.
       Lonnie went to school at Tuskegee University. He got a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a M.S. in nuclear engineering.
      He became an aerospace engineer in NASA’s jet propulsion lab. He has a wife and two kids.
     Lonnie Johnson invented the super-soaker. It is used for soaking people. He invented it in his bath tub in California in 1982. He was experimenting with a new refrigerator cooling system. It ran on water and reduced air pollution. When he was testing it, the cooling hose blasted water into the bath tub.  
     The first design was an empty soda bottle strapped onto PVC pipe.  It needed more force and pressure to work. It had a trigger. He got help from Bruce D’Andrade in 1989.
       Lonnie got a patent in 1991.
     The super soaker is very popular.  Hasbro sells the super-soaker. It has sold over 40 million super-soakers and made over 20 million dollars. Lonnie’s super-soaker company also came out with a Nerf ball company.
       He now lives in Marietta, Georgia.