Alfonso Bialetti (pronounced “al-FON-so bee-AH-let-tee”) was an Italian engineer born on June 17, 1888, and died on March 5, 1970. He became well-known for changing and selling the Triplerapid Miracol 900 as the Moka Express coffee maker in the 1950s. The Moka Express was originally designed in 1937 by Otello Amleto Spadini.
La Pavoni is an Italian company that makes espresso machines and coffee equipment. It was started in 1905 and is best known for its home-use direct-lever models, especially the Europiccola (1961-) and Professional (1974-). In 2005, during the company’s 100th anniversary, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) displayed the 1974 La Pavoni Professional model in its “Architecture and Design: Inaugural Installation” exhibition, along with the Chemex coffeemaker designed by Peter Schlumbohm.
Luigi Bezzera was an Italian mechanic and inventor who lived in the 19th and 20th centuries. He created the first espresso machine with a removable portafilter. Angelo Moriondo is credited with the first recorded patent for an espresso machine.
Giovanni Battista Alberto Pirelli was born on December 27, 1848, in Varenna, Italy. He died on October 20, 1932, in Milan, Italy. He was an Italian entrepreneur, engineer, and politician.
General Corradino D’Ascanio was born on February 1, 1891, in Popoli, Pescara, and died on August 6, 1981, in Pisa. He was an Italian aeronautical engineer. D’Ascanio designed the first helicopter that was produced for sale by the company Agusta.
Adriano Olivetti (April 11, 1901 – February 27, 1960) was an Italian engineer, business leader, politician, and industrialist. He was famous around the world during his lifetime for creating typewriters, calculators, and computers under the Olivetti brand. He was the son of Camillo Olivetti, the founder of the Olivetti company, and Luisa Revel, the daughter of a well-known Waldensian pastor and scholar.
Enrico Piaggio was born in Pegli, a town that was once an independent community. His father, Rinaldo Piaggio, was the founder of the Piaggio company. Enrico earned a degree in economics from the University of Genoa in 1927.
Ferruccio Lamborghini Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI ( / ˌ l æ m b ər ˈ ɡ iː n i / LAM -bər- GHEE -nee , Italian: [ferˈruttʃo lamborˈɡiːni] ; 28 April 1916 – 20 February 1993) was an Italian car designer and business leader who started Lamborghini Trattori in 1948 and Automobili Lamborghini in 1963. Automobili Lamborghini is a company that makes high-end sports cars in Sant’Agata Bolognese. He was born to grape farmers in Renazzo, which is part of the Cento municipality in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.
Severo Ochoa de Albornoz (Spanish: [seˈβeɾo oˈtʃoa ðe alβoɾˈnoθ]; September 24, 1905 – November 1, 1993) was a Spanish doctor and scientist who studied living things and chemicals. He won the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Arthur Kornberg for discovering how DNA is made in living things.
Luis Walter Alvarez was born on June 13, 1911, and died on September 1, 1988. He was an American physicist, inventor, and professor who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968. He was honored for discovering resonance states in particle physics using a tool called the hydrogen bubble chamber.