Laszlo Biro

László Bíró, born László József Schweiger and known in Argentina as Ladislao José Biro, was a Hungary-born Argentine inventor who patented the first commercially successful modern ballpoint pen. He was born on 29 September 1899 and died on 24 October 1985. The ballpoint pen itself was not entirely his idea: roughly fifty years before his patent, John J. Loud had invented an earlier ballpoint pen, but that design did not succeed commercially. Bíró's contribution was therefore a patented version of the pen that did succeed in the market, and that distinction is why his name is attached to the invention. The source article lead used for this entry is short, so the record is limited to his names, nationality, dates and this achievement.