7 The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time 7

In 1959 Apgar left Columbia and took a degree in

public health from Johns Hopkins University. She headed

the division of congenital malformations at the National

Foundation-March of Dimes from 1959 – 67. She was pro-

moted to director of basic research at the National

Foundation (1967–72), and she later became senior vice

president for medical affairs (1973–74). She cowrote the

book Is My Baby All Right? (1972) with Joan Beck.

Leo Fender

(b. Aug. 10, 1909, Anaheim, Calif., U.S.—d. March 21, 1991,

Fullerton, Calif.)

C

larence Leo Fender was an American inventor and

manufacturer of electronic musical instruments.

Together with George Fullerton, Fender developed

the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar, in 1948.

Called the Fender Broadcaster (renamed the Telecaster in

1950), it was produced under the auspices of the Fender

Electric Instruments Company, which Fender had formed

in 1946. In 1951 the Fender Precision Bass, the world’s first

electric bass guitar, was unveiled, and in 1954 the Fender

Stratocaster was put on the market. More stylish and

technically improved than the Telecaster, the Stratocaster

was the first guitar to feature three electric pickups

(instead of two) and the tremolo arm used for vibrato

effects. Its clean, sharp sound earned it a loyal following

among guitarists, rivaled only by that of Gibson’s eponymous

Les Paul, and it became the signature instrument of Jeff

Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and others.

Fender, who never learned to play the instrument he

revolutionized, sold his manufacturing and distribution

companies to CBS Corporation in 1965, a concession to

his failing health. When his physical condition improved a

few years later, he returned to the company as a design