Being Pro-Semitic: The Bar Code

Maybe U.S. Patent No. 2,612,994 doesn’t mean much to you. But have you ever seen or used a bar code?

You can thank two Jewish-Americans, Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver for developing the first optically scanned bar code, patented in 1952.

You may not remember before bar codes but one had to trust the cashier punched in the correct price, stores constantly had to inventory their goods to track their shelf-stocking needs, personnel treating you in the hospital had to write down what services and medications they provided you for billing purposes, and babies didn’t have bar code bracelets that identified which new parents they belonged to!

With respect to the UPC used to process inventory and checkout for goods in almost all retail establishments today, you can thank another Jewish-American, Alan Haberman,
who as a supermarket executive saw the potential of the Woodland-Silver invention and campaigned for its universal adoption.

The first item to be scanned for purchase was a pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit Chewing
Gum in 1974, by the cashier at Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.

Today billions of items are scanned every day around the world thanks to the
knowledge, skills, creativity, and drive of three Jewish-Americans.

Jerry Brodsky sourced at:

1. The National Inventors Hall of Fame https://www.invent.org/inductees/n-joseph-woodland

2. It’s the Bar Code’s 43 rd Birthday by Benedict Brook
https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/inventions/its-the-barcodes-43rd-birthday/news-story/1ef1f692ab48a7bb3cdbcb66dda9e84d

3. June 12: The Bar Code by Lawrence Bush https://jewishcurrents.org/june-12

Photo credit: Jerry Brodsky’s kitchen counter

Proud of the contributions Jewish men and women have made in our world! If you have a nomination and information about their contribution to our world, send your submission to today, and show us your Jewish pride!

Jerry Brodsky is chair of FJMC’s Inclusion Initiative, president of the International Region and a member of KIO+ Region.