Dean L. Kamen (born April 5, 1951) is an American entrepreneur and inventor. Born on Long Island, New York, he attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute, but dropped out before graduating after five years of private advanced research for the drug infusion pump AutoSyringe. He is the son of Jack Kamen, an illustrator for Mad, Weird Science and other EC Comics publications.
Kamen is best known for inventing the product that eventually became known as the Segway PT, an electric, self-balancing human transporter with a computer-controlled gyroscopic stabilization and control system. The device is balanced on two parallel wheels and is controlled by moving body weight. The machine's development was the object of much speculation and hype after segments of a book quoting Steve Jobs and other notable IT visionaries espousing its society-revolutionizing potential were leaked in December 2001.
