3. Peter Petroff was a Bulgarian-American inventor, engineer, NASA scientist, and adventurer. He was instrumental in the evolution of the NASA space program, and was one of the most prolific inventors of the second half the 20th century. Among his many accomplishments, Petroff developed the world's first computerized pollution monitoring system, telemetry devices for the world's first weather and communications satellites. Petroff developed the world's first digital watch, and the world's first wireless heart monitor.
4. Peter Petroff was born on October 21 st , 1919 in Brestovitsa, Bulgaria. As a teenager, he studied to be an Eastern Orthodox priest, like his father, but quit in 1939 to join the French Foreign Legion. He wound up in a German POW camp when the Nazis crushed the Maginot Line. Released during the war, he joined the Bulgarian army and landed in King Boris' palace guard. In 1944 he went to Germany where he graduated in electrical engineering at what is now Stuttgart University in 1947. He worked on Arctic engineering and construction projects for the United States Air Force.
5. He went to Indochina in 1956 for assignments in bridge and power-plant construction. Three years later, he sailed a 65-foot catamaran of his own design to Melbourne, where he joined the space projects carried out by a precursor of the Harris Corporation . He helped design systems for the early weather and communications satellites. Moving to Huntsville in 1963, Mr. Petroff was recruited by Wernher von Braun for work on development of rockets for one of the most important projects in American history: the Gemini and Apollo space programs.
6. He went into business on his own in 1968, founding Care Electrics, a high-technology company that developed a wireless heart monitor for hospital use. The venture evolved into Electro/Data, which created the prototype of the digital watch.
7. Marketed by the Hamilton Watch Company as the Pulsar, the odd-looking device sold for $2,100 in 1971.
8. Petroff Point on Brabant Island in Antarctica is named for the Bulgarian-American inventor Peter Petroff (1919-2003). Petroff Point is a rocky point on the east coast of Brabant Island in the Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica projecting northeastwards 1.2 km into Hill Bay. Situated 3.85 km northwest of Mitchell Point and 6.8 km southwest of Spallanzani Point.
9. Famous Bulgarian Inventors Roumen Antonov was born in Bulgaria, where he trained as a nuclear physicist. Rumen Antonov escaped to the West from Bulgaria in 1988 at the age of 44. After moving to France in 1989 he has pursued a career as a scientist, engineer and inventor from his base in Paris.
10. Roumen Antonov, the inventor of the automatic transmission bearing his name, founded the Antonov Automotive Technologies Group in 1991 to develop and market what today comprises all of the Group’s transmission technology.
11. In 1998 his workshop moved to Le Mesnil-Amelot. Here the project was continued. During that time Roumen created the company "Four Stroke" around his project. The mockup in 1:1 scale was ready just before the 2002 Paris Motorshow where it was shown to the public.
12. The new car was shown at Frankurt IAA in September 2005. The Rumen "Bugatti" car
13. 7 May 2008 Antonov Automotive Technologies is recommending a simple dual-speed supercharger for downsizing engines to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Antonov currently offers a dual-speed supercharger, first shown at the Engine Expo in 2006 and currently on sale for the tuner market .
14. The transmission of “Toyota”s model "Prius” has been invented and developed by the Bulgarian Rumen Antonov, but he has received no financial benefits from his invention. High transmission efficiency ensures full use of the efficiency gains from better supercharger operation.
15. Information about Peter Petroff’s inventions was submitted by Gergana Iankulova and Iavor Ivanov from 5 th grade. Information about Roumen Antonov’s inventions was submitted by Denis Miroslvov from 5 th grade. This presentation was prepared with the collaboreation of Tzvetan Naydenov.
