It's him reading a Ninja Turtles book,

lying next to a SuperSoaker.

When the SuperSoaker came out,

it was a game changer.

The slogan "wetter is better" was essentially

a mantra for kids during summer break.

So when I went to Atlanta to interview

the guy responsible for all of that,

I had to show him the photo.

(Laughs)

- That's funny.

- [Narrator] Lonnie Johnson invented the SuperSoaker

back in 1982.

But, that is not his only invention.

- Well, I have over a hundred patents.

- [Narrator] Everything from the Nerf gun

to a thermoelectric energy converter.

He also worked on NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter

and alongside the U.S. military.

- For the first SuperSoaker, actually, I made

in my shop in my basement in the evenings

when I would come home from work.

And at the time I was actually working

on the Stealth Bomber program,

back when it was highly classified

and I actually couldn't even tell my wife

what I was working on during the daytime.

It was that top secret.

- [Narrator] The original name for the SuperSoaker was

The Drencher.

- We ran into a challenge regarding the name

because another inventor claimed it.

So we changed the name to SuperSoaker

just to avoid having to deal with that.

- [Narrator] SuperSoaker is definitely

a way better name.

When he started, Lonnie wasn't trying

to create a toy for kids.

- I was working on a new type of heat pump

that would use water as a working fluid

instead of freon.

And I was experimenting with some nozzles

that I machined and I shot a stream of water

across the bathroom and I thought,

"Geez, maybe I should put this hard science stuff aside

"and work on something fun like a water gun."

It still works.

- [Narrator] And this brings me back

to a previous point.

Lonnie Johnson is a super genius scientist.

This is his lab.

And this is what he's working on now.

- Yeah, right now I'm working on advanced

battery technology.

My goal is to develop a battery

that will store about three times the energy

of a lithium ion battery.

- [Narrator] In comparison the SuperSoaker

might not seem as hard science,

but it was still a really, really important invention.