by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 1:40 PM ET, Thu January 18, 2024
Lanny Smoot, a Disney Research Fellow and Imagineer who has worked at The Walt Disney Company for 25 years, was awarded the honor of being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, making the second individual to from the company to be inducted, after Walt Disney’s posthumous induction for his multiplane camera.
Smoot has over 100 patents, including 74 created at The Walt Disney Company. He’s behind the technology that creates special effects like Madame Leota floating inside the Haunted Mansion, the Star Wars extendable lightsabers used by Disney Live Entertainment, the Fortress Explorations adventure at Tokyo DisneySea and many more.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame Class of 2024 inductees were announced at a ceremony at Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, California on Wednesday, January 17.
“As a life-long inventor, I am excited, delighted, and humbled to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame,” said Lanny Smoot. “To be included alongside my childhood hero, Thomas Edison, and my lifelong role model, Jim West — the inventor of the electret microphone, is both exciting and humbling. And as someone who’s had the privilege of working at The Walt Disney Company, it’s especially meaningful to know that Walt Disney himself is also an inductee.”
Smoot chose to list his “Where’s the Fire?” interactive exhibit for his induction. The exhibit, which was previously featured at EPCOT and is currently at Innoventions, aims to educate guests on fire safety, and uses a special flashlight device to spot fire dangers.
Besides his new induction, Smoot was awarded three Thea Awards from the Themed Entertainment Association and has the title of TEA Master. He began as an electrical engineer, earning his master’s before working at Bell Labs and Bell Communications Research, where he helped develop video-on-demand technology, among other similar advancements.
Smoot is currently working on the HoloTile floor, the world’s first and only multi-person, omni-directional, modular, expandable, treadmill floor, which will be used in shared virtual reality experiences, theater performances and more.
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