➰ Black History is Infinity When President Dwight D. Eisenhower required a cardiac pacemaker in the late 1960s, the device that regulated his heartbeat depended on a resistive component engineered by Otis Boykin, an inventor from Dallas whose work reshaped the reliability of modern electronics. Born on August 29, 1920, Boykin lost his mother to heart failure before his first birthday. He graduated as valedictorian of segregated Booker T. Washington High School in 1938 and earned a scholarship to Fisk University, where he studied physics and chemistry while working as a laboratory assistant testing aircraft controls. After college, he held research positions in Chicago and briefly pursued graduate study at the Illinois Institute of Technology, leaving when financial pressures made continuation impossible. He did not leave the work. Boykin focused on resistors — small but essential components that regulate electrical current and prevent systems from failing. In 1959, he patented a wire precision resistor that allowed manufacturers to assign exact resistance values at significantly lower cost. In 1961, he patented an improved version capable of maintaining performance under extreme temperature, pressure, and acceleration. As electronic systems expanded in scale and complexity, stability became non-negotiable. Boykin’s designs offered durability without prohibitive expense. The U.S. military integrated them into guided missile systems. IBM incorporated them into early computing platforms. Consumer manufacturers relied on them for televisions and transistor radios. Electrical precision became economically viable at scale. In 1964, working with industry collaborators including Wilson Greatbatch and the Chicago Telephone Supply Corporation, Boykin developed a control unit for an implantable cardiac pacemaker. His resistive element provided the consistency required to regulate heartbeat reliably — advancing the stability of life-sustaining medical technology. By the time of his death in 1982 at age 61, Boykin held 26 patents. He was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014. His contribution was not symbolic. It was structural. The principle he advanced — precise, reliable regulation of electrical current — remains embedded in the architecture of modern electronics. Smartphones, medical monitors, aerospace systems, defense technologies, and consumer devices all depend on resistor stability to function predictably under stress. Otis Boykin did more than improve a component. He strengthened the systems that power modern life. 📍 Follow along as we continue honoring the builders, the breakthroughs, and what comes next.