3,000+ patents...sorry Edison, Yoshiro Nakamatsu is #1

Yoshiro Nakamatsu
[Dr. NakaMats]
June 26th, 1928

Japanese inventor who holds over 3,000 patents, making him the world's most prolific inventor. (Thomas Alva Edison is a distant second with 1,093). NakaMats invented the floppy disk in 1950 at the Imperial University in Tokyo. After six of Japan's leading corporations turned him down, he granted the sales license for the disk to IBM. Dr. NakaMats interests are wide as reflected in his patents, which also include the CD and digital watch. Other patents range from a "Putting training device for golfers" to an "Apparatus for converting radiant energy such as light or heat directly into turning force" or an "Energy system for applying mixed hydrogen and gasoline to an engine."

Yoshiro Nakamatsu [Wikipedia]