African-American inventor Otis Boykin was born July 6, 1920, in Dallas, Texas. He attended Fisk University and the Illinois Institute of Technology, and he began his career as a laboratory assistant testing automatic controls for aircraft. One of Boykin's first achievements was a type of resistor used in computers, radios, television sets, and a variety of electronic devices. He is responsible for inventing the electrical device used in all guided missiles and IBM computers, plus 26 other electronic devices—including a control unit for an artificial heart stimulator (pacemaker).Some of Boykin's other inventions included a variable resistor used in guided missiles and small component thick-film resistors for computers. His innovations in resistor design reduced the cost of producing electronic controls for radio and television for both military and commercial applications. Other inventions by Otis Boykin included a burglar-proof cash register and a chemical air filter. He worked as a private consultant for several American firms and three Paris firms from 1964 to 1982.
Ironically, Otis Boykin, who invented a device to stimulate heart action, died in Chicago, Illinois, of heart failure in 1982.