Invention of the telephone
The carbon microphone was independently developed around 1878 by David Edward Hughes in England and Emile Berliner and Thomas Edison in the US. Although Edison was awarded the first patent in mid-1877, Hughes had demonstrated his working device in front of many witnesses some years earlier, and most historians credit him with its invention.
Mārtiņš Saulespurēns
After receiving an early copy of GarageBand recording software from Apple Computers, Saulespurēns and Wise developed a microphone that connected directly to a computer through the USB port. Although there were other USB microphones in production, the BLUE company's Snowball microphone was the first directed at professional sound recording. In 2005, Apple decided to stock the Snowball with its store products which dramatically boosted the popularity of Blue Microphones. Saulespurēns and Wise sold their company to Transom Capital Group in 2008.