Legacy Ukraine Project: Album of Tinkerers & Inventors of Gadgets & Technologies

A new book highlights Ukrainians and people with Ukrainian roots who have changed the world with their inventions.

The Legacy Ukraine Project, as the album is called, features profiles on people like Apple founder Steve Wozniak, the inventor of the mobile phone, Martin Cooper, and Wi-Fi inventor Hedy Lamarr.

Oleh Naumenko, the creator of PocketBook — a universal device for reading files of all formats and Hideez, a compact multi-purpose wireless security key was present at the album’s presentation in Kyiv.

 

“One day I was hacked, my bank card password was stolen, I lost money, had no access to social networks, email, and so on. I began to think of possible ways to store all my passwords in a safe place and manage it conveniently,” Naumenko said.

He and 28 individuals are featured in the album.

“We wanted to tell their stories in order to let young people understand what they are doing now. They should be proud of the people who create an international inheritance that is used by the whole world,” album author Sash Easton said.

Serhiy Vakarin helped collect success stories for the album and himself made it into its pages. He promotes Ukrainian startups and writes books, articles, and laws on innovation and investment.

“When I left for England to study, interest in my work grew during this period. I was of course absolutely shocked when I found out. Somehow I wasn’t paying attention,” Vakarin said.

The album’s publishers designed the portraits and stories in the style of magazine covers.