Johan Ullman is a Swedish
medical doctor
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...
,
scientist
A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...
, and
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
.
Ullman was born on March 14, 1953, in
Hallstavik
Hallstavik is a locality situated in Norrtälje Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 4,476 inhabitants in 2010. The town is famous for its papermill and the Speedway
Speedway may refer to:
Racing Race tracks
*Daytona International Spee ...
, Sweden, to civil engineer Uddo Ullman, and Barbro Stenkulla. He grew up in
Falun
Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabit ...
, and received his medical degree from the
University of Gothenburg
The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...
, and his specialist degree in anaesthesia and intensive care at the
Linköping University Hospital
Linköping University Hospital (; abbreviated ''US'' in Sweden) is a university hospital in Linköping, Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Nort ...
. Ullman has developed a number of inventions, first and foremost related to ergonomics, injury prevention, medical technology, work environment and IT.
In 1996, at
Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Ullman developed a method for measuring exposure to human whole-body impact on board high-speed boats. Today, the method is used internationally. This project was however cancelled as it "risked to result in commercial outputs", since some new technologies that Ullman had developed were shown to reduce shock exposure. US Navy - SOCOM and
NAVSEA invited Ullman to continue his research in the US.
Johan Ullman is, in 2013 responsible for
ergonomics
Ergonomics, also known as human factors or human factors engineering (HFE), is the application of Psychology, psychological and Physiology, physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Primary goa ...
(human factors), and injury prevention at HSBO Pro, a group of experts in design and acquisition of high speed boats, which also stages the HSBO Forum, a biannual international networking event for professionals in the high-speed work boat community.
Inventions
Examples of some inventions within IT and telecom are:
*''
Handsfree
Handsfree is an adjective describing equipment that can be used without the use of hands (for example via voice commands) or, in a wider sense, equipment which needs only limited use of hands, or for which the controls are positioned so that the ...
/ headset'' for
mobile phone
A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...
s, both wireless and wired. This wireless headset, developed at the Ericsson Mobile lab in Lund, Sweden, gave birth to the
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...
technology according to two patents.
*''"Keylock-function"'' for mobile phones and ''"Delay-function"'', where you have to press and hold the on/off key for one second in order to activate. This is today a standard feature on most mobile phones and computers world-wide. Both features were created to prevent unintentional activation.
*''
Polyphonic ringtones'' was initially developed to enable elderly with impaired hearing to hear different frequencies.
Other examples of ideas and inventions challenging standards and traditions are:
*''Ullman Chair'' (UllmanStolen), office chairs which allow variation of sitting position among those spontaneously chosen as most comfortable.
*''Ullman Keyboard'', a split
keyboard for computers, was displayed in the permanent exhibition at Design Museum in London for more than 10 years.
*''Ullman Steering system'', a steering bar steering system, which improves manoeuvrability and control of high speed boats. Since late 90s this steering system is the standard in both the Swedish Coast Guard's and the Swedish Sea Rescue Institution's 8-9m boats.
*''Ullman Boat Seats'', suspension seats specially developed for high speed boats, and based on Ullman's scientific work. Ullman Seats are exported to more than 65 countries and is standard in the
Swedish Coast Guard
The Swedish Coast Guard () is a Sweden, Swedish civilian Government agencies in Sweden, government agency tasked with:
* maritime surveillance and other control and inspection tasks as well as environmental cleanup after oil spills at sea.
* co-o ...
,
Swedish Sea Rescue Society as well as in most
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
countries.
*''Evacuation system for anaesthetic gas.''
*''Moisture Exchanger'' with cough valve for spontaneously breathing patients.
*''Snowboard gloves''
*''Skiing gloves''
*''Ullman Mouse'', was developed to solve the mouse arm problem. This invention utilises fine-motoric muscles and movement patterns, just like when using a normal pen. This reduces the static load on exposed muscle groups. The invention was first published in 2002 by Ullman Technology AB. In 2003, the company was seized by a
Venture Capital
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...
firm, Gylling Invest AB, which changed the company name to Penclic AB. The product was renamed Penclic Mouse.
The capture of the company, and the invention has been featured on Swedish national TV,
Uppdrag Granskning
''Uppdrag granskning'' (English name: ''Mission: Investigate'') is a Swedish television program focusing on investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of in ...
(Mission Scrutiny) and other media.
The case has also been subject to debates in the
Swedish Parliament, as well as in academic reports.
"Kill The Inventor" En konsekvensanalys av manschettbrottslighet
', University of Linkoeping, Lise-Lotte Palmgren, 2011
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ullman, Johan
20th-century Swedish inventors
Swedish anesthesiologists
1953 births
People from Norrtälje Municipality
Living people
University of Gothenburg alumni
21st-century Swedish physicians
20th-century Swedish physicians
21st-century Swedish inventors