The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce to Throw the State a Huge 350th Anniversary Party
The Gala will highlight how NJ Thinkers have Changed the World, and We'll Reveal the State's All-time Top Innovators
The N.J. Chamber of Commerce is throwing a 350th anniversary party for the state of New Jersey on Oct. 27 at The Palace in Somerset to celebrate the state's rich legacy of innovation. Among the special guests will be Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno; the families of Thomas Edison and Selman Waksman (Rutgers' Nobel Prize-wining 'Father of Antibiotics'); heads of the state's most prestigious R&D firms; and a delegation from the "Other Jersey" - the Isle of Jersey in the British Channel.
Also attending the party is John J. Mooney, whose invention of the three-way catalytic converter landed him at No. 17 on our list of the Top 25 innovators in New Jersey history. All Nobel Prize Laureates who performed their groundbreaking work in New Jersey are invited.
The Cocktail reception begins at 5:30 p.m. and the dinner begins at 7 p.m. The event is open to members of the media.
The Top 5 N.J. Innovators of All Time to be Revealed
At the event, we will reveal the Top 5 names on our exclusive list of the state's greatest innovators. Even Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein will be on hand, with an assist from some amazing technology, to tell us why they should be at the top of our list. (The New Jersey Chamber has begun counting the Top 25 one week at a time. The Top 25 list revealed so far can be found here.)
More than 400 business, academic and technology leaders are already registered to attend, and nobody will go home empty handed. We will have prizes to give away, and a gift bag full of New Jersey's most helpful and delicious innovations.
Needless to say, much has happened since June of 1664 when King Charles of England deeded this area of North America to two loyal subjects, and it officially became known as New Jersey - named after the Isle of Jersey.
New Jersey's Contributions to the World
The state has been at the forefront of economic and social progress, first as the Crossroads of the American Revolution, then as the Nation's Laboratory and more recently as the Nation's Medicine Chest.
When it comes to innovation, New Jersey has contributed much to the world, ranging from air conditioning and antibiotics to the light bulb and television. The state also gave birth to Band-Aids, bubble wrap, the chlorination process to purify drinking water, condensed soup, the drive-in theater, fiber optics, the ice cream cone, lead-free gasoline, motion pictures, motor oil, pork roll, radar, radio, salt-water taffy, solar panels, the transistor and Viagra, to name a few.
From Edison to Einstein. From Bell Labs to the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. From Princeton to Rutgers to NJIT. We will celebrate them all, and have a lot of fun in the process.