FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Tech

Partying With Dr. NakaMats, the World's Most Prolific Inventor

He held his 88th birthday celebration in a freight elevator. Now see how he plans to live to 144, while treating his own cancer.
Image: Motherboard

Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu, colloquially known as Dr. NakaMats, is the most prolific inventor in the world living or dead, with 3,500 patents to his name and counting.

A long famous public figure in Japan—Motherboard visited him at his home in Japan in 2011—Dr. NakaMats is perhaps most famous for licensing the Floppy Disk to IBM in the 1970s (although IBM disputes this). His arsenal of invention includes other lesser known objects such as PyonPyon jumping shoes, the Cerebrex, an armchair designed to improve mental function, and Love Jet—a Viagra alternative designed to enhance libido.

However in 2014, Dr.NakaMats was faced with his greatest challenge yet: terminal cancer, an obstacle to his plan to live to be 144 years old. Now 88, Dr.NakaMats is dealing with his cancer in the only way he knows how, by inventing his own treatments.

Motherboard caught up with the indelible Sir Dr.NakaMats on the eve of his 88th birthday party, held at the Mmuseumm in New York City, to party with him in the museum's small freight elevator space, look at a new exhibition of his work, and talk to him about why he intends to keep inventing for decades to come.

Get six of our favorite Motherboard stories every day by signing up for our newsletter.