László József Bíró (; ; 29September 189924October 1985), Hispanicized as Ladislao José Biro, was an Argentine, Hungary-born inventor who patented the first commercially successful modern ballpoint pen. The first ballpoint pen had been invented roughly 50 years earlier by John J. Loud, but it was not a commercial success.
Early life
Bíró was born to a Hungarian Jewish family in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary, within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Working with his brother György, a chemist, he developed a new tip consisting of a ball that was free to turn in a socket, and as it turned it would pick up a special viscous ink from a cartridge and then roll to deposit it on the paper. Bíró patented the invention in Paris in 1938.
thumb|left|120px|Ballpoint pen patent filed in 1943
During World War II, Bíró fled the Nazis with his brother. They relocated to Argentina in 1943 at the invitation of the President of Argentina, Agustin Justo, who met the inventor in Yugoslavia while on vacation, noticing the unusual writing implement. and formed Biro Pens of Argentina (in Argentina and Uruguay the ballpoint pen is known as birome, a portmanteau of the brothers' surname with that of their business partner, Juan Jorge Meyne). This new design was supposedly licensed for production in the United Kingdom for supply to Royal Air Force aircrew.
In 1945, Marcel Bich bought the patent for the pen from Bíró. The resulting designs, including the Bic Cristal, became the main products of his company Société Bic S.A., which has since sold more than 100 billion ballpoint pens worldwide.
Personal life and death
In 1931, Bíró married to Erzsébet Schick in Terézváros. In 1938, Bíró and his wife converted to Lutheranism.
László Bíró died in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 24, 1985.
Legacy
A ballpoint pen is widely referred to as a "biro" in many countries, including the UK, Ireland, Australia and Italy. Although the word is a registered trademark, in some countries it has become genericised.
Argentina's Inventors' Day is celebrated on Bíró's birthday, 29 September. On 29 September 2016, the 117th anniversary of his birth, Google commemorated Bíró with a Google Doodle for "his relentless, forward-thinking spirit".