Roland Moreno (1945-2012) was a French inventor and engineer best known as the inventor of the smart card [1][3]. Although his creation became ubiquitous worldwide, he remained relatively unknown outside of France, where he was considered a national hero [1]. Moreno also founded the company Innovatron to market his inventions and intellectual property [1].
Biography#
Roland Moreno was born in Cairo, Egypt, on June 11, 1945, to Egyptian Jewish parents [1]. The family's original surname was Bahbout, but they changed it to Moreno when they moved to France during Roland's early childhood [1]. He attended schools in Paris, including Montaigne and Condorcet, and obtained his scientific baccalaureate in 1964 [2]. However, he left school early and considered himself self-taught [1].After leaving school, Moreno held several jobs, including a reporter for Détective Magazine and a runner for L'Express news magazine [1]. From 1970 to 1972, he was an editor at Chimie-Actualités, a French chemistry magazine [1]. In 1972, he established Innovatron, a company focused on marketing ideas [2].
Moreno passed away on April 29, 2012, in Paris, France, at the age of 66 [1].
Smart Card Invention#
Moreno's most famous invention was the smart card, also known as "la carte à puce" in French [1]. He conceived the idea in 1974 and patented a circuit that could store electronic data and be read and altered by a scanner [6]. The smart card is a plastic card embedded with a computer microprocessor [6].His company, Innovatron, successfully marketed a software system that merged dictionary words to create new product or brand names for companies [1]. Reportedly, Moreno claimed the idea for the smart card came to him in a dream [5][6].
Moreno's smart card technology is now found in various applications worldwide, including bank cards, shopping cards, phone payment cards, contactless transport cards, identity cards, driving licenses, and SIM cards used in mobile phones [4][5][6].
Other Inventions and Pursuits#
Besides the smart card, Moreno invented other devices, including a machine called the Matapof, which distributed coins either heads or tails up, and a machine that created new words from existing dictionary words [2][6]. The latter invention was used to create brand names such as Wanadoo, Vinci, and Thalès [6].Moreno also had interests beyond inventing. In his early years, he was a student of letters [2]. He also worked as a humorist and author [1][3]. Moreno also had a series of "funny machines" such as a singing bird, a pocket organ, and a machine that blew up matches. [2]