The object
Van Phillips invented the Flex-Foot carbon-graphite prosthetic running leg, which stores and returns energy during a stride. Smithsonian and Lemelson sources describe how the device transformed athletic and everyday prosthetics; the design underlies equipment used by Paralympic athletes and thousands of other amputees.
01
What Van did
Invented the Flex-Foot carbon-graphite prosthetic foot and its energy-storing running-leg design.
02
Why it matters
The Flex-Foot design is used in some form by 90% of Paralympic athletes and substantially broadened what running prostheses could do.
03
Living-status check
A March 2025 Sporting Witness episode identifies Phillips as the inventor and recounts his design of the first carbon-graphite prosthetic running leg.