Richard Brian Johnson is the author of the book Abominable Firebug

Abominable Firebug

-Synopsis and style:This book is a chronology of the early life of the author, Richard B. Johnson, starting in the town of North Brookfield, Massachusetts. It begins at about the age of two and continues until Johnson is 21 years of age...

(ISBN 0-595-38667-9) which presents his account of daily life at the Lyman School for Boys

Lyman School for Boys

The Lyman School for Boys was established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts about 1886 and was closed in 1971. It was the first reform school, or training school in the United States, replacing the State Reform School near the same site, which was opened in 1846...

. Johnson invented the Rubber Ducky antenna

Rubber Ducky antenna

The Rubber Ducky antenna is an electrically short monopole antenna which functions somewhat like a base-loaded whip antenna and is sealed in a rubber or plastic jacket to protect the antenna...

 while attending the Lyman School for Boys

Lyman School for Boys

The Lyman School for Boys was established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts about 1886 and was closed in 1971. It was the first reform school, or training school in the United States, replacing the State Reform School near the same site, which was opened in 1846...

. Johnson went on to a career as an engineer and inventor. He also created the JMODEM

JMODEM

JMODEM is a file transfer protocol developed by Richard Johnson in 1988. It is similar to the seminal XMODEM in most ways, but uses a variable-size packet in order to make better use of the available bandwidth on high-speed modems....

 file transfer protocol.
Mr. Johnson founded the Danvers, Massachusetts software company, Route 495 Software, LLC in early 2009. Johnson is also an activist for Civil Rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

 issues, and has communicated with the President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 on issues involving General Aviation

General aviation

General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

. Johnson has continued to give talks to groups interested in learning about the nation's first reform school.