He was a favorite of rappers to sample and working with him was a badge of honor in the industry.

CNN: 'King of Pop' was major influence on younger artists

In recent weeks Dr Smith and Dr Sample, working with Scott Southwood, another researcher at the University of Washington, have built a weather sensor that measures temperature and light levels and sends a packet of data every five seconds by radio.

ECONOMIST: Monitor

The survey was done by an outfit called Braun Research that polled a nationally representative sample of 1, 000 working Americans age 18 or older.

FORBES: How To Make Thousands Of Extra Dollars While at Work -- If You Can Bear It