Robert William Kearns (March 10, 1927 – February 9, 2005) was an American mechanical engineer, educator and inventor who invented the most common intermittent windshield wiper systems used on most automobiles from 1969 to the present.

Having invented and patented the intermittent windshield wiper mechanism, which was useful in light rain or mist, he tried to interest the "Big Three" auto makers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) in licensing the technology.

Each rejected his proposal, yet began to install electronic intermittent wipers based on Kearns's design in their cars, beginning in 1969, when Ford rolled out the feature to its Mercury line.

Kearns's legal battle against Ford to protect his invention and patent was the subject of a 1993 article in The New Yorker magazine, which became the basis for a full-length biographical feature film titled Flash of Genius in 2008.

Nearly a decade later in 1963, Kearns was driving his Ford Galaxie through a light rain, and the constant movement of the wiper blades irritated his already troubled vision.

[5] Ford representatives liked the idea, and hoped to rush it into at least one of their next model year's vehicles but later abandoned plans after Kearns had begun setting up manufacturing facilities for the invention.

When Ford introduced the feature in 1969, Kearns challenged the automaker, refusing offers of a settlement insisting that the case be heard in court, acting as his own lawyer.

"[8] The legal argument that the auto industry posed in defense was that an invention is supposed to meet certain standards of originality and novelty ("flash of genius").

[18] In the late 1990s, he served on the board of directors of the Veterans of the Office of Strategic Services and the General William J. Donovan Memorial Fund.

[15] The story of Kearns invention and the lawsuit that resulted against Ford forms the basis of the 2008 film, Flash of Genius, where he is played by Greg Kinnear.