Bacon developed the first working hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell which provided some of the electricity to the Apollo missions and Apollo 11, the spacecraft that landed the first men on the moon in 1969.
Born in 1904, Bacon student mechanical sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge - where he developed the fuel cell.
He had worked on the idea of the possibility of storing energy in the form of hydrogen and releasing it as electricity for many years.
A fuel cell is a device that produces electricity from the chemical reaction of a fuel and an oxidant which, unlike a battery, are supplied continuously from outside the cell.
He developed the system to the press in 1959 and was considered perfect for the light spacecrafts needed for NASA missions.
His fuel cells have now been nicknamed "Bacon Cells" by Nasa in his honour.
Dr Jethro Akroyd, a senior research associate at the university's department of chemical engineering and biotechnology, said: "Tom invented the fuel cell that allowed the Americans to reach the moon.
"This is a fantastic achievement if you look at what Tom did in a modern context. He invented a device that provided a portable source of power - it was fuelled by hydrogen and oxygen and its only emission was water.
The clean green energy source he created inspires the scientists of today on different renewable energy solutions.
The charity, Cambridge Past. Present & Future backed the scheme to place the plaque in Bacon's honour. The plaque was unveiled at Marshall of Cambridge, a technology and engineering company.
American President Richard Nixon even said to Bacon: "Without you, Tom, we wouldn’t have gotten to the moon."
