10 Great Female Inventors You Should Know

A variety of inventors helped to create the world we know today. These brilliant brains created technologies and inventions that practically shape the way we interact and communicate with one another on a daily basis. It is however disappointing to reveal that some of these inventors are not getting the recognition they deserve on the basis of their gender. This is why we have compiled a list of 10 great female inventors you should know.

 10 Great Female Inventors You Should Know

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1. Marie Currie

Marie Skłodowska Curie was a polish-french physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two scientific fields.

Some of her notable works include the development of the theory of “radioactivity”, techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two elements, polonium and radium. Under her direction, the world’s first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms using radioactive isotopes. During World War I, she developed mobile radiography units to provide X-ray services to field hospitals.

2. Grace Hopper

Grace Hopper was an American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral. She joined the Harvard Mark I team in 1944 and was one of the first programmers of the Havard Mark I computer, making her one of the pioneers of computer programming.

Hopper invented one of the first linkers and popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL. She also coined the terms “bug” and “debugging” when she had to remove moths from her computer.

3. Stephanie Kwolek

Stephanie Louise Kwolek was an American chemist who is known for inventing Kevlar, a material five times stronger than steel, used in bicycle tyres, racing sails, body armour, frying pans, armoured cars, musical instruments and building construction.

For her discovery, Kwolek was awarded the DuPont company’s Lavoisier Medal for outstanding technical achievement. The only female employee to have received that honour. In 1995 she became the fourth woman to be added to the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

4. Maria Beasley

Taking fourth place among the top 10 great female inventors you should know is Maria E. Beasley. An entrepreneur and inventor, best known for her barrel-making machines and her improvements to the life raft, making it “fire-proof, compact, safe and readily launched.”

Before her death, she also held fifteen different patents in the United States and two in Great Britain, these included a footwarmer and an anti-derailment device for trains.

5. Dr Shirly Jackson

Dr Shirley Ann Jackson is an American Physicist and the first African-American woman to have earned a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She joined the Theoretical Physics Research Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1976, examining the fundamental properties of various materials.

She is regarded as the source of everything telecommunication, as she conducted the scientific research which opened doors for the invention of the portable fax, the touch-the-tone telephone, solar cells, fibre optic cables, and the technology behind caller ID and calls waiting.

6. Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr is an American film actress and an inventor, responsible for developing the frequency hopping technology to encrypt torpedo control signals. She is regarded as one of the great movie actresses of all time.

At the beginning of World War II, she and composer George Antheil developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes that used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers. Although the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s, the principles of their work serve as the foundation for many modern-day inventions such as Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi

7. Mary Anderson

Mary Elizabeth Anderson was an American real estate developer, rancher, viticulturist and inventor of the windshield wiper blade. On a visit to New York City in the winter of 1903, in a trolley car on a frosty day, Anderson observed that a trolley car driver struggled to see past the windows because of the falling sleet.

When she returned to Alabama she developed the windshield wiper that uses a lever inside the car to control a rubber blade on the windshield. Though she had trouble selling her invention at first, eventually Cadillac included her invention on its vehicles in 1922.

8. Nancy Johnson

Nancy Maria Donaldson Johnson invented the hand-cranked ice cream maker and was awarded the first US patent in 1843. Before Nancy’s invention, ice cream was made using very intensive labour and it often took one individual hour to make.

Nancy Johnson essentially provided another way to make ice cream faster and easier than by hand. After Nancy’s invention became public, many stores and shops opened up to the idea of selling ice cream to people of all classes, as the process to make ice cream became easier and cheaper.

9. Lizzy Maggie

Charles Darrow is often credited with the creation of Monopoly, but the rules were in fact designed by Elizabeth Maggie, an American game designer, writer, feminist, abolitionist, and Georgist.

Maggie invented The Landlord’s Game in 1904, the precursor to Monopoly, to illustrate the teachings of the progressive era economist Henry George

Charles Darrow sold the game to the Parker Brothers in 1935, who did eventually track down Lizzie Magie, but only to offer her $500 for her invention.

10. Katharine Burr Blodgett

During World War II, Katharine was a crucial mind in the research behind several inventions, including gas masks, smoke screens and a technique for de-icing aeroplane wings.

However, her work in chemistry on a molecular level resulted in her most important invention: non-reflective glass. This type of glass is what we now use in glasses, car shields, and computer screens.

Summary

For the sake of emphasis and optimization, here is a recap of 10 great female inventors you should know

1. Marrie Currie
2. Grace Hopper
3. Stephanie Kwolek
4. Maria Beasley
5. Dr Shirly Jackson
6. Hedy Lamarr
7. Mary Anderson
8. Nancy Johnson
9. Lizzy Maggie
10. Katharine Burr Blodgett