That's going to be a controversial statement. Yes, men have dominated science and technology for generations. There's no arguing that point. But quite frankly, assembling this list was eye-opening. Women have been at the forefront of invention for much, much longer than you would expect.
And what's more, women haven't wasted their time in the lab. Their contributions to the science and technology we use every day and that make up the foundation of the modern world have been HUGE.
It's long past time everybody knew that we have more people to thank than Edison, Tesla, and Henry Ford. Yes, they're giants, but women were there, right along side them, filling in gaps and making breakthroughs you might never have expected.
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1. Stephanie Kwolek
Countless people wouldn't be alive today without Stephanie's invention: Kevlar. While working at DuPont, Stephanie discovered the synthetic fibers that would end up in bulletproof vests, helmets, tires, and even the International Space Station.
2. Margaret Hamilton
Without Margaret Hamilton, the Apollo moon landing never would have gotten off the ground. She created the onboard flight software for the Apollo computers at a time when software didn't exist yet. In the process, she helped create the software we use in our computers every day.
3. Mary Anderson
It's hard to believe, but drivers had to battle the elements until Mary Anderson invented the first working windshield wiper in 1903.
4. Ada Lovelace
The only legitimate child of poet Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace is credited as the world's first computer programmer for her work alongside the "father of the computer", Charles Babbage, in the mid-1800s.
5. The ENIAC Programmers
Early computing owes more than you would think to women. The first electronic digital computer, ENIAC, was programmed by a team of six women: Fran Bilas, Betty Jennings, Ruth Lichterman, Kay McNulty, Betty Snyder and Marlyn Wescoff.
6. Dr. Grace Hopper
Another trailblazer in computing, Dr. Hopper worked on IBM's Harvard Mark I, the first automatic digital computer in the US, during World War II. Later in her career, she invented the compiler, which allowed plain English to be translated into programming language. She retired a full admiral in the US Navy.
7. Mary Phelps Jacob
You can thank Mary Phelps Jacob that women no longer have to suffer the constraints of the corset. She came up with her idea for the bra when the whale bones of her corset showed through the evening gown she wanted to wear. She received her patent in 1914, and during World War I it really took off when the Army, seeking to conserve metal, asked women to stop buying corsets. Although another woman, Marie Tucek, patented the first bra, Mary's design was the first one widely used.
8. Hedy Lamarr
She was a Hollywood bombshell and pin-up girl, a big-time box office draw. But during World War II, she made a huge contribution to the war effort and future technologies. Along with composer George Antheil, Hedy created a way of changing radio frequencies so the enemy couldn't decode messages. Their invention didn't show its true promise for decades, however, until technology caught up with it. Today, their "secret communication system" has been incorporated into WI-FI, GPS, and Bluetooth.
9. Margaret Knight
The Industrial Revolution could have had many more casualties if not for Margaret Knight. At just 12 years of age, an accident involving a machine at her family's factory led her to invent a new device that wouldn't injure workers. Although she never patented that invention, she went on to invent the paper bag machine, a machine to cut the soles of shoes, a skirt protector, an engine, a sewing machine reel, and many more. When she passed away in 1914, she had 27 patents to her name and was referred to as a "woman Edison".
10. Katharine Blodgett
Katharine Blodgett broke a couple of barriers for female scientists as both the first woman ever to receive a doctorate in physics from Cambridge University, and the first female scientist ever hired by General Electric. While there, she invented non-reflecting glass, which has been used in picture frames, eyeglasses, camera lenses, and had many optical applications.
11. Mary Somerville
A contemporary of Ada Lovelace, Mary Somerville had two significant contributions to science: her ability to communicate complex mathematical ideas and concepts to a broad audience, making her one of the first influential science writers. She predicted the discovery of the planet Neptune along with becoming one of the first female members of the Royal Astronomical Society.
12. Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind's brilliant work as a biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer led to Watson and Crick's double-helix model of DNA, for which they and Maurice Wilkins received the Nobel Prize. As the story goes, Wilkins showed Watson one of Rosalind's X-rays of DNA, and the solution became apparent to him. And of course DNA has revolutionized the modern world — and where would any good episode of CSI be without it?
13. Gertrude Elion
A recipient of the Nobel Prize for Medicine, Gertrude developed many drugs to help fight an array of diseases, including leukemia, malaria, autoimmune disorders, gout, and herpes. Most famously, she developed the AIDS drug AZT, and she became the first woman inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
14. Patsy Sherman
Your sanity and free time owe a debt to Patsy Sherman for inventing the miracle stain repellent Scotchgard. Its invention was a fluke, however. While they were trying to develop a new rubber for jet fuel lines, an assistant dropped a glass bottle of synthetic latex Patsy had been working on. Some of the latex splashed onto the assistant's canvas shoe, and it wouldn't wash or rub off, and dirt wouldn't stick to it. Just think of what your carpet would look like without it!
15. Lise Meitner
Austrian physicist Lise Meitner co-discovered nuclear fission with her colleagues Otto Hahn and Otto Fritsch shortly after fleeing the Nazis in 1938. Ironically, their breakthrough would contribute to the end of World War II with the development of nuclear fission into the atomic bomb. However, nuclear fission has peaceful applications as well — the US gets almost 20% of its energy from nuclear power plants. Hahn received the Nobel Prize, but Lise was never recognized for her role, and she refused to work on the atomic bomb.
Main image via Britannica Kids
Collage images via 1. Hedy Lamarr 2. News Examiner
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