List of inventions and discoveries by women

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This page aims to list the inventions and discoveries protagonized by women. Female presence in science fields where such achievements occur has been largely disproportional compared to male presence, though it is slowly changing in recent times as more and more women occupy these positions.

Medicine

Pediatrics

Apgar score
Invented in 1952 by Virginia Apgar.
Disposable diapers
Cloth diapers in the United States were first mass-produced in 1887 by Maria Allen.
In 1946, Marion Donovan used a shower curtain from her bathroom to create the "Boater", a plastic cover to be donned outside a diaper. First sold in 1949 at Saks Fifth Avenue's flagship store in New York City, patents were later issued in 1951 to Donovan, who later sold the rights to the waterproof diaper for $1 million.[1] Donovan also designed a paper disposable diaper, but was unsuccessful in marketing it.[2]
In 1947, Scottish housewife Valerie Hunter Gordon started developing and making Paddi, a 2-part system consisting of a disposable pad (made of cellulose wadding covered with cotton wool) worn inside an adjustable plastic garment with press-studs/snaps. Initially, she used old parachutes for the garment. She applied for the patent in April 1948, and it was granted for the UK in October 1949. Initially, the big manufacturers were unable to see the commercial possibilities of disposable nappies. In 1948, Gordon made over 400 Paddis herself using her sewing machine at the kitchen table. Her husband had unsuccessfully approached several companies for help until he had a chance meeting with Sir Robert Robinson at a business dinner. In November 1949 Valerie Gordon signed a contract with Robinsons of Chesterfield who then went into full production. In 1950, Boots UK agreed to sell Paddi in all their branches. In 1951 the Paddi patent was granted for the USA and worldwide. Shortly after that, Playtex and several other large international companies tried unsuccessfully to buy out Paddi from Robinsons. Paddi was very successful for many years until the advent of 'all in one' diapers.[3]
In Sweden, Hugo Drangel's daughter Lil Karhola Wettergren, in 1956 elaborated her father's original idea, by adding a garment (again making a 2-part system like Paddi). However she met the same problem, with the purchasing managers, declaring they would never allow their wives to "put paper on their children."
Snugli and Weego child carriers
Invented by nurse and peacekeeper Ann Moore first in the 1960s.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Harvard Stellar Classification Scheme
The first classification of stars based on their temperature, created by Annie Jump Cannon in publications up to 1924.
Pulsars
Rapidly rotating neutron stars discovered by Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967.
The Galaxy Rotation Problem
A major piece of evidence for the presence of dark matter in the Universe, discovered by Vera Rubin from observations of galactic rotation curves in the 1970s.

Chemistry

Kevlar
A powerful para-aramid synthetic fiber, developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965.
Scotchgard
This stain repellent and durable water repellent was co-invented by chemists Patsy Sherman and Samuel Smith while working for 3M.

Geology

Earth's inner core
Discovered in 1936 by Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann.

Solar energy

House solar heating
Hungarian-American MIT inventor Mária Telkes and American architect Eleanor Raymond created, in 1947, the Dover Sun House, the first house powered by solar energy.

Home appliances

Dishwasher
Josephine Cochrane developed in 1887 the first commercially successful dishwasher, together with mechanic George Butters.
Improved ironing board
In 1892 Sarah Boone obtained a patent in the United States for improvements to the ironing board, allowing for better quality ironing for shirt sleeves.[4]

Hair tools

Hot comb
The hot comb was an invention developed in France as a way for women with coarse curly hair to achieve a fine straight look traditionally modeled by historical Egyptian women.[5] However, it was Annie Malone who first patented this tool, while her protégé and former worker, Madam C. J. Walker widened the teeth.[6]

Vehicle appliances

Windscreen wiper
Mary Anderson is credited for inventing the first functional windscreen wiper in 1903. Two other inventors, Robert Douglass and John Apjohn, also patented windscreen cleaning devices in the same year.
Airplane mufflers
El Dorado Jones is credited with inventing a light-weight electric iron, travel size iron board, and airplane mufflers in 1919.
Underwater telescope
Patented by Sarah Mather in 1845 and permitted sea-going vessels to survey the depths of the ocean.[7][8] It used a camphine lamp in a glass globe that was sunk in the water. The device allowed to examine the hull and other details from a person on the deck of a boat.[9]
In 1864 Sarah Mather added an improvement to her previous invention to detect Southern underwater warships.[10]

Computing

Written computer program
During a nine-month period in 1842–43, Ada Lovelace translated the memoir of Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea. The memoir covered the Analytical Engine. The translation contained Note G which completely detailed a method for calculating Bernoulli numbers using the Analytical Engine. This note is recognized by some historians as the world's first written computer program.[11]
Written compiler
The first compiler was written by Grace Hopper, in 1952, for the A-0 programming language. She also helped to popularize the idea of machine-independent programming languages which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first high-level programming languages.

Wireless transmission

Radio guidance device for torpedoes
Austrian-American Hollywood actreess Hedy Lamarr, together with musicist and author George Antheil developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes, which used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers.[12] Though the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s, the principles of their work are now incorporated into modern Wi-Fi, CDMA and Bluetooth technology.

Food and food appliances

Chocolate-chip cookies
Invented by Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1938.
Pizza saver
Patented in 1985 by Carmela Vitale of Dix Hills, New York.

References

  1. ↑ "Marion Donovan, 81, Solver Of the Damp-Diaper Problem". New York City Times. November 18, 1998.
  2. ↑ "No. 2464: Engineering Diapers". uh.edu.
  3. ↑ For more information go to http://www.paddi.org.uk
  4. ↑ Mary Bellis (2011). "Sarah Boone". Inventors. About.com. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  5. ↑ Byrd, Ayana D., Tharps, Lori L. Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America. New York: St. Martin’s Press. 2001 p. 20
  6. ↑ The Black Inventor Online Museum, Blackinventor.com
  7. ↑ Chicago Tribune (Dec 1992) Defying Stereotypes: The Inventive Women Of America
  8. ↑ US Patent 3995 S. P. MATHER. Submarine Telescope and Lamp
  9. ↑ Submarine Telescope in 1843...
  10. ↑ Jacquelyn A. Greenblatt (1999) Women Scientists and Inventors Page 80 Good Year Books ISBN 9781596472631 Retrieved 2015
  11. ↑ J. Fuegi and J. Francis (October–December 2003), "Lovelace & Babbage and the creation of the 1843 'notes'", Annals of the History of Computing, 25 (4): 16, 19, 25, doi:10.1109/MAHC.2003.1253887
  12. ↑ "Movie Legend Hedy Lamarr to be Given Special Award at EFF's Sixth Annual Pioneer Awards" (Press release). Electronic Frontier Foundation. 11 March 1997. Retrieved 1 February 2014.

See also

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