Her role in science and technology, that of all the women who changed the world, has not followed a path of roses. Thanks to the work and tenacity of so many brave (and feminists for the most part), human progress has recorded incredible feats in the history books.
And, although on many occasions these achievements have been stolen or eclipsed, some women should be remembered for inventions or discoveries of which today many ignore its origin.
Bette Nesmith Graham, inventor of the typeface.
BETTE NESMITH GRAHAM AND THE TIPEX
It was one of the revolutionary inventions of the 20th century. And she came hand in hand a typist who worked at the Texas Bank & Trust and that she became executive secretary. Bette, originally from Texas, was one of many women that she had to fight with the countless mistakes that were committed with typewriters. She happened in the early 50's when she, neither short nor lazy, she locked herself in her kitchen with a handful of watercolors to invent a corrector that would simulate what the great painters they do with her works. And from there she came out the first tipex, something that not only revolutionized the office where she worked but also became a gigantic company that ended up billing millions of dollars.
Elizabeth Magie, inventor of Monopoly.
ELIZABETH MAGIE AND MONOPOLY
We have to go back to a brand new 20th century to meet Elizabeth Magie, a feminist, innovative, non-conformist and rebellious woman. She is the daughter of a renowned journalist, she developed a remarkable sensitivity regarding the world in which she lived and in 1904 she developed and patented the first monopoly of history This game, invented by Magie for educational purposes and aimed at children aged ten and older, contained a clear denunciation of the capitalist system and it was initially called The Landlord's Game. This idea was trampled on in the 1930s by a modified version in which the goal was to completely ruin the opponent. contrary to the original idea. This last idea was the one patented by Parker Brothers and that would make history with Monopoly, leaving its true author offside.
Mary Phelps Jacobs, inventor of the bra, with her dog Clytoris de Ella.
MARY PHELPS JACOBS, aka CARESSE CROSBY, AND THE BRA
It may be very obvious that she was a woman who invented the modern bra. But it was. corset bondage to which women were subjected for centuries came to an end in 1914, when New Yorker Mary Phelps Jacobs patented her idea of a bra that would make history. Starting from two white silk scarves joined by a ribbon she managed to prevent her party dress from revealing the corset that she was supposed to wear under it, turning the bra into a garment that would revolutionize the textile world. But she was not a very good businesswoman, she sold the patent that same year for just $1,500 of her invention to a company that in a few years would bill millions for it.
Bombshell Scene: The Hedy Lamarr Story (Filmin).
HEDY LAMARR AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
It may seem silly, but Wi-Fi would not exist that we look for so much today wherever we are without the genius of Hedy Lamarr. She was a beautiful Hollywood star of the 30s who also had a incredible IQ. Her acting career was cut short by an arranged marriage to a jealous German tycoon who kept her locked up in her Salzburg castle. It was there that she resumed her engineering studies and where she took part in the world of the arms company in which her husband was submerged.
She fled that world to the United States where she returned to the big screen as Hedy Lamarr (until this time her given name was Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler) and she became at the service of the government when World War II broke out. It was then that she invented a torpedo detection system based on the radio signals she detected. She was not considered much at the time but years later it was the technology that she used to develop GPS systems and, of course, Wi-Fi.
Mary Anderson, inventor of the windshield wiper.
MARY ANDERSON AND THE WINDSCREEN WIPER
We return to the situation of a great invention in history that came out of the genius of a woman and that almost fell into oblivion. Mary Anderson devised a contraption for cleaning the windshield of vehicles by operating a lever from the inside as I watched the driver of the streetcar that he took daily going up and down constantly to clean the glass when it rained. His proposal replaced the cloth with a rubber and it was successful to such an extent that the automobile industry made eyes at it. curiously the Ford house took advantage of the idea to bring out at the same time the first cars with windshield wipers and Anderson's authorship was completely overshadowed.
Dorothy Elizabeth Levitt.
DOROTYHY LEVITT AND THE REAR VIEW MIRROR
It seems that the great automotive advances always come from the hands of female minds. In this case of an unconventional woman. Dorothy Levitt was the first woman to be recognized as a racing driver she (she won her first race in 1903) and she was a very popular character in the early 20th century. Tired of having to pull out a hand mirror To see who was behind her car, she decided to shout from the rooftops that all women in cars should have this gadget. Guess who echoed this crazy idea? Effectively, the Ford house in 1927, six years after the American Elmer Berger patented Levitt's idea, snatching away not only the idea but her place in history.
Amanda Jones, inventor of vacuum packaging.
AMANDA JONES AND VACUUM PACKAGING
We travel to the year 1872 to learn about the appearance of the first vacuum packaging procedure, also the work of a great woman. Amanda Jones, poet, educator and convinced feminist, she left her teaching position when she contracted tuberculosis. Together with her brother-in-law, she designed a conservation system generating the emptiness that she allowed Food lasts much longer. True to her principles, she raised a company formed to exploit her invention. solely and exclusively for women. In fact, his vacuum food preservation system would go down in history under the name of the Jones Method. Despite the importance of her discovery, did not make much profit economics of the invention.
Alice Parker, inventor of central heating.
ALICE PARKER AND CENTRAL HEATING
It was patented in 1919 thanks to the work of Alice Parker, who designed a gas heating system which replaced the traditional wood ovens. She did not physically build her own heating system, but the idea was later materialized to not only heat homes but entire buildings. Parker would patent her idea and it was an unprecedented achievement. she taking into account that she was a woman and black at a time in history when discrimination for both causes was the order of the day. As a curious fact, thirty years later, specifically in 1947, another woman would create the first solar-heated house. It would be María Telkes, who today is considered one of the mothers of solar energy.
The toaster, the refrigerator, the coffee filter, the dishwasher, the syringe, the electronic book or the fire escape were other great inventions that have come from the privileged mind of so many women who changed the world. That without forgetting the radioactivity and the great Marie Curie or of the advances that genetics has had with our Margaret Salas. thanks to all of them the world is so much better and so we must remember it.