These amazing women made their mark on the world with interesting and remarkable inventions.
Looked upon as the world’s first chemist (wow). Tapputi was an overseer from the Royal Palace during the Babylonian period of history. She is believed to have created the first perfume used by mankind. She did this initially by combining flowers, oil, calamus, cyperus, myrrh and balsam. To this mix she added water, let it absorb the aromas from ingredients, then filtered it several times. The combination of those ingredients must have had a delightful scent.
Hildegard of Bingen was one incredible woman with remarkable skills in many areas. Today however, as far as inventions go, she is known for the creation of something that would delight a teacher’s heart- Alternative Alphabet- described perhaps as a combination of modified Latin and shorthand, and it made writing faster and easier. She was also a writer, musician, philosopher, touring preacher, herbalist and polymath who wrote extensively on theology, science, botany and medicine. She was a female Leonardo Da Vinci.
Mary Anderson gave us a vehicle invention that made driving whole lot safer, dryer & warmer- Windshield Wipers. She was also a rancher, viticulturist, and developer of various properties. This came about when Mary was travelling on a trolley car way back in 1902. Because it was cold and dismal day, she noticed her driver had to drive with both sides of car’s front window open to prevent the window being covered with sleet. 0ne her return home, she set about working on a device to remedy the situation: the windshield wiper was the result.
Medical specialist Virginia Apgar made a significant contribution to the well-being and health of babies within 90 seconds of their birth by development of Apgar Score, a way to quickly assess the health of a newborn immediately after birth to combat infant mortality. Besides a leader in the fields of Anesthesiology & Teratology, she was a fine violinist, loved gardening fly-fishing, golfing and stamp collecting. Oh, and in her fifties, she took up flying lessons as well.
Helen Murray Free, a chemist and educator, most known for revolutionizing Home Diabetes Test. Free first developed dry reagents for use in laboratory urinalysis that are now, in tablet form standard around the world. She went on to develop more consumer-oriented devices. The most important of these was ‘dip-and-read’ test that for the first time allowed diabetics to monitor their blood glucose level instantly at home.
Margaret Knight was an American Inventor notably of a machine to produce flat-bottomed Paper Bags that are still used in Grocery stores. She is credited with 90 inventions, became a symbol of women’s empowerment and has been called ‘the most famous 19th century woman inventor’.
Olivia Poole is loved by busy mothers everywhere for her invention- Jolly Jumper which kept babies soothed, calm or amused. Olivia patented this invention in 1948 and by 1957, she and her son Joseph, began to mass produce these great little time-savers. Poole was a very talented pianist and was the first Canadian women to be awarded a patent.
Housewives everywhere must give a silent sign of appreciation for Ruth Rogan Benerito’s labor saving invention- Permanent Press Clothing. She was an American chemist and inventor who worked primarily in the textile industry. She invented wrinkle free wash-and-wear cotton fabrics. She held 55 patents.
Erna Schneider Hoover, an American Mathematician notable for inventing a Computerized Telephone Switching Method which revolutionized modern communication. After working with Bell Laboratories for 32 years she become one of the first people to receive a patent for work in computer technology. The wonderful thing about Erna’s invention was that she came up with it while was she in hospital recovering from the birth of her second child.
Marion Donovan was one of the most prolific inventors of her time. Her most notable innovation is Disposable Diaper. Donovan designed a composition of sturdy, absorbent paper that did the job well. She toured US paper companies and was roundly ridiculed for proposing such an unnecessary and impractical item. It took nearly 10 years for someone to capitalize on Donovan’s idea: Victor Mills, the creator of Pampers. She received 20 patents in total for her inventions.
The Barbie doll was invented in 1959 by Ruth Handler (USA) co-founder of Mattel, whose own daughter was called Barbara. Barbie was introduced to the world at the American Toy Fair in New York city. The doll was intended to be a teenage fashion doll. There has been some controversy over Barbie’s figure when it realized if Barbie was a real person her measurement would be an impossible 36–18–38.
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