Search

This section presents an index of terms and persons of the book "Women Inventors and Their Discoveries."

This chapter profiles Stephanie Louise Kwolek, a woman scientist working for DuPont who invented the material called Kevlar which is used in bullet-resistant vests worn by soldiers and police officers. Stephanie Louise Kwolek has spent her career at the DuPont Company, working as a chemist. She holds 28 different patents in her specialty, which is low-temperature polymerization. Kwolek was born in New Kensington, Pennsylvania on July 31, 1923. She grew up a curious, independent child. Kwolek has received many awards for her inventions and discoveries. She was nominated to the be first women inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 1991.

This chapter features Ruth Handler, the inventor of the Barbie Doll and an artificial breast for women who underwent mastectomy. The Barbie doll is the biggest success story in the toy industry. Every year, people around the world spend as much money on Barbie dolls, Barbie clothes, and Barbie accessories as they do on record albums or even movie tickets. Yet when Ruth Handler first proposed the idea of a grown-up doll to the toy designers at Mattel--the company she and her husband ran--the designers thought she was crazy. As co-founder of Mattel with her husband, Elliot, Ruth moved up the company's chain of command from executive vice president to president to co-chairman of the board of directors.

This chapter details the life of Grace Hopper, a computer programmer and mathematics teacher who invented several computer programming languages while working at the U.S. Navy. In elementary school in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, and in high school after the family moved to New York City, Grace loved the physical sciences. In the first days of computer development, many thought that these machines could function only by being programmed by mathematicians speaking to the computer in precise numerical language. When Hopper became Director of Programming Languages in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, her job was to standardize high-level computer languages for the navy. Before she died in 1992, Hopper had received hundreds of awards and honors.

This chapter features Bette Nesmith Graham, the inventor of the Liquid Paper used in correcting errors in typewriting. She was born on March 23, 1924 in Dallas, Texas. Better came from an ordinary background. She was not a genius and never went to college. Her first marriage ended in divorce. She raised her son as a single mother and worked at the same time. In inventing the liquid paper, Bette took her idea from artists who just paint over the errors in their lettering. After several years, Better decided to mass produce the liquid paper she invented and thereafter established a company. By the time Bette died in 1980, she had established the Bette Claire McMurray Foundation and the Gihon Foundation, which have dedicated more than$ 2 million to the task of changing attitudes about women through research and education.

This chapter features Barbara McClintock, a geneticists who received the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology. As a child, Barbara McClintock was somewhat of a loner. She was born on June 16, 1902 in Hartford, Connecticut. For decades, she studied the development of cell structure by tending a field of corn. The generally accepted theory of the day was that genes were permanently attached to chromosomes in a strict, straight line" like pearls on a string" and that the inherited characteristics that resulted were predictable and logical. However, Dr. Barbara McClintock's pioneering research with corn kernels and maize plants convinced her that genes could" jump" and make changes in the" string of pearls" and that those changes accounted for differences in the color of the corn kernels her plants produced in successive generations. She died on September 2, 1992.

This chapter focuses on the life of Dr. Sara Josephine Baker, a woman physician who invented several medical devices and developed several medical practices that improved the life of people and children living in slum areas in New York City in the early 19th century. One of Sara Josephine Baker's earliest childhood memories was about the impulse to help. That same desire to help the poor--especially children--would inspire Sara Josephine Baker throughout her life. She was born on November 15, 1873, in Poughkeepsie, New York. Her achievements in the field of medicine and hygiene is remarkable for a woman during her time.

This chapter details the life of Madam C. J. Walker, the first African American woman to become a millionaire and inventor of various cosmetic products. Madam C. J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on a plantation in Louisiana, in 1867, two years after the end of the Civil War had freed her parents from slavery. Orphaned at 7, married at 14, and a mother at 17, Sarah decided to create a better life for her child after she was widowed. She decided to move to the city. African American leader Booker T. Washington and his wife Margaret strongly inspired Sarah.

This chapter details the life of Fannie Merritt Farmer, the inventor of the modern-day cookbook. Fannie Farmer was born on March 23, 1857 in Boston, Massachusetts, the eldest of four girls born to John Franklin Farmer and Mary Watson Merritt Farmer. At 16, however, Fannie's life changed. She had just graduated from high school and was planning to go to college when she was struck by polio which crippled her left leg. Years later, when she approached the publishers with her Boston Cooking School Cook Book, they were so skeptical about the exact measurements format she introduced that they insisted she pay the production costs. After eight years at the Boston Cooking School, she resigned to open her own Miss Farmer's School of Cookery. Fannie Farmer died in Boston on January 15, 1915, at the age of 58, a household name known to millions of grateful brides, bachelors, and anyone else who has ever had to prepare a dish from a printed recipe.

This chapter presents information on the life of Martha Coston, the inventor credited for a naval signal device called the Very Pistols which sailors use to send flares into the sky, warning other ships of dangers or signaling to one another the conditions of the sea. In the U.S. during the Civil War, these vital communication devices were known as Coston Night Signals. And it was to Martha's everlasting annoyance that the United States Navy stole her thunder and her credit simply because she was a woman. Early on, Martha Hunt displayed the stubborn strength that marked her life and career. The ideas for the Very Pistols came from Martha's husband Benjamin who died during he fifth year of their marriage.

This section details the life of Elizabeth Lucas Pinckney who is credited for being responsible for the development of a commercial crop called indigo that enriched the economy of South Carolina during the 1700s. Elizabeth Lucas Pinckney--known as Eliza--grew up in an environment very much like that of Scarlett O' Hara in the novel "Gone with the Wind." By the age of 21, Pinckney became a very wealthy woman. She reasoned that if a fine grade of blue dye cakes from indigo grown in South Carolina could be prepared for cloth manufacturers in England, two important problems would be solved at the same time: the British would no longer have to buy indigo from the French, and South Carolina would have a new product to sell. Natural indigo as a major product of the South was replaced by cotton after the Revolution of 1776, and synthetic indigo has since replaced natural indigo.

This section presents a bibliography of the book "Women Inventors and Their Discoveries."

This section provides information on the authors of the book "Women Inventors and Their Discoveries." Ethlie Ann Vare has biographies of rock stars Stevie Nicks and Ozzy Osbourne, actors Harrison Ford and Martin Sheen and scientist Ellen Swallow Richards. She is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara and lives in Los Angeles with her son, Russell, and her dog, Troila. Greg Ptacek is the co-author of Mothers of Invention: From the Bra to the Bomb, Forgotten Women and Their Unforgettable Ideas. Currently a marketing executive for an independent film company, Ptacek is developing Mothers of Invention into a television documentary special.

This section provides an acknowledgement of the sources of photographs that appeared in the book "Women Inventors and Their Discoveries."