Not Only Beauty Will Save The World: Women - Inventors

Every day we use a lot of things and technologies, but how often we think about their inventors? 

About people, who outrun their age, received patents on discoveries, which were not in demand, but later recognized brilliant.

And if to speak about inventors, it worth to say thanks to women. Due to their tedious labour we have Wi-fi, laundry, mobile phones, bullet-proof vests and many other useful things. 

Surely all of you know Marie Curie, but there are many other women, who made our life easier, even if they are not so famous.

#1 Dishwashing Machine

Agatha Christie, the queen of the detective genre, said, that best novels she thought up while washing dishes. Lucky we are, that she wrote before the invention of dishwashing machine. 

Josephine Garis Cochran  was the inventor of the first commercially successful automatic dishwasher. She was born in the family of engineer and was a grangranddaugther of steamship inventor, John Fitch. 

So from her childhood Josephine knew more about different mechanisms, rather than about washing plates. Later she married a successful politician. After one of the routs, she decided to check the family china set. It turned out, that there were less pieces, than should be. Most of them were broken during washing. So, if to believe biographers, she told: "If no one is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I will do it myself!". Unfortunately, soon she had one more stimulus for work - he husband died, having had left her only debts.  She had a patent 31 December, 1885. After that, an active advertisment was made in order to attract big clients. But people didn't understand quite well what for should they buy an expensive machine, when servents' job was cheaper. Moreover servants protested against machines, fearing for their workplaces. Unfortunately dishwashing machines boom started only in the second half of 20 century. Josehine died before it in 1913.

#2 Wi-Fi, GPS

If her biography was a basis for a plot, it would be very insteresting and captivating movie. But the main role she could play herself.  Hedy Lamarr ( born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler) was an Austrian and American film actress. But it was one side of her personality. Hedy's bithday - 9 November - is called an Inventor Day!

In 1942 popular actress and her friend, pianist and composer, George Antheil get patent on "Secret Connection System", which let to controll torpedoes by radio. But lets start from the beginning.

Hedy was born in the family of pianist and banker. She was well educated, played piano, dreamed about playing in movies.  In early 1933, at age 18, she starred in Gustav Machaty's film, Ecstasy. It was quite scandalous because of scene, where she swimmed in the lake. Today nude body in not smth extraordinary, but earlier, even thought she was covered by trees and leaves, it was a shame. Maybe because of this film, Hedy decided to marry.  At age 18 Lamarr married Fredrich Mandl,  a wealthy (he was reputed to be the third richest man in Austria) and  extremely jealous Austrian military arms merchant and munitions  manufacturer.  Among his friends were Hitler and Mussolini.

She often accompained Mandl at the meetings and listened attentively.

One more oursuit of Heady was escape from her husband. She added soporific draught in the tea of her housemaid, took her clothes, picked the most valuable jewels and ran to Paris. Then she lived in London and New-York. When Hedy came to Hollywood in 1938 she met MGM head Louis B. Mayer, who  offered her a movie contract in Hollywood, where she became a film star  from the late 1930s to the 1950s. 

When the WW 2 started Hedy memorised talks at her husband's meetings. Lamarr was inspired to contribute to the war effort, designing a jam-proof radio guidance system for torpedoes.  Lamarr and Antheil were playing piano in for hands. And Hedy thought, that radio frequencies can be switched like hands. With the knowledge she had gained about  torpedoes from her first husband, and using a method similar to the way  piano rolls work, they designed a frequency-hopping system that would  continually change the radio signals sent to the torpedo.  Their invention was granted a patent on 11 August 1942. Yet, it was technologically difficult to implement, and the U.S. Navy, to which inventros gifted th patent, was not  receptive to considering inventions coming from outside the military at the time. 

But nowadays principles of their work are incorporated into modern Wi-Fi, CDMA  and Bluetooth technology, and this work led to their being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (USA) in 2014. 

#3 Kevlar

Stephanie Louise Kwolek was an American chemist, whose career at the DuPont company spanned over forty years, even though she went there to earn money for studying medicine.  While working for DuPont, Kwolek invented Kevlar. Currently, Kevlar has many applications, ranging from bicycle tires and  racing sails to body armor, because of its high tensile  strength-to-weight ratio, by this measure it is 5 times stronger than  steel. Maybe, she didn't become a doctor, but surely saved many lifes.

Hope, you like the post and find it interesting)