March is Women’s History Month, and part of this month is celebrating the achievements of the women who came before us. Women remained in the background of history until the early 20th century. But with the 19th Amendment and after, Women finally had access to education, voting rights, and more job opportunities, and were more determined than ever to prove themselves. Here are five things you might not have known women invented:
Kevlar
Kevlar is a material stronger than steel that is used to make bulletproof vests, hats, gloves, etc. It was invented by a woman named Stephanie Kwolek in 1966, while she was trying to make a light fiber for car tires at DuPoint. She earned the patent for it and worked with DuPoint to commercialize the product as a replacement for the steel in race car tires because of the fiber’s heat resistance.
Windshield Wipers
Living in one of the rainiest cities in America, I use my windshield wipers all the time. Windshield wipers make it easy to drop my daughter off at school and allow me to get to work without worrying about my view getting obstructed, so thank you Mary Anderson. Andersn invented windshield wipers in 1903! Many were skeptical and thought it was safer to drive when snow and rain obstructing the view and clearing with it the pull of a lever. The patent expired in 1920, but by then many drivers were using wipers. The first car company to use them was Cadillac, and many others followed soon after.
Monopoly
Monopoly is one of the world’s most loved board games, but the inventor is widely unknown. Elizabeth Magie created the game, originally called The Landlord’s Game, to spread the economic ideology of Georgism. She meant to teach the players about the unfairness of land grabbing, disadvantages of renting and the need for a single land value tax. Magie received a patent in 1904 and self-published the game in 1906. Thirty years later, Charles Darrow redesigned the board and the game’s message, and sold Monopoly to Parker Brothers, who bought the original patent from Magie for $500 and no royalties.
Liquid Paper
Liquid paper is one of the many items we use on a daily basis, and not many people know where it came from. Liquid paper was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham. She was a secretary before the delete key was invented and wanted a way to carefully cover her mistakes. She spent years trying to perfect the formula in her kitchen, and patented the product in 1958. Gillette bought her company twenty-one years later for $47.5 million.
Computer Algorithms
Ada Lovelace has been called the world’s first computer programmer. She is credited with writing the world’s first machine algorithm for an early computer that existed only on paper.
Women have proved to be a strong and powerful force throughout history, but many are just now getting the recognition they deserve. There are hundreds of more unknown inventors and thousands more stories to be told. It is true what they say, women run the world.