subject: Women Inventors Through History [print this page] As you sip your morning coffee you probably dont give any thought as to how the actual process of coffee brewing came to be. If it wasnt for a frustrated housewife in Dresden, Germany, you might have to brew your coffee by wrapping loose coffee grounds in a cloth bag and boil water around it. Suddenly you have a much better appreciation for Melitta Bentzs invention.
Knowing there had to be a better way, she stuck some blotting paper in the bottom of a pot that she had poked holes in. Then she poured the water over it. This filtered out the bitter taste. It worked, and she started manufacturing her coffemakers and selling them at local fairs. They were a hit.
Melitta Bentz wasnt the only woman who invented a product out of frustration. Marion Donovan was a young mom who spent her days washing, bleaching and drying cloth baby diapers. She put together some padding and a show curtain and came up with a prototype. She took her product, The Boater around to manufacturers who all told her it would be too expensive to make and turned her down.
So she manufactured the product herself and sold them to department stores. Pretty soon the idea caught on. Moms went into the stores asking for the throwaway diaper. Mrs. Donovan sold her company for $1 million dollars and made moms around the world very happy.
Marie Curie was the only person to win two Nobel prizes. She was a scientist and an inventor. She invented a chemical process for extracting radioactive material from ore and she also discovered radium.
Admiral Grace Murray Hopper invented the first computer compiler, changing the way computer software is written. The way software was written was changed. They no longer had to write time-consuming instructions for each new software package. She developed COBOL, which is the first user-friendly computer software program.
If you take your lunch to work in a brown paper bag you have Martha Knight to thank for it. She invented the machine that produced them. She was also the first woman to fight and win a patent suit after a man stole her design and put his name on it. He couldnt imagine that a woman could create such a complex machine. She went on to invent several other machines and tools.
Only 10% of patents belong to women, but the list seems to be growing as more women are encouraged to invent. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.
