Women Inventors & Discoverers

Vote for Your Favourite Women Inventors & Discoverers

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 1 
Joy Mangano
(American Inventor and Entrepreneur Known for Inventions Such as the Self-Wringing Miracle Mop)
Joy Mangano
10
Birthdate: February 1, 1956
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: East Meadow, New York, United States

Before she turned her peculiar inventions into a billion-dollar business empire, Joy Mangano had worked as an airline assistant and a waitress. Her best-known invention has been the Miracle Mop, a self-wringing mop made of plastic. She has also penned a memoir and has inspired the 2015 film Joy.

 2 
Virginia Apgar
(Physician and Anesthesiologist)
Virginia Apgar
7
Birthdate: June 7, 1909
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Westfield, New Jersey, United States
Died: August 7, 1974
 3 
Ruth Handler
(Businesswoman)
Ruth Handler
6
Birthdate: November 4, 1916
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Denver, Colorado, United States
Died: April 27, 2002
 4 
Stephanie Kwolek
4
Birthdate: July 31, 1923
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: New Kensington, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: June 18, 2014

Stephanie Kwolek was an American chemist remembered for her invention of Kevlar. She worked at the DuPont Company for over four decades and was awarded the company's Lavoisier Medal for her discovery. In 1995, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, becoming the fourth woman to be inducted. She also won other awards including the Perkin Medal.

 5 
Bette Nesmith Graham
(American Typist, Commercial Artist and the Inventor of the Correction Fluid Liquid Paper)
Bette Nesmith Graham
4
Birthdate: March 23, 1924
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Dallas, Texas, United States
Died: May 12, 1980
 6 
Ruth Graves Wakefield
(American Chef Best Known as the Inventor of the Toll House Cookie, the First Chocolate Chip Cookie)
Ruth Graves Wakefield
5
Birthdate: June 17, 1903
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: East Walpole, Massachusetts, United States
Died: January 10, 1977
 7 
Simone Giertz
(Inventor, YouTuber)
Simone Giertz
6
Birthdate: November 1, 1990
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden

Simone Giertz is a Swedish TV host, YouTuber and robotics enthusiast. She is best known for creating mechanical robots to automate everyday tasks, the videos of which she posts on her YouTube channel. Simone Giertz displayed many of her robots on the popular TV show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

 8 
Mary Anderson
(inventor)
Mary Anderson
3
Birthdate: February 19, 1866
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Greene County
Died: June 27, 1953

Mary Anderson was a real estate developer, rancher, and inventor. She is best known for inventing the windshield wiper blade. She received her first patent for an automatic car window cleaning device controlled from inside the car in 1903. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011, more than half a century after her death.  

 9 
Sarah E. Goode
(Inventor)
Sarah E. Goode
3
Birthdate: 1855 AD
Birthplace: Toledo, Ohio, United States
Died: April 8, 1905
 10 
Patricia Bath
(American Ophthalmologist and Humanitarian)
Patricia Bath
4
Birthdate: November 4, 1942
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States
Died: April 30, 2019

Ophthalmologist Patricia Bath is remembered for her pathbreaking invention of the Laserphaco Probe, which made laser cataract surgery possible. The first Black female surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center and the first female faculty staff of the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute, she dedicated her life to curing blindness.

 11 
Gertrude B. Elion
(Biochemist, Pharmacologist)
Gertrude B. Elion
4
Birthdate: January 23, 1918
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States
Died: February 21, 1999

The daughter of Jewish immigrants in New York, Gertrude B. Elion excelled in chemistry at Hunter College, where she studied for free, but was initially unable to find a job due to gender bias. The renowned biochemist and pharmacologist later won a Nobel and became a pioneer in medical research.

 12 
Radia Perlman
(Computer Network Engineer)
Radia Perlman
4
Birthdate: December 18, 1951
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Portsmouth, Virginia, United States
 13 
Sarah Boone
(African-American Inventor)
Sarah Boone
3
Birthdate: 1832 AD
Birthplace: Craven County, North Carolina, United States
Died: 1904 AD
 14 
Margaret E. Knight
(Inventor, notably of a machine to produce flat-bottomed paper bags)
Margaret E. Knight
3
Birthdate: February 14, 1838
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: York, Maine, United States
Died: October 12, 1914
 15 
Josephine Cochrane
(American Inventor Who Invented the First Successful Hand-Powered Dishwasher)
Josephine Cochrane
5
Birthdate: March 8, 1839
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States
Died: August 3, 1913
 16 
Caresse Crosby
(American Publisher and Socialite)
Caresse Crosby
4
Birthdate: April 20, 1891
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States
Died: January 26, 1970
 17 
Izumo no Okuni
(Inventor)
Izumo no Okuni
2
Birthdate: 1572 AD
Birthplace: Izumo Province, Japan
Died: November 30, 1613
 18 
Edith Clarke
(Electrical Engineer)
Edith Clarke
2
Birthdate: February 10, 1883
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Howard County
Died: October 29, 1959
 19 
Hertha Ayrton
(British Engineer, Mathematician, Physicist and Inventor Known for Her Work With the 'Electric Arcs')
Hertha Ayrton
2
Birthdate: April 28, 1854
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
Died: August 26, 1923

Hertha Ayrton was a British engineer,  physicist, mathematician, and inventor. She is remembered for her work on electric arcs and ripple marks in sand and water, for which she was awarded the Hughes Medal by the Royal Society. As a woman in the 19th century, she had to face innumerable struggles in her career. She was also a passionate suffragist. 

 20 
Lyda D. Newman
(Inventor and involved activist for women's suffrage)
Lyda D. Newman
2
Birthdate: 1885 AD
Birthplace: Ohio, United States
 21 
Katharine Burr Blodgett
2
Birthdate: January 10, 1898
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Schenectady
Died: October 12, 1979
 22 
Beulah Louise Henry
(Lady Edison)
Beulah Louise Henry
1
Birthdate: February 11, 1887
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Raleigh
Died: 1973 AD
 23 
Eleanor Coade
(Businesswoman)
Eleanor Coade
2
Birthdate: June 3, 1733
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Exeter, Devon, England
Died: November 16, 1821

Eleanor Coade was a British businesswoman known for her astute entrepreneurial, business, and marketing skills. She manufactured Neoclassical statues, architectural decorations, and garden ornaments. She created stoneware for many famous buildings, including St George's Chapel, The Royal Pavilion, Brighton, and Carlton House. She was one of the few women to run a highly successful business in the Georgian era. 

 24 
Mary Walton
(Inventor)
Mary Walton
2
Birthdate: 1827 AD
Birthplace: New York City, United States of America
 25 
Jeanne Villepreux-Power
(Pioneering French Marine Biologist Who Invented the Systematic Application of the Aquarium in Order to Study Marine Life)
Jeanne Villepreux-Power
1
Birthdate: September 24, 1794
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Juillac, France
Died: January 25, 1871

Jeanne Villepreux-Power was a French marine biologist. She is credited with creating aquaria in 1832 in order to experiment with aquatic organisms. Nicknamed the Mother of Aquariophily, Villepreux-Power also invented the systematic application of the aquarium in order to study marine life. Jeanne Villepreux-Power was also a well-known author, conservationist, and dressmaker.

 26 
Olive Dennis
(Civil Engineer)
Olive Dennis
1
Birthdate: November 20, 1885
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: United States of America
Died: November 5, 1957

Olive Dennis was an American engineer whose innovations played a huge role in making railways what it is today. The first female member to become a part of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA), Olive Dennis is credited with introducing comforts, such as stain-resistant upholstery, ceiling lights, and air-conditioned compartments in passenger cars.  

 27 
Danièle Aron-Rosa
(Painter, Ophthalmologist)
Danièle Aron-Rosa
1
Birthdate: October 15, 1934
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Tunis, Tunisia
 28 
Katharina Paulus
(Skydiver, Inventor)
Katharina Paulus
0
Birthdate: December 22, 1868
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Zellhausen, Mainhausen, Germany
Died: July 26, 1935
 29 
Sybilla Righton Masters
(Inventor)
Sybilla Righton Masters
0
Birthdate: 1676 AD
Birthplace: Bermuda
Died: August 23, 1720
 30 
Carleen Hutchins
(Innovator)
Carleen Hutchins
1
Birthdate: May 24, 1911
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Springfield, Massachusetts, United States
Died: August 7, 2009