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In 1912 Alfred Wegener proposed a controversial theory about how the Earth’s land masses formed. He said the great continents had once formed a single landmass, which had broken up over time. The idea went against all conventional ideas, and was roundly dismissed.

It took the work of young cartographer Marie Tharp to prove him right.

In 1947, she worked on a team that were running expeditions around the world, mapping the ocean floors with echolocation. However, Marie wasn’t allowed on the missions because women were seen as ‘bad luck’…

But the work she did back at the university was invaluable. Converting endless data into detailed profiles, she realised that the ocean floor isn’t a flat, featureless plane, but a complex, varied landscape.

Most importantly, she spotted a long, V-shaped valley in each of her profiles: a rift valley that supported Wegener’s theory, formed by two land masses moving apart, splitting the ocean floor in two.

But even with this evidence, Tharp’s ideas were dismissed as ‘girl talk’.

She then realised that her profiles tied in with worldwide earthquake maps being developed by a colleague.

The mounting evidence started to convince some sceptics, but not all. Renowned explorer Jacques Cousteau was so unconvinced that he sent an expedition to film the ocean floor and clear things up once and for all. What did his footage show? Exactly what Tharp had predicted.

Tharp’s steadfast determination had paved the way for Wegener’s continental drift theory to gain traction. As the tide of opposition waned, it gave birth to our modern understanding of plate tectonics and secured Tharp’s position as one of the most outstanding cartographers of the 20th century.

Watch the full story on our YouTube channel.

[fyeahfemaleinventors]

Toward the end of her life, Margaret E. Knight once lamented, “I’m only sorry I couldn’t have had as good a chance as a boy, and have been put to my trade regularly.�� Before flat-bottomed paper bags, shoppers carried purchases in wooden crates or rolled into paper cones. At best, they got wimpy envelopes that tapered into a V-shape, which everyone knows are barely durable enough for greeting cards. The force behind those sturdy Whole Foods paper bags you can reuse a hundred times: Margaret E. Knight. In 1868, Knight invented a wooden machine that folded and glued paper into an economical, roomy, and rectangular receptacle. Then a man stole her idea. While working at a paper bag factory in Springfield, MA she envisioned a machine that could create a more secure, flat base. Using a series of springs, cutting tools, and a piece of tin she called a “plate knife holder” which did the actual folding, she built a wooden model that completed 1,000 bags during testing. It was only 2.5 feet long and 1 foot wide.She brought her model to Boston, where it was made into iron. But during construction, a man named Charles Annan spied Knight’s invention and quickly patented the device himself. To Knight’s surprise, when she attempted to patent the machine a few months later, Annan’s name already held the spot. Unwilling to let her hard work go to waste, Knight took the matter to court. She brought detailed notes, sketches, measurements, instructions, and witnesses from three shops that testified to her process. Annan’s only argument was that his machine contained slight modifications, presumably because he misremembered the original model. Some lore suggests he insisted a woman could not invent such a complex apparatus. The Patents Office awarded Knight the rights in 1871. Queen Victoria decorated her with the Royal Legion of Honour, as paper bags had quickly spread across the world. After “disrupting” the packaging industry, Knight went on to file at least 80 more patents. Most improved on heavy machinery, but she also created devices for cutting shoe soles, a fire extinguisher, and a skirt protector. VIA timeline.com #theunsungheroines

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Georgie White Clark (1911–1992) was a river-running guide in the Grand Canyon. She was the first woman to run the Grand Canyon as a commercial enterprise, and she introduced several innovations and adjustments to the way that guides ran the Colorado. In particular, she used large army-surplus rafts, often lashing together multiple rafts, to maintain stability in the large rapids. In 2001, the United States Board on Geographic Names renamed Mile 24 Rapid in her honor. White was the first woman to row the full length of Marble and Grand Canyons in 1952. She made her name when, in the early 1950s, she lashed three rafts together to achieve better stability in big rapids and began taking paying customers to “share the expense” of running the river. Her methods were controversial, as those who ran the river in wooden rowboats such as dories disdained the rubber rafts. She shrugged off her detractors and kept her river-guiding business going for 45 years. Her “Royal River Rats” achieved some fame, being featured in Life Magazine, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and countless newspapers.[2] At the age of 73, she could be seen holding her motor rig’s tiller with one hand and a beer with the other, wearing a full-length leopard-pattern leotard. Her last Grand Canyon trip took place in September 1991 as she was approaching her 80th birthday. She died of cancer in 1992 at age 81. #theunsungheroines

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Google Doodle celebrating the birthday of  scientist Eva Ekeblad (1724-1786).

The Swedish scientist brought potatoes, then a greenhouse curiosity, to the people. Eva discovered the starch was humble but mighty – potatoes could be ground into flour or distilled into spirits. Her discovery helped reduce famine in years to come.

For her scientific and delicious work, Eva Ekeblad became the first woman elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1748. She was truly a pioneer - the next woman recognized in those ranks would come 203 years later.

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[fyeahfemaleinventors]

This Lady Scientist Defined the Greenhouse Effect But Didn’t Get the Credit, Because Sexism Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/lady-scientist-helped-revolutionize-climate-science-didnt-get-credit-180961291/#zUQFIuc3uyBmHOoe.99 Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/lady-scientist-helped-revolutionize-climate-science-didnt-get-credit-180961291/ (via benewhocamberbutch)

Eunice Foote published her discovery of the greenhouse effect in 1856.

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Some of the stunning designs from the Beyond Curie project, by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya.

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[fyeahfemaleinventors]

The Golden Goose Awards honor scientists whose federally-funded research may have seemed unusual, silly, or obscure at first but ended up leading to major breakthroughs and having a significant impact on society. Source Source 2

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Scientific Women You Haven’t Heard of (Yet): Louise Pearce

Louise Pearce is best known for her work that lead to a cure for sleeping sickness. Pearce traveled to what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo to test the arsenic based cure, tryparsamide, in cooperation with a hospital in Léopoldville that was coping with an outbreak of sleeping sickness. This trip helped establish parameters for treatment (such as safe and optimum dosages) of sleeping sickness with tryparsamide. Pearce also used rabbit colonies to study syphilis and cancer over generations.  Pearce was lesbian and a feminist and lived with Sara Josephine Baker and Ida A.R. Wylie. Pearce’s curriculum vitae is impressive and lists Standford University, Boston University and Johns Hopkins University as her alma maters.

Learn more: (x) (x) (x)

Previous Installments:  Lynn Conway, Noella Marcellino, Tu Youyou

About the series: (x)

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Sarah Boone

Sarah Boone was an African-American inventorwho was awarded a patent for the ironing board.

Synopsis

Born in the Deep South—in Summit, Pike County, Mississippi—in the 1860s or 1870s, Sarah Boone made her name by inventing the ironing board. Boone was a rarity during her time, a female African-American inventor. In her patent application, she wrote that the purpose of her invention was “to produce a cheap, simple, convenient and highly effective device, particularly adapted to be used in ironing the sleeves and bodies of ladies’ garments.” Prior to that time, most people ironed using a board of wood rested across a pair ofCHAIRS or tables. She was living in New Haven, Connecticut, when her patent was granted in 1892. She died in 1900.

http://www.biography.com/people/sarah-boone-21329877

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I am a member of this group!  If you are a scientist, please look at the mission statement.

[fyeahfemaleinventors]

Just a reminder that the first NASA astronauts were supposed to be women because generally they are smaller, lighter (less weight in the cockpit means less fuel required) and eat less than men and so would be easier to accommodate in space. 

[fyeahfemaleinventors]

R.I.P. Dr. Vera Rubin

As I write this, reports are spreading rapidly through the astronomy community of the death of Dr. Vera Rubin on December 25, 2016. If you don’t know who she was, or what she worked on, come sit by me and let me tell you a story about this lady.

It was at one of the first meetings of the American Astronomical Society I attended. I was a graduate student and giving a talk about outreach and amateur astronomy. I was scared to death because, hey, it was me, a lowly student giving a talk to all these exalted astronomers. A woman sat in the front row and smiled at me as I shuffled the papers on the podium. The room filled and then the session chair gave me the signal that my 10 minutes had started. I plunged into my talk.

At the end, a few people asked questions, everyone clapped politely, and the next person stepped up to the podium. I fled the room to catch my breath. The woman followed me out and asked if I’d like to get a cup of coffee. At the same moment my advisor came out and said, “Oh, I see you’ve met Vera Rubin”, and he proceeded to introduce me to her before being collared by someone else for a chat. Dr. Rubin and I went to get coffee, and for the next 30 minutes or so she asked me all about my work and what I hoped to do when I graduated. It was a wonderful experience.

Over the years we met here and there, and I learned more about her work with galaxy rotation studies and the existence of dark matter. I found it fascinating, as so many people do, and followed her research with interest. When I was asked to write a book about astronomy, one of the directions I got from the editors was to include some bios of “seminal” astronomers. Dr. Rubin was one of those I chose. In retrospect, I wish could have done a book on her work instead of simply a chapter.

I know that Vera Rubin didn’t work in a vacuum on dark matter — that, like Newton and every other astronomer has done — she stood on the shoulders of giants. Her work forged a new path in understanding dark matter and its affect on the universe. Now, she is a giant in her own right. Now, others will stand on her shoulders. Her insights and drive to understand the difficult “galaxy rotation problem” led directly to the theory of dark matter, and more recently to the confirming observations of its existence. It was a monumental achievement.

For her work, Dr. Rubin should have received a Nobel Prize. That didn’t happen and the Nobel physics committee should be thinking hard about why she was overlooked. She has been honored with many other prizes and awards for her insights, and she will be long remembered for her seminal contributions to astronomy.

RIP Dr. Vera Rubin, and deepest condolences to her extended family.

C.C. PETERSEN is a science writer and media producer specializing in astronomy and space science content. 

Source: The Spacewriter

[fyeahfemaleinventors]

In 1912 Alfred Wegener proposed a controversial theory about how the Earth’s land masses formed. He said the great continents had once formed a single landmass, which had broken up over time. The idea went against all conventional ideas, and was roundly dismissed.

It took the work of young cartographer Marie Tharp to prove him right.

In 1947, she worked on a team that were running expeditions around the world, mapping the ocean floors with echolocation. However, Marie wasn’t allowed on the missions because women were seen as ‘bad luck’…

But the work she did back at the university was invaluable. Converting endless data into detailed profiles, she realised that the ocean floor isn’t a flat, featureless plane, but a complex, varied landscape.

Most importantly, she spotted a long, V-shaped valley in each of her profiles: a rift valley that supported Wegener’s theory, formed by two land masses moving apart, splitting the ocean floor in two.

But even with this evidence, Tharp’s ideas were dismissed as ‘girl talk’.

She then realised that her profiles tied in with worldwide earthquake maps being developed by a colleague.

The mounting evidence started to convince some sceptics, but not all. Renowned explorer Jacques Cousteau was so unconvinced that he sent an expedition to film the ocean floor and clear things up once and for all. What did his footage show? Exactly what Tharp had predicted.

Tharp’s steadfast determination had paved the way for Wegener’s continental drift theory to gain traction. As the tide of opposition waned, it gave birth to our modern understanding of plate tectonics and secured Tharp’s position as one of the most outstanding cartographers of the 20th century.

Watch the full story on our YouTube channel.

[fyeahfemaleinventors]

Remember Emma Yang’s name — she has a bright future ahead of her (x)

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