Women - Women's Innovations

Flemmie Pansy Kittrell

🔍 Nutrition

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Edith Klemperer

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Gabriele Knecht

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Margaret Eloise Knight

💡 Inventor

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Susan Knox

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Sylvy Ruth Levy Kornberg

🔬 Biochemistry

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Catherine Josephine "Katie" Krafft

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Mathilde Galland Danon Krim

🔬 medical researcher

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🔬 medical researcher

Biologist whose research led to amniocentisis
1985, with Elizabeth Taylor, founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research
1983, founded AIDS Medical Foundation (AMF)
Married an Israeli; while living in Switzerland assisted members of the Irgun in their efforts to purchase arms for their battle for the independence of Israel
1953-59, researched cytogenetics & cancer-causing viruses; was also a member of the team that developed the method for prenatal determination of sex
2nd marriage was to Arthur B. Krim, an attorney, head of United Artists, & later founder of Orion Pictures, & political advisor to 3 Democratic presidents; they were active in numerous civil liberties & human rights movements

Born: 1926

Country: Italy

Education: University of Geneva BS 1948 PhD 1953 Biology

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

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Maggie Kuhn

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Deepika Kurup

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Stephanie Louise Kwolek

🔬 Chemistry

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🔬 Chemistry

Inventor of Kevlar; signed the patent over to DuPont
Was a chemist at DuPont for over 40 years
Was only 4 feet 11 inches tall
Discovered Kevlar by accident while looking for a lightweight, durable fiber to use in tires
As of August 2019, is the only DuPont female employee to receive the Lavoisier Medal for outstanding technical achievement, the company's highest honor
4th female inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame
Her father was an amateur naturalist & she spent hours with him in the woods collecting plants & observing wildlife until his death when she was 10
Initially intended to work at DuPont just long enough to save enough money for medical school & wanted to be a doctor
In addition to Kevlar she contributed to products such as Spandex (Lycra), Nomex, & Kapton
Devised numerous classroom demonstrations that are still used in schools today including the Nylon Rope Trick
Held 29 patents

Born: 1923

Country: USA

Education: Margaret Morrison College of Carnegie Mellon University BS Chemistry 1946

Henrietta Lacks

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Christine Ladd-Franklin

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Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde

💰 Finance ⚖️ Lawyer

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Osprey Orielle Lake

🔍 Sculpture

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Hedy Lamarr

🔍 Actress 💡 Inventor

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🔍 Actress 💡 Inventor

Has been called "The Mother of Wifi"
Was married 6 times
Never received any money for her invention
Her name was omitted from the patent for a frequency-hopping device because she was not a US citizen at the time, becoming a citizen in 1953
1933, fled from her 1st husband, Friedrich Mandl, a wealthy Austrian ammunition manufacturer & secretly fled to Paris
Won a beauty contest in vienna when she was 12
In Hollywood, she was promoted as "the world's most beautiful woman"
She reportedly took up inventing because she was bored of acting
Usually spoke about herself in the 3rd person
She & composer/pianist George Antheil invented the frequency-hopping system to assist the US in WWII but the Navy initially rejected the idea because they felt an actress & composer couldn't be inventors
1966, arrested in Los Angeles for shoplifting but charges were dismissed; arrested for same in Florida in 1991, pled no contest, agreed to refrain from breaking any laws for 1 year & charges were dismissed
Held 1 patent

Born: 1914

Country: Austria

Education: no formal education

Betttye Lane

📷 Photojournalist

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Annetta M. Lane

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Dorothea Lange

📷 Photography

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Chelsea Lanmon

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Estee Lauder

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Marie Laveau

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Margaret Cornelia Morgan Lawrence

🔍 Pediatric Psychiatrist

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Florence Lawrence

🔍 Automotive 🔍 Acting

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🔍 Automotive 🔍 Acting

One of the 1st motion picture stars, known as "The Biograph Girl" or "The Imp Girl"
Appeared in almost 300 films
Created the 1st turn indicator & full-stop signal activated by applying the footbrake in an automobile; never applied for a patent & never received any money for her inventions
Her mother, Lotta Lawrence, was a vaudeville performer & flo made her stage debut in a song & dance routine with her mother when she was 3
When she was 6, she was known as "Baby Flo the Child Wonder"
She appeared in her 1st silent film in 1906
Because she could ride a horse she received 11 film parts during a 5-month span
She appeared in most of the 60 films directed by D.W.Griffith in 1908

Born: 1886

Country: Canada

Education: unknown

Katheryn Lee Emanuel Lawson

🔬 Chemistry

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Emma Lazarus

✍️ Poet

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Sheryl Leach

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Mary Douglas Leakey

🔍 Archaeology 🔍 paleoanthropologist

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Mary Elizabeth Lease

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Henrietta Swan Leavitt

🔭 Astronomy

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🔭 Astronomy

She gave us the tools necessary to map out the stars in the universe, the period-luminosity relationship which allowed astronomers to measure the distances to stars
She was almost totally deaf due to an illness contracted after graduating from college
She gave us Leavitt's Law which relates the luminosity of a Cepheid to its pulsation period
Edwin Hubble used her discoveries to establish that the universe is expanding
Because she was financially independent, she was an unpaid volunteer at the Harvard College Observatory
She worked with Annie Jump Cannon, who was also deaf, at the Observatory
She discovered 1,777 variable stars
1913, discovered T Pyxides, a recurrent Nova in Pyxis

Born: 1868

Country: USA

Education: Oberlin College classes then transferred to Radcliffe; Radcliffe College BS 1892; Harvard University Graduate studies, no degree

Lilly Ledbetter

✊ Activist for Women's Rights

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Esther Miriam Zimmer Lederberg

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Frances Glessner Lee

🔬 Forensic Science

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🔬 Forensic Science

Known as "The Mother of Forensic Science"
Of the original 19 nutshell dioramas still in existence (it's believed 20 were made) 11 of the victims are women
Began to construct the dioramas in the 1940s
The scale of the nutshells is 1:12
All items in the nutshells work; pencils write, window shades move, doors open/shut, whistles blow, etc
She hired Ralph Mosher, a carpenter, to work full time on the project & had an elaborate workshop set up in her home; she constructed most of the scenes herself taking approximately 4 months to build one
The most gruesome nutshell is "Three-Room Dwelling" where a husband, wife, & baby are all shot to death
Wanted to go to Harvard Medical School but was denied entry due to her gender; father also forbade her to attend college, insisting she marry instead or he would disinherit her (her family was wealthy, her father was the founder of International Harvester)
Established the 1st department of legal medicine (now forensics) in the country
Those with clearance, not the general public, can view the nutshells at the Maryland Medical Examiner's Office by appointment only