Women - Women's Innovations

Laura Boccanfuso

🔍 Robotics

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🔍 Robotics

2020 appeared on Shark Tank asking for $300,00 in start-up funds for 10% of her company, all sharks opted out
developed & did all original coding for ABii a teaching robot that can adapt to the individual learning styles of students
spent 8 (or 10, depending on the source) years as a stay-at-home mother raising her 3 children before designing her robot
while seeking funding 1 venture capitalist refused to grant funding because her husband wasn't part of the business or heading it with her

Born: Unknown

Country: USA

Education: George Mason University Dept of Communication BA; Bowling Green State University MSC Computer Science; University of South Carolina PhD Computer Science (Socially Assisted Robotics) 2013; Yale University Postdoc 2014-17; Excellence in Service Innovation with Impact to Society certificate, International Society of Service Innovation Professionals (ISSIP) 2022

Jenny Mary Body

⚛️ Aerospace Engineering

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Phyllis Bolds

⚛️ Physics

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⚛️ Physics

was the 9th of 10 children
was valedictorian of her high school class awarded the inaugural delta sigma Theta Debutante Scholarship
the Air Force paid for her to obtain 2 master degrees
began working for the US air force as a physicist in 1955
worked at Wright_Patterson Air Force Base radar branch & Flight Dynamics lab for over 30 years
had a stroke in her early 40s but overcame it, earning 2 master degrees & continuing to work
mentored her 5 children, then grandchildren, gave spiritual guidance to students of all ages, & tutored people in the prison system
dabbled in linguistics & won a medal in high school
was frequently the only woman in the room & in 1970 attended an Air Force Academy symposium where she was the only female delegate among 350

Born: 1932

Country: USA

Education: Central State College BS Physics 1954; University of Dayton MS Computer Science 1973; Simmons Women's College (now Simmons University) MA Management 1977

Margrett (Gretta) L. Boley

🔍 Forestry

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Gertrude Simmons Bonnin

✊ Indian Rights Activist

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✊ Indian Rights Activist

also known as Zitkala-Ša, also Zitkála-Šá (Lakota: Zitkála-Šá, meaning Red Bird
born on the Yankton Indian Reservation in South Dakota
father was French & abandoned the family when she was very young
1884-87 attended White's Manual Labor Institute where she was forced to shun her Native heritage & to pray as a Quaker and to cut her traditionally long hair but she took joy in learning to read, write, and play the violin
1897, six weeks before graduation, she was forced to leave Earlham College due to ill health and financial difficulties
1897 to 1899 studied and played the violin at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston
called for recognition of Native American culture and traditions, while also advocating US citizenship rights to bring Native Americans into mainstream America
1938, the New York Light Opera Guild presented The Sun Dance Opera at The Broadway Theatre as its opera of the year
helped initiate a government investigation into the exploitation of Native Americans in Oklahoma and the attempts being made to defraud them of drilling rights and leasing fees for their oil-rich lands
called for the abolition of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
2022 an opera based on her life and work was released: Mináǧi kiŋ dowáŋ: A Zitkála-Šá Opera. It is the first opera to use Dakota language
was adamantly against the traditional use of peyote, likening it to the destructive effects of alcohol in Native communities
advocated for tribal self-government that liaised with the federal government, the establishment of communally-held tribal property, especially cattle herds, and education systems with competent teachers and curriculum that included law, comparative government, and treaties

Born: 1876

Country: USA

Education: White's Manual Labor Institute 1895; Earlham College

Sarah Boone

💡 Inventor 🔍 Dressmaker

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Mary Ann Boughton

💡 Inventor

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Margaret Bourke-White

📷 Photojournalism

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📷 Photojournalism

1922 dropped out of Columbia University after 1 semester because of the death of her father
attended University of Michigan, Purdue University & Western reserve University but obtained no degree from any of them
left a photographic study of the rural campus for the school's newspaper, including photographs of her famed dormitory, Risley Hall after graduating from Cornell University
1928 moved from Ithaca, New York, to Cleveland, Ohio, where she started a commercial photography studio and began concentrating on architectural and industrial photography
traveled to Europe to record how Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia were faring under Nazism
while in Russia photographed Joseph Stalin, as well as making portraits of Stalin's mother and great-aunt when visiting Georgia
1943 was the first female photographer/writer to fly on a combat mission
was known to the Life staff as 'Maggie the Indestructible'" because she had been torpedoed in the Mediterranean, strafed by the Luftwaffe, stranded on an Arctic island, bombarded in Moscow, and pulled out of the Chesapeake when her chopper crashed
was on the the England-Africa bound British troopship SS Strathallan when it was torpedoed & chronicled the events & her subsequent voyage in a lifeboat in the article, "Women in Lifeboats", in Life, February 22, 1943
disliked by General Dwight D Eisenhower, she became friendly with his chauffeur/secretary, Irishwoman Kay Summersby & they shared a lifeboat after the sinking of the SS Strathallan
1945 traveled throughout a collapsing Germany with Gen. George S. Patton
after WWII she produced a book entitled "Dear Fatherland, Rest Quietly," a project that helped her come to grips with the brutality she had witnessed during and after the war
has been called "one of the most effective chroniclers" of the violence that erupted at the 1947 independence and partition of India and Pakistan (wikipedia)
interviewed and photographed Mohandas K. Gandhi just a few hours before his assassination in 1948
1953 developed her first symptoms of Parkinson's disease
her autobiography, Portrait of Myself, was published in 1963
her photographs are in the Brooklyn Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the New Mexico Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as in the collection of the Library of Congress
she created two short travel films about Russia
at fifteen turned a summer job as a camp counselor into a photography business by photographing the campers next to their bunks and sending the printed cards to the campers’ families for five cents a card

Born: 1904

Country: USA

Education: Cornell University BA Biology 1927

Aisha Bowe

⚛️ Aerospace Engineer 💼 Entrepreneur

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⚛️ Aerospace Engineer 💼 Entrepreneur

Her high school guidance counselor recommended she become a cosmetologist
She chose aerospace engineering because of her interest in science fiction
She is a certified SSI Scuba Diver
Is a mountain climber & ascended Mount Kilimanjaro in 2016
is the focus of "In Her Element" a documentary on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, & Google Play
worked at NASA 2008-2015
is a certified ScrumMaster (CSM) & Cloud Practitioner
at NASA was the liaison to Mathematics, Engineering, Space Achievement (MESA) Program, mentoring students, holding interview workshops, & leading NASA site tours

Born: 1985 or 1986

Country: USA

Education: Washtenaw Community College AS Pre-Engineering 2005; University of Michigan BSE Aerospace Engineering 2008 & ME Space Systems Engineering 2009

Barbara Dale Boyan

⚛️ Biomedical Engineer

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Mary Cunningham Boyce

⚛️ Mechanical Engineering

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Danielle Boyer

💡 robotics inventor 📚 youth education advocate

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💡 robotics inventor 📚 youth education advocate

has been teaching children since she was 10
is passionate about making education accessible and representative for her community so that no child is left behind
"Indigenous Robotics" followed her life for a year and premiered at the MIT Museum
has three rescue cats: Yoyo, Yoda, and Rex
taught herself through watching YouTube videos, flipping through old electrical engineering books, examining maker kits on Amazon, and then "reverse engineering" everything
dropped out of college to run the nonprofit full-time
all her robots are able to run without internet and all are 3D-printed from recycled plastic
was homeschooled for most of her life
all her robots are able to run without internet
it took her 2 weeks to develop SkoBots
Her robots are built from biodegradable components
co-hosts the podcast Hands-On Techie Talks, which teaches children about Earth-focused engineering
helped create Benzene Buddies – a weekly after-school program that has implemented programming lessons and robotics field trips, as well as many other programs to engage her community

Born: 2000 or 2001

Country: USA

Education: dropped out of college to start The STEAM Connection

Louise Boyle

📷 Photography

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Sylvia D. Trimble Bozeman

📊 Mathematics

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Henrietta M. Bradberry

💡 Inventor

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Martha Bradley

🔍 Food Services

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🔍 Food Services

British cookery book writer
little is known about her life
worked as a cook for more than 30 years in Bath, Somerset England
The British Housewife was released as a 42-issue partwork between January and October 1756 and was published in a two-volume book form in 1758 and is more than a thousand pages long
she likely died before the partwork was published
her book follows the French style of nouvelle cuisine distinguishing her from other female cookery book writers at the time who focused on a British style of food preparation
the recipes taken from other authors are amended suggesting she was a knowledgeable and experienced cook able to improve on existing dishes
because of the length of the book it was not reprinted until 1996

Born: Unknown

Country: England

Education: Unknown

Anne Bradstreet

✍️ Writer of Puritan Poetry

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Janet Harmon Waterford Bragg

🔍 Aviation

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🔍 Aviation

born Jane Nettie Harmon
was the only female in her class at Curtis Wright School of Aeronautics in 1933
was shunned by her felow students at Curtiss until she donated $600 of her own money to purchase an airplane for the school so they could all use it
was turned down for admission to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) & military nurses corps during WWII because she was Black
although she passed all the testing for a commercial pilot's license after completing school at the Tuskegee Institute, she was denied the license because she was Black
returned to Chicago, retook all tests & was granted the license
with her 2nd husband, opened & ran 2 nursing homes in Chicago before retiring to Tucson, AZ in 1972
was of African & Cherokee descent
retired from flying in 1965 with 2000 hours of flight time

Born: 1907

Country: USA

Education: Spelman College MacBicar Hospital School of Nursing, RN 1929; Curtis Wright School of Aeronautics (later Aeronautics University); Civilian Pilot Training Program Tuskegee Institute

Elizabeth Bragg Cumming

⚛️ Civil Engineering

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Khalia M. Braswell

💻 Computer Science

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Nina Helen Starr Braunwald

🔍 Thoracic Surgery

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🔍 Thoracic Surgery

during her residency at Bellevue Hospital she was assisting the Chief of Surgery in an operation by standing on a stool and holding the incision open with a retractor,she held this position perfectly for over an hor when the surgery took a bad turn & the chief kicked the legs of the stool out from under her in a fit of rage & she fell backwards, hitting her head
was 1 of the 1st women trained in general surgery at Bellevue Hospital in NYC 1952-55
published over 150 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals
the Thoracic surgery Foundation for Research & Education awards a 2-year research grant & fellowship in her honor which was started with funds from her family
the Association of Women Surgeons has 2 awards named after her
studied art as an undergraduate
enjoyed working with her hands
at Boston children's Hospital created a cardiopulmonary bypass unit for children & infants undergoing surgery for heart defects
her hobbies included painting, sculpture, listening to classical music & horseback riding
at age 14 earned admission to the American Society of amateur Microscopers by independently culturing & observing paramecia with her own microscope at home
constructed her 1st flexible polyurethane mitral valve with Teflon chordae tendineae in her living room
was the 1st female elected to the American Association for Thoracic surgery in 1967 & was the only female member for the next 22 years
at UC San Diego the chairman of the new medical school insisted onnever having a female head of any of his divisions & she was never promoted to a full professorship or given tenure
1972 was the 1st woman on the faculty at Harvard Medical School
after the birth of her 3rd daughter hired a 19-year-old nanny who remained with the family for 35 years
mentored many students & stressed the importance of research
continued to perform surgeries during each of her 3 pregnancies only quitting when her belly prevented her from getting close enough to the table & her patients
unless there was an emergency she insisted on getting home to have dinner with her family & putting her daughters to bed even though she often had to then return to work

Born: 1928

Country: USA

Education: NYU BA 1949; NYU Medical School MD 1952; Georgetown University MS Surgery

Susan H. Brawley

🔍 Marine Ecology 🔍 Botany

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Anna M. Breadin

💡 Inventor

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Cynthia Breazeal

🔍 Robotics 🤖 Artificial Intelligence

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Mary Carson Breckinridge

⚕️ Public Health

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⚕️ Public Health

2nd of 4 children born to her parents
was the granddaughter of vice President John C. Breckinridge
her father was an Arkansas congressman, US Minister to Russia (1894-1897), & administer of Indian Affairs
ran Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) from 1925 till her death, it still serves Southeast Kentucky with its headquarters in Hyden, with a hospital, 4 rural health clinics, a home health agency, & the FNS School of Midwifery & Family Nursing
resented that her brother received a quality higher education in private schools while she & her sisters received private tutoring at home & later attended "finishing" schools
spent 1894-97 in russsia where her father was sent by President Cleveland, experienced her 1st exposure to a trained midwife there on the occasion of her brother's birth when she was 14
used her inheritance from her Grandmother Lees (really her great aunt) to found FNS
learned to ride a horse at Oasis Plantation in the Mississippi Delta the home of her maternal Uncles
1st husband died of complications from appendicitis 2 years after they were married
2nd marriage resulted in the birth of 2 children, her son died at the age of 4 after an illness & her daughter was born prematurely & died after 6 hours
2nd marriage ended in divorce & she then dedicated herself to caring for children & mothers as a way to "keep being a mother"
spent 3 years (1919-21) with the American Committee for Devastated France during WWI
modelled FNS on Scotland's decentralized system after studying The Highlands & Islands Medical & Nursing Service
her father took care of the horses used by her staff
at the time of her death FNS had treated nearly 58,000 patients, delivered over 14,500 babies & had only 11 maternal deaths, and delivered ove one-quarter million vaccines; they reduced the indant & maternal mortality rate in the area from the highest in the USD to well below the national average
raised over $6 million to support FNS which allowed poor patients to pay small fees ranging from $2 for routine medical care to $50 for a birth or pay with food or items they could afford
held racist views, wouldn't hire Black midwives or share a table with a Black person, was an advocate for white superiority & wrote about eugenics & the value of segregation emphasizing brotherhood over equality
appeared on a US postage stamp in 1998
2010 an equestrian statue of her was dedicated in Hyden Kentucky
1931 had a serious fall from a horse & had to wear a brace for the remainder of her life
the FNS hospital in Hyden is now named the Mary Breckinridge Hospital

Born: 1881

Country: USA

Education: Rosemont-Dezaley Boarding School at Lausanne 1896-97; attended finishing school in Connecticut; St. Luke's Hospital of Nursing in New York RN 1910; Boston Instructive District Nursing Association, took a short, intensive course in baby welfare work; 1923 spent 4 months in England at British Hospital for Mothers & Babies & was certified as a midwife by the Central Midwives Board in 1924; Teacher's College of Columbia University took courses in Public Health

Kathleen McCaffrey Breitman

💼 Entrepreneur

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Margaret Brent

🔍 Historical Figure

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🔍 Historical Figure

In 1978, Virginia erected a historical marker in Jones Point Park commemorating Mistress Margaret Brent's fight for women's rights, as well as her ownership of the land which became Alexandria, Virginia
1991, the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award was established by the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession recognizing and celebrating the accomplishments of women lawyers who have excelled in their field and have paved the way to success for other women lawyers
1998, Virginia erected a historical highway marker commemorating Margaret, her brother Giles and her sister Mary Brent for constructing the first Roman Catholic Settlement in Virginia, along historic Route 1 near the former Brent family graveyard
arrived in St. Mary's City with her sister Mary & brothers Giles & Fulke on November 22, 1638 with land grants from Lord Baltimore
Fulke later returned to England
established a plantation with sister & began trading in tobacco, indentured servants, & lending money to immigrants
by the time of her death she & her siblings owned approximately 10,000 acres of land
was named with gov. Leonard Calvert (brother of Lord Baltimore) as guardians of Mary Kittamaquund the 7-year-old daughter of the chief of the Piscataway Indians; Giles Brent married Mary in 1644 & after her father's death claimed her tribe's lands
was 1 of 13 children born to her wealthy & influential parents
she & her siblings came to the Colonies to make their fortunes
little is know of her life before she came to the Colonies but it is believed she had some education
as a single female she was allowed to conduct business & own property, rights that would be rescinded & given to her husband by British law if she married
1645 King Charles was at war with the British Parliament in the British civil War & 1 of his navy captains attacked St. Mary City & destroyed property of the Catholic settlers forcing Mary & her sister to flee to Virginia after her brother Giles was arrested
they returned to Maryland late 1646
on his deathbed in 1647 Gov. Calvert appointed Margaret as the executor of his estate & told her to "take all & pay all" referring to the payment of his debts to his soldiers
she was appointed attorney for Lord Baltimore in 1648 & sold some of his cattle to pay Gov. Calvert's soldiers
Lord Baltimore never forgave her for selling his cattle & ordered her to leave Maryland in 1651
Margaret & her family then settled in Virginia where she established a plantation called Peace where she lived until her death
the Brent family estates & records were burned by British raiders in the American Revolutionary War & the War of 1812 destroying family records
the family graveyard was vandalized with tombstones destroyed during the civil War & that is why her exact dates of birth & death are unknown but believed to be 1601 & 1671 respectively
exhibits featuring her can be found in Historic St. Mary's City where there is also a garden dedicated in her memory, a college building & a street named after her
several schools in Maryland & Stafford City Virginia bear her name

Born: 1601

Country: UK

Education: Unknown

Ruby Nell Bridges Hall

✊ Civil Rights Activism

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✊ Civil Rights Activism

faced racism every day at school
had to be accompanied to & from school by Federal Marshalls for the 1st year
was the only student in her 1st grade class because all white children were removed by their parents
1995 Children's Museum of Indianapolis opened an exhibit recreating her 1st grade classroom
1999 her autobiography "Through My Eyes" recounting her experiences in integrating the school was published in 1999
2014 a statue of her was unveiled outside William Frantz Elementary School, the school she integrated
was the oldest of 8 children born to her parents who were sharecroppers in Mississippi until moving to New Orleans in 1958
her father worked in a service station & her mother worked at various domestic jobs in the evenings
1st year in school she was taught b Barbara Henry a white teacher who came from Boston who was the only teacher at the school willing to teach her, they have been life-long friends & tour together speaking about their experiences & racism
family moved to New Orleans 1958
as a child helped care for her younger siblings & enjoyed playing jump rope, softball & climbing trees
attended a segregated school for kindergarte
was 1 of 6 Black children who passed the test to attend a white elementary school
on her walk to school the 1st year a white woman threatened to poison her while another held up a coffin containing a Black doll
due to threats she was not allowed to eat anything she didn't bring to school from home or attend recess
spme negative consequences of her desegregation were both her parents lost their jobs, her local grocery banned the family, her grandparents were evicted from the land they had worked as sharecroppers in Mississippi, & her parents separated
white child psychiatrist Robert Coles provided the entire family with free counseling & wrote numerous articles about them & racism which were eventually published again in book form, he donated the proceeds from his 1995 book about Ruby to her & she used the funds to help establish her foundation in 1999
after high school she worked as a travel agent & travelled the world for 15 years before becoming a full-time mother
a song "Ruby's shoes" & a Disney movie "Ruby Bridges" are about her
2010 had a 50-year reunion with Pan Foreman Testroet the 1st white child to break the boycott & go to school with her
a school in Alameda California & one in Woodinville Washington are named for her
1 of Robert Coles' relatives anonymously provided the outfits she wore to school
1993 her brpother was murdered & she raised his 4 daughters who attended Willian Frantz elementary School
after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 the school was set to be demolished but she fought to have it restored & it remains open
November 14 is Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day since 2018

Born: 1954

Country: USA

Education: Has a high school education

Charlotte Bridgewood

💡 Inventor 🔍 Vaudeville Performer

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Katharine Elizabeth Cook Briggs

✍️ Author 🔍 Personality Test

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✍️ Author 🔍 Personality Test

home schooled by her father until leaving home for college at age 14
wrote essays about child-rearing and education, believing that children have an innate curiosity and that education is what fuels this natural instinct
was inspired to write erotic fiction about Jung
1945, Katharine and her daughter Isabel, with the help of Katharine's husband, Lyman Briggs, ran the first assessment on George Washington Medical School students
typed herself as an INFJ (Advocate) using the test she and her daughter made
Katharine was primarily the driving force and inspiration behind the creation of the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Isabel was the work force that created the physical test itself
MBTI was formally added to the Educational Testing Service's collection of tests in 1962
wanted to discover the fundamentals of personality and behavior, so that she might create better characters for her fiction
1923 read C.G. Jung’s Psychological Types & was greatly influenced by his theories
she contacted Jung & they corresponded for several years & she met him when he visited the US i 1935
Form A of the instrument was copyrighted in 1943
became interested in studying the psychology of personalities after meeting her daughter's future husband & noting his personality was different from anyone else she knew & if she wanted to remain close to her daughter she needed to understand his personality
wanted to raise the perfect child & turned her living room into a “cosmic laboratory of baby training"
wrote articles about child-rearing & child psychology in popular magazines of the time under the pseudonym of "Elizabeth Childe"
scientists discount the MBTI because it is not backed by hard science & is unreliable but it remains widely used by Human Resource departments

Born: 1875

Country: USA

Education: Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) degree in Agriculture 1893

Yvonne Madelaine Brill

⚛️ Aerospace Engineering 🔬 Rocket Science

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⚛️ Aerospace Engineering 🔬 Rocket Science

Worked on the 1st weather satellite Tiros' propulsion system & on Nova-a series of rockets that were part of Apollo Moon Missions
1st African-American female to earn an MA in Engineering Management from Vanderbilt University (1972)
Invented Electrothermal Hydrazine Thruster (EHT/Resistojet) a fuel efficient rocket thruster that keeps today's satellites in orbit & holds the patent for it
Was inspired to attend school by Amelia Earhart
1st in her family to attend college
Numerous corporation (including RCA, GE, Lockheed Martin, & Orbital Sciences) have used EHT in their communication satellites
The NY Times obituary on her was controversial & deemed sexist because it originally began "She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job, & took 8 years off from work to raise 3 children"

Born: 1924

Country: Canada

Education: 1945, BA Chemistry & Mathematics, University of Manitoba; 1951, MA Chemistry, University of Southern California

Nancy Goodman Brinker

⚕️ Healthcare Activist

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⚕️ Healthcare Activist

Susan G. Komen for the Cure was named for Brinker's sister, who died of breast cancer
1984 diagnosed with breast cancer, had a double mastectomy & chemo, & survived
as a child was a tomboy & loved horseback riding
is dyslexic
worked in PR & broadcasting after college
before her sister died in 1980 she promised her she would do everything she could to end cancer
while ambassador to Hungary began collecting Hungarian art & now has the largest collection of it outside of Hungary, has displayed the art in several museums
hosts a weekly show on Newsmax called Conversations with Nancy Brinker

Born: 1946

Country: USA

Education: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign BA Journalism 1968

Linda Jean Broadbelt

⚛️ Chemical Engineering

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Tiny Broadwick

🔍 Parachuting

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🔍 Parachuting

1st woman to jump from an airplane
1st person to jump from a seaplane
Weighed 3 pounds at birth; as an adult, weighed 85 pounds & was 4 feet 8 inches tall
Married at 12, had a daughter at 13 & was abandoned by her husband when she was 15
Joined Charles Broadwick's World Famous Aeronauts at 15 & became a parachutist
Born Georgia Ann Thompson
Was known as Broadwick's adopted daughter & at times, his wife; even her own family was unsure of their exact relationship
Originally jumped out of hot air balloons & was billed as "the doll girl"
1914, while demonstrating parachuting to the US Army, on her 4th jump the static line got tangled in the tail assembly of the aircraft. for her 5th jump she cut the line short & didn't attach it to the plane, pulling the short cord manually while in free-fall thereby inventing the rip-cord
She was married & divorced 3 times
She made over 1100 jumps before retiring cue to ankle problems in 1922
Even though she wasn't a pilot, she was 1 of the few female members of the Early Birds of Aviation
She appeared on You Bet Your Life episode 55-07 on November 10, 1955, on To Tell the Truth March 30, 1964, & Mysteries at the Museum Season 11 Episode 33
1964, donated a parachute handmade by Charles Broadwick of 110 yards of silk to the Smithsonian Air Museum (precursor to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum)

Born: 1883

Country: USA

Education: dropped out of school age 13

Angela Hartley Brodie

🔬 Biochemistry 🔬 Cancer Research

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Carolyn Branch Brooks

🔬 Microbiology 🔍 Agricultural Productivity

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🔬 Microbiology 🔍 Agricultural Productivity

Born & raised in Richmond,VA; when her family moved to the westside in the 1950s she still wanted to attend her old school so she rode the public bus daily across town sitting behind the driver, unaware that as an African-American she was supposed to sit in the back of the bus
Got married after her sophomore year at college & gave birth to 2 sons before graduating in 1968
Her research focused on how T-cells destroy the malaria parasite Plasmodium; then the nutritional needs of the elderly where she discovered there was a connection between trace amounts of minerals in a patient's hair & diet enabling the recognition of some medical problems caused by poor diets
At the University of Maryland Eastern Shore researched agricultural productivity
1984-1985, travelled to Togo & Senegal in West Africa & developed method to increase productivity of African groundnut leading to increased productivity in food crops

Born: 1946

Country: USA

Education: 1968 BS, 1971 MS Biology, Tuskeegee University; 1977, PhD Microbiology, Ohio State University

Caroline Shawk Brooks

🔍 Sculpture

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🔍 Sculpture

was known as "The Butter Woman" & "Centennial Butter Sculptress"
used common objects like butter-paddles, cedar sticks, broom straws and camel's-hair pencils to create her butter sculptures
1873 created a bas relief portrait she donated to her church to auction off to pay for roof repairs for the church
a man from Memphis saw her 1873 sculpture & commissioned her to do one of Mary Queen of Scots to hang in his business office
1873 read King René's Daughter, a verse drama by Danish poet and playwright Henrik Hertz & became fascinated with the main character (Iolanthe) & subsequently sculpted several figures of Iolanthe with the 1st exhibited at a gallery in Cincinnati in 1874
1876 exhibited several pieces at the World's Fair in Philadelphia & demonstrated her craft by sculpting a piece out of butter in 90 minutes
1877 displayed several of her pieces at Boston's Amory Hall, where she also created Pansy and The Marchioness (the latter was her 1st full-length sculpture)
mid-1860s she was so successful she was finally able to afford purchasing marble & began using it as her sculpture medium
exhibited her work at the Palace of Fine Arts and the Woman's Building at 1893's World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago including a bas-relief of Christopher Columbus in butter, and four marble sculptures
to preserve her delicate butter sculptures she created them in flat metallic milk pans which she set in larger pans filled with ice & she had to continue to supply the outer pans with ice to keep her butter sculptures in good condition for months; due to the fragile nature of her butter sculpture there are no known pieces in existence today
she devised a process to preserve her butter sculptures by pouring plaster over them while still in their milk pans & cutting a hole in the bottom of the pan after the plaster set; the pan was then placed over a container of boiling water to allow the butter to melt & drain out leaving her with a greased plaster negative of her work which she the filled with more plaster resulting in a plaster positive; she received a patent for the process in 1877 (although the patent is noted in numerous articles, no record of the patent was located) but did not use plaster casts to reproduce her butter sculptures because she preferred to sculpt a new one for each exhibit
as a child enjoyed painting & drawing
her father invented the 1st successful steam powered fire engine
used clay from a nearby creek to create her 1st sculpture, a Dante's head
began working in butter in 1867 after the failure of the family farms' cotton crop & needing to find another source of income
worked in butter for 18 months beginning in 1867 then stopped until making a sculpture for her church auction in 1873
one bronze, one drawing and five plaster casts of her art have been donated to the Chicago Historical Society

Born: 1840

Country: USA

Education: St Louis Normal School 1862

Christina Livingston Broom

📷 Photojournalism

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📷 Photojournalism

her photographs captured groundbreaking images of street life and political upheaval
began to experiment with photography in her forties using a box camera
1904-1930 sold postcards of her photos from a stall beside Buckingham Palace, showing images of contemporary London, including historic images of the women's suffragette movement
credited as the UK's first female press photographer
took publicity pictures of Women's Sunday in 1908, and the mass march on 23 July 1910, when 10,000 women gathered, the Irish group dressed in green, and on 26 July 1913, women 'pilgrims' who had walked from Carlisle to London to support the moderate suffragists
took the professional name of Mrs. Albert Broom
in 36 years of work took 40,000 images altogether
collections of her photographs are held at the Museum of London, the National Portrait Gallery, the Imperial War Museum, London, the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, the Guards Museum, London; the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Local Studies Library; the Hammersmith and Fulham Archive and the National Army Museum; Maidstone Art Gallery, Kent; and the Harry Ransom Center and the Gernsheim Collection, University of Texas, both at Austin, Texas, United States
was assisted throughout her career by her daughter Winifred
was less than 5" tall
her husband Alfred wrote the captions on her postcards until his death in 1912
enjoyed swimming, shooting and fishing
at their busiest mother and daughter produced 1,000 postcards per day of wartime images

Born: 1862

Country: England

Education: Educated in Chelsea secondary schools

Meredith Broussard

✍️ Data Journalist

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Charlotte Hawkins Brown

📚 Educator

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