Celebrating Women Innovators

It’s MARCH!! AKA: the month of ?women?

This year for Women’s History Month I’d like to highlight female innovators. 

As someone whose father was constantly seeking innovation and held 56 patents, I have seen first hand the importance of offering the world your ideas. 

Being a woman in STEM is still considered a progressive feat, but these women stepped up to the plate during a much more repressive time. We thank them for their contributions, and honor their bravery.????????

These are just a few of the brilliant women who gifted us with their technological and scientific perspective to help shape the world we live in. 

?? Marie Curie - pioneering research on radioactivity

• Marie Curie, commonly referred to as Madame Curie, is a spearhead for female innovation. Upon Henri Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity in 1896, Marie and her husband, Pierre, began their research that led to the “isolation of polonium and radium.” 
• Marie went on to develop methods for isolating and purifying radioactive isotopes.” She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and the only woman to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields.

?? Marie Van Brittan Brown - first home security system

• Marie Brown and her husband, Albert Brown, lived in Queens, New York City working jobs outside of the standard 9-5 schedule. This coupled with the high crime rate in their neighborhood inspired Marie to come up with a solution to increase their level of personal security. 
• She created a system that included “peepholes, a camera, monitors, and a two-way microphone.” On December 2nd, 1969, her patent for this invention was granted. “Brown’s invention laid the foundation for later security systems that make use of its features.” 

?? Virginia Apgar - the Apgar Score 

• Doctor Virginia Apgar was a pioneer in the newly founded field of anesthesiology during the 1940s. As Professor of Anesthesiology at Columbia University College of P & S, she devoted the majority of her time researching obstetrical anesthesia. 
• In “1952, Apgar developed a scoring system to evaluate the health status of newborns, based on their heart rate, respiration, movement, irritability, and color one minute after birth.” This method reduced infant mortality, laid the foundations of neonatology, and became standard practice in hospitals worldwide. It is still used to this day.

Having women in these roles is paramount to creating systems and products that are more equitable, inclusive, and that keep our humanity at the forefront of our mind.??????????????

Women have been left out of important conversations for centuries. 

Despite this exclusion, a great deal of women defied expectation and provided the world with their contributions, most of which we could not live without. 

These incredible women came out on top regardless of the pushback, shame, erasure, and sexism I’m certain they faced. 

Today and every day we need women innovators to be seen and heard for the incredible impact they have on our changing technology - making the world a better place for all of humanity.

Let us know what other women should be recognized for their incredible contribution to technology and innovation! Let’s get a long list going!