World-Changing Female Inventions

While men like Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison get more than their due, countless women inventors are overlooked. Females have been behind many of the most influential innovations, from everyday household items to groundbreaking medical discoveries. Here are 20 things you probably didn't know were invented by women. 

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1. Circular Saw

The circular saw, an essential tool in any warehouse, was invented by Tabitha Babbitt in 1813. She witnessed the men in her community wasting time using a back-and-forth saw, so she attached a circular blade to a spinning wheel for smoother and faster cutting. 

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2. Dishwasher

You can thank Josephine Cochrane for the fact that you don't have to waste time washing every dish by hand. A wealthy socialite, she invented the washing machine in the late 19th century after being frustrated that her servants kept chipping her fine china.

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3. Windshield Wipers

You can thank Mary Anderson for the fact that you can see through your windshield when it's raining. She invented them after noticing how much streetcar drivers struggled, often sticking their heads out the window for visibility, in the rain, sleet, and snow. 

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4. Life Raft

The modern life raft was invented by Maria Beasley in 1882. Ships already had wooden lifeboats, but they were bulky and unsafe. She was the first to come up with a collapsible, fireproof, and portable life raft that could be quickly deployed in emergencies. 

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5. Street Sweeper

The street sweeper was created by Florence Parpart in 1896. Her design, which was adopted by municipalities across the US, was horse-drawn, using mechanical brushes and water sprays to clean streets more efficiently, revolutionizing public sanitation. 

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6. Wireless Transmission Technology

Hollywood actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr developed a system during WWII that involved hopping between different radio frequencies to prevent the enemy from intercepting messages. It later became the foundation for wireless communications that we use every day, like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. 

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7. Coffee Filters

Astonishingly, coffee filters weren't invented until 1908, before which, everyone just put up with coffee grounds floating in their cups. Melitta Bentz created the first coffee filter and founded the company Melitta, which still produces a variety of coffee-related products today. 

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8. Central Heating

Black inventor Alice Parker created central heating in 1919 after noticing how inefficient stoves and fireplaces were at heating rooms. She designed a gas-powered central heating system that could distribute warmth to multiple rooms. 

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9. Computer Algorithms & Programming

The daughter of Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace, was a brilliant mathematician often credited with being the world's first computer programmer. She developed the first algorithm intended to be read and processed by a machine in the 1840s. 

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10. Antifungal Drugs

The world's first effective antifungal drug, Nyastin, used to treat fungal infections, was created by two women, Rachel Fuller Brown and Elizabeth Lee Hazeh. The drug became widely used to treat fungal infections inside the mouth, stomach, and intestines.

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11. Beer

Beer may be the quintessential drink of "boys' night," but it started as a women's endeavor in Sumeria and Mesopotamia, where only women were permitted to brew. It was seen as a goddess' gift. 

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12. CCTV

Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV), which is used for surveillance, security, and traffic control, was invented by Marie Van Brittan Brown in 1966. She created it because she was tired of slow police response times in her neighborhood, so she created a system that would allow homeowners to monitor their properties remotely. 

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13. Bras

Unsurprisingly, bras were invented by a woman, Caresse Crosby, in 1914. Before then, women wore uncomfortable corsets that were rigid and restricted movement.

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14. Kevlar

Kevlar, the exceptionally strong fiber used in bulletproof vests and other protective gear, was developed by chemist Stephanie Kwolek in 1965. While she was experimenting with materials for tires, she discovered a fiber that could be spun into threads and was five times stronger than steel, an invention that has saved countless lives.

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15. Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy as a cancer treatment was developed by Dr. Gertrude Elion in the mid-1900s. She created a drug that specifically targets rapidly dividing cells, earning her a Nobel Prize in 1988.

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16. Chocolate Chip Cookies

Where would we be without gooey and comforting chocolate chip cookies? They were invented by Ruth Wakefield in 1938 at the Toll House Inn. She added chopped up chocolate to her cookie dough, expecting it to melt and create chocolate cookies, but instead they stayed whole, creating the iconic cookie we know and love. 

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17. Electric Refrigerator

The electric refrigerator was invented by Florence Parpart in 1914. Before her design, which used an electric motor and mechanical system, households relied on iceboxes to keep food fresh.

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18. GIFs

Can you imagine where your group chats would be without GIFs? Now a staple of online communication, the compressed, short animation loop known as a GIF was created by Stephanie Craig in 1987.

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19. Science Fiction

Science Fiction as a recognized literary genre began with Mary Shelley's groundbreaking novel Frankenstein. In this and her other works, she meshed science with imaginative storytelling and explored themes of life, ethics, and the consequences of technology, forming the foundation of the genre.

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20. Stem Cell Isolation

Scientist Ann Tsukamoto managed to isolate human stem cells in 1991, r breakthrough for medical research. This became the foundation of regenerative medicine, blood disease treatments, and bone marrow transplants.

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