The Inventing HerStory podcast

Tired of bitter coffee grounds ruining your morning brew? So was Melitta Benz—and she decided to do something about it! Using a simple piece of blotting paper and a brass pot, this inventive German housewife revolutionized the way the world drinks coffee. Her creation of the paper coffee filter not only brewed a smoother cup but also sparked the birth of the Melitta company, still a household name...

Have you ever wondered how one scientist could turn something as dangerous as radiation into a tool for healing? This week, we’re diving into the life of Sameera Moussa, the brilliant Egyptian physicist who believed in “Atoms for Peace” long before it was popular. From her groundbreaking research on using radioactive elements for medical treatment to her fierce advocacy for accessible science, Sam...

Have you ever wondered who made your kitchen so efficient—or why your oven, sink, and fridge are placed just so ? This week, we’re stepping into the life of Lillian Moller Gilbreth, the brilliant engineer and psychologist (not to mention, mother of 12!) who turned motion studies into inventions, particularly in the household. From factory floors to family kitchens, Lillian designed a “step-saving”...

Think of the layers of the Earth as an onion, a slice of cake, or better yet, a Ferrero Rocher; a chocolate with a wafer outer crust, a creamy filling and a solid hazelnut in the center. If this analogy is true, then Inge Lehmann is the Danish seismologist who discovered the hazelnut in the center of the earth. Ok ok, it's not a gigantic hazelnut, but it's still a solid core! In 1936 Ing...

Have you ever looked at a world map and wondered HOW did the continents end up where they currently are, oceans apart? This week we’re diving deep—literally—into the life of Marie Tharp, the woman who mapped the ocean floor and turned the scientific world upside down. Before her, no one knew that continents could drift —now they can’t stop! Follow us in episode nineteen of The Inventing HerStory P...

Did you know that the stars in the night sky are mostly made of hydrogen and helium? You can thank Cecilia Payne for that groundbreaking discovery! Despite her work initially being dismissed by male colleagues, Cecilia Payne’s genius unlocked the secret composition of stars, reshaping our understanding of the universe. But her journey wasn’t all starlight and brilliance, she had to fight against t...

Did you know that Lizzie Magie is the true inventor of Monopoly? Well, technically, she invented and patented The Landlord's Game, a board game initially deemed "too complicated" to achieve widespread popularity. Despite this, her creation started spreading across the U.S., with players crafting their own personalized versions of the game. That is, until someone stepped in, declared...

Earning both public recognition for her inventions and making "barrel-loads" of money (wink, wink!), Maria E. Beasley was an inventor extraordinaire. With 15 patents to her name and millions of dollars in income, she is best known for her barrel-hooping machine, her revolutionised design of the life raft, and anti-derailment modifications made to trains. How exactly did this 19th-century...

Eva Ekeblad, also known as the "potato pioneer", was (one of) the first female chemists in Sweden. She experimented with using potatoes in many cooking and household applications including making potato bread, potato starch, dying yarn using potato starch, and most notably, liquor distilled from potatoes! During a time when potatoes were new and not yet popular in Sweden (believe it or n...

Known as the "Mother of Aquariophily," Jeanne Villepreux-Power invented the aquarium, allowing for groundbreaking studies of marine life in their natural habitats. But how did this invention come about?! Discover her remarkable journey from a seamstress in rural France to a self-learned naturalist whose innovative methods laid the foundation for modern marine research, not to mention aqu...

Not only the mother of a famous Hollywood star, Judith Love Cohen was working on stars....or at least as an electrical engineer working for a supplier to NASA! Among her greatest accomplishments, was her work on the Apollo abort guidance system which helped safely guide astronauts back to earth during the disastrous Apollo 13 mission. Learn all about what went wrong during this disastrous mission,...

Using bacteria to give nutrients to crops rather than fertilizers, Maria Esperanza Martinez-Romero is making big steps toward creating sustainable farming practices. Her discoveries on nitrogen fixation in plants by bacteria is currently being implemented in Mexico and Peru. Known for her innovative work with bacteria, Maria has been instrumental in uncovering the complex relationships between mic...

From her dazzling career as a Hollywood actress to her contributions to wireless communication, Hedy Lamarr's brilliance extended far beyond the silver screen. Her invention that used frequency hopping for a torpedo guidance system during World War II laid the groundwork for technologies we use today, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Inspired to help the war-cause through her invention, H...

Ever wonder how those rules about safety, such as wearing lab coats and gloves, came to exist? We have Alice Hamilton to thank for our safety at work! Acting as a medical doctor as well as a champion for poor and immigrant workers, Alice Hamilton spearheaded the public health movement in the US during the industrial revolution. Primarily focusing on the toxic effects of lead, Alice went head-to-he...

During the nanoscale revolution, Dr. Dame Pratibha Gai not only studied chemical reactions at the nanoscale, but she co-invented the atomic resolution environmental transmission electron microscope (ETEM). This powerful microscope allows extremely high magnification imaging of gas molecules which was not possible previously; equivalent to the magnification of a telescope that is capable of seeing...

In the underwater world of scuba diving, which is a profession still heavily dominated by men, Zale Parry made a splash in a big way in the 1950's. Not only was she one of the first female scuba diving instructors,  with record-setting depths she brought scuba diving into the spotlight with her Sports Illustrated cover and her acting in underwater films (that's right, movies filmed entir...

A little-known botanist who was also the first woman to circumnavigate the world, Jeanne Baret made a splash with her plant discoveries and her outlandish lifestyle. To be allowed on the French naval ship that planned a global expedition, Jeanne dressed like a man and masqueraded as "Jean" for years! During this expedition Jeanne and her coworker discovered and catalogued thousands of pl...

Nicknamed the First Lady of Physics and the Chinese Madame Curie, Chien-Shiung Wu was THE world's top experimental physicist for decades. Most frequently recognized for her experiment concerning the conservation of parity (also called simply, the "Wu experiment"), Chien-Shiung was involved with numerous other important projects within nuclear physics in the mid 1900s, including the...

At the same time as the field of palaeontology was being invented, Mary Anning was knee deep in mud, uncovering new dinosaur fossils. Although she was scarcely credited by the Geological Society of London for her gigantic contributions to the field, Mary not only found a number of noteworthy fossils in England (some of which are still on display today at museums!), but she also assembled the skele...

Have you heard of Montessori schools but never knew about Maria Montessori, the inventor behind the Montessori method? Then you aren't alone! Originally trained as a doctor, Maria made scandalous waves in Italian society in the early 1900s as a champion of rights for women and the poor. Join us in our fourth episode of The Inventing Herstory Podcast as we learn all about the life and educatio...

Holograms are not just part of science fiction, but they actually exist thanks to Valerie Thomas! As part of her work with NASA, Valerie invented the illusion transmitter with the use of concave mirrors. Originally used to visualize satellite data in a 3D format, this super cool invention has been adapted for use in a number of different fields including surgery and is a precursor for modern 3D mo...

Instrumental in developing a rationing diet for British civilians during World War 2, Elsie Widdowson is a pioneer in the field of nutrition science. She used chemistry to study food nutritional content, vitamins and minerals in food, and what constitutes a healthy diet before the field of nutrition was even invented. Eighty years later Elsie's work is still highly used today, cited informall...

Credited with writing the first computer program in 1843 (over 100 years before the first modern computers were even invented!) Ada Lovelace was a brilliant mathematician in Victorian era England. Although of noble birth and highly educated, her life was filled with many challenges and Ada wasn't given proper recognition for her work until decades later. Follow us as we explore the life, hist...