Today, International Women’s Day, it is time to pay tribute to the great innovators and inventors of history. Without them, many things that are part of our everyday lives today would not exist at all.
It is often said that science, industry and research are dominated by men, and this is often the case in public perception. But over time, women have fundamentally changed many aspects of our lives through their creativity and ingenuity. In this article, therefore, I would like to discuss a few well-known and lesser-known women in history, without whom our world today would not exist.
When you think of women in science, Marie Curie is quickly the first person you think of. Not only is her life story impressive, ranging from her flight to France to her charitable work. Her breakthroughs in science and her pioneering and world-changing work with radioactive isotopes were groundbreaking. She was rightly the first person in history to receive two Nobel Prizes.
Margaret E. Knight
Margaret E. Knight (1838 – 1914) may not be as well known as Marie Curie, but if you have ever used a paper bag, you know the work of Mattie Knight. Born in York, Maine, the innovator built a machine at the age of 30 that folded and glued paper to make a flat-bottomed paper bag. This was just one of Knight’s many inventions, and in the course of her career she built and patented over 100 machines.
In these times programmers are more in demand than ever. If you talk to freelancers in this field they can hardly save themselves from work. The first computer programmer in history was Ada Lovelance. The work she has done is unfortunately due to a lack of interest in the topic during this time, but she is considered a pioneer in the IT field.
As a passionate coffee drinker I would like to thank the last lady about whom I would like to talk in detail most of all. The German entrepreneur Melitta Bentz contributed to the fact that we do not have the coffee grounds constantly in the cup. She disturbed herself with the coffee of her time and therefore developed the type of filter from the blotting paper in her son’s exercise book that most coffee machines use today. Within one year she sold hundreds of her filters and built up a group of companies that is still the market leader in the field of coffee machines and coffee filters today.
Many creative, unique inventions come from female scientists. From life rafts to GPS to rocket fuel, women have invented unique things. On International Women’s Day I would therefore like to call on the public to broaden their view and understand that innovation, research and the future are not things that only women or men can create. I hope that in the coming years, wherever we come from or who we are, we will work together to shape and shape the future.