Vise Library celebrates Women's History Month: Inventors

Here are some famous female inventors.

Ruth Handler
Ruth Handler created one of the most famous toys ever.  She noticed that most dolls were of babies and children but noticed her daughter like to pretend that her dolls were adults doing things she dreamed of.  So, she created the Barbie doll and founded the company Mattel.  More than 350,000 Barbies were sold in the first year of their creation.  She later on created Ken and more than 100 family and friends of Barbie.  In case you were wondering, the names Barbie and Ken were named after her daughter and son.  

Ruth Wakefield
Everyone should thank Ruth Wakefield for her amazing invention.  Without her, who knows how long it would have taken for someone to make a chocolate chip cookie.  These were actually created by mistake! After running out of baking chocolate, she decided to cut up a candy bar (given to her by Andrew Nestle of Nestle Chocolate) and put it in her cookie dough.  She thought the chocolate would melt as it cooked.  However, it did not and the chocolate chip was born!  The recipe became very popular and Nestle noticed their sales improved dramatically after the recipe was published.  The decided to pay her to publish her recipe on their packaging and name it the "Toll House Cookie."  Not only did she receive money for this, but she received all the chocolate for a lifetime.  What a great deal!

Stephanie Kwolek

Stephanie Kwolek's original plans were to be a doctor.  She could not afford medical school, so she became a chemist instead.  Her most notable invention was Kevlar.  This is the material in bulletproof vests.  This material is also used in space vehicles, tires, helmets, and underwater cables.  She has supported girls to pursue science careers versus being housewives.

Sources Consulted:
http://www.legacy.com/ns/news-story.aspx?t=ruth-handler--inventor-of-the-barbie-doll&id=151
http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/wakefield.html
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blkevlar.htm