Incredible Women Inventors

TeensReadToo

"An inspiration to all young girls, Incredible Women Inventors showcases some of the best and brightest female inventors."

KLIATT - Patricia Moore

Ten North American women, their stories arranged chronologically by birth, come to life perkily in these pages as they overcome stereotypical views of a woman's role and educational and financial difficulties to develop new products, new medicines and new technologies and then the businesses needed to market them. From Madame C. J. Walker, who developed a line of cosmetics for African American women and was so successful that she became America's first self-made female millionaire, to Hedy Lamar (of all people), who held a patent for a remote-controlled radio system, to Gertrude Elion, who shared a Nobel Prize in 1988 for the cancer drugs she helped create, these women believed in their dreams and worked to fulfill them. While some of their inventions were born of scientific study, others were born of simple daily necessity. Betty Nesmith Graham invented White-Out to cover her typing mistakes. She later sold the company she developed to Gillette for $47.5 million! Wendy Murphy, a Canadian nurse, invented the WEEVAC, a stretcher especially designed to evacuate neonates in hospital emergencies. Sprightly 9 to 10-page chapters are accompanied by a resource page with both books and websites.